The time had finally arrived. The coaching staff and returning starters had been waiting for this moment since we pulled out of Shotwell stadium back in December after our promising season was cut short 1 week early. For the new additions to the roster, it was the week they got to show what they could do in 4 quarters of live game action. Coach Feldt’s philosophy was to divide up the season into 3 parts. The first part was our non-district schedule, and he looked at this as basically a Pre-season. These games were to kind of a measuring stick, and to fine tune us into the machine we would become when district started. Coach Feldt scheduled us against 4 - 3A schools and we had a match-up against a 2A team from west Texas on a neutral site later in the year. It was a good opportunity for us to see who we really were. The schedules from ’08 & ’09 were exactly the same except the home & away had switched from the year before. In ’08 all 5 of the teams we had in non-district were pretty solid teams that were all in contention to make the playoffs in their respected district, but most of them had taken a step back in ’09. We didn’t know that going in, but it became apparent as the season progressed.
The first game of the year was on the road to face the Whitesboro Bearcats. They had really pushed us in the opener of the ’08 season. It wasn’t a close game exactly, but they pushed us to execute and play physically. They had some big, strong, and fast guys that could expose us if we didn’t do our jobs. Remembering that game, I felt like we were in for the same kind of match-up this year, so I was excited for the opportunity to get out on the field and get that same sort of match-up. Whitesboro does something very similar to what Pilot Point did at the time when it came to the visitor’s locker rooms. It was a very outdated, very small locker room that could not hold all of us and it was across a parking lot that we had to walk across to get to the field. I couldn’t help but notice the irony of that since I had always wondered what it felt like for the visitors at Massey Stadium. We received the opening kick-off and it quickly became the Jarman Johnson & Seth Tilley show. Between the two they Scored all 5 touchdowns. Seth & Jarman connected on passing TD’s of 52 & 57. Jarman added 2 rushing TD’s of 61 & 3 and to top it all off Seth added an 8-yard rushing TD of his own in the 4th quarter. Offensive line is a group that has to feel each other anticipate what the man next to them is going to do even before they do it. It takes time to develop and with 3 guys making their first start, we weren’t even close to accomplishing that. In the end though, our athletes were just to good. The defense showed flashes that night of defense that could be dominate We could stop the run, control the line of scrimmage, and get after the quarterback. Our defense held Whitesboro to 100 yards of offense on the night and held them off the scoreboard totally. The bus ride home that night was a normal bus ride home after a win. Lots of laughing and even some singing. As I’m sure anyone who played high school sports knows. The bus ride home after a win is one of the things that make you look back at your time and miss those days. The joy carried over the rest of the night and we expected it to carry over to Saturday morning film.
When we got to the field house bright and early Saturday morning it did not feel like we just won our season opener. It was quiet and the coaches looked like they had a long night. Every Friday night after the game the coaches would watch game film, assign us grades for the game, and make notes of what to talk about Saturday morning when we got there. I remember for a very brief moment wondering if I had dreamed that we won because the vibe I was getting was not that of a dominating 34-0 win. Coach Allen walked into the office that the O-line watched the film in and dropped the grades down on the table. You could see everyone’s grade and even a + or – for every play. Every one of us failed. Most of which failed miserably. Right before we got started coach Feldt stormed in and let us know what he thought of our performance. It was pretty harsh, and I think a wakeup call for all 5 of us up front. Watching the film was tough. A lot of things can be covered up in a 34-0 win, but the film doesn’t lie. I think it humbled us as a group and reminded us that we could be dominate, but we weren’t anything that resembled dominate at this point. After film was done our O-line coach turned it off and turned to us all and said, “Think about how much better we could’ve played up front. Think about all the missed blocks and all the extra things we could have done but didn’t. All that and our skill position players still dominated that game. Look how good they are. Who is going to beat us with those players doing what they do back there, and y’all doing what y’all are capable of.” It was pretty eye opening and he was right. If we did our job, there wasn’t a team in the state that could beat us.
That seemed to be the theme of how that coaches approached the early part of the schedule. It wasn’t about the final score. We were going to play some games that year where we could have played our worst possible game and still won by 30. It was all about us and executing and comparing where we were as a team, to where we could be as a team. Every week it was us competing against ourselves.
We had studied how we played against Whitesboro and knew what we needed to work on. Now take this show on the road against the Lake Worth Bull Frogs.
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Terri Slay's view from the press box 11.15.2019. Voice of the Bearcats and local sports humorist shares his thoughts on the Bearcat's victory over Jim Ned. Stayed tuned at the end of this segment there is a special report from deep in Slaton, Texas.
The views and opinions expressed in Terri Slay's View From the Press Box are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of pilotpointbearcats.com. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.
The views and opinions expressed in Terri Slay's View From the Press Box are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of pilotpointbearcats.com. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.
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The views and opinions expressed in Terri Slay's View From the Press Box are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of pilotpointbearcats.com. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.
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Custom Built, Immaculately Kept, 3 Bedroom 2 Bath Home Nicely Situated On 5.2 Acres With Multiple Outbuildings & Room To Roam, Conveniently Located To HWY 377 & Minutes From Dallas North Tollway. The Large Open Floor Plan With Split Bedroom Concept Offers Tall Vaulted Ceiling & Custom Built In's In The Living, Dining & Kitchen, Large Master Bedroom With Huge Master Bath Featuring Double Sinks, Laundry Area, Jacuzzi Tub & Separate Shower. The Home Boasts Of Pride In Ownership & Has Been Well Loved & Taken Care Of. Walk Out The Back Door & Enjoy Views Of The Well Manicured Grounds That Are Irrigated With A Sprinkler System Fed By 210ft Deep Well. Multiple Outbuildings & Pens For Livestock Or Show Animals. Offered by Laura Bradley 940.390.3911. 10207 Mohon Lane, Pilot Point, Texas $487,900
pilot point v aubrey 2009
by Ryne Menard
Ryne outdid himself this week. This story is 3000+ words and 8 pages. The only way to post it was as a PDF download.
THe story
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Pilot point vs callisburg 2009
"the mud bowl"
by Ryne Menard
The Callisburg Wildcats were a very tough football team. The ’09 senior class in Callisburg had a very talented bunch of football players and had always given us a run for our money. My first memory of Callisburg is when we beat them in the 5th-6th grade Pee-Wee super bowl at Fouts Field, UNT’s old stadium. That was a dog fight that we had forgotten about come the ’08 season. We entered that game with a high-powered offense and didn’t think too much about Callisburg holding us down. We were in for quite a fight that night. Our offense had been averaging 48 points a game over the previous 6 games before being held to 18 by the Wildcat defense in an 18-13 home win over Callisburg. With ’08 game against Callisburg, and the fact they made the state quarterfinals, we were not taking this road game lightly. We knew it would be a huge test and would play a big factor in repeating as district champions. There was nothing flashy about Callisburg’s team. They were a group of tough, disciplined football players, and their two standout players were QB/Safety Bobby Dorman & RB/DE Langston Jones. Langston Jones was a new move in for Callisburg and the fact he played RB/DE should give you an idea of the mix of size and athleticism he had. He did not play in the game in ’08, but we were well aware that he could be a difference maker in this game.
Natural Grass football fields always take a beating during the season and they show their wear and tear towards the end of the season. With two weeks straight of rain, Callisburg’s football field was an absolute mud pit. There wasn’t much grass left on the field in-between the hash marks when the game started, and there was no grass left when the game ended. You can game plan for a team, a mud pit is similar to playing in snow. Every step you take you’re just hoping that your cleat dug down deep enough to gain you enough traction to make the move you need to make. I had always thought conditions like mud or snow might be better for the offense because you know where you want to go as opposed the defense just having to run towards where they think the ball is going, and hoping you didn’t slip and fall on your face when a guy tried to make a cut. There was definitely plenty of that that night, but it also makes for a slippery ball.
The game started pretty well with Pilot Point receiving the opening kick-off and we put together a pretty decent drive that we capped off with a 17-yard TD run by Seth Tilley. We were blocking well up front and seemed to be controlling the line of scrimmage. It was a pretty big relief to get on the board early after how difficult it was to move the ball on Callisburg the year before. Callisburg answered our score on their next drive on a 6-yard run by QB Bobby Dorman. For what we all thought would be a low scoring slugfest, offense and big plays were easy to come by early. We followed Dorman’s touchdown with another scoring drive ending with a. 17-yard pass from Seth Tilley to JP Price. The passing game was our biggest improvement from ’08 to ’09. We finished the ’08 game against Callisburg with a total of 3-yards passing for the entire game. We stopped the Wildcats on their next possession forcing a punt and we had our chance to add some cushion between us and Callisburg when our drive stalled. We were forced to put and that’s when the slipping and sliding really began. Bobby Dorman caught the punt at his own 20-yard line and navigated his way down the muddy field for an 80-yard punt return for a TD right before the end of the quarter. What we thought we might turn into a 14-point lead at the end of the first quarter turned right back into a tie game. We responded well on our opening drive of the second quarter. Jarman Johnson took a hand-off around the left side of the line and safety Bobby Dorman was the only guy between Jarman and the endzone. As good as an athlete as Dorman was, Jarman’s slick moves and the even slicker ground Jarman put a little move on Dorman and Dorman’s feet came right out from under him and Jarman walked in for a 28-yard TD. From this point on offense was tough for both sides. We were all probably 20 pounds heavier trying to moved covered in mud and soaked from the standing water on the field. Everyone had inches of mud caked on to their cleats. We did add a 32-yard field goal before the half, and that in itself was a miracle under those conditions. We went into half time with a seemingly commanding 24-14 lead.
During half time we did our best to dry off and get some mud off of us. Some of us brought extra cleats and the others were beating theirs on the concrete trying to uncover their spikes to help regain the traction. It was all for not because the field was in such rough shape before we even finished getting loose again for the second half, we were all already covered again.
The second half was an example of one unit picking up the other. We were getting nothing going offensively and the defense was continuing to answer the bell. On offense it seemed like every time we came off the field after another failed drive, our frustration was building, but our defense was embracing the challenge and was dominating the game. The third quarter was just an exchange of turnovers from both sides. This game had turned as ugly as the weather. We had fumbled twice through the first three quarters and our defense had forced a plethora of turnovers of their own. A minute in to the 4th quarter, still holding on to our 10-point lead, disaster struck! We were going on a drive had the ball deep in Callisburg territory. We called a run play, and something happened on the exchange between Seth and Jarman and a breakdown in protection happened all at the same time. We put the ball on the ground and Callisburg DE Langston Jones picked up the fumble and rumbled 80-yards with it and but the lead down to 4 points. The defense tried to bail us out and get some points back and blocked the extra point and attempted to run it back to add two points of our own but fell short of the endzone. So, what seemed like a commanding 10-point lead was now down to 4 and Callisburg had all the momentum. We continued to stall out on offense and our defense continued to rise to the challenge play after play. On the night our defensive forced 6 turnovers. They recovered 3 fumbles and collected 3 interceptions! Our defense gave us the ball with just a few minutes to go in the game and we knew we had to do our part and put this game away. It was time to do our part and we pounded out a physical, dominate drive just pounding the ball between the tackles and iced the game with a 13-yard TD run by Jarman with just 55 seconds to go in the game. It was over and the perfect season was still alive.
Anything Callisburg lacked in talent they made up for with grit and a refusal to go away. This Callisburg team ended up losing in the 2A Division II State Semi-final game to state runner-up Bushland . They had the lead in the 4th quarter and just couldn’t hold on. That win over Callisburg was definitely one made us that much more battle tested going forward, and we would need it because it was nothing but huge games from here on out.
Next week was without a doubt one of the craziest high school football experiences I had ever been a part of. It was the 9-0 Aubrey Chaparrals coached by G.A. Moore coming to Massey Stadium to take on our 9-0 Pilot Point Bearcats for the district championship!
Natural Grass football fields always take a beating during the season and they show their wear and tear towards the end of the season. With two weeks straight of rain, Callisburg’s football field was an absolute mud pit. There wasn’t much grass left on the field in-between the hash marks when the game started, and there was no grass left when the game ended. You can game plan for a team, a mud pit is similar to playing in snow. Every step you take you’re just hoping that your cleat dug down deep enough to gain you enough traction to make the move you need to make. I had always thought conditions like mud or snow might be better for the offense because you know where you want to go as opposed the defense just having to run towards where they think the ball is going, and hoping you didn’t slip and fall on your face when a guy tried to make a cut. There was definitely plenty of that that night, but it also makes for a slippery ball.
