WOODLAWN - One thing that Woodlawn Coach Doug Means said he learned from the Bears’ 62-12 loss to the Strong Bulldogs Friday night is that they don’t handle adversity really well.
Woodlawn fumbled it seven times and lost four of them, including one that was returned for a touchdown. Add in an interception and five of the Bears’ 11 possessions in the game ended in a turnover.
The Bears fell to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in South Conference play with the loss. The Bulldogs imprved to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in conference.
“We don’t handle adversity very well when we play good teams,” Means said after the loss. “Whenever we have a turnover or a penalty… Those little adversities, we just don’t handle very well.”
Even if the fumble didn’t result in a turnover, it was still disrupting a play.
A prime example was on Woodlawn’s opening possession of the game. The Bears were looking at third-and-four at the Strong 29 when they fumbled it behind the line of scrimmage resulting in an eight-yard loss. A fourth-down pass attempt was broken up, and the Bulldogs took over.
Means said they work on ball security every day in practice, but that’s not translating to the field on Friday nights. He said he suspects that some of the turnovers are coming from players trying to squeeze a little more out of each play rather than simply going down.
Strong converted that fourth-down stop on Woodlawn’s opening series into a touchdown. On the Bulldogs’ first offensive snap, Devon Boone took it 34 yards. Add on an personal foul against the Bears at the end of the run, and Strong had a first down at the Woodlawn 15. Three plays later, the ‘Dogs scored on a nine-yard run by Boone. The conversion pass was no good, leaving it 6-0 Strong.
The Bears then fumbled it away at the Strong 23 on their next possession, and Antonio Hicks took it 77 yards into the end zone on the next play. The two-point attempt was no good, giving the Bulldogs a 12-0 lead.
Woodlawn answered later in the first quarter when Griffin Manes sco…