The Tellico Plains Bears will face the Grace Christian Academy Rams on Friday night. Grace Christian had been placed on probation and barred from post season competition over the last few years. The Rams have torn through their regular season schedule so far and the only blemish on an otherwise sparkling record was a 27-19 loss to CAK.

The Bears will have their hands full as this Rams team is very sound defensively. They've allowed more than 14 points just twice this year. Teams are just not able to score or put together the drives needed to beat the Rams. The Tellico offense has struggled at times, but they have improved. When the Rams played Rockwood in week 3 the score was just 12-7. That is the closest win margin for the Rams all year. If the Bears can keep the game close, an upset could be in the cards.

Running the football will be key for Adam Reece and Devon Collier. Lengthen your offensive possessions and limit the chances Grace has to score. If the Bears can do that anything can happen. Turnovers will have to be at a minimum of course, for the Bears to sustain long drives. Ball control, and making big plays on defense can win this game for either team.

Bryce Carter and Garett Reno can be impact players up front. They've both had games with multiple stops behind the line and sacks. A few blitz packages couldn't hurt either to put more pressure on the Rams.

At 1-5 overall and 1-2 in the district, this is a must win game for the Bears. Remember the top two teams from each district make the playoffs. With four games left, Tellico needs to win out and hope for some help to get into the playoffs. With an upset win the Bears could ride that momentum and do the unthinkable to reach the postseason.

Some will tell you that won't even come close to happening. The Bears just need to tune all that negativity out. If a team believes they can do anything together. We'll see if the Bears have grace on their side on Friday.