The game started pretty well with Pilot Point receiving the opening kick-off and we put together a pretty decent drive that we capped off with a 17-yard TD run by Seth Tilley. We were blocking well up front and seemed to be controlling the line of scrimmage. It was a pretty big relief to get on the board early after how difficult it was to move the ball on Callisburg the year before. Callisburg answered our score on their next drive on a 6-yard run by QB Bobby Dorman. For what we all thought would be a low scoring slugfest, offense and big plays were easy to come by early. We followed Dorman’s touchdown with another scoring drive ending with a. 17-yard pass from Seth Tilley to JP Price. The passing game was our biggest improvement from ’08 to ’09. We finished the ’08 game against Callisburg with a total of 3-yards passing for the entire game. We stopped the Wildcats on their next possession forcing a punt and we had our chance to add some cushion between us and Callisburg when our drive stalled. We were forced to put and that’s when the slipping and sliding really began. Bobby Dorman caught the punt at his own 20-yard line and navigated his way down the muddy field for an 80-yard punt return for a TD right before the end of the quarter. What we thought we might turn into a 14-point lead at the end of the first quarter turned right back into a tie game. We responded well on our opening drive of the second quarter. Jarman Johnson took a hand-off around the left side of the line and safety Bobby Dorman was the only guy between Jarman and the endzone. As good as an athlete as Dorman was, Jarman’s slick moves and the even slicker ground Jarman put a little move on Dorman and Dorman’s feet came right out from under him and Jarman walked in for a 28-yard TD. From this point on offense was tough for both sides. We were all probably 20 pounds heavier trying to moved covered in mud and soaked from the standing water on the field. Everyone had inches of mud caked on to their cleats. We did add a 32-yard field goal before the half, and that in itself was a miracle under those conditions. We went into half time with a seemingly commanding 24-14 lead.
During half time we did our best to dry off and get some mud off of us. Some of us brought extra cleats and the others were beating theirs on the concrete trying to uncover their spikes to help regain the traction. It was all for not because the field was in such rough shape before we even finished getting loose again for the second half, we were all already covered again.
The second half was an example of one unit picking up the other. We were getting nothing going offensively and the defense was continuing to answer the bell. On offense it seemed like every time we came off the field after another failed drive, our frustration was building, but our defense was embracing the challenge and was dominating the game. The third quarter was just an exchange of turnovers from both sides. This game had turned as ugly as the weather. We had fumbled twice through the first three quarters and our defense had forced a plethora of turnovers of their own. A minute in to the 4th quarter, still holding on to our 10-point lead, disaster struck! We were going on a drive had the ball deep in Callisburg territory. We called a run play, and something happened on the exchange between Seth and Jarman and a breakdown in protection happened all at the same time. We put the ball on the ground and Callisburg DE Langston Jones picked up the fumble and rumbled 80-yards with it and but the lead down to 4 points. The defense tried to bail us out and get some points back and blocked the extra point and attempted to run it back to add two points of our own but fell short of the endzone. So, what seemed like a commanding 10-point lead was now down to 4 and Callisburg had all the momentum. We continued to stall out on offense and our defense continued to rise to the challenge play after play. On the night our defensive forced 6 turnovers. They recovered 3 fumbles and collected 3 interceptions! Our defense gave us the ball with just a few minutes to go in the game and we knew we had to do our part and put this game away. It was time to do our part and we pounded out a physical, dominate drive just pounding the ball between the tackles and iced the game with a 13-yard TD run by Jarman with just 55 seconds to go in the game. It was over and the perfect season was still alive.
Anything Callisburg lacked in talent they made up for with grit and a refusal to go away. This Callisburg team ended up losing in the 2A Division II State Semi-final game to state runner-up Bushland . They had the lead in the 4th quarter and just couldn’t hold on. That win over Callisburg was definitely one made us that much more battle tested going forward, and we would need it because it was nothing but huge games from here on out.
Next week was without a doubt one of the craziest high school football experiences I had ever been a part of. It was the 9-0 Aubrey Chaparrals coached by G.A. Moore coming to Massey Stadium to take on our 9-0 Pilot Point Bearcats for the district championship!
Pilot Point Bearcats shuts out Paradise 24-0
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Terri Slay's View From the Pres Box 10.26.2019
The views and opinions expressed in Terri Slay's View From the Press Box are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of pilotpointbearcats.com. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.
drc football capsule Paradise at Pilot Point
denton record chronicle
Pilot point vs valley view 2009
by Ryne Menard
Fresh off of our 63-0 win over S&S it was time to prepare for another opponent from the bottom of our district in Valley View. That being said, there was a difference between S&S and Valley View. Valley View had a pretty good core of talent. They just only had 18-20 kids on varsity. Their defensive ends were 6’2” & 6’5” with above average athleticism, their middle linebacker was a monster and both his grandpa (who the Valley View stadium was named after) and his dad both played football at OU. Valley View’s QB could also sling the ball around. With all that going for them, they could be dangerous if we took them lightly.
The game plan for Valley View wasn’t very complex. It was to exploit their lack of depth and wear them down with physicality on both sides of the ball. We had the rare benefit for a 2A football team of having 22 different starters on our team. That is almost unheard of for a 2A football team and a luxury that Valley View didn’t have. Almost everyone on the Valley View roster was going to have to play significant time on both sides of the ball. Especially all their best athletes. Of all of the athletes the one that stood out the most was middle linebacker and wide receiver A.J. Kassen. Valley View’s stadium was named after John Kassen, A.J.’s grandpa, and both his dad and grandpa played football at the University of Oklahoma. A.J. didn’t quite get the size from them, but he sure got his talent and his ability to light someone up from them. We knew he could be a problem and he was our point of emphasis during the week on the offensive side of the ball.
This week was the start of a period of about 2 weeks straight of rain every day. It wasn’t a continuous down pour, but we’d see a few hours of rain every day. By the time we got to Valley View, they had tried their best to prepare the field, but there were entire sections of sideline that there were ankle deep puddles of standing water. The playing surface itself held up pretty well though and wasn’t just an absolute mud bowl. (That would be next week in Callisburg.) Most everyone brought an extra pair of cleats because we figured it’d get messy and it did.
When the game started, we took the opening kickoff. We came out to run our offense when we immediately noticed something odd looking about their defense. Valley View normally lined up in a 4-3 type front where they had 4 down lineman, highlighted by their lengthy defensive ends and 3 linebackers centered by their star A.J. Kassen. Well on the first play of the game they had come out in something we had never seen before and to this day I have never seen again. They brought out only 3 defensive lineman and lined their nose tackle over the center, which was not something they normally did. They kept their 3-linebacker set and lined them up normally but Kassen wasn’t their middle linebacker. They gave him a new position that we called “The Monster”. He lined up in a 2-point stance (standing up) in-between the down lineman and their regularly aligned linebackers. I guess the thought was they would widen their tall lengthy defensive ends to try and contain us from getting outside and they would give Kassen free run in-between the tackles to use his senses and his skills to keep us from running between the tackles. It made for a weird look and a bit of a thinker, but we knew our blocking rules up front and if you just follow your rules, there is an answer for everything. We figured it out pretty quick and scored our first TD of the night less than 3 minutes into the game on an 8-yard run by Seth Tilley. I do have to say though, A.J. Kassen did live up to his name. I was coming down to make a down block on him and I had a running start and caught him flat footed and was thinking I was about to bury him into the mud when he saw me coming and planted his foot and drove his shoulder into me… It was the hardest I had EVER been hit and I made sure to let the other guys up front know to not take him likely. As lengthy as the defensive ends were, they were surprisingly easy to reach and turn so we were able to get outside in the run game as well. I give Valley View credit though. They knew they were outmatched and instead of just taking it, they came up with something creative and fought like hell! It just wasn’t enough. We scored 2 more times in the first quarter on a 20-yard TD pass from Tilley to Colin Noe and a 4-yard run from Jarman Johnson. Valley View added their only score of the game on a 5-yard run from their RB Scott Willis. We added 4 more scores on the night on runs of 5 & 49 by Jarman, an 11-yard run by Tilley, and a 30-yard field goal by Ruben Martinez. Our defense continued their run of dominance by only allowing 201 yards and forcing 3 interceptions.
This win had moved us to 8-0 and we were sitting at number 7 in the state rankings. We were headed towards or 2 toughest test of the regular season coming up and we would start that in a mess of a game at Callisburg. We beat them in 2008 at home, but they definitely surprised us with how good they were that night, so we would not be surprised this time.
The game plan for Valley View wasn’t very complex. It was to exploit their lack of depth and wear them down with physicality on both sides of the ball. We had the rare benefit for a 2A football team of having 22 different starters on our team. That is almost unheard of for a 2A football team and a luxury that Valley View didn’t have. Almost everyone on the Valley View roster was going to have to play significant time on both sides of the ball. Especially all their best athletes. Of all of the athletes the one that stood out the most was middle linebacker and wide receiver A.J. Kassen. Valley View’s stadium was named after John Kassen, A.J.’s grandpa, and both his dad and grandpa played football at the University of Oklahoma. A.J. didn’t quite get the size from them, but he sure got his talent and his ability to light someone up from them. We knew he could be a problem and he was our point of emphasis during the week on the offensive side of the ball.
This week was the start of a period of about 2 weeks straight of rain every day. It wasn’t a continuous down pour, but we’d see a few hours of rain every day. By the time we got to Valley View, they had tried their best to prepare the field, but there were entire sections of sideline that there were ankle deep puddles of standing water. The playing surface itself held up pretty well though and wasn’t just an absolute mud bowl. (That would be next week in Callisburg.) Most everyone brought an extra pair of cleats because we figured it’d get messy and it did.
When the game started, we took the opening kickoff. We came out to run our offense when we immediately noticed something odd looking about their defense. Valley View normally lined up in a 4-3 type front where they had 4 down lineman, highlighted by their lengthy defensive ends and 3 linebackers centered by their star A.J. Kassen. Well on the first play of the game they had come out in something we had never seen before and to this day I have never seen again. They brought out only 3 defensive lineman and lined their nose tackle over the center, which was not something they normally did. They kept their 3-linebacker set and lined them up normally but Kassen wasn’t their middle linebacker. They gave him a new position that we called “The Monster”. He lined up in a 2-point stance (standing up) in-between the down lineman and their regularly aligned linebackers. I guess the thought was they would widen their tall lengthy defensive ends to try and contain us from getting outside and they would give Kassen free run in-between the tackles to use his senses and his skills to keep us from running between the tackles. It made for a weird look and a bit of a thinker, but we knew our blocking rules up front and if you just follow your rules, there is an answer for everything. We figured it out pretty quick and scored our first TD of the night less than 3 minutes into the game on an 8-yard run by Seth Tilley. I do have to say though, A.J. Kassen did live up to his name. I was coming down to make a down block on him and I had a running start and caught him flat footed and was thinking I was about to bury him into the mud when he saw me coming and planted his foot and drove his shoulder into me… It was the hardest I had EVER been hit and I made sure to let the other guys up front know to not take him likely. As lengthy as the defensive ends were, they were surprisingly easy to reach and turn so we were able to get outside in the run game as well. I give Valley View credit though. They knew they were outmatched and instead of just taking it, they came up with something creative and fought like hell! It just wasn’t enough. We scored 2 more times in the first quarter on a 20-yard TD pass from Tilley to Colin Noe and a 4-yard run from Jarman Johnson. Valley View added their only score of the game on a 5-yard run from their RB Scott Willis. We added 4 more scores on the night on runs of 5 & 49 by Jarman, an 11-yard run by Tilley, and a 30-yard field goal by Ruben Martinez. Our defense continued their run of dominance by only allowing 201 yards and forcing 3 interceptions.
