Video: Swinney Ready To Lead His Team Into Division Play

BALDWYN, Miss. (WCBI) – Bearcats ready for division play.

We are over halfway through the high school football season, and this week senior quarterback John Swinney leads his Baldwyn Bearcats into division play.

It’s been a tough start to the season for the Bearcats, but the three year starter knows it will make them better to finish out strong.

“We always play a tough schedule the first half of the year,” said student athlete John Swinney. “We really wanted to test ourselves. Just see where we are at. That way we can get rolling in division and it’s always just a fun time to see where we are stacked up against other people. We’ve took some losses, but I feel like we’ve learned and gotten better every single week.”

Swinney has come a long way since his first year under center. He relied more on doing all of the work his self rather than getting his teammates involved around him, but the improvement has come two years later for the Bearcat.

“First year I was trying to do to much,” Swinney said. “I was trying to do everything myself, and then at Baldwyn you got to realize you got athletes all around you. You realize you got to get the ball to them and let them work. I’ve realized that I got to rely on my teammates more.”

The team expects a lot out of their quarterback each week. They also know what type of leader and hard worker he is on the field.

“He’s just a hard worker,” said head coach Michael Gray. “You never have to worry about him showing up to do what he’s suppose to do. That makes me proud to be able to coach a kid like that you never have to worry about. He’s always going to be here and do everything he can to make our team better.”

“It’s fun playing beside John,” said teammate Dequantre Welch. “He always motivates you to do better and play hard as you can, and he’s a good player.”

Swinney plans to attend college following his high school career at Baldwyn, but being remembered his most special to him.

“Everyone wants to leave with a state championship,” Swinney says. “But I just want to leave just showing these guys how to play the game right. How we work hard. We get after it, and just you got to love the game of football, and that’s something I love. That’s something this town loves.”

The Bearcats looks to end a two game losing streak as they host Strayhorn on Friday.