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Bears want to set tone early

By VINCENT THOMAS
Published September 14, 2005

Who are the Central Bears? Are they a squad that got manhandled in a 50-0 loss to Sarasota Booker? Or, are they the team that bookended that humiliating loss with blowout victories of their own?

The latter version handled Hernando 33-0 in the opener and muscled Crystal River to 41-6.

Central coach Greg Bigham likes to think that the true Bears more closely resemble the team that walked off the field with convincing wins. The Booker game, he said, simply was the product of Central running into a superior squad.

There is, however, a common thread that ties all three games together, a salient quality that the winning squad exhibited in each case.

"Booker did to us what I like for us to do to teams," Bigham said. "What did Booker do? They jumped on us from the first play and let us know right off the bat, "You can't play with us.' "

Booker pounded Central into submission and self-doubt. Last week it tried those bully-foot shoes on for size, and they fit nicely.

Down after down, on both sides of the ball, Central was the aggressor. And the Bears set the tone right at the onset. They shoved Crystal River defenders off the line early and often, rushing for 244 yards by halftime. They jumped on the Pirates - just as Bigham likes.

An important, albeit new, cog in Central's offensive line is Joey Homan. He started at center last week, so that mountain-man Andy Leavine could move one slot to the right.

"Joey coming along and stepping in at center really freed us up to do some things we wanted on the offensive line, and it showed last week," Bigham said.

Homan, in his first year on the varsity squad, has acquired his coach's aggressive mentality. From the first snap, he wants his opponent to know he's there. And, of course, the only way to do that is, "knock there heads off," said the stocky junior. Whereas, you won't see opponents' heads getting literally knocked off their shoulders, a forearm shiver to the chin sends a message. And pile-driving a guy into the turf is a good tone-setter.

This week, Central will try to set an early tone against Tarpon Springs (2-1).

If Booker is on one end of the talent spectrum and Hernando and Crystal River are on the other end, the Spongers probably are somewhere in the middle. Booker, after all, is among the powerhouses. Hernando struggled past feeble Lake Weir for its first win, and Crystal River is anticipating its first victory.

Tarpon Springs, on the other hand, is a squad that resides in the Populist middle of that spectrum. Bigham is calling this particular matchup, "our gauge." The outcome of Central's matchup with Tarpon Springs will provide, perhaps, a more accurate read on a team that has been two-faced thus far.

To get their desired outcome, the Bears have a plan. Senior tight end Tim Plumadore gives a nice, light description of what they will try to do in the trenches.

"We want to stuff it down their throats," he said. "And not just on offense - on "defense, too."

That's Central's new mission: to make that physical brand of football its identifying mark.

So who are the Central Bears? Are they Friday Night Bullies? Not yet. But, it's surely what they're trying to become.

Vincent Thomas can be reached at vthomas@sptimes.com or 352 848-1430.

[Last modified September 17, 2005, 17:03:03]