This win had moved us to 8-0 and we were sitting at number 7 in the state rankings. We were headed towards or 2 toughest test of the regular season coming up and we would start that in a mess of a game at Callisburg. We beat them in 2008 at home, but they definitely surprised us with how good they were that night, so we would not be surprised this time.
pelzel's barber shop players of the game
Pilot Point boys win district titles
denton record chronicle
Pilot Point meets Boyd in battle for top spot in district
denton record chronicle
pilot point v s&S 2009
by Ryne Menard
It could be argued that district (9-2A) was the best 2A district in the state. We had a state champion, a state semi-finalist, and a state quarterfinalist. With that being said, the district was a bit top heavy and like every district, it had a team or 2 that were just not very good. S&S was at the bottom of our district and it was almost like a bye week that week. I heard former Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer say recently that week’s where top level teams are playing teams that can’t really challenge them are almost better than bye weeks. They get to have a bit of a mental break, but still get a full week of practice to really get back to fundamentals, and a game at the end of the week to keep sharp. Now thinking back, this week seemed similar. We implemented our game plan, but from what I remember, it was pretty simple game plan and was just us getting back to the core of our offense and doing what we being physical at the line of scrimmage. The defense prepared for a few of the quirks that S&S had in their offense, but it was more about being physical and disciplined. The discipline would become particularly important this week, but not for the reason you might think.
Friday night’s match-up would be at Massey Stadium which was a relief to those that had played at S&S the year before. The fence around S&S’s field was a cast iron fence, and it was just a couple yards off the field which made running into it a major concern. The smoke from the grill of the concession stand seemed to drift over the field and just hover over there which made catching your breath a bit difficult, and actually made you a little hungry. When the game was over, we were on the field talking to parents and friends when the stadium lights got turned out on us on “accident”. I write “accident” like that because everyone from S&S seemed to already be gone when they shut them off. All that being said, we weren’t mad at them. We were just glad to be playing at home.
When S&S took the field, they weren’t wearing the same jersey’s we had seen on film, or the year before. They seemed more like practice jersey’s which I thought was odd. We took the opening kickoff and not unexpectedly we scored on the second play with a 24-yard pass from Seth Tilley to J.P. Price. We went for two and the attempt failed. It seemed like I had just got back to the sideline and unbuckled my chin strap when I saw a 15yard pooch kick flutter through the air where there were no S&S defenders and we recovered the ball. It was a called play where Defensive coordinator coach Kloiber would stand in a certain spot of the sideline and if the defense lined up a certain way, Kloiber would signal our kicker Ruben and he would kick it right at Kloiber. We got the look and gave the signal and Ruben and the kickoff team executed it perfectly. I just shook my head, buckled my chin strap back and headed back out to the field thinking it was a bit silly. A few plays later we capitalized with a 7-yard TD run by QB Seth Tilley. We kicked it deep this time. S&S didn’t hold the ball very long when the first play linebacker Mason Guthrie intercepted the S&S pass. Jarman Johnson scored on the very next play on a 32-yard run. There were times where we would run outside run plays and all 5 offensive lineman would open up and run to seal the edge and the entire S&S defensive line would run the opposite way and try to basically catch our running backs from behind. That wasn’t a very effective strategy. There is one play on the film (I think it’s the 32yard TD by Jarman) where we are running a jet sweep to the right. All 5 offensive lineman are running down the field in a single file line like a freight train with the ball carrier running right beside us. The entire defense basically just moved out of the way and there was only the safety between the convoy and the endzone. The safety made no attempt to get in there and make the play. For a team that wanted to be physical it was tough to stay disciplined and just move to where we were supposed to be. We added 9 more touchdowns that night on runs of 1,2,& 79-yards by Jarman Johnson, 11-yards by Seth Tilley, 7-yards by Jeremy Jackson and another 25-yard touchdown pass from Seth Tilley to Collin Noe. Our defense was just as dominate as the offense that night. They saw their fair share of S&S players running from the physicality. All their ball carries would run out of bounds at the sight of defenders or their running backs would basically just torpedo down low when our guys were coming into make the tackle. One of our cornerbacks had a temporary lack of discipline. Wes Haughton wasn’t your typical cornerback. He always wanted contact and loved to make the big hit. Well every time he got the chance the make a tackle the opposing ball carrier would run out of bounds. Well frustration got the best of him in the second half. A S&S player ran out of bounds a few yards ahead of Wes, but Wes didn’t slow down. He plowed right through the ball carrier anyways. He got his 15 yard late hit penalty, but in his mind it was worth it. I can say looking back at it, it was a pretty funny move. The defense held S&S to 99 total yards and forced 2 turnover.
When the game was over the stadium lights stayed on long enough for us to have plenty of time on the field to socialize with family and friends. It was a nice win and we were ready to look to next week where we would take on Valley View.
Friday night’s match-up would be at Massey Stadium which was a relief to those that had played at S&S the year before. The fence around S&S’s field was a cast iron fence, and it was just a couple yards off the field which made running into it a major concern. The smoke from the grill of the concession stand seemed to drift over the field and just hover over there which made catching your breath a bit difficult, and actually made you a little hungry. When the game was over, we were on the field talking to parents and friends when the stadium lights got turned out on us on “accident”. I write “accident” like that because everyone from S&S seemed to already be gone when they shut them off. All that being said, we weren’t mad at them. We were just glad to be playing at home.
When S&S took the field, they weren’t wearing the same jersey’s we had seen on film, or the year before. They seemed more like practice jersey’s which I thought was odd. We took the opening kickoff and not unexpectedly we scored on the second play with a 24-yard pass from Seth Tilley to J.P. Price. We went for two and the attempt failed. It seemed like I had just got back to the sideline and unbuckled my chin strap when I saw a 15yard pooch kick flutter through the air where there were no S&S defenders and we recovered the ball. It was a called play where Defensive coordinator coach Kloiber would stand in a certain spot of the sideline and if the defense lined up a certain way, Kloiber would signal our kicker Ruben and he would kick it right at Kloiber. We got the look and gave the signal and Ruben and the kickoff team executed it perfectly. I just shook my head, buckled my chin strap back and headed back out to the field thinking it was a bit silly. A few plays later we capitalized with a 7-yard TD run by QB Seth Tilley. We kicked it deep this time. S&S didn’t hold the ball very long when the first play linebacker Mason Guthrie intercepted the S&S pass. Jarman Johnson scored on the very next play on a 32-yard run. There were times where we would run outside run plays and all 5 offensive lineman would open up and run to seal the edge and the entire S&S defensive line would run the opposite way and try to basically catch our running backs from behind. That wasn’t a very effective strategy. There is one play on the film (I think it’s the 32yard TD by Jarman) where we are running a jet sweep to the right. All 5 offensive lineman are running down the field in a single file line like a freight train with the ball carrier running right beside us. The entire defense basically just moved out of the way and there was only the safety between the convoy and the endzone. The safety made no attempt to get in there and make the play. For a team that wanted to be physical it was tough to stay disciplined and just move to where we were supposed to be. We added 9 more touchdowns that night on runs of 1,2,& 79-yards by Jarman Johnson, 11-yards by Seth Tilley, 7-yards by Jeremy Jackson and another 25-yard touchdown pass from Seth Tilley to Collin Noe. Our defense was just as dominate as the offense that night. They saw their fair share of S&S players running from the physicality. All their ball carries would run out of bounds at the sight of defenders or their running backs would basically just torpedo down low when our guys were coming into make the tackle. One of our cornerbacks had a temporary lack of discipline. Wes Haughton wasn’t your typical cornerback. He always wanted contact and loved to make the big hit. Well every time he got the chance the make a tackle the opposing ball carrier would run out of bounds. Well frustration got the best of him in the second half. A S&S player ran out of bounds a few yards ahead of Wes, but Wes didn’t slow down. He plowed right through the ball carrier anyways. He got his 15 yard late hit penalty, but in his mind it was worth it. I can say looking back at it, it was a pretty funny move. The defense held S&S to 99 total yards and forced 2 turnover.
When the game was over the stadium lights stayed on long enough for us to have plenty of time on the field to socialize with family and friends. It was a nice win and we were ready to look to next week where we would take on Valley View.
pelzel's barber shop player of the game
terri slay's view from the press box 10.11.2019
The views and opinions expressed in Terri Slay's View From the Press Box are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of pilotpointbearcats.com. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.
Pilot Point vs. Pottsboro 2009
by Ryne Menard
Fresh off the bye week it was time to start of the second half of the regular season, and district play would be starting up on the road against the 0-5 Pottsboro Cardinals. It was weird seeing Pottsboro’s record at 0-5 because we had edged them out 33-27 in ’08 in a slugfest at Massey stadium. They finished the ‘08 season with a record of 13-2 and losing in the 2A division-2 state semi-final game. It was surprising to see them take such a huge step back, but keeping with the coach’s theme of the season, we just focused on us, and what we needed to do, and we knew we would be fine.
Before every game starts, we would take the field for warm-ups in 3 groups. Group 1 would be the special team’s group, such as the kicker, punter, long snappers, kick returners, and the QB’s to go warm up. Group 2 would follow, which consist of the rest of the skill position players. Last would be group 3. That was all the lineman. Cam Feldt or I would lead us out of the locker room, and we would meet up with the rest of the team in the endzone on the side we were warming up on and then break it out and stretch. In Pottsboro the visitor’s locker room as in the back corner of the stadium behind one of the endzones. The side we were warming up on was all the way down on the other side of the field. No big deal to us. We would just walk in a single file line to about the 50-yard line and then start running to the endzone to meet with the rest of the team. This wasn’t unusual, but what made this time different was Pottsboro were doing their warm-ups on the side of the field we were going to be walking through and there was a position group doing their drills on the sideline that we planned to walk through. We wanted to send a message, so didn’t change what we do. We walked right down that sideline right through the middle of their position drills. They had to stop and wait as we walked through their drill one-by-one. Being at the front I remember seeing this position group and trying to figure out what group they were. They were really small, so they couldn’t be the lineman. I thought they might be the DB’s, but there was another position group that I saw that had smaller guys than this one. The only one that made since was this was the LB’s, which if true meant we were going to dominate them all night long. As we walked through their group, I made eye contact with one guy in particular. He was #8 and his eyes told me that he wasn’t looking forward to the next 4 quarters of football. I remember telling Cam, “I hope he is lined up across from us” and Cam laughed at what would probably happen if he did.
The game started and wouldn’t you know it, #8 was the linebacker that had the assignment of lining up across from Cam and me. We expected to get off to a fast start on offense that night, but it didn’t happen that way. We were protecting well, and we were winning the line of scrimmage, but we just weren’t moving the ball. After the first drive we came off the field a little confused and the O-lineman had our meeting with Coach Allen, and we had all made our blocks and sometimes that just happens. The next 2 drives both stalled the same way and coach Allen told us that Pottsboro’s defensive coordinator was basically calling the game of his life. He said that they were blitzing every play and it just seemed they were calling the perfect play every play. Just keep doing what we do, and we would expose them. Our defense was doing their part and shutting down the Pottsboro offense as well, so it was a bit of a dull start. At the end of the first Quarter the score was 3-3 with nothing but a field goal for both sides. The dull start carried in the second quarter before we finally busted a big run. You could feel a bit of a weight lift off our shoulders and a play or two later Jarman Johnson railed off a 37-yard TD run to give us a 10-3 lead we carried into half.
Our physicality finally became too much for them and came out with a big 3rd quarter. We scored 3 times on runs of 7-yards by Jarman and a 2-yard run by Mason Guthrie, and a 30-yard TD pass to Justin Chambers. As for #8 for Pottsboro, he was getting worn out. It seemed he was blitzing a ton which basically brought him right into either Cam or my path and we were driving him into the ground every play. There was one play in particular where we were running to the left side. That left Cam and I on the back side and our job was to cut off the backside end and backside linebacker and try to get up field. As we approached the line of scrimmage Cam and I were arguing about “who’s turn” it was to pancake #8. It wasn’t a quiet argument either. We were basically yelling at each other (not in an angry way or anything like that) and were pointing at #8 so he knew we were talking about him. We got lined up and immediately after the snap of the ball Cam yelled “GET HIM” and Cam and I started chasing #8. I got to him first and drove him a few yards and extended my arms to throw him, then Cam caught him and finished him off into the ground. I was there when Cam got off of him and we laughed and hi-fived and ran off to the huddle. Cam and I still laugh when we talk about #8 and what he had to endure. But to #8’s credit, he never came out of the game and he always got up. We added another score in the 4th quarter on a 29-yard pass to Collin Noe and we ended with a 38-3 victory to start off district play. Our defense was awesome that night only allowing 163-yards of offense to Pottsboro and allowed us some time to get over our slow start. Our ’09 team set a lot of offensive records that year, but we could always count our defense to bail us out. That will show through as the season progresses into the later part of the year.
