Coming off their second loss of the season, the 6-2 Pilot Point Bearcats football team returns home to G.A. Moore Field for the 2025 edition of the Battle of the Bearcats against the rival 5-3 Whitesboro Bearcats on Friday.
Whitesboro enters this year’s fray fresh off a 78-6 win over Dallas A+ Academy, where they piled up almost 600 yards of total offense and 10 touchdowns.
“They’re well coached, and they’re a good football team,” said Chad Worrell, Pilot Point athletic director and head football coach. “They’re going to play hard, so we know it’s going to be a battle out there on Friday. I think it’ll be a great atmosphere for the second week in a row, and we have them at home.”
Whitesboro rolls into Massey Stadium with a 3-1 district record, led by quarterback Colt Fagan, who has tallied over 1,900 total yards and 27 TDs, and running back Justin Knight, who has added 731 rushing yards and 5 scores.
“[Fagan] is a smart football player and makes great decisions with the ball,” Worrell said. “… They really don’t have any glaring weaknesses. Their offensive line is a physical group, and they have a talented group of receivers, very similar to what we saw last week in Pottsboro.”
Worrell said keeping Whitesboro behind the chains and making plays on third and fourth down will be key for Pilot Point’s defense.
“When we have the chance to get them off the field, we have to get them off the field,” he said. “… Whenever we get them in third downs, we need to get them in third longs and keep them from scoring on big plays. There were times we did that well the other night, but we have to do that well this week—make them drive the field and [force] some mistakes, whether that’s a penalty or turnover. That’s something we’ve done a good job at all year, and we have to get back to that this week.”
He added that taking care of the details would be equally important for his team’s ability to move the ball on a Whitesboro defense that has allowed 21 or more points in three of their four district games.
“We have to execute the little things and make sure we don’t have pre-snap penalties,” Worrell said. “We had too many of those the other night that put us behind the chains, and we don’t do well when we get behind the chains, so we need to do the opposite. We need to get positive yards on our first and second down and end up with third and short and convert those, and whenever we have a chance to make the big play, make that explosive play.”
Despite the tough loss against Pottsboro, Worrell said his team fully understands the importance of this Friday’s matchup.
“It’s a big rivalry game for sure, but it’s still a huge game for district standings because we haven’t clinched the playoffs,” he said. “A win would clinch the playoff for us, but a win would also probably give us a shot to be the No. 2 seed. We’re just going to reload and refocus, and our kids will be fine. … We talked about everything on Friday that we were going to talk about today, so hopefully today we come in, and they’re just completely focused on Whitesboro.”
The Battle of the Bearcats will get underway at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Massey Stadium.
