It’s that time of the year once more. Friday Night Lights are back. The Plano Senior Wildcats welcomed the Byron Nelson Bobcats into John Clark Stadium for a physical matchup. The Wildcats and Bobcats spent the entirety of the week preparing for each other, with both ready and expecting to come out on top.
The Wildcats were prepared for a tough matchup on all ends of the ball, with all three respective sides led by star-studded quarterback Jack Thomason, ball-hawking safety Rohon Kazadi, and a boot of a kicker in Dax Dunham.
Gameday traditions for the Wildcats occurred on campus on Friday, such as a morning pep rally and a send-off as the team exited campus onto the buses. Kickoff was pushed back half an hour due to heat levels and concern for not only the players, but also the fans.
Derrian McKinney, one of the assistant principals at Plano Senior, was in attendance at the game, and he shows his Wildcat pride and his confidence in the Wildcats to pull it off.
“I want us to go out and have a good showing, and I’m against everyone except Plan,” McKinney said. “Everyone against Plano Senior High School, it is us against the world.”
Tri-sport junior athlete Javan McCoy also had some words about the Wildcats.
“I believe in my boys on varsity to pull it off tonight, they’ve been working hard all week and I see it in them, we’re gonna come out of this with a win tonight.” McCoy said.
McKinney and McCoys’ statements showed the team’s confidence for this season. Although confidence is key, it unfortunately was not enough. Byron Nelson was en route to beating the Wildcats, as key players were hit with injuries and we couldn’t get much going on both ends of the ball. The Wildcats unfortunately did not prevail, losing 54-13 to Byron Nelson. They played a very physical game overall, but it wasn’t enough to pull off a victory.
“I’m a little disappointed, wish we did better,” Junior Varsity Player Connor “CJ” Cashiola said. “We could definitely use some improvements from all ends, defensively, offensively, coaching, all of it could use some improvements.”
Cashiola sees that there’s always some room for improvement. Like his fellow Wildcats, he shows pride and holds confidence in his team.
“I’m not worried, though, I feel like we are like an old car engine,” Cashiola said. “We just need to get that good jump and we’ll get going and never look back.”
