This Friday night the #12 Celina Bobcats will be traveling to Argyle, Texas to take on the #3 Argyle Eagles. While they started the season ranked #4 in the Texas HS Football 4A Power Rankings, an uncharacteristic loss to the Princeton Panthers in week one saw the Bobcats drop all the way to #15.
Though they dropped early on, with a win last week against Liberty Christian and a very formidable opponent this week, the Bobcats have a chance to move back into the top 10. Last week, Celina found success on the ground game early with running back John Franklin. With 239 yards on 25 carries and three touchdowns, Franklin led a Bobcat rushing attack that went for a total of 393 yards and seven touchdowns.
While the running attack thrived, Conner Pingleton struggled throwing the ball. Pingleton went 7-15 for just 89 yards and two interceptions. Pingleton will need to clean up the turnovers to give his team a shot against an Argyle defense that has been playing well to start the year. Last week, led by linebacker Casey Harper and defensive lineman Brett Lundy, the Eagles defense only let up 8 points and forced three turnovers against #13 La Grange.
On the other side of the ball for the Eagles, running back Don Williams led the charge with 128 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown. A trio of quarterbacks played for the Eagles, but combined they threw for just 78 yards and no touchdowns. With both offenses bringing a strong running game to the table, the wild card will be which team can make the big plays through the air. With both defenses tightening up to stop the run game, holes are bound to open up in the secondary for the quarterbacks to take advantage of. Celina has the offense to compete in and even win this game; however, their defense will need to be able to contain Don Williams if they’re going to walk out of Argyle with a win.
