Off to their hottest start in recent years, the Pilot Point Bearcats football team prepares to kick off the district portion of their season against the Dallas Madison Trojans on Friday.
The Trojans will arrive at Massey Stadium looking to find their footing after back-to-back losses against the Lincoln Tigers, 59-18, and the Dunbar Wildcats, 52-9.
“They're super athletic and well coached,” said Chad Worrell, Pilot Point athletic director and head football coach. “They have a quarterback and receiver that are as good as anybody we’ll play all year. They can take it to the house and play, and then their defense has a lot of speed on it, and they're good up front. … They're still every bit as dangerous as they were last year.”
Pilot Point’s offense, which piled up over 400 yards of total offense in their win over Howe, will look to keep rolling against a Dallas Madison defense that surrendered over 400 yards of offense against Lincoln and Dunbar.
Worrell said that the play in the trenches could prove to be a major key to the game, with the Trojans featuring three veterans up front in linemen Nicholas Davis, Joe Araujo and Dekeyvion Brown.
“Our offensive line is probably one of the most improved groups on our team,” Worrell said. “Coach [Robby] Perez and the rest of those coaches that work with those guys on a daily basis do a great job, and I feel like that's the area that we can have an advantage of coming into the game and win that battle at the line of scrimmage.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Pilot Point’s defense has smothered opposing offenses, holding the opposition to 13 or fewer points in their three wins, and will try to continue the trend against a Dallas Madison team averaging under 20 points a game over the first four weeks of the season.
Despite the Bearcats' 3-1 start, Worrell emphasized that all the teams are starting from the same place at the opening of district play.
“We had a good nondistrict going 3-1, but none of that matters,” he said. “… Going into district, none of what you've done in nondistrict counts toward helping you achieve your goals and getting into the playoffs, and this is step one for us this week with Madison. We're just going to take a business-like approach to it and have a good week of practice, and hopefully we can get some work in with the weather this week and be prepared for them on Friday.”
Pilot Point will meet Dallas Madison at 7:30 p.m. Friday at G.A. Moore Field at Massey Stadium.
