The Pilot Point Bearcats met the Whitesboro Bearcats on Oct. 31, with Pilot Point winning the Battle of the Bearcats 45-20.
Pilot Point piled up over 450 yards of total offense and six touchdowns on their way to beating their rival for the first time since 2021.
“Ten out of 10 on the effort scale, which is nothing new,” said Chad Worrell, Pilot Point athletic director and head football coach. “We play with effort every week, and our kids got after it, but I thought the difference between tonight and last week was that when we had mistakes, whether it be penalties or turnovers, we overcame it. That's what we preached all week. When bad things happen, you have to rally behind each other and make the next play, and we did.” Pilot Point received the opening kickoff, but the drive stalled after a couple of penalties, and they were forced to punt, giving Whitesboro the ball on its own 49-yard line.
Pilot Point linebacker Carter Lock would sack Whitesboro quarterback Clint Fagan on the first play of the drive, putting Whitesboro behind the chains and forcing them to punt the ball back to Pilot Point two plays later.
Pilot Point would start on their own 8-yard line but only needed one play to score, receiver Hunter Newman finding a crease in Whitesboro’s defense and racing 92 yards for the first score of the game, putting Pilot Point up 6-0 in the first quarter after a missed extra point kick.
“I got the handoff, kicked it outside, saw a huge opening, and I knew I had to use my speed,” Newman said. “I saw a [Whitesboro] helmet getting an angle on me, and I knew I just had to keep running. There was no slowing down on that point.”
Running back Josh Chumley sparked Pilot Point’s next touchdown, racing 64 yards to Whitesboro’s 3-yard line, followed by running back Ashton Williamson capping the drive with a goal-line plunge, extending Pilot Point’s lead to 13-0 with 2:31 remaining in the first quarter.
A Pilot Point fumble gave Whitesboro life, using the turnover to score and find the end zone with an 18-yard pass from Clint to Mason Scarbrough.
The Pilot Point drive only lasted one play when the ball was fumbled, and Whitesboro recovered on the 18-yard line.
Whitesboro scored on the second play of the drive with an 18yard pass from Colt Fagan to running back Scarbrough, cutting Pilot Point’s lead to 13-7.
Pilot Point fumbled again on their next drive, giving the ball back to Whitesboro at midfield, but this time Pilot Point’s defense stiffened, forcing Whitesboro to punt.
Pilot Point got the ball on the 3-yard line and went on an 11play drive that was capped off with a 6-yard touchdown run by fullback Caden David, pushing Pilot Point’s lead to two scores.
Pilot Point’s defense got a turnover of their own when defensive back Lane Eft ended Whitesboro’s next possession with an interception, sending the teams into the half with Pilot Point up 20-7. Whitesboro started the next drive on their own 32-yard line and drove down to Pilot Point’s 18-yard line when Eft intercepted a pass to end the drive.
The two teams would trade touchdowns in the third quarter, but Pilot Point pulled in the fourth, outscoring Whitesboro 18-6 to take the 45-20 win.
Pilot Point’s ground attack generated 415 yards rushing, led by 151 yards from Chumley and 114 yards from Newman.
On the other side of the ball, Pilot Point’s defense bottled up a Whitesboro offense that came in averaging 47 points per game in district play.
“We were all motivated to get that second seed and stop them as much as we could,” Pilot Point linebacker Jason Rangel said. “… We had the [junior varsity] run all of their plays, and the plays they ran in practice, we saw them here, and we executed well.”
The night was also the final home game for Pilot Point’s seniors, and Lock shared his appreciation for the moment.
“To come out here in front of your town and win, when you just want to play well, and it's against our biggest rivals, it’s the best feeling ever,” he said. “It's been a rough go, and we hadn't gotten the job done the last few years, but we're finally back and did it in a pretty good fashion tonight. … Thank you to all our friends and family for everything. We couldn’t do it without you all.”
Assistant editor Martin Edwards contributed to this report.