Next week we head back home to play S&S in our second district game. It gets ugly quick.
Before every game starts, we would take the field for warm-ups in 3 groups. Group 1 would be the special team’s group, such as the kicker, punter, long snappers, kick returners, and the QB’s to go warm up. Group 2 would follow, which consist of the rest of the skill position players. Last would be group 3. That was all the lineman. Cam Feldt or I would lead us out of the locker room, and we would meet up with the rest of the team in the endzone on the side we were warming up on and then break it out and stretch. In Pottsboro the visitor’s locker room as in the back corner of the stadium behind one of the endzones. The side we were warming up on was all the way down on the other side of the field. No big deal to us. We would just walk in a single file line to about the 50-yard line and then start running to the endzone to meet with the rest of the team. This wasn’t unusual, but what made this time different was Pottsboro were doing their warm-ups on the side of the field we were going to be walking through and there was a position group doing their drills on the sideline that we planned to walk through. We wanted to send a message, so didn’t change what we do. We walked right down that sideline right through the middle of their position drills. They had to stop and wait as we walked through their drill one-by-one. Being at the front I remember seeing this position group and trying to figure out what group they were. They were really small, so they couldn’t be the lineman. I thought they might be the DB’s, but there was another position group that I saw that had smaller guys than this one. The only one that made since was this was the LB’s, which if true meant we were going to dominate them all night long. As we walked through their group, I made eye contact with one guy in particular. He was #8 and his eyes told me that he wasn’t looking forward to the next 4 quarters of football. I remember telling Cam, “I hope he is lined up across from us” and Cam laughed at what would probably happen if he did.
The game started and wouldn’t you know it, #8 was the linebacker that had the assignment of lining up across from Cam and me. We expected to get off to a fast start on offense that night, but it didn’t happen that way. We were protecting well, and we were winning the line of scrimmage, but we just weren’t moving the ball. After the first drive we came off the field a little confused and the O-lineman had our meeting with Coach Allen, and we had all made our blocks and sometimes that just happens. The next 2 drives both stalled the same way and coach Allen told us that Pottsboro’s defensive coordinator was basically calling the game of his life. He said that they were blitzing every play and it just seemed they were calling the perfect play every play. Just keep doing what we do, and we would expose them. Our defense was doing their part and shutting down the Pottsboro offense as well, so it was a bit of a dull start. At the end of the first Quarter the score was 3-3 with nothing but a field goal for both sides. The dull start carried in the second quarter before we finally busted a big run. You could feel a bit of a weight lift off our shoulders and a play or two later Jarman Johnson railed off a 37-yard TD run to give us a 10-3 lead we carried into half.
Our physicality finally became too much for them and came out with a big 3rd quarter. We scored 3 times on runs of 7-yards by Jarman and a 2-yard run by Mason Guthrie, and a 30-yard TD pass to Justin Chambers. As for #8 for Pottsboro, he was getting worn out. It seemed he was blitzing a ton which basically brought him right into either Cam or my path and we were driving him into the ground every play. There was one play in particular where we were running to the left side. That left Cam and I on the back side and our job was to cut off the backside end and backside linebacker and try to get up field. As we approached the line of scrimmage Cam and I were arguing about “who’s turn” it was to pancake #8. It wasn’t a quiet argument either. We were basically yelling at each other (not in an angry way or anything like that) and were pointing at #8 so he knew we were talking about him. We got lined up and immediately after the snap of the ball Cam yelled “GET HIM” and Cam and I started chasing #8. I got to him first and drove him a few yards and extended my arms to throw him, then Cam caught him and finished him off into the ground. I was there when Cam got off of him and we laughed and hi-fived and ran off to the huddle. Cam and I still laugh when we talk about #8 and what he had to endure. But to #8’s credit, he never came out of the game and he always got up. We added another score in the 4th quarter on a 29-yard pass to Collin Noe and we ended with a 38-3 victory to start off district play. Our defense was awesome that night only allowing 163-yards of offense to Pottsboro and allowed us some time to get over our slow start. Our ’09 team set a lot of offensive records that year, but we could always count our defense to bail us out. That will show through as the season progresses into the later part of the year.
Next week we head back home to play S&S in our second district game. It gets ugly quick.
3-2 in an ideal location on HWY 455 in Pilot Point. Moments from Isle Du Bois State Park. 9199 Fm 455 E, Pilot Point, Texas 76258 $199,999. Offered by Chance W. Kirby with Irick Real Estate
pelzel's barber shop player of the game
Terri Slay's view from the press box 10.4.2019
The views and opinions expressed in Terri Slay's View From the Press Box are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of pilotpointbearcats.com. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.
pelzel's barber shop player of the game
Denison XC Invitational Results
Terri Slay's View From the Press Box 9.27.2019
The views and opinions expressed in Terri Slay's View From the Press Box are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of pilotpointbearcats.com. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.
Blog 7: Pilot Point vs. Childress 2009
by Ryne Menard
Coach Feldt had told us at the beginning of the season that he was breaking this season down into 3 – 5 game seasons. The first of which we were going to complete this coming Friday night against the only 2A non-district team on our schedule. This was a neutral site game in which we would make the 2-hour drive to meet the Childress Bobcats who would have to bus 3 and a half hours to get there. Childress was a program that had a rich tradition of high school football but had fallen off the path over the last few years, but it was a tradition rich matchup none the less. This was our last week before our bye and district play would follow that so, it was important to go into the break on a high.
That week of practice was just like any other. Methodical and workman like and I don’t think we were looking forward to the break. Towards the end of the week there was a major development, and that was that our star running back was getting sick. It’s been 10 years, so my memory is a little fuzzy, but I believe Jarman had a really bad cold or even maybe the flu. Whatever it was there was a definite uncertainty if he would be able to play or not. The team was confident that we would be able to take care of business either way though. That week we had put in a new play that we were going to start off the game with come Friday night. It was going to be a WR reverse, pass deep to another WR. The WR throwing it was our back-up QB, Jeshua “JP” Price. He had a cannon of an arm, and I had been telling people all week we were going to start off with a bang and I was all but guaranteeing a first play TD.
That year we had a very loyal group of fans that traveled to almost every game. The only one that the fan turnout wasn’t huge was this game, and understandably so. It was a 2-hour drive, towards the middle of nowhere, to watch a game where we should win by a ton. My dad had a list of people who he had agreed to text scoring updates to during the game so people could stay tuned in. We chose to receive the opening kickoff and it was time to go. I had told my dad what would be happening on the opening play and it was finally time to execute it. I had told him during the week, “I think it’ll go for a touchdown, but the LAST thing that will happen would be that JP under throws it. That just isn’t going to happen.” Well we snap the ball and JP receives the pitch and carries it outside the tacklebox and reaches back to throw to the receiver, and wouldn’t you know it… The ball was underthrown, and Childress intercepted the pass!!! The play all away around wasn’t executed all that well. The WR was open but not as open as we thought, and JP was starting to be pressured when he let go of the ball and it just didn’t work out. Luckily the defense bailed us out and we got the ball back, but we had a hard time getting going. Game started at 7:30 and about 7:40 my dad was getting messages asking if we scored yet? Maybe it was the drive there, but offensively we just weren’t sharp to start the game. At the time the thought was maybe the fact Jarman was sick was the reason we couldn’t score. Jarman had decided to play but was clearly sick. He was a bit slow to get started and when the defense had the ball, he was just sitting on the bench with his head down and a big jacket on. This wasn’t like Jarman. He was always up cheering on the defense and brother Willie Davis who was a starting Safety. Later on, in the first quarter we finally got on the board with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Seth Tilley to none other than JP. He made up for his INT with his first touchdown catch of the year. The first quarter ended with us up 7-0. My dad was still up in the stands texting people telling them we just didn’t look sharp. Hopefully we wake up. It didn’t help his case when Childress opened the 2nd quarter with a 28-yard TD run to knot the game up at 7-7. That is when it happened. Seeing the defense bail us out repeatedly in the first quarter and when they finally let up a touchdown, it was time to do our part. We exploded. We rattled off 35 unanswered points in the 2nd quarter and it was happening faster than my dad’s fingers could type. (He’s not the best with texting so that factored in a little to.) We started off the explosion with a 52-yard TD run by Seth Tilley and seeing the offense wake up a little must have sparked Jarman as well because he followed Seth’s TD with TD runs with scores of 46 and 65. Once again with the fuzziness, but if I remember correctly, I believe those 3 scores only took 3 or 4 offensive plays to make happen. Trying to take some of the pressure off of Jarman the passing attack really got going that night as well. We followed up those 3 rushing TD’s with passing TD’s of 22-yards to Willie Davis & 28-yards to Tyler McNairy. All this scoring seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. Considering there were 6 TD’s scored in the 2nd quarter alone. Half time came upon us and what was a close 7-0 game at the end of 1 turned into somewhat of a route at halftime with a score of 42-7. Jarman’s night was done and the coaching staff took his pads and he had the rest of the night off. All-in-all it wasn’t a bad 4 quarter stat line for him. He finished with 6 carries for 122 yards and 2 TD’s. The second half became kind of cruise control and we got to see a lot of different guys play in the second half. We allowed 1 more TD on a big 77-yard TD run. The defense was really great that night minus the 2 TD plays. The 2 TD plays were 105-yards on 2 carries when the rest of the night they only allowed 100-yards on 28 carries and only allowed 3 of 13 passes completed for 16 yards. They also hauled in 2 interceptions and recovered 2 fumbles. We added 2 more scores of our own in the 2nd half on a 1-yard run from Willie Davis and a 22-yard TD pass from JP Price to Austin Balderas.
When the night was finally over, we finished with a 56-13 win. That wrapped up non-district play, and we were going into our bye with a 5-0 record. One of the most important things is we seemed to improve every week and we had made it to this point without having any significant injuries. All things were looking good and we had 11-weeks until our mission was complete.
That week of practice was just like any other. Methodical and workman like and I don’t think we were looking forward to the break. Towards the end of the week there was a major development, and that was that our star running back was getting sick. It’s been 10 years, so my memory is a little fuzzy, but I believe Jarman had a really bad cold or even maybe the flu. Whatever it was there was a definite uncertainty if he would be able to play or not. The team was confident that we would be able to take care of business either way though. That week we had put in a new play that we were going to start off the game with come Friday night. It was going to be a WR reverse, pass deep to another WR. The WR throwing it was our back-up QB, Jeshua “JP” Price. He had a cannon of an arm, and I had been telling people all week we were going to start off with a bang and I was all but guaranteeing a first play TD.
