On Friday, September, 25th, the Willow Springs Bears drove all the way to Salem to take on the Salem Tigers. The Bears stepped onto the field in hopes of getting their third straight win.

The coin toss decided that the Bears would be the first to receive the ball. On the Bears first drive, they had a good first push but were stopped and forced to punt. The Tigers also had a good first push but were stopped short when they fumbled the ball, and the Bears’ defense recovered. This drive for the Bears was also shut out and with another punt, the ball was back in the hands of the Tigers. This time the Tigers did not fumble and were able to put it in for the score. Salem, with a successful extra point, was the first on the scoreboard with 7-0. The cloxk rolled out quickly in the first quarter, and it was time for the second.

In the second quarter, the Tigers again were the first to score adding seven more points on the board for Salem. The Bears, wanting to get on the board, drove it down and with a 36-yard pass from Cole Johnson to  Allen Brasier.  The Bears were in for the touchdown. The Bears wanted to get as many points as possible on this drive.  They went for two, and with a pass from Johnson to Joe O’Conner, they got it. With the rest of the half all ran out, the score was Salem-14, Bears-8.

Coming out into the half , the Tigers drove the ball in for the touchdown and added the extra two point conversion. The Bears did not do much on offense due to penalties, and Salem had the momentum going into the fourth quarter with the score 22-8 Salem.

In the fourth quarter, the Tigers scored two more unanswered touchdowns to secure the game. The Bears wanted to show they were better than they played so far and drove the ball down to the 15-yard line where Brandon Pitts would run it the rest of the way.  The final score was Salem 36, Bears 15.

“We made too many mistakes” said Brasier, who is this week’s player of the week with 11 tackles and a 36 yard touchdown. All the Bears would tell you they were upset with the small mistakes that cost them the game, but as both coaches will agree, they are very correctable mistakes. The Bears hope to continue to build the house, as coach Mac would say, and get a win next week at home against the Thayer Bobcats.