“We need to keep pushing, stay healthy and stay smart,” Head Football Coach Clint Conque told the weekly Bearbackers meeting Monday.
Noting that he was a “little disappointed” in the team’s performance the last couple of weeks which has resulted in losses to Henderson and Ouachita, Conque added, “that’s football and that’s life.?
“It’s how we respond to adversity,” he continued. While the season started with high expectations, Conque said, “Our expectations now are to win a game. It’s easy when you’re on a roll, but now you find out what ‘coach’ means. We teach life’s lessons to these young men, and I take great pride in what I do. We’re going to do it the right way.?
The coach also appealed to the Bearbackers to “stay behind these young men. The program is in place.”
Sandwiched around the losses to the two Arkadelphia teams in the Gulf South was the news last week that all-everything quarterback Zak Clark would be reshirted after breaking a finger in preseason drills. (Clark will return next fall for his senior year).
Clark’s injury is one of several on the banged-up roster. The Bears went to OBU with five defensive backs that Conque said should not have made the trip, but “I taped ’em to the bus.”
Then on the sixth play of the game, the Bears lost All-American tight end Landon Trusty to a knee injury. Two other starters stayed home became of injuries, and the Bears two young running backs played at about 80 percent according to the head coach.
“This is not the same football team that showed up August 10,” Conque said, “but I’m not quitting and neither of these other coaches are either. We’re going to circle the wagons, get guys who want to give effort, and the prize becomes the next win.”
Players of the week are Chad Taylor, Anthony Lampkin and John Newberry. Conque concluded by saying that he is selling “class, integrity, and character” to his team. Athletic Director Vance Strange closed the meeting by saying those intangibles “have to permeate through this room.”
Bearbackers meet every Monday at noon in the Hall of Fame Room at Estes Stadium. The meetings are open to the public, and lunch is available for $7.
