BREMEN, Ind. -- With a record of 5-1 coming into Friday's matchup, the Lions are feeling pretty good about their season so far. But as the postseason looms, these final three games will determine how ready this team is for the playoffs.
The Bremen Lions have their eyes on the prize - a state championship trophy. But before they can get to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, they first had to, in their own words, get humbled.
That test of humility came two weeks ago, when the Lions were defeated by Jimtown, in a game where they scored their fewest points all season.
"I feel like that loss really humbled us, but I feel like ever since then, it's been about getting back on track and just really getting ourselves ready for everything that is to come and there were some unfortunate things that happened in that game, but we can really just build off of that and do better." says Aaron Jimenez, Bremen sophomore wide receiver.
Bremen is entering a hugely important stretch of the season with two of the next three weeks against fellow Indiana Northern State Conference teams.
"The one thing that we talked about after the loss to Jimtown was in this conference, one loss doesn't leave you out, it's a tough conference, all the teams in it are, to me, are highly competitive so we've kind of built on that and going forward it's kind of like championship week for the next two weeks after this game," says Justin Bogunia, Bremen head coach.
Sophomore wide receiver Aaron Jimenez is coming off of a stellar game against John Glenn, where he racked up nearly 150 receiving yards.
The key to another excellent performance Friday against Buchanan will come down to three words - do your job.
"We just have to run our routes right, just do your job, line does their job and blocks them, I believe my quarterback is going to get me the ball so I'm ready," says Jimenez.
Bremen head coach Justin Bogunia says a win Friday can only happen if they clean up some of the mistakes made over the last two games.
"We felt like the last two weeks, obviously Jimtown capitalized on mistakes made by us, and that showed up in the score and the end result, and last week as well against Glenn, we felt like there was some opportunities where we left scores on the field, especially in the first half, we didn't play our best football," says Bogunia.
The Bucks and Lions will kick off from Memorial Field at 7 p.m.