This week in the 1993 football season my Bearcat team played the Bishop Dunne Falcons.It was our final tune-up before District games started. No matter how much time goes by there are still a few football games that I can remember almost every detail from. This was one of those games.

Pilot Point and Bishop Dunne couldn’t have been any more opposite. The best I can explain it is that Pilot Point was “country boy can survive” and Bishop Dunne was inner city just “stayin’ alive.” Again, Bishop Dunne was another school we had dominated the year before. We beat them 56-0 in 1992 at home in Pilot Point. The game had a much different feel my senior year however. It was a completely different team and more intimidating atmosphere playing on the road at their stadium located in South Dallas.  

There are a lot of things I vividly remember about this game. Some of the more memorable ones are: Walking from the locker room to the field and being greeted with profanity, etc from what appeared to be gang members. Being a captain and winning the coin toss yet not receiving the choices that we told the officials that we wanted. Playing against a couple of very talented athletes. Coach Lenny Gray pulling all the Seniors into a separate locker room at half time and motivating each one of us in a way that only Coach Gray could. What a battle the game was from beginning to end and how relieving it was once it was over.

I played with and against a ton of great athletes. Tim McNeal, Bishop Dunne’s star player that year, is one that I’ll never forget. He was also a Captain that night and I remember how jacked up he was at the pre-game meeting at mid field.  I had a feeling then that he was going to be a difference maker.  He nearly won the game with his performance that night.  

Tim McNeal ended up with 285 all-purpose yards that night. He scored a touchdown on an 84-yard kick return and almost took an interception to the house as well. He played safety on defense and wide receiver on offense as well as being a kick returner. We played similar positions for our respective teams. I was fortunately enough to burn him in the 1st half when he bit on a run fake and Chad Cole hit me in stride on a 29-yard touchdown pass. Even still, with his make-up speed and my overall lack of speed, Tim tackled me just as I was going in fort he touchdown. He was one of the fastest players I’ve ever seen. I thought we had him burnt again in the 2nd half for another score. I was wide open on a crossing route and somehow Tim came out of nowhere and intercepted the ball.  He returned it 46 yards and would have taken it all the way back for another touchdown if Bobby Erwin would not have tripped him up. That put his team in position to try to tie the game at the end of the 4th qtr. I can still remember Coach Calhoun (my Defensive Backs Coach) yelling at me to give him a big cushion and not let him get behind me.  I knew the ball was coming to him and I did give him the cushion but again with his incredible speed he got behind me. It was the next to last playoff the game and I knew I couldn’t let him score. I was fortunate enough to recover and knock the ball from his hands in the end zone.Jarrett Webb sacked their QB on the next play to preserve the victory for us.  The Cardiac Cats had pulled out another one in the end 21-13. It was an exhausting exhilarating rewarding feeling to come out ahead in that game.    

Next up for our team was District play against the Aubrey Chaparrals.

Go Bearcats!

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