The West Lincoln Bears and coach B.J. Smithhart will look to push their record to 2-0 tonight as they take on the Salem Wildcats (1-0) at Stone Stadium on the campus of Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson.

The game is part of the KDMC Kickoff Classic, an event that Smithhart says his team is proud to be involved in.

“Our guys are excited about playing at Co-Lin,” said Smithhart. “The people at KDMC have been great, they’ll feed us a pregame meal on campus and we’ll get dressed in the Co-Lin locker rooms. It’ll be a lot of fun.”

The Bears are coming off a 23-14 road win over Mount Olive in their season opener. The victory was powered by a potent West Lincoln rushing attack.

Smithhart had come into the season saying the offensive line would be the strength of his team and they proved him right against Mount Olive, as freshman Enrico Price rushed for 202 yards on 15 carries. Price scored two touchdowns and had a long run of 50 yards.

Junior running back Michael Brothern — the leading returning rusher from 2017 — gained 163 yards on 18 carries and scored one touchdown.

In Salem — a 38-14 winner last week over Enterprise — Smithhart sees a much-improved opponent.

“They’ve got some guys who run hard,” said Smithhart. “They are going to keep it on the ground and run the ball out of a couple different sets.”

West Lincoln defeated Salem 43-20 in 2017 in a game that gave Smithhart his first win as the Bears’ head coach.

Senior Daquarius Bridges led Salem in their win over Enterprise with 125 yards on only seven carries. Bridges scored two touchdowns and had a long run of 82 yards.

Sophomore linebacker Tate Smith led the Bear defense with three solo tackles against Mount Olive.

“We had some good moments on both sides of the ball last week,” said Smithhart. “I was proud of how the kids were able to close out a game on the road against a gritty team.”

Kickoff in Stone Stadium is slated for 7 p.m.

Story by Cliff Furr