The Bears faced the Shiloh Christian Saints this past Friday. They were looking to book a ticket to the championship, but they fell short of that goal.
The Bears lost 52-28 to the Saints. It was their second loss of the year and their last loss of the year as they were eliminated from the playoffs.
The Bears got down early, but they didn’t lose strength as they managed to score 12 points in the second quarter along with 16 quick points to start the third quarter.
It wasn’t enough for the Bears as in both the first and fourth quarters they weren’t able to get things going, which led to the Saints pulling away and winning the game.
A lot of emotion was seen on the sidelines, many seniors realizing that these were their last few snaps at the high school level. Players were frustrated with the result of the game. “I wish we would have executed more,” said Senior Kristian Jackson. Jackson went on to say, “Shiloh’s a good, disciplined football team.”
Coaches and teammates came together to comfort each other through the large emotions present in the final moments of the game.
Although it didn’t end the way players, coaches, and students hoped for, most would agree that this season won’t be looked back on as a failure. They would agree that this group of kids gave it everything they had and gave the school a much needed turnaround in the world of football. From 0-20 to 10-2, the Bears have a massive one year turn around to lead the 2025 Bears to be known as the 6A east conference champs.
Reflecting back to the beginning of the year Coach Mark Kelley told us that his goal for the year was to host a home playoff game. The Bears did that and more by hosting two home playoff games, and the conference title.
Back in August Coach Kelley said that one thing he wants to bring to the team as a coach is to give his players confidence in tough situations. Throughout this season the Bears have had many games where they faced adversity early and were fighting from the bottom up. In these games the Bears never gave up.
In games against Benton, Jonesboro, Sheridan, and even a playoff game versus Marion, they started the game by getting down early on and even at late points in the game. In these tough moments the Bears stood stall seeing countless goal line stops in those games and long hard drives overcoming big 3rd and 4th downs.
The Bears 2025 season will be one to remember for everyone who had a part in it, staff, students, coaches, and players.
The Bears will move into the off-season having to say goodbye to some of their closest teammates, and strongest bonds.
The Bears look to continue this turnaround by having a strong transition through this off-season going into next year so they can continue to bring light to the early portion of the school year.
