The 4-1 Pilot Point Bearcats football team heads out on the road this week to meet the No. 5 ranked Palmer Bulldogs on Friday.
The Bulldogs enter the matchup on a five-game winning streak, with their most recent victory coming in a dominant 56-16 win over Dallas A+ Academy on Sept. 26.
“They’re the defending district champs and are pretty much unanimously picked to win the district again this year,” said Chad Worrell, Pilot Point athletic director and head football coach. “They’re a super talented bunch, and they have a big core of their players, including their skill kids, back from that team last year that rolled through our district undefeated.”
Pilot Point’s defense will have its work cut out for it, trying to slow down Palmer’s offense, which is averaging 500 yards of total offense and over 50 points a game so far this season.
The Bulldogs’ offensive attack is headlined by signal caller Eric Cisneros, who has tallied over 1,600 total yards and 22 touchdowns through five games.
“He’s a special kid, and no one has been able to slow him down for two years,” Worrell said. “He plays with a lot of confidence, and he’s real slippery, but he also almost always makes great decisions with the ball. … It’s a huge challenge for our defense, and we’re going to have to limit him as much as we can.”
Pilot Point will also face a stiff challenge from Palmer’s defense, which has held their opponents to 16 points or less in three of their five games this season.
“Their defense doesn’t get the credit their offense does because they’re so explosive, but they’re very sound and well coached,” Worrell said. “We only scored 10 points on them last year, and that’s not going to get it done. We’re going to have to score more points and sustain some drives and keep the ball out of their offense’s hands.”
Worrell said his ball club is well aware they face a tall task this week, but he believes the matchup is “a good measuring stick” for the promising Pilot Point team.
“We want to see how far we’ve come as a team,” he said. “We didn’t do much with them last year, and we weren’t really happy with our effort and execution, so hopefully we can get out there and play hard, wrap up and tackle, and not let them turn 3- and 4-yard plays into big plays … so that’s what we’re going to stress to our kids this week.”
Pilot Point and Palmer will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Bulldog Stadium in Palmer.