That year we had a very loyal group of fans that traveled to almost every game. The only one that the fan turnout wasn’t huge was this game, and understandably so. It was a 2-hour drive, towards the middle of nowhere, to watch a game where we should win by a ton. My dad had a list of people who he had agreed to text scoring updates to during the game so people could stay tuned in. We chose to receive the opening kickoff and it was time to go. I had told my dad what would be happening on the opening play and it was finally time to execute it. I had told him during the week, “I think it’ll go for a touchdown, but the LAST thing that will happen would be that JP under throws it. That just isn’t going to happen.” Well we snap the ball and JP receives the pitch and carries it outside the tacklebox and reaches back to throw to the receiver, and wouldn’t you know it… The ball was underthrown, and Childress intercepted the pass!!! The play all away around wasn’t executed all that well. The WR was open but not as open as we thought, and JP was starting to be pressured when he let go of the ball and it just didn’t work out. Luckily the defense bailed us out and we got the ball back, but we had a hard time getting going. Game started at 7:30 and about 7:40 my dad was getting messages asking if we scored yet? Maybe it was the drive there, but offensively we just weren’t sharp to start the game. At the time the thought was maybe the fact Jarman was sick was the reason we couldn’t score. Jarman had decided to play but was clearly sick. He was a bit slow to get started and when the defense had the ball, he was just sitting on the bench with his head down and a big jacket on. This wasn’t like Jarman. He was always up cheering on the defense and brother Willie Davis who was a starting Safety. Later on, in the first quarter we finally got on the board with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Seth Tilley to none other than JP. He made up for his INT with his first touchdown catch of the year. The first quarter ended with us up 7-0. My dad was still up in the stands texting people telling them we just didn’t look sharp. Hopefully we wake up. It didn’t help his case when Childress opened the 2nd quarter with a 28-yard TD run to knot the game up at 7-7. That is when it happened. Seeing the defense bail us out repeatedly in the first quarter and when they finally let up a touchdown, it was time to do our part. We exploded. We rattled off 35 unanswered points in the 2nd quarter and it was happening faster than my dad’s fingers could type. (He’s not the best with texting so that factored in a little to.) We started off the explosion with a 52-yard TD run by Seth Tilley and seeing the offense wake up a little must have sparked Jarman as well because he followed Seth’s TD with TD runs with scores of 46 and 65. Once again with the fuzziness, but if I remember correctly, I believe those 3 scores only took 3 or 4 offensive plays to make happen. Trying to take some of the pressure off of Jarman the passing attack really got going that night as well. We followed up those 3 rushing TD’s with passing TD’s of 22-yards to Willie Davis & 28-yards to Tyler McNairy. All this scoring seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. Considering there were 6 TD’s scored in the 2nd quarter alone. Half time came upon us and what was a close 7-0 game at the end of 1 turned into somewhat of a route at halftime with a score of 42-7. Jarman’s night was done and the coaching staff took his pads and he had the rest of the night off. All-in-all it wasn’t a bad 4 quarter stat line for him. He finished with 6 carries for 122 yards and 2 TD’s. The second half became kind of cruise control and we got to see a lot of different guys play in the second half. We allowed 1 more TD on a big 77-yard TD run. The defense was really great that night minus the 2 TD plays. The 2 TD plays were 105-yards on 2 carries when the rest of the night they only allowed 100-yards on 28 carries and only allowed 3 of 13 passes completed for 16 yards. They also hauled in 2 interceptions and recovered 2 fumbles. We added 2 more scores of our own in the 2nd half on a 1-yard run from Willie Davis and a 22-yard TD pass from JP Price to Austin Balderas.
When the night was finally over, we finished with a 56-13 win. That wrapped up non-district play, and we were going into our bye with a 5-0 record. One of the most important things is we seemed to improve every week and we had made it to this point without having any significant injuries. All things were looking good and we had 11-weeks until our mission was complete.
falcon fast invitational XC Results
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view from the press box
by Terri Slay
The views and opinions expressed in Terri Slay's View From the Press Box are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of pilotpointbearcats.com. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.
#6 Pilot Point v sanger "homecoming" 2009
by Ryne Menard
It was finally time to face our 1st big test of the season. It would come on Friday night against the Sanger Indians. Sanger boasted a solid football team with a QB who would go on to be a 3-year starter at the University of Tulsa. Dane Evans, Sanger’s QB, would also go on to be a part of the Philadelphia Eagles training camp in 2017 and the starter for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League in 2019. Sanger was a part of the brutal district 9-3A with powerhouses Argyle, Prosper, & Celina. All this and Sanger also had roughly twice the number of students attending its high school than we had in Pilot Point. It would be a test for sure.
This had been a game all the returning varsity players have had circled on the calendar since the start of the season. Not only was it homecoming, but Sanger handed us our only regular season loss in 2008. It was by far our worst performance in 2008 and was still haunting many of us. We scored first in that game and were about to take a 7-0 lead into half time when the Sanger kicker missed a field goal to end the half, but the referee threw a flag for our middle linebacker using leverage to jump over the line of scrimmage. That is a legitimate penalty, but on the 2nd try the Sanger kicker missed again. Again, the referees threw another flag for jumping over the line of scrimmage; however, this was not the correct call because the player did not use leverage and did not hurdle any player. He ran through and open hole and jumped over a player’s leg that was stuck out in the hole. That is not a penalty and he didn’t even block the kick. The kicker just missed on his own. So, Sanger got another untimed down and decided they would go for the touchdown and they converted. Taking us into half time down 7-6. The second half didn’t get much better with us mounting many drives that ended with some sort of self-inflicted wound, ending in an interception in the endzone late in the 4th quarter. You would have thought Sanger just won a state championship, or for them, a playoff game. They celebrated on the field and left the scoreboard on overnight. A lot of us couldn’t wait for our revenge.
We scheduled them for Homecoming in 2009 and it was probably just what worked best for the district in-regards to scheduling, but I personally thought it was a message saying we didn’t think much of them. So little in-fact, we would schedule them for homecoming because we expect it to be an easy win. That week in practice we were sharp, and all the upperclassmen sent out the message that we don’t lose at home and especially on homecoming. There was also the message going around that we were going to avenge our lone regular season loss from ’08 and we were going to do it convincingly.
The Friday of the game there was familiar atmosphere of homecoming. Early release on that Friday with the homecoming parade followed shortly by the pep-rally at Massey Stadium. It was a little more special than it had ever been before because I remembered every homecoming parade and pep-rally from the time I moved to Pilot Point in the 4th grade to this one which would be my last to be a part of. We took our place on the corner of the Square right outside of Pelzel’s Barber Shop and watched all the floats go by one by one. Waving at most of them and trying to dodge candy being thrown at us by the pee-wee and middle school football teams as they drove by. After that and the pep-rally it was finally time to go get ourselves a meal and head back to the field house to relax and prepare for the game coming that night.
When the game kicked off, I think we came out a little to juiced up. Everyone was trying to hit just a little harder and get our frustrations out from the year before, and we weren’t executing like we needed to. Sanger got on the board 1st that night with a 1-yard TD run from the star QB Dane Evans. Our defense was playing a hell of a game considering who they were up against and besides that one slip up we were keeping them out of the endzone. Halfway through the second quarter we finally mounted a drive and got ourselves on the board with a 15-yard touchdown from Jarman Johnson. The offense was starting to wake up a little. Right before half Sanger added a 31-yard field goal and we went into half time trailing 10-7. I think one thing that set this team apart from most of the other teams I had been a part of was our ability to handle adversity and fight through it. That showed through during half time when I was the second guy in the locker room and a starting defensive was very visibly showing his frustration with how the game was going. I saw it and knew that was not what the team needed to see as they entered the locker room, so I went up to the player and put my hand on his shoulder and told him this was not the time for this. We would be fine. We were going to make our half time adjustments, keep our workman like demeanor and come out in the second half and take care of business. He calmed down and we did exactly that. We had an early punt that pinned Sanger inside their own 5-yardline and the next play the defense tackled the Sanger RB in the endzone for a safety. We got the ball after that and Jarman ran in another TD from 13-yards out. The defense was playing lights out and didn’t allow a score in the second half. We added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter on a 43-yard pass from Seth Tilley to Justin Chambers and another 26-yard run from Jarman. I remember despite the slow start offensively we were being especially physical on both sides of the ball. Sanger’s defense was tough, but we kept hammering away and they finally broke. Our defense however brought the physicality to the Sanger offense all night and even though they had a star QB, our defense was just too physical. This is more of an observation of the whole season as an observation of this one game, but our defense played with a so much swagger! They played the game fast and physical and would let you know that they were going to be there all night long. This sounds contradictory, but they were respectful and disciplined young men, but they would talk shit and take your head off if they got the chance and they would let you know about it. They looked like they had fun!
When the game was over it was a weight off a lot of our shoulders. We had all grown up beating Sanger in football at every level. We had never lost to Sanger in pee-wee, middle school, or JV football. It would have been a tough pill to swallow if all that was true, but we never beat them at the varsity level. All that and we held true to what was important to us. We don’t lose at home and especially on homecoming. Pilot Point beat Sanger and all was right again.
The next week we would face our last non-district opponent before we would get a bye and then start district play. We had a trip to Iowa Park to play a neutral site game against Childress.
This had been a game all the returning varsity players have had circled on the calendar since the start of the season. Not only was it homecoming, but Sanger handed us our only regular season loss in 2008. It was by far our worst performance in 2008 and was still haunting many of us. We scored first in that game and were about to take a 7-0 lead into half time when the Sanger kicker missed a field goal to end the half, but the referee threw a flag for our middle linebacker using leverage to jump over the line of scrimmage. That is a legitimate penalty, but on the 2nd try the Sanger kicker missed again. Again, the referees threw another flag for jumping over the line of scrimmage; however, this was not the correct call because the player did not use leverage and did not hurdle any player. He ran through and open hole and jumped over a player’s leg that was stuck out in the hole. That is not a penalty and he didn’t even block the kick. The kicker just missed on his own. So, Sanger got another untimed down and decided they would go for the touchdown and they converted. Taking us into half time down 7-6. The second half didn’t get much better with us mounting many drives that ended with some sort of self-inflicted wound, ending in an interception in the endzone late in the 4th quarter. You would have thought Sanger just won a state championship, or for them, a playoff game. They celebrated on the field and left the scoreboard on overnight. A lot of us couldn’t wait for our revenge.
We scheduled them for Homecoming in 2009 and it was probably just what worked best for the district in-regards to scheduling, but I personally thought it was a message saying we didn’t think much of them. So little in-fact, we would schedule them for homecoming because we expect it to be an easy win. That week in practice we were sharp, and all the upperclassmen sent out the message that we don’t lose at home and especially on homecoming. There was also the message going around that we were going to avenge our lone regular season loss from ’08 and we were going to do it convincingly.
The Friday of the game there was familiar atmosphere of homecoming. Early release on that Friday with the homecoming parade followed shortly by the pep-rally at Massey Stadium. It was a little more special than it had ever been before because I remembered every homecoming parade and pep-rally from the time I moved to Pilot Point in the 4th grade to this one which would be my last to be a part of. We took our place on the corner of the Square right outside of Pelzel’s Barber Shop and watched all the floats go by one by one. Waving at most of them and trying to dodge candy being thrown at us by the pee-wee and middle school football teams as they drove by. After that and the pep-rally it was finally time to go get ourselves a meal and head back to the field house to relax and prepare for the game coming that night.
When the game kicked off, I think we came out a little to juiced up. Everyone was trying to hit just a little harder and get our frustrations out from the year before, and we weren’t executing like we needed to. Sanger got on the board 1st that night with a 1-yard TD run from the star QB Dane Evans. Our defense was playing a hell of a game considering who they were up against and besides that one slip up we were keeping them out of the endzone. Halfway through the second quarter we finally mounted a drive and got ourselves on the board with a 15-yard touchdown from Jarman Johnson. The offense was starting to wake up a little. Right before half Sanger added a 31-yard field goal and we went into half time trailing 10-7. I think one thing that set this team apart from most of the other teams I had been a part of was our ability to handle adversity and fight through it. That showed through during half time when I was the second guy in the locker room and a starting defensive was very visibly showing his frustration with how the game was going. I saw it and knew that was not what the team needed to see as they entered the locker room, so I went up to the player and put my hand on his shoulder and told him this was not the time for this. We would be fine. We were going to make our half time adjustments, keep our workman like demeanor and come out in the second half and take care of business. He calmed down and we did exactly that. We had an early punt that pinned Sanger inside their own 5-yardline and the next play the defense tackled the Sanger RB in the endzone for a safety. We got the ball after that and Jarman ran in another TD from 13-yards out. The defense was playing lights out and didn’t allow a score in the second half. We added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter on a 43-yard pass from Seth Tilley to Justin Chambers and another 26-yard run from Jarman. I remember despite the slow start offensively we were being especially physical on both sides of the ball. Sanger’s defense was tough, but we kept hammering away and they finally broke. Our defense however brought the physicality to the Sanger offense all night and even though they had a star QB, our defense was just too physical. This is more of an observation of the whole season as an observation of this one game, but our defense played with a so much swagger! They played the game fast and physical and would let you know that they were going to be there all night long. This sounds contradictory, but they were respectful and disciplined young men, but they would talk shit and take your head off if they got the chance and they would let you know about it. They looked like they had fun!
When the game was over it was a weight off a lot of our shoulders. We had all grown up beating Sanger in football at every level. We had never lost to Sanger in pee-wee, middle school, or JV football. It would have been a tough pill to swallow if all that was true, but we never beat them at the varsity level. All that and we held true to what was important to us. We don’t lose at home and especially on homecoming. Pilot Point beat Sanger and all was right again.
The next week we would face our last non-district opponent before we would get a bye and then start district play. We had a trip to Iowa Park to play a neutral site game against Childress.
