PILOT POINT BEARCATS
With their third win of the season under their belts, the 3-1 Pilot Point Bearcats head back out on the road this week to face the 2-2 Farmersville Fightin’ Farmers.
The Farmers enter the matchup sitting at .500 on the season after wins over Blue Ridge and Ponder in Week 1 and Week 3 and losses to Pottsboro and Bells in Week 2 and Week 4.
“They’re explosive and can put up some points on offense, and they have some really athletic kids on defense,” said Chad Worrell, Pilot Point athletic director and head football coach. “They’re a good football team that’s still trying to find their identity, like we are right now, but they just beat the heck out of a good Ponder team a two weeks ago and got beat last Friday by a really good Bells team, so they’re a quality bunch.”
Farmersville’s offense features quarterback Levi McAbee, receiver Amare Warren, and running back Brandt Martinez, with the trio combing for over 1,000 yards of the Farmers’ offensive production and 15 touchdowns through four games.
Worrell emphasized that stopping Warren will be key for the Bearcats’ defense.
“We’re going to have to cover [him],” Worrell said. “They have three good receivers, but [he’s] their go-to-guy, and they do a lot of things to get the ball in his hands. … We’re going to have our work cut out for us against him, so we’re going to have to play smart, assignment football and make sure we wrap up and tackle. They’re a big, physical team overall, and we’re going to need to be ready for that on Friday.”
On the other side of the ball, the Bearcats offense, which averages over 400 yards of total offense so far this season, will look to keep piling up points against the Farmers’ defense, which allowed over 500 yards to Bells in Week 4.
“We’ve been playing really well, and we want to continue spreading the ball around and take what the defense gives us,” Worrell said. “If they’re stacking the line of scrimmage, we feel like we can hit them with some play-action passes and get behind their secondary.”
Despite Pilot Point’s strong start to the season, the Bearcats have remained steadfast in taking the season one week at a time, and Worrell gave all the credit to the hard work and dedication of his players and coaching staff.
“These kids do a great job, doing what we ask, which is focusing on this week’s opponent only,” he said. “We locked in on Boyd last week, and we’re turning around this week and getting ready for Farmersville. … We don’t look down the road and just try to have tunnel vision on who we have next, and that’s Farmersville. There’s a lot of history between the two of us, so this is the rekindling of an old rivalry, and we know it’s going to be a heck of a football game.”
Pilot Point and Farmersville are scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. Friday at Farmer Stadium.
