With the second half of the season to commence this week, conference races are beginning to take shape. The 8-2A is no exception, as only two teams remain unblemished from the first two weeks of conference play. Tonight, two teams that find themselves in the thick of the league race will square off, as Parkers Chapel heads to Bearden for a showdown. Game time is set for 7 p.m. The Bears (2-2, 1-0) enter having upended Rison two weeks ago before having a bye week, while the Trojans (4-1, 1-1) bounced back from their first defeat of the season to top Woodlawn 28-14 at home. A year ago, the Trojans beat the Bears in Bearden in overtime to record their first-ever win over one of 2A’s traditional powerhouses, and Bears coach Ernie Horstkamp said the subject was discussed this week. “We brought it up Monday,” Horstkamp said. “It shows that Parkers Chapel has come a long ways over the last number of years. I think they’ve been playing football for a little over a decade now, and they’re getting to the point where they are a dangerous, dangerous football team. They went toe to toe with Hampton, and they believe. They’re capable of beating us. Over the years, that mentality has developed at Parkers Chapel. That’s really what we brought up Monday. We did bring up how dangerous (Dezmon) Jackson was, and how much trouble we had with him last year. He had a big night. We didn’t bring up all the details, but that was the main thing.” As far as the bye week is concerned, Horstkamp said the primary focus was getting healthy and going back to the basics. “Our first four ballgames were all tough,” Horstkamp said. “We played Junction City, Hector, Gurdon and Rison, so we were a little banged up. Against Gurdon, we had five players out. We’ve gotten some of them back, but guys that were a little banged up last week, we tried to limit their contact. As a team, we went back and worked on a lot of fundamental things.” Of course, there is the matter of momentum. After recording such a big win two weeks ago, will the Bears be able to match their performance against Rison? “We’ll see Friday if it does,” Horstkamp said. “We have made progress week to week. We have gotten better. We have some guys that individually have gotten better. We’ve gotten better as a team. One thing that we always try to preach to our guys is you can’t really worry about the things that are out of your control, and that bye week was out of our control. We try not to even worry about it, and try to make the best of it. Hopefully, it works out for us.” As far as the Trojans are concerned, coach James Housdan said he was very pleased to see his team fight back and come up with a big win after falling at Hampton two weeks ago. “It was great to bounce back and get our first conference win,” Housdan said. “We got a homecoming win and extended our home winning streak. I was really proud of the defense. They adjusted at halftime and came out and shut Woodlawn out in the second half. Our guys really played physical on both sides of the ball.” Justin Burns led the Trojans’ effort on defense with 18 tackles in the win, while Brendan Winchester, Amonta Harris and Joseph Robinson each had an interception. Dezmon Jackson had another terrific performance, finishing with 188 yards on 17 carries, including a pair of 65-yard touchdown runs. Harris also had a sterling performance, completing both of his passes for 44 yards with a touchdown. He also had 86 yards rushing on 11 carries that also included a 46-yard touchdown run. Canon Morgan was the recipient of Harris’ touchdown pass, which spanned 26 yards. “They’re a very good football team,” Horstkamp said. “They have just about as a good a backfield tandem as you can have with Harris and Jackson. They have a dangerous receiver in Morgan. He makes a lot of plays on both sides of the football. I’m very impressed with him. It’s not like you can just lock in on Jackson. “They’ve got a lot of weapons. They’ve got a couple of big linemen, and those type of guys cause us trouble just because we’re not a real big team, so you always worry about those guys just leaning on you and keeping the ball away from you. If they’re just sitting there and getting four or five yards a carry, that’s never going to turn out good for you. “Obviously, Jackson is a special player. If he gets behind us, we won’t catch him. There’s not many people that can. He’s big and strong. He can break tackles. I think he broke seven tackles on the touchdown run against us last year, so offensively, they’re dangerous because of their combination of linemen and skill guys.” If there has been one key to the Trojans’ success in the first half of the season, Housdan said it was their turnover margin. “I would have to say our turnover differential and improved field position,” Housdan said. We’re a plus-27. We’ve created 28 turnovers and only given up one turnover on the season. The special teams have also improved this season.”