#TBT September 12, 1976
pelzel barber shop player of the game
Individual results from Guyer MileSplit TX XC Invitational
#5 pilot point v ferris 2009
by Ryne Menard
Continuing on the of the early season theme coach Feldt had kept us on, week 3 was going to be another week where we needed to just focus on ourselves; continue building, and slowly become the team we would eventually become. This week was definitely going to be a step-up in competition from the 2 teams we had opened the season against and would provide us our last tune-up before our first major test of the season which would come next week at home against Sanger. It was our lone regular season loss from 2008 and a lot of us couldn’t wait to exact our revenge against the Indians, but it would have to wait one more week and we couldn’t afford to look past Ferris. Ferris wasn’t loaded with talent, but they had a little size up front, and the had a very talented set of running backs in James Hopkins and Shaka Collins. Ferris was a run heavy offense and they had the backs to compliment that well.
Unlike everyone else on the schedule, we did not play Ferris in 2008 due to hurricane Ike. The evacuation route from Houston came straight up I-45 which would basically made heading south into Ferris impossible for us to get there or Ferris to get back if we moved the game to Pilot Point. So due to lack of options, the game was canceled. Back to 2009, the weather during the week was rainy and storms were in the forecast for Friday night. The game was obviously going to be a wet one which both teams were suited to play in. It was clear the game would be won in the trenches on both side of the ball. That week during practice was the first time during the regular season the coaches pushed for members of the starting Offensive & defensive lines to go in on scout team and prepare the starters for what was coming Friday night. A slugfest at the line of scrimmage. It was the first time since two-a-days that we had 1’s-on-1’s during a week of practice. It sucked at the time, but we knew that our starters were better than their starters across the board and if we could execute up to coach Feldt’s standards Monday thru Thursday, we would dominate Friday.
The weather eventually cooperated that night and after a 30-minute lightening delay the game kicked off. We missed out on all the rain and the grass was nice and shiny from the rain and the field was slick but held up well considering the weather we had endured. The week of practice paid off and did so quickly. The o-line had just come off a week where we had made a big leap from week 1 and we made another leap forward this week. This was the first week since the scrimmages that I thought we were dominating the guys across from us. The defense was doing their part as well. At the end of the 3 quarters we were up 25-0 and had scored on runs of 28 by Jarman Johnson, 1 & 39 by Seth Tilley and added a field goal by sophomore kicker Ruben Martinez. I guess a little bit of apathy set in at the start of the 4th because Ferris scored their first TD on a 40-yard run by one of their start backs, James Hopkins. We answered back with a drive of our own resulting in a TD run of 3 yards by Jarman. Ferris answered that by scoring on their only completed pass of the game. A 65-yard strike once again to Hopkins. We put an end to the night with a 20-yard TD pass from Seth to Jarman with 1:44 left in the 4th quarter to seal the deal 39-14. It’s not how we would’ve liked to finish that night, but a win is a win and we took the little lesson of finishing with us and would use it later in the year in some big games.
Now with Ferris out of the way, it was finally going to be time to avenge our only regular season loss from ’08 and what a better way to do it than by scheduling the Sanger Indians for our 2009 homecoming game. I don’t know if whoever scheduled that as our homecoming did that on purpose, but I sure liked to think they did just to let Sanger know what we thought of them.
**Side story**That night against Ferris I was matched up against the same guy all night and I had one of the better games I had ever had. I was repeatedly driving him into the turf, and you could tell as the night went along, it got harder and harder for him to continue getting up. Well the game ended and when we went to shake hands, he purposely missed my hand and I got a bit of a kick out of it.
Fast forward to Baseball season.One of the first games we played on the year was a road game in Ferris. I was the 4-hole hitter and when I came to the plate, my buddy who wouldn’t shake my hand was pitching. He went through the windup and on the first pitch he drilled my right in the leg. I got a big smile on my face and as I jogged down to first, I said to him “I would’ve hit me too” in reference to what I did to him all night back in our September matchup. I had never thought getting hit by a pitch could be so funny.
Unlike everyone else on the schedule, we did not play Ferris in 2008 due to hurricane Ike. The evacuation route from Houston came straight up I-45 which would basically made heading south into Ferris impossible for us to get there or Ferris to get back if we moved the game to Pilot Point. So due to lack of options, the game was canceled. Back to 2009, the weather during the week was rainy and storms were in the forecast for Friday night. The game was obviously going to be a wet one which both teams were suited to play in. It was clear the game would be won in the trenches on both side of the ball. That week during practice was the first time during the regular season the coaches pushed for members of the starting Offensive & defensive lines to go in on scout team and prepare the starters for what was coming Friday night. A slugfest at the line of scrimmage. It was the first time since two-a-days that we had 1’s-on-1’s during a week of practice. It sucked at the time, but we knew that our starters were better than their starters across the board and if we could execute up to coach Feldt’s standards Monday thru Thursday, we would dominate Friday.
The weather eventually cooperated that night and after a 30-minute lightening delay the game kicked off. We missed out on all the rain and the grass was nice and shiny from the rain and the field was slick but held up well considering the weather we had endured. The week of practice paid off and did so quickly. The o-line had just come off a week where we had made a big leap from week 1 and we made another leap forward this week. This was the first week since the scrimmages that I thought we were dominating the guys across from us. The defense was doing their part as well. At the end of the 3 quarters we were up 25-0 and had scored on runs of 28 by Jarman Johnson, 1 & 39 by Seth Tilley and added a field goal by sophomore kicker Ruben Martinez. I guess a little bit of apathy set in at the start of the 4th because Ferris scored their first TD on a 40-yard run by one of their start backs, James Hopkins. We answered back with a drive of our own resulting in a TD run of 3 yards by Jarman. Ferris answered that by scoring on their only completed pass of the game. A 65-yard strike once again to Hopkins. We put an end to the night with a 20-yard TD pass from Seth to Jarman with 1:44 left in the 4th quarter to seal the deal 39-14. It’s not how we would’ve liked to finish that night, but a win is a win and we took the little lesson of finishing with us and would use it later in the year in some big games.
Now with Ferris out of the way, it was finally going to be time to avenge our only regular season loss from ’08 and what a better way to do it than by scheduling the Sanger Indians for our 2009 homecoming game. I don’t know if whoever scheduled that as our homecoming did that on purpose, but I sure liked to think they did just to let Sanger know what we thought of them.
**Side story**That night against Ferris I was matched up against the same guy all night and I had one of the better games I had ever had. I was repeatedly driving him into the turf, and you could tell as the night went along, it got harder and harder for him to continue getting up. Well the game ended and when we went to shake hands, he purposely missed my hand and I got a bit of a kick out of it.
Fast forward to Baseball season.One of the first games we played on the year was a road game in Ferris. I was the 4-hole hitter and when I came to the plate, my buddy who wouldn’t shake my hand was pitching. He went through the windup and on the first pitch he drilled my right in the leg. I got a big smile on my face and as I jogged down to first, I said to him “I would’ve hit me too” in reference to what I did to him all night back in our September matchup. I had never thought getting hit by a pitch could be so funny.
Sanger defeats pilot point
DRC volleyball roundup
Pelzel's barber shop player of the game #2 javon bruce
S & S CONSOLIDATED XC INVITATIONAL results
view from the press box
by Terri Slay
#4 Lake WOrth
Ryne Menard
The most important thing for a team with championship aspirations early in the year is to not worry about who is lining up across from them. If that was our focus as a team, we would have really limited the growth we needed to make as a team. We were going on the road to face a team we beat 59-0 the year before. We probably could have walked into the stadium without practicing that week and taken care of business that Friday night, but we had big strides to make if we wanted to reach our goals come November and December. The coaches made it known during our practices that week that every day matters to achieving our goals.
Coming in the field house Monday morning started like a typical Monday. Walking into the locker room there was a board posted with information about the upcoming opponent and everyone was expected to glance it over. Monday mornings consisted of more film and some game-plan information for the upcoming week. It took a turn when coach Feldt asked just the offensive lineman to come into his office. We just came off of a game where we did not live up to our reputation. While looking at the box score might not have shown it, the film didn’t lie. As we walked in, we all took a seat on the couches or floor and he had some film projecting on the wall. Coach Feldt said he just wanted us to watch and not say anything. He wanted us to watch a few plays to see where the offensive line was as a unit at week 2 last year. It was the film of the 2008 match-up against Lake Worth. He pressed play and the film started to run. It was play after play of just perfection up front. We watched 8 plays in a row where holes were opening up so big, Peterbilt could’ve test drove their trucks through them. Guys were working together, and it looked like everything was perfectly orchestrated. After the 8 plays were over our offensive line coach, Coach Allen, pointed out that it was not a highlight reel. That was the first 8 plays of the game. It was not surprising to see the stat we ran for 530 yards and averaged 14 yards per carry that night. He showed us this film to let us know where the O-line was at that point last year and to put us on notice that we better figure it out. During practice that week senior Mitchell Wester decided to play scout team d-line to challenge the starting offensive lineman. Mitchell didn’t get to play much on Friday nights so none of us really thought to much of his position move, but he quickly changed our mind. What he lacked in size and strength he more than made up for in enthusiasm and effort. Mitchell didn’t know a ton about football or defensive line. He only really played football because most of his friends were playing and he wanted to be with the group. Well, that week he worked the offensive line harder than any of the other scout team members had through-out camp and he drew the attention of the coaching staff. Coach Kloiber made it known that anyone who was going to show that sort of dedication and effort in practice was going to get playing time on Friday night. Mitchell’s effort that week really pushed the o-line and we got better because of it.
Friday night came and it was time to strap it up again. When the lights came on and we took the field, the improvement was apparent. Lake Worth had improved drastically from the year before and eventually went on that year to make the 2nd round of the 3a Div. II playoffs; but you couldn’t really tell on the field against us. We were the physically dominate team on both sides of the ball. Once again Jarman Johnson & Seth Tilley were the stars of the show on offense. Together they combined for 496 of the teams 524 total offense. Jarman scored on runs of 4 & 3 and caught TD’s of 41 & 17 while Seth add a 35-yard TD run of his own. We also added touchdowns of 3 and 2 yards from Jeremy Jackson & Wes Haughton. That night on offense, we averaged 8.5 yards every time we snapped the ball. The defense did their part as well by forcing 6 fumbles, 3 of which we recovered, and 1 interception. About the time the game wrapped up and the score was PP 51 Lake Worth 16, Coach Kloiber was yelling for Mitchell Wester to get in the game. Mitchell sprinted on the field and all the seniors were up off the bench yelling and cheering him on in support. He was in a hurry everywhere he went. He pressured the QB and even been in on a few tackles and it was 4th down. Unfortunately, Mitchell had not ever been a part of special team practice so on the punt return team, he didn’t know what his role was. The coaches yelled at him to play it safe and go block someone for the return. The ball was snapped, and Mitchell noticed that nobody was looking at him and nobody was there to block him. He started to slowly head up field and after a few steps the temptation of blocking the punt was just too much. He was in a full sprint to block the kick. A few of us on the sideline saw him going and started yelling for him to block it. Well, his initial hesitation cost him because just before Mitchell leaped for the block the punter had punted the ball. Unfortunately, Mitchell’s forward momentum was too much and he stuck the screws of his facemask directly into the chest of the punter. You could hear the collective gasp of the stands and the sideline all inhale at once. Mitchell looked up hoping the referees had missed it, but he was immediately showered with flags. That is a story I still love to tell to this day and we all get a major laugh just thinking about that moment; but at least to the coaches, it wasn’t as funny at the time.
Showing up at film study on Saturday was much better than the prior Saturday, but it was obvious upon watching the film we still had large strides to make as a team. The coaches, I felt, did an excellent job all year giving us our due when we played well, but there was a constant message that we had to continue to get better because we would come up against other teams and situations where we would need to be at our peak, and we weren’t there yet.
Next week we will get to play the game that was cancelled the year before and see how we’d match up against the Ferris Yellow Jacket and their 2 top RB’s.
