PILOT POINT BEARCATS
After a road trip to Mineral Wells, the 1-1 Pilot Point Bearcats return home to host the 1-1 Howe Bulldogs at Massey Stadium on Friday.
The two teams enter Week 3 going in slightly different directions after Pilot Point’s loss and Howe’s 55-13 win over the Bonham Purple Warriors in Week 2.
“They have size upfront, but they’re not as big as we saw last week, but the big thing that jumps out about them is their team speed,” said Chad Worrell, Pilot Point athletic director and head football coach. “They can throw the ball, and they have two or three guys that can just go. They’ve also done a great job over the years of settling more into their system, so they’re going to be a tough opponent this week.”
The Bulldogs return 10 starters from 2025 and appear to have already taken a step forward in 2026, with their defense, led by senior linebackers Chris Torres and Charles Fuhr, holding opponents to 21 points per game through the first two weeks after surrendering twice that the year before.
Worrell said he believes the Bearcats should be able to move the ball effectively if they can clean up the miscues they had in Week 2.
“We had a big holding penalty that put in a hole on our second drive and got caught with 12 men on the field when we tried to kick a field goal at the end of the first half,” he said. “If we can just cut out those mistakes and make sure that we’re finishing drives when we have momentum, making good blocks and converting short yardage situations, we can end our drives with points.”
On the other side of the ball, Pilot Point’s defense may have its work cut out for it, slowing down the Bulldogs’ offense led by quarterback Deacon Bender, receiver Riken Cross and athlete Rylan Strong.
“We’re going to have to play assignment football and make sure we stay at home and take care of all the options that they have when they’re running the ball from the gun,” Worrell said. “Hopefully we can win the battle upfront and get to them before they get started because they have four wideouts who can run, which is going to be a huge challenge for our secondary.”
Worrell emphasized that the Bearcats are taking the season one game at a time as they get ready for the district portion of their season.
“We had a short practice yesterday on Labor Day, and the message in the scouting report was, ‘Don’t panic because we lost a game,’” he said. “We’re playing a tougher nondistrict schedule to prepare us for our district and hopefully beyond that, and this is another one of those games that we know will make us better.”
Pilot Point and Howe are scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. Friday at G.A. Moore Field at Massey Stadium.
