Bells and Whitesboro have a few things in common regarding the schools’ football programs.
Both teams have maroon and gold as school colors, both schools are located in cities along the U.S. 82 corridor, and both teams are going into Friday night’s game with 1-0 records. Either the Bearcats or the Panthers will remain undefeated after this week when the teams meet at 7 p.m. Friday at Panther Stadium in Bells.
“Whitesboro is a great football team. They are well-coached and always play extremely hard,” said Dale West, Bells football coach. “The similarities between our programs are apparent. It is always a great football game between our two teams.”
As many similarities as they have, there are differences between the two, especially from an offensive standpoint. Bells operates out of the run-heavy Slot-T offense, while Whitesboro operates out of a modern spread attack.
“Bells is well coached and has a great Slot-T scheme. We will have to be ready for a lot of formations and lots of downhill run game,” said Cody Fagan, Whitesboro football coach. “Our kids will have to play very tough, disciplined defense and trust others to do their jobs. Every play requires all 11 on the same page and saying ‘home.’”
The Slot-T was instrumental in the Panthers’ 27-21 victory at Pottsboro last week. All 353 yards of offense for Bells came from the running game, and the Panthers attempted just two passes — neither of which was completed.
“Preparation for the Slot-T requires selfless play by scout teams and lots of film,” Fagan said. “It forces you to play gap-sound and really low with your pad level. It’s tough to prepare for, which is exactly why they run it.”
Bells had two different players run for more than 100 yards — Jaxon Brown had 110 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries, and Westin Hicks had 102 yards and a score on 11 totes. Je’Darius Washington (5 carries, 93 yards, TD) almost broke the century mark as well.
The Panthers’ defense also limited Pottsboro (0-1) to less than 300 yards of total offense, and the unit was led by Washington (13 tackles, sack). Despite this success, West wants to see improvement from his team.
“We have to play a full game. We had lapses and moments where we quit doing things right for spans of the game,” West said. “Against good teams, you have to put together four quarters.”
Like West, Fagan wants to see his team improve Friday night. The Bearcats are coming off a 40-24 victory at Wichita Falls City View.
“We have to start faster and with more intensity,” Fagan said. “Slow starts have plagued us for a long time and if we don’t figure out how to start faster, it will start costing us games.”
Colt Fagan, the coach’s son, led Whitesboro last Friday with 228 yards and four touchdowns passing and added a touchdown run. Camron Howard (8 receptions, 160 yards, 2 TDs) and Ian Bruce (2 catches, 59 yards, 2 TDs) were the younger Fagan’s top targets, and Justin Knight (15 carries, 100 yards) gave the Bearcats a 100-yard rusher.
“Our offensive and defensive lines played really well setting the tone up front,” the elder Fagan said. “We started slow but found our stride in the second half and were able to move the ball well and put points on the board.”
Neither Bells nor Whitesboro has injuries from last week coming into the game. The Panthers had injuries going into last week’s game but were able to overcome those.
“I thought our kids played hard,” West said. “We played with a lot of injuries and rotated a lot of kids in the game.”