Coming in the field house Monday morning started like a typical Monday. Walking into the locker room there was a board posted with information about the upcoming opponent and everyone was expected to glance it over. Monday mornings consisted of more film and some game-plan information for the upcoming week. It took a turn when coach Feldt asked just the offensive lineman to come into his office. We just came off of a game where we did not live up to our reputation. While looking at the box score might not have shown it, the film didn’t lie. As we walked in, we all took a seat on the couches or floor and he had some film projecting on the wall. Coach Feldt said he just wanted us to watch and not say anything. He wanted us to watch a few plays to see where the offensive line was as a unit at week 2 last year. It was the film of the 2008 match-up against Lake Worth. He pressed play and the film started to run. It was play after play of just perfection up front. We watched 8 plays in a row where holes were opening up so big, Peterbilt could’ve test drove their trucks through them. Guys were working together, and it looked like everything was perfectly orchestrated. After the 8 plays were over our offensive line coach, Coach Allen, pointed out that it was not a highlight reel. That was the first 8 plays of the game. It was not surprising to see the stat we ran for 530 yards and averaged 14 yards per carry that night. He showed us this film to let us know where the O-line was at that point last year and to put us on notice that we better figure it out. During practice that week senior Mitchell Wester decided to play scout team d-line to challenge the starting offensive lineman. Mitchell didn’t get to play much on Friday nights so none of us really thought to much of his position move, but he quickly changed our mind. What he lacked in size and strength he more than made up for in enthusiasm and effort. Mitchell didn’t know a ton about football or defensive line. He only really played football because most of his friends were playing and he wanted to be with the group. Well, that week he worked the offensive line harder than any of the other scout team members had through-out camp and he drew the attention of the coaching staff. Coach Kloiber made it known that anyone who was going to show that sort of dedication and effort in practice was going to get playing time on Friday night. Mitchell’s effort that week really pushed the o-line and we got better because of it.
Friday night came and it was time to strap it up again. When the lights came on and we took the field, the improvement was apparent. Lake Worth had improved drastically from the year before and eventually went on that year to make the 2nd round of the 3a Div. II playoffs; but you couldn’t really tell on the field against us. We were the physically dominate team on both sides of the ball. Once again Jarman Johnson & Seth Tilley were the stars of the show on offense. Together they combined for 496 of the teams 524 total offense. Jarman scored on runs of 4 & 3 and caught TD’s of 41 & 17 while Seth add a 35-yard TD run of his own. We also added touchdowns of 3 and 2 yards from Jeremy Jackson & Wes Haughton. That night on offense, we averaged 8.5 yards every time we snapped the ball. The defense did their part as well by forcing 6 fumbles, 3 of which we recovered, and 1 interception. About the time the game wrapped up and the score was PP 51 Lake Worth 16, Coach Kloiber was yelling for Mitchell Wester to get in the game. Mitchell sprinted on the field and all the seniors were up off the bench yelling and cheering him on in support. He was in a hurry everywhere he went. He pressured the QB and even been in on a few tackles and it was 4th down. Unfortunately, Mitchell had not ever been a part of special team practice so on the punt return team, he didn’t know what his role was. The coaches yelled at him to play it safe and go block someone for the return. The ball was snapped, and Mitchell noticed that nobody was looking at him and nobody was there to block him. He started to slowly head up field and after a few steps the temptation of blocking the punt was just too much. He was in a full sprint to block the kick. A few of us on the sideline saw him going and started yelling for him to block it. Well, his initial hesitation cost him because just before Mitchell leaped for the block the punter had punted the ball. Unfortunately, Mitchell’s forward momentum was too much and he stuck the screws of his facemask directly into the chest of the punter. You could hear the collective gasp of the stands and the sideline all inhale at once. Mitchell looked up hoping the referees had missed it, but he was immediately showered with flags. That is a story I still love to tell to this day and we all get a major laugh just thinking about that moment; but at least to the coaches, it wasn’t as funny at the time.
Showing up at film study on Saturday was much better than the prior Saturday, but it was obvious upon watching the film we still had large strides to make as a team. The coaches, I felt, did an excellent job all year giving us our due when we played well, but there was a constant message that we had to continue to get better because we would come up against other teams and situations where we would need to be at our peak, and we weren’t there yet.
Next week we will get to play the game that was cancelled the year before and see how we’d match up against the Ferris Yellow Jacket and their 2 top RB’s.
#TBT october 10, 1954
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Pelzel's barber shop player of the game #12 Max Hollar
mission accomplished
Terri Slay's view from the press box
a look back at 2009
by Ryne Menard
Week 0: Pilot Point 34 @ Whitesboro 0
CCCAT XC rankings week #1
Pilot Point recovers from slow start to defeat Blue Ridge
denton record chronicle
Texas Mile split ranks PP boys xc 7th in state
Top 10
1. Eustace
2. Crane
3. Luling
4. Lytle
5. Commerce
6. McGregor
7. Pilot Point
8. Dublin
9. Whitney
10. Van Astyne
1. Eustace
2. Crane
3. Luling
4. Lytle
5. Commerce
6. McGregor
7. Pilot Point
8. Dublin
9. Whitney
10. Van Astyne
Pilot Point upsets No. 1 Troy
denton record chronicle
Pilot Point rallies to defeat Lone Oak
denton record chronicle
Lady Bearcats impress early at Godley tournament
Denton Record Chronicle
Scrimmage Week 2009
by Ryne Menard
Two-a-days had finally finished, and we made it out with no injuries. We proved that the off-season & summer work had already paid off nicely. We looked strong, fast, and seemed to be ready to take the field to finally hit someone else; but before we got to that, we had our annual intra-squad scrimmage. That was the first time the new varsity players got to take the field at Massey stadium as part of the varsity football team they had all grown up watching and dreaming of being a part of. There was a definite pressure difference between playing on this field as a member all the other teams they’d been a part of and team that played here on Friday nights, and it was becoming apparent to some. This wasn’t just any team they were joining. This was a team that had just been to the state semi-finals and had a “state championship or bust” mentality. Big shoes needed to be filled and a lot of them were being filled by guys who had never been on varsity before. It was the job of the returning starters to make sure all the new starters understood their role, and we pushed them to the limits.
Of course, the day of the intra-squad scrimmage was just like any other mid-August summer day, HOT. The training staff did a great job during camp keeping us hydrated; there were no incidents of cramping or any heat related effects happening during camp, but guys were out trying to make impressions today. Later into the scrimmage, new projected starting defensive lineman, Austin “Ace” Accettura, looked at me in-between plays and said he was tired and need a break and some water. I was just focused on what my job was on the next play and heard a first timer tell me he was tired. I pulled my mouth piece out and told him to “suck it up. This isn’t JV football anymore. We don’t get tired.” I saw him take a deep breath, put his mouth piece back in and grit his teeth and he kept getting after it. Towards the very end, All-state DE and Louisiana Tech commit Carter Street had been matched up against a 2nd string sophomore offensive tackle and Carter had been abusing him the whole time. Constantly blowing by him or bull rushing right through him. It was tough to watch but after a while the younger guy knew he had a decision to make. Let this guy continue to do this to me or show him I’m not scared of him. So, the next play as Carter was going around him, the younger guy grabbed his facemask and pulled Carter down. Obviously, it wasn’t a good block and would draw a penalty, but what we saw looking back at the film was even though this younger guy had a lot of work to do, he had the toughness and grit saying he wasn’t going to back down from anyone. We respected that. After we arrived back at the fieldhouse, Austin “Ace” Accettura ended up getting a full body cramp. His feet, legs, back and hands all started cramping on him; the training staff got him Gatorade and electrolytes. It looked painful, but once again, a new varsity player had shown he would push through the fatigue to reach the level we were going to play at.
The second Saturday of the season came, and it was the first day we were allowed to play someone else. We had scheduled Gunter each of the previous 3 years because they were a tough, hard nose team that would push us, but in ’08, after only 1 series for both of the 1st strings, Gunter called the scrimmage and said that was enough for them. So, to combat that in ’09 we scheduled Gunter & Vernon. The format was 2- 10 play series with the first 1st string players, 1 - 10 play series with the 2nd string players, then we would switch and do the same thing against Vernon.
Gunter was up first, and we ALL were itching to hit someone else. That became apparent during one of the first few plays; we ran a zone read where our QB, Seth Tilley, kept the ball and turned the corner and about 5 yards up field a LB came to hit him and Seth, who wasn’t a bruiser, lowered his shoulder and ran him over. It was the first loud pad pop of the scrimmage and the whole sideline saw it. I’ll never forget the smile on Seth’s face as he came back to the huddle and the way Jarman laughed at him for doing that. All of us lineman loved it. It got us all jacked up but we told him, now that he got that out of his system, don’t do that again. Just get down. As tough and disciplined as Gunter was, we dominated that scrimmage. It was a great sign to me; Gunter was a team that pushed us to our limits during our playoff match-up in ‘08 and this went much better. After that part of the scrimmage was over, the starting 5 offensive lineman were sitting on a bench with our backs against the stands. I remember it being really quiet but looking up and down the bench realizing how dominate we could be up front. It was exciting.
When it came time to get up and moving again for the Vernon scrimmage, the coaches didn’t like the energy of our offensive lineman within our individual group. They told us we were about to come out and get whooped if we didn’t pick it up. I could see why it appeared that way, but I think for us as a group we were ready and just wanting to get back on the field and hit someone else and show how dominate we could be. Nothing much of note happened in the Vernon scrimmage, but we went out there and picked up right where we left off with Gunter. We took the field, did our job, and dominated both sides of the ball. The most noteworthy thing about those scrimmages where that both Gunter and Vernon ran the “Wing-T” offense. That is not a style of offense we would see in any of our regular season games, but 3 of our 5 playoff games were against the “Wing-T” offense. It was really helpful knowing what we were in for those weeks.
The last scrimmage was pretty much a dress rehearsal. We traveled to Argyle to scrimmage Liberty Christian. This was the 3rd+ year in a row we had scrimmaged them, and they were a fantastic team to measure ourselves against. They had been to 3 of the last 4 TAPPS Div II State Championship games and ended up going back again this very season. Both teams were going to have their 1st and 2nd strings play 10 plays and then we were going to play 1 half of a varsity football game. These boys were physical, and they came to play. Early in the “live half” part of the scrimmage starting Center Kody Peacock took a helmet directly to the knee, he was down and in some pain. He had to come out of the game and here came his back-up Sophomore Will Allen. With Kody Peacock our offensive line averaged around 260lbs and well… Will was more around 180. It was his first Varsity action, and this was one of the most physical teams we were going to play all year. It was trial by fire for Will and he answered the bell. What he lacked in size and strength, he made up for with quickness and nastiness. For example, at some point during the season (I don’t remember exactly when) Will was driving for a pancake block in which the defender got his hand up in Will’s facemask and ended up ripping Will’s helmet off. That didn’t stop Will from continuing to run his feet and planting that kid into the turf. After the pancake, Will had grass all in his face and he just went and got his helmet and came back and got in the huddle. That attitude is what we were all about up front on the Hogs, so he fit in well. The scrimmage was very tight, but we ended the scrimmage up by a touchdown. We needed that scrimmage because it really pushed us and showed us exactly how physical great teams are going to be.
After that Thursday night scrimmage, it was finally time. The first game was just 8 days away and we were about to embark on a journey that would be the highlight of our lives to that point. If we reached our goals, it’d be something we’d be talking about for decades to come.
Up next, @ The Whitesboro Bearcats.
Aubrey guts out impressive win over Lady Bearcats
Denton record chronicle
Leopards shine against Pilot Point
gainesville daily register
Texas Mile split ranks PP girls xc 6th in state
TOP 10
1. Tulia
2. Wall
3. Yoakum
4. East Bernard
5. Bushland
6. Pilot Point
7. Ponder
8. Mineola
9. Edgewood
10 . McGregor
1. Tulia
2. Wall
3. Yoakum
4. East Bernard
5. Bushland
6. Pilot Point
7. Ponder
8. Mineola
9. Edgewood
10 . McGregor
Pilot Point goes 2-2 on final day of Graham tournament
denton record chronicle
Pilot Point goes 3-1 on opening day of Graham tournament
denton record chronicle
lady cats fall to van alstyne
denton record chronicle
Pilot Point reels off three wins in Ryan tournament
denton record chronicle
lady cats win bronze bracket
The Lady Cats go 3-0 on the final day of the Denton Ryan tournament to win the Bronze bracket.
tournament photo album
Off-Season & Two-a-Days 2009
by Ryne Menard
The story of the 2009 state championship team begins long before the start of the ’09 season. It started while we were growing up Bearcats. Some of us were born in Pilot Point, others got here later; However, the history of Pilot Point Bearcats football teams wasn’t lost on any of us. We had all heard the stories of the stifling 10-1 defense, and the power running game out of the full house offense. We had all seen the unbelievable team records listed in the program that was handed out at all the home games every year. We had all heard the names of great players and coaches over the decades. We had all seen the big board in front of Massey Stadium right on 377 so everyone passing could see the success this town and stadium had seen on Friday nights for as long as it had been there. We were aware of all that and in 2009, it was our time to add to that legacy.
