Fresh off their first win in a season opener since 2022, the 1-0 Pilot Point Bearcats’ football team returns to Massey Stadium for their home opener against the Callisburg Wildcats.
The Wildcats will also enter the contest at 1-0 after a narrow 29-27 win over the Bowie Jackrabbits on Aug. 29.
“They’ve improved from last year,” said Chad Worrell, Pilot Point athletic director and head football coach. “They changed offenses and went to an under-center, Wing-T offense, which suits their personality because they're so big up front. … They do a great job of executing their offense, so it’s going to be a huge challenge for us to stop them on both sides of the ball.”
Callisburg returns 14 starters this season, with a large portion of their experience lying in the trenches, led by seniors Teagan Lindsey and Bowen McAdams on offense.
“They have a Division I offensive tackle, [Lindsey],” Worrell said. “He's 6-foot-5, 290, and they have a couple other 290-pound guys up there. They also have a big fullback that’s 215 or 220 pounds, and they do a great job. … A lot of those linemen play the line on defensive ball as well, so they have a huge size advantage over us, so we're going to have to make sure we fire off and win the battle with our quickness.”
The Wildcats’ offensive line opened enough holes in the Jackrabbits’ defense for their backs to put 183 yards on the ground in their season opener.
Not to be outdone, Pilot Point’s offense racked up nearly 500 yards rushing against Bonham’s defense, and Worrell said executing up front will be key if the Bearcats hope to keep their rushing attack rolling.
“We have to know our assignments,” he said. “We need to get off the ball before they do and take the battle to them on their side of the line of scrimmage and stay on our feet and stay in contact with them. We're probably not going to get a whole lot of movement on those guys since they're so much bigger than us, so we're going to play fast and work our angles.”
He added that the Bearcats are using every opportunity in front of them to continue to grow.
“You learn from losses, and you have to learn from wins as well, and that’s what separates the great teams from the good ones,” Worrell said. “Even when you go out and win 56-3, you're still able to take away what you did wrong and correct those things moving forward. We know we're going to face a lot better football team this week, so it's going to be a huge challenge for our fronts on both sides of the ball, and we're just going to continue to improve and move forward.”
Worrell thanked the Bearcats’ fans for their support in the season opener and said he hopes the turnout is even bigger for the first home game of the season.
“We had a good crowd in Bonham last week,” he said. “There was a lot of excitement, and I could really hear the crowd, especially in the first half, so we want to invite everybody out for our first game at G.A. Moore Field at Massey Stadium this week. We would love to have everybody out and have a big crowd for the Callisburg game. It's going to be a big measuring stick for us because they put it on us pretty good last year, so we feel like we got a little payback coming.”
Pilot Point and Callisburg will kick off at 7 p.m. Friday.
