2022 Bear Tracks Week 4

Sometimes you try to just get out with a win and Friday night might have just been one of those for the Bears. But a good thing about an ugly win - it is still a win!

As bad as that sounds, BHP had a lot of highlights against the Wolverines. From the continued great play from AJ Pendleton to some really high play from the defense and the return of Marquise Henderson.

BHP will look to clean up some issues as they turn their attention to the Emerald Vikings.

Week 4 Preview

BHP will host Emerald this Friday night as BHP will look to stay undefeated on the season. To stay undefeated, the Bears have to keep improving.

Emerald will come into the game 2-1 with their only loss coming last week against Saluda. Their wins came over Ninety Six and Ware Shoals, both of whom are not perennial powerhouses. However, the close loss to Saluda was very impressive as the Vikings only lost by 7 to Saluda who was at the time the #1 ranked team in 2A in the state.

As much as the BHP offense gets the spotlight, especially here, this team’s defense needs its time to shine. During the games this season, the turning points in each have come from defensive stops. Not only singular stops, the way this team can stack stops upon stops causes the other team to panic, press, and get out of rhythm. I made the analogy in an earlier post, but this defense is like a snake, just squeezing and suffocating offensives. With that, increasing takeaways need to be a focus. This defense is talented enough to score on their own with takeaways.

BHP’s offense has been as explosive as we expected, but if there was an aspect to improve on it would be penalties and consistency. The explosiveness of this offense combined with Henderson’s big play ability can lead to touchdowns quickly. As the season goes along and teams become more talented, the Bears will need to extend drives to compliment the defense and string consecutive drives for scores. All that means rhythm and consistency. Don’t get bored doing the stuff that works. Nevertheless, we are excited to see how this offense evolves as the season goes along.

2020 Game Stats (Last Matchup)

Score: BHP 26 -- Emerald 6

BHP Yardage:

Team Rushing: 34 rushes for 275 yards and 2 TDs
Team Passing: 3/7/2 for 54 yards and 2 TDs
Team Total: 41 plays for 329 yards and 4 TDs

Rushing Leader: #2 Tyler Fields - 14 rushes for 160 yards and 1 TD
Passing Leader: #2 Tyler Fields - 3/7/2 for 54 yards and 2 TDs
Receiving Leaders: #4 Eli Strickland - 2 receptions for 22 yards and 1 TD
Defensive Leader: #24 Jamias Glenn - 4 first hits, 7 assists, and 5 solo tackles

Emerald Team Yardage:

Team Rushing: 50 Rushes for 148 yards and 1 TD
Team Passing: 3/10/1 for 28 yards
Team Total: 60 plays for 176 yards and 1 TD

Rushing Leader: #3 Jaylen Foster - 16 rushes for 67 yards and 1 TD
Passing Leader: #11 Nathaniel Parks - 3/10/1 for 28 yards
Receiving Leaders: #4 Demarius Morton - 1 reception for 18 yards

Quick Stats

• BHP is 5-0 all-time against Emerald.
• Since 2010 BHP is 58-16 in home games (208-108 all-time).
• BHP is 21-7 in home Week 4 games.
• Under Coach Blackston, BHP averaged 38.9 points per game in Week 4.
• BHP needs 160 points to surpass 5,000 points under Coach Blackston.
• This is the 10th time since 2000 that BHP started 3-0.
• Going into the Woodruff game, BHP’s Marquise Henderson had no negative yardage rushes in 2022. He had 2 against Woodruff.
• BHP has 3 rushers with 200 or more rushing yards on the season (Marquise Henderson, AJ Pendleton, and Shaheem Robbs).
• BHP has not allowed a 20-yard rush this season.
• BHP has not allowed a point in the 3rd quarter this season.
• BHP has tallied 13 plays that gained 20 or more yards.
• BHP has not had a fumble this season.
• BHP is averaging 33.7 points per game, up from 27.7 last season.
• BHP has caused a turnover in every game this season.
• BHP’s completion percentage this season is 68.4%, which is up from 46.8% last season.
• BHP is averaging 8.2 yards per play on 1st downs this season.
• BHP’s Eli Strickland has had 12 punts this season and has not allowed a return.
• In Strickland’s career, he has had 79 punts and only allowed 6 returns. In contrast, in 2016 and 2017 BHP allowed at least 6 punt returns each season.
• Strickland is now the 8th all-time in career receptions for BHP with 46, 19 away from the top five.
• AJ Pendleton is now 10th all-time in career passing yards with 1,450.
• Nevada Billups is now tied for 9th all-time in career receptions with 40.

Conclusion

BHP comes back home undefeated and gets another opportunity to show what makes this team special. But as we said last week, the teams just get more talented and the pressure increases week by week, but this team has the ability to rise to the challenge.

Prediction: BHP 27 - Emerald 14

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Go Bears!