Oct. 2—The Palestine Wildcats look to play the role of spoiler against the No. 6-ranked Chapel Hill Bulldogs Friday.
The contest is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Wildcat Stadium in Palestine.
Friday marks the 39th meeting between the two schools with Chapel Hill holding a 19-8-1 record. The Bulldogs have won the last two meetings in the series.
Palestine is 0-5 overall and 0-1 in District 9-4A, Division 1 play following last week’s 62-38 loss to the Henderson Lions.
“When things are not going well during a game, it seems like everything is going wrong,” Palestine Athletic Director and Head Football Coach James Reyes said. “We have to fix the little things moving forward. We had everything go wrong in about a two minute period and it went down in a hurry. We played better offensively and we are getting better offensively. We are still missing tackles and it was one of the best games for our quarterback so far.”
Chapel Hill Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Jeff Riordan has his team at 4-1 overall and 1-0 in district following a 42-30 victory over the Lindale Eagles last week. The only loss came in a 45-14 loss to the No. 1-ranked Carthage Bulldogs in Week 4.
“I played them two years ago at Lumberton and remember Jeff Riordan was 2-8 in his first year at Chapel Hill,” Reyes said. “He has a great group that is a senior class and Rickey Stewart and Demetrius Brisbon are good players. They are believing in what they are doing and he set a foundation and they have gone up from there.
In the game against Lindale, senior running back Stewart ran for 226 yards and three touchdowns, while senior quarterback Brisbon Jr. ran for 159 yards. Stewart and Brisbon Jr. have combined for 1,093 yards and 11 touchdowns in five games rushing.
“Rickey is going to Texas and there is a reason he is going to Texas,” Reyes said. “They don’t recruit good or average players and they go after the top players in the country. You don’t contain him and you have to slow him down. No one has contained him, but we have to tackle and wrap up. Those are the two guys that they go through and they don’t throw the ball much. They run the ball and you have to keep your lanes and wrap up and hold on.”
Defensively, senior Trevor Brooks had a monster game with 12 tackles, three for loss and an interception. He also had five punts with a long of 63 yards for the Bulldogs.
For the season, Brooks has 54 tackles, 12 of them for loss with two interceptions and one fumble recovery.
“To me, Brooks is probably their best player and defensively for sure he is,” Reyes said. “I think he could make it to the college level and he is a great high school football player. Two years ago, when he was a sophomore and I was at Lumberton I ran everything away from him. Now he is a senior and it is not any different because I am going to do everything possible to make sure he doesn’t have any tackles. He is a very good football player and plays hard and works hard.”
Reyes said the key to Friday’s contest against Chapel Hill is playing until the final whistle.
“We have to keep plugging away,” Reyes said. “Chapel Hill, Kilgore and Pine Tree are all in the top 10 and we have a gauntlet of a schedule. We have no easy games on the schedule and we are young. We will get the win, but I am not sure when it will come. We will go in every week thinking we can play with everybody. We are going to go in and try to upset somebody. We will keep battling and pushing forward and we have to try to find a way to win a game.”
