The 5-1 Pilot Point Bearcats will host the Dallas A+ Academy Knights for Pilot Point’s homecoming at G.A. Moore Field at Massey Stadium on Friday.
The Knights reeled off four wins in a row to open the season but currently sit at 4-1 after a 56-16 home loss to Palmer in their most recent game.
“They’re much improved over last year,” said Chad Worrell, Pilot Point athletic director and head football coach. “Coach [Michael] Scott has done a good job with them. They run a power-oriented rushing attack, but they can throw the ball a little bit. They started out the year 4-0, and they went to 4-1 before. They had their bye week last week, so they’ve had two weeks to prepare for us, so they’re going to be locked in.”
A+ Academy’s ground and pound offense is spearheaded by quarterback Abdiel Gurrola, who has rushed for over 650 yards and 6 touchdowns.
“He’s talented, and their offensive line does a good job blocking for him,” Worrell said. “Winning the battle at the line of scrimmage, that’s the key to stopping that, and then letting our linebackers run downhill, make tackles and make sure we wrap up and don’t let him have a second chance yards after contact.”
Pilot Point’s offense may also face a stiff challenge from an A+ Academy defense that has held its opponents to 14 points or less in four out of five games this season.
“We just have to execute,” Worrell said. “We have to make sure that we get our blocks. We’re probably going to see some type of look that we haven’t prepared for, and we’ll have to make adjustments during the game. Our coaches do a great job of that, and our kids have done a great job of picking up on those adjustments, so we have to continue to be able to [adapt], keep our feet and be fundamental on blocking and taking care of the football.”
After a 2-0 start, Pilot Point is tied for first in its district with Pottsboro, but Worrell said the Bearcats are focused on staying humble and winning one game at a time.
“I always tell them not to read too many of the newspaper articles about themselves,” he said. “… We just have to stay grounded and stay hungry and remember that the most important game is the next game, so we have to focus on A+. It’s homecoming, so we’ll have a crowd, a lot of alumni and a lot of former players there, and we want to make sure we perform well for them.”
Pilot Point will kick off its homecoming game with Dallas A+ Academy at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
