By Caleb Adams

Leader Correspondent

LITTLE CYPRESS — Little Cypress-Mauriceville quarterback Quarterback Beau Bickham blew up Friday for nearly 250 yards passing, 25 yards rushing, and accounted for five of the seven touchdowns that the Battlin’ Bears had as they buried the Cleveland Indians 42-6 at Battlin’ Bear Stadium to secure a playoff spot out of District 10-4A Division I.

The Bears (4-5, 2-2) are back in the postseason fray again after barely missing out last season. LC-M was in the playoffs in both 2013 and 2014. In two weeks, the Bears will have a mission to snare their first playoff win since 1997.

There is still some business to take care of.

LC-M will visit Navasota next week with the winner taking the third playoff seed in 10-4A while the one that falls will get the No. 4 seed.

Cleveland falls to 3-6 overall, 0-4 in district play.

The Bears had their most productive offensive outing of the season, piling up 515 total yards, 267 on the ground and 248 in the air.

Bickham completed 12-of-18 passes for 248 yards. Katon Brown had two catches for 97 yards while Mark Netherly had two grabs for 80 yards.

Running back Crhis Winters zipped for 108 yards on just 12 totes as the Bears totally crushed the Indians.

The LC-M defense was outstanding as well, limiting the Indians to just 231 total yards.

Most of the time the most unsung hero of the game is the offensive and defensive lines, but tonight the kicker for LC-M showed up with seven points of his own in PATs alone. Kicker John Gonzalez looked clinical in his performance tonight and made sure the Bears got all the points they could.

After Cleveland has a quick three-and-out series, LC-M took over at their own 12. Bickham attempted six passes and connected on five of to drive the Bears down the field to the one. Bickham calls his own number with a quarterback sneak to put the Bears on the board. Gonzalez hit the PAT as the Bears take an early 7-0 lead.

The Indians took over on their own 46 after a fumble recovery by their defense. On the first play Dawayne Smith takes it all the way to the house for a 51-yard touchdown run. The Indians would miss the PAT to make the score 7-6 LCM.

The Bears took over on the very next drive from their own 15 to setup a long drive, but Bickham had other plans. Bickham hit receiver Brown for a long 85-yard touchdown pass. Gonzalez would put up the PAT to make it 14-6 LCM with 2:30 left in the first, and the Bears wouldn’t look back.

LC-M got the ball at their own 23 at the beginning of the second quarter. After driving 34 yards down the field, fullback J’lon Douglas bolted for 36 yards and another touchdown for the Bears. Gonzalez would inevitably hit another PAT to make the score 21-6 with 9:54 left in the first half.

Bickham hadn’t even hit his full stride passing for the first half after the Bears got the ball back on the Indians 44. Bickham would hit Neatherly for a 45-yard touchdown pass for the Bears. Gonzalez, much like Vinateri tonight, hit another PAT to make the score 28-6 LCM with 6:50 left in the second quarter.

The Indians would lose their second fumble of the game and the Bears took back over on the Clevleand 36 yard. Bickham would drop back and pass and Keegan Sonnier for a 32-yard touchdown dart for another Battlin’ Bears score. Gonzalez stays true and hits another PAT to make the score 35-6 with 4:58 left in the first half.

That would be all the action in the first half as the Bears take a commanding 35-6 lead into the second half.

The Bears would score one more time in the fourth quarter with multiple long runs by Christopher Winters, and Bickham punching in another touchdown run from five yards out. The PAT from Gonzalez was, you guessed it, good again to make it 42-6 LC-M to close out the last home game of the year.

LCM   14     21    7     0 — 42

 

CLE   6       0     0     0 — 6

 

Scoring Summary

LC-M: Beau Bickham one yard QB sneak touchdown. John Gonzalez PAT good 7-0 LCM

Cleveland: Dawayne Smith 51 yard touchdown run. Gonzalez PAT no good. 7-6 LCM

LC-M: Bickham throws to Katon Brown 85 yard touchdown. Gonzalez PAT good 14-6 LCM

LC-M: J’lon Douglas 36 yard touchdown run. Gonzalez PAT good 21-6 LCM

LC-M: Bickham throws to Mark Netherly for 45 yard touchdown. Gonzalez PAT good 28-6 LCM

LC-M: Bickham throws to Keegan Sonnier for 32 yard touchdown. Gonzalez PAT good 35-6 LCM

LC-M: Bickham runs for a five yard touchdown. Gonzalez Pat good 42-6 LCM final.

LCM           CLE

First downs       23             12

Rushes-yards   35-267       29-177

Passing              248             54

Comp-Att-Int     12-18-1     10-16-1

Fumbles-Lost       1-1             2-2

Penalties-yards   6-65           3-15

 

 

Individual Statistics

 

Rushing: LCM, Beau Bickham 6-25, Kayne Williams 8-32, Christopher Winters 12-108, Ronald Guillory 2-26, J’lon Douglas 2-45, Katon Brown 1-15, Alex Reed 3-16; CLE, Dylan Reeves 8-30, Monroe Harding 7-53, Rashad Carter 2-12, Dawayne Smith 3-56, Jett Hendrix 5-35

Passing: LCM, Beau Bickham 12-18-1 248; CLE, Jett Hendrix, 10-16-1 54

 

Receiving: LCM, Christopher Winters, 4-13, Katon Brown 2-97, Mark Netherly 2-80, Keegan Sonnier 1-32, Ronald Guillory 2-26; CLE, Monroe Harding , 4-20, Rashad Carter 4-7, Jesus Garcia 1-5, Dawayne Smith 1-22