PILOT POINT BEARCATS
The Pilot Point Bearcats football team will hit the road, traveling to Warrior Stadium to battle the Bonham Purple Warriors to open the 2025 season.
The two teams met in the season opener last fall, with the Warriors escaping Massey Stadium with a narrow 7-6 victory over the Bearcats.
“They’re big and physical,” said Chad Worrell, Pilot Point athletic director and head football coach. “They’ve changed a little, so they’re more Wing T based instead of Iformation, but their running back from last year is back, and he's very physical. He gave us fits in the second half last year. We had a hard time getting stops on him, and he wore us down, so we're concerned about that. Defensively, they're really sound, have a good scheme based out of the 3-4 [defense], and they're big up front, which will present a challenge for us.”
Worrell said the Bearcats will have their work cut out for them, slowing down the Warriors’ Wing T attack led by quarterback Brynlee Owens and veteran linemen Landyn Reaves and Charlie Thompson.
“It's really the first time we faced this offense, and we have some things in mind,” he said. “… It's going to be a matter of winning the line of scrimmage and making sure we wrap up and tackle.”
Worrell added that the same level of execution will be important for the Bearcats’ offense as well.
“We had some penalties, turnovers and then some just miscues early in the game last year that really cost us probably 21 points,” he said. “It should have been 28-0 at half, and instead the final score ended up being 7-6, so we want to make sure we cut those mistakes out and take advantage of every possession.”
With 19 returning starters, including quarterback Garrett Evans and the backfield duo of Caden David and Josh Chumley, the Bearcats have the edge in experience over the Warriors that could prove crucial in a close contest.
Despite the tough loss last season, Worrell and the Bearcats believe they are a different team than the one the Warriors defeated last August.
“It’s been a long time since that game,” he said. “We grew last year as a ball club, and we're a different team now than we were then, and they are too. They have some new coaches on their staff, but we're going to get out there and try to execute and hopefully start off with the road win.”
