FOOTBALL: Southern Wayne-New Bern capsule

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on September 22, 2016 10:00 AM

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Southern Wayne (1-3)

at New Bern (0-5)

Last week: Southern Wayne lost 48-12 at Kinston; New Bern did not play.

Last meeting: 2015, New Bern won 39-7.

Notable: It's the Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference opener for both teams. The Bears have won six straight against the Saints, and lead the all-time series 17-4.

What are your impressions on playing New Bern this week? "We've got to have a short memory considering the fact we just lost to Kinston, and we turn around to go to one of the historical powerhouses in 4-A football," SW head coach Ronnie McClary Jr. said. "We have to think about think about where we messed up against Kinston, but focus on New Bern because they're real good. They haven't won a game. We told our guys they're looking to get their first win against us and we just can't let that happen. We've got to have one of our better games because from now on it's a different season since we're in conference play."

What's been the focus in practice this week? "It's been a little bit of both," McClary Jr. said of the Saints and the Bears. "One of the benefits coming off the loss to Kinston and going into New Bern, they play the same defense we do. Defensively, we can pretty much run own thing against our offense instead of playing our scout defense. We can work on our mistakes, but move on to focus on what they (New Bern) do right and what they do wrong, so we capitalize on those wrong things and try to stop the right things that they do."

When you looked at the film from the Kinston, what did you see your guys do well that you can build off of heading into Friday night? "Well, I think initially, the first two series our linemen did a pretty good job blocking. We've got to do a better job of reading the block (as a) running back and quarterback, and coming off those blocks in the right position. I also think a couple of aspects of our special teams were pretty good. Defensively, even though we gave up scores, for the most part we were in good position. We just didn't finish. To know we were in good position let's us know they knew what they were doing, it's just finishing the job."

How do you get this team to believe in itself? "One thing that I think that helped was winning (against Goldsboro). Another thing that I think that helps is us as a coaching staff trying to stay positive. Yeah, we're going to fuss at them and point out their wrong-doings, and point out things they did right. If we can keep their mentality positive and get them to know they're as good as what we think they are, then maybe that will change some things. Losing to someone in dominating, in a small sense, helps us know that we're a good team, but we're not a great team."