You can’t properly tell the story of the ’09 season without recapping what happened in the ’08 season first. It was our first season back in the 2A division and it was lining up well with the talent to really make a run at winning the state championship. That off-season the coaches pushed us every day and we responded by pushing ourselves even further. There were extra voluntary work-out sessions that you would think were mandatory if you saw how crowded the weight room was after school. Coach Feldt changed the offense from more of an under center I-formation offense to the spread. Many different position groups would voluntarily get together after practices for extra reps to ensure we were grasping the finer parts of the offense. The ‘08 season started with tons of excitement. The pre-season rankings had us at #2 in the state, and the town was buzzing with the possibility of being a dominate program again. That season we brought back the winning ways of the past by going 11-2, winning the district championship, and making an appearance in the State Semi-final game where we fell to the eventual state champion Muleshoe Mules. We had the talent to win the state championship that year, but to win a championship you need to have a little bit of luck on your side as well. Through our playoff run we lost 2 work horses for our team in RB Cooper Guthrie & DT Jacob Petrea to blown out knees and a few other nagging injuries that really took its toll on the team. While the ’08 season and that senior group helped teach the ’09 team so many things, the best thing the ’08 team gave the ’09 team was the experience of the big game. If you saw the ’08 playoff run, you know those games weren’t easy. We beat Boyd in the Bi-district round 32-28 after being down 9 with 8 minutes to go in the game. We beat Gunter in the regional round 15-13 by stripping the ball away from an all-area running back with 2 minutes to go while Gunter was well within field goal range. We beat Winnsboro 27-24 on a Ruben Martinez field goal with 7 seconds left in the 4th quarter. Then we were locked in a tight game with Muleshoe at the famous Shotwell Stadium in Abilene until things got away from us. The ’08 squad gave it their all and came up just short, but because of that, the ’09 team was battle tested and ready to impose our will.
For the coaching staff, the off-season started on the charter bus ride back form Abilene. It wasn’t lost on coach Feldt what we had coming back and in ’09. There was some real talent on the JV team that could make a real impact on the ’09 squad. In his mind the ’08 season had an excellent chance to win the state championship, but the ’09 season was state championship or bust. Coach Feldt made it known to the staff the Monday after the loss to Muleshoe that the ’09 team was talented enough to win the state championship and it was up the them to push us to the brink. Their job was to make us the biggest, meanest, strongest, toughest group of guys that would step on any football field, and they made that known to us players immediately. This would be my 3rd off-season in coach Feldt’s program which was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. I remember my freshman year, the first day in off-season was maybe the worst day of my life. I had never been worked so hard in my life, until the first day of my sophomore year’s off-season. The off-season going into ’09 was different and coach Feldt made it known from the tone he set on day 1; this off-season would be different. All the coaches were on a war path to kill us (in my mind at least). After the first day of off-season there was a line of guys puking outside the field house half way through the first workout. I remember telling one of them this was my 3rd year in this and I had never puked once. The next day, that streak ended. Coach Feldt’s off-season had the main objective to make you big and strong, but this year he made it a point to not only make our bodies strong, but he put a major emphasis on making our mind strong as well. The coaches were pressing all the right buttons, but one thing that made this group special was our ability to push ourselves and each other. We were all ending our workouts stronger than we were starting them, and believe me, we weren’t starting weak. We would hit the weight room running every day, but to a man, we had all found that place inside ourselves that is needed to be a champion. That inner place we could go to that would say “HARDER” at the first sign of fatigue. As the off-season progressed, we found that “HARDER” inner voice was much louder than the inner voice that tells normal people to slow or stop. The shining example of this was on a particular morning. Some days at the end of a workout coach Feldt would have us do burn out type exercises to finish the day to specifically target our mental toughness. This morning it was to grab the heaviest weight you could and hold it above your head. Every time he blew the whistle, we had to lower the weight to right above our heads and hold. When he blew again, we were to explode the weight up and yell “CHAMPIONS” as loud as we could. After 10 or so reps he instructed us to hold them up as long as we could and see who the last man standing would be. We did this same drill earlier in the off-season and it was very short lived. However; This morning was different. We were tougher. Slowly you saw some plates drop and then more and then a few more. But after quite some time, there were still plates in the air. This was now a contest to show who was the toughest. Guys were looking each other right in the eyes letting the other know, “I’m not putting this down until you do”. Time carried on and one of the guys yelled “CHAMPIONS” and next thing you know; the entire weight room erupted in chants of “CHAMPIONS”. This carried on for a while, but the problem was 2nd period started in 10 minutes and we still needed showers and to get to class. coach Feldt told us to lower the weights because we had to wrap up and get to class, but this contest wasn’t finished. Still everyone was holding strong not wanting to lose. Finally, coach Feldt “persuaded” us to put them down so we could get to class on time, so he didn’t have to hear about us being late. That was one of those moments that you just knew this group would not be out-worked by anyone.
As the school year ended the coaching staff reminded us how important summer work was to the success of the team going into next season. None of us needed to be reminded of that because we were warriors and we knew what it took to be champions, but coach Feldt still wanted to incentivize us for working as hard as we could in the summer. So, on the last day of the school he told us that if we showed up to two-a-days in good enough shape, we wouldn’t have to run conditioning during two-a-days. That was music to our ears. The only problem was, there wasn’t really a way to define exactly how “good of shape” that actually was. So, we decided to push ourselves to the limit during the summer. I spoke to some of the coaches about that summer and the first thing they all said is how amazed they were with the summer workouts. The attendance was through the roof and it was every day. The difference about summer workouts versus off-season workouts was the coaches weren’t there to create an atmosphere to push the team. We would show up to the fieldhouse and the workout would be on the dry erase board, and it was up to us as a team to push the pace and better ourselves. At this point it was easy for us because we were all in this together, busting our tails for one common goal. To be the best we could be on and off the field. Towards the end of summer, we had finished our weights and what we thought would be our conditioning for the day. As we were ready to break it down and call it a day coach Feldt came out of the field house and was blowing his whistle to get all our attention. He told us we weren’t done, and we had a score to settle. We had to line up shoulder-to-shoulder on the goal line and we were going to run 1 – 100 yard sprint for every win we were going to have this year. You might expect moaning and complaining but we didn’t even blink. Coach Feldt had made a deal with us about being in shape, and it was time to prove it. We lined up and said, “bring it on”. Each sprint became more and more demanding, but we embraced the grind. We came more to life and would finish each one harder and faster than the last. Before we ran each one, we would ask “who’s up next?” “Ferris is up next. Let’s kick their Ass!” And we ran it like they were in front of us. As it got tougher into sprints 12, 13, 14 the starting whistle would be followed by battle cries like William Wallace in the movie Braveheart. We pushed through all 15 sprints and knew we were prepared for 15 weeks of out working whoever was across the line from us on any given week. The off-season/summer had finally come to an end and the last seven months had been spent with the next five and a half months as the only things on our mind.
The day had finally come. It was time to strap on those helmets and go to work. The start of this season was different than the start of the ’08 season. We weren’t pre-season #2 but pre-season #13. The town wasn’t really buzzing like it was the year before. The external expectations didn’t really radiate through-out the town, but internally, we expected nothing less than a state championship. It was apparent from day one we were on a mission. We had a great practice day one, but after it was over coach Feldt asked his staff “Was that weird to y’all?” He said that normally the first day of two-a-days was like the Christmas morning for the boys. Normally there is lots of yelling and jumping up and down and visible excitement from everyone on the first day of camp. This first day wasn’t like that. This first day it looked like just another day of work for this team. It looked like the season started for us in late December and this was just business. He said that was the first time he had ever felt that from his team on the opening day of a season. Our business-like demeanor was apparent from the start. The off-season work we had put in showed out during two-a-days. Practices were long, demanding, and physical, but we responded by grinding and doing the work that needed to be done. The coaches I spoke to say outside of the demeanor, nothing surprising happened during camp. They basically reiterated the way we worked in the off-season; they knew what they had coming into this season. As two-a-days came to a close and the coaches blew the whistle to end the last session of camp, new defensive coordinator coach Kloiber called us in and gave us a speech. He spoke about the way we worked in the off-season and how we had worked to that point of the early season. He told us that what we were doing on a daily basis was a process similar to that of building a house. With all our off-season and summer work we had poured an excellent foundation, which was important, but was nowhere near being complete. Now it was up to us to come to work every day and decide which type of house we wanted to live in. Did we want to come out and just slap some walls up do the bare necessities? Yea, we could have a house that way, but would it be everything that we wanted it to be? Would it be everything it could be? The beauty of a house isn’t in the brick and mortar. It’s in details. It’s the small stuff. We can’t ease up on that block because we think the ball isn’t around. We can’t ease up on the tackle because we have the guy wrapped up. We can’t not pursue the ball because it’s on the other side of the field. We have to finish everything we do down to every little detail. That’s how we are going to build our house the way we want it to be. That kind of became our mantra for the 2009 season.
The work that had been done to “pour the foundation” of our house had been complete, but we were a long way from where we wanted to be. We had developed a mindset that would just not allow ourselves to under achieve. This team didn’t just have 2 or 3 leaders. This was a team of leaders that didn’t just look to one person for inspiration, but instead looked at the man next to him and said “if he is going to give it his all, then I’ll be damned if I’m going to let him down and not give my all.” We were all accountable to each other.
Next, we finally got to hit someone else for a change.
#tbt pilot point's texans 1986
Former Pilot Point Bearcats photographed while playing for Tarleton.
Top Row: Joseph Williams, Ronnie Feagins, Keith Johnson
Bottom Row: Dan Ray Gist, Danny Joe David, Chris Tipton
Bottom Row: Dan Ray Gist, Danny Joe David, Chris Tipton
44 days until the home opener. So for #TBT here is #44 Franklin Jones 1969 Pilot Point Bearcat RB.
DCTF has The Bearcats ranked No. 20 in Class 3A (Division I) with 15 returning starters. Pilot Point is picked to finished second in the tough District 4-3A behind powerhouse Brock.
Denton Record Chronicle
Meet our newest blogger ryne menard. this season He will share his memories from the 2009 state championship run
Hello! My name is Ryne Menard and I was the starting right Guard for the 2008 state semi-finalist and 2009 Texas 2A division 1 State Champion Pilot Point Bearcats football team. As I think back to the ’09 football season I can’t help but get a big smile on my face thinking about the cumulation of how that season, and for many of us, our football careers ended on the evening of December 12th, 2009 in San Marcos, Texas. Years of hard work, dedication, and sacrifice all leading to the moment that clock finally hit 0:00 with the mighty Bearcats ahead of the Kirbyville Wildcats. Like any good story, it starts long before the final ascent towards the completion of the goal. For many of us, we grew up hearing about the legends of the Pilot Point Bearcats football team. Names like Keith & Jerome Johnson, Bret Renfro & Danny David. The unbelievable records like 81 consecutive district games without a loss, 15 consecutive district titles, 33 consecutive winning seasons, and 22 straight years of making the playoffs. We started our Journey while still attending the Gee School and dawning the Pilot Point name on our pee-wee jerseys in the 3rd grade. I’m going to do my best to document our story of that season from the start of 2-a-days through December 12th, 2019. Most importantly my goal is to make sure that it’s not just me documenting my story, because this isn’t MY story to document. This is the story of 29 young men, 15 Seniors, 11 coaches, and an entire town at our backs.
Ryne Menard #50
Ryne Menard #50
#TBT july 2, 1971
Ramsey to return as Pilot Point volleyball coach
denton record chronicle
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#Tbt June 6, 1976
#TBT june 26, 1983
state meet photos
photo album
by Chance Kirby
Apologies to Connor Lynch. Discus was before press pass was available.
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