RISON - Rison Coach Chris Vereen said his Wildcats will have one of their biggest tests of the year this Friday night when they open the 2026 season against the Class 4A DeWitt Dragons. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at DeWitt.
Vereen said the Dragons' 4-6 finish in 2025 may be a bit deceiving to fans if they don't know the entire back story. DeWitt entered last year as a possible contender in the super-rugged 8-4A conference. The Dragons started off the year 2-1, beating Central Arkansas Christian 38-15, dropping a close one to Jacksonville 28-20 and then picking up a 27-0 shutout on the road at McGehee.
But DeWitt lost two starters to injuries in that win over the Owls, and the next week, the Warren Lumberjacks had to score late to pull out a 28-26 victory at Warren. The Dragons lost another four starters to injuries in that game as well.
By the end of the year, DeWitt had 12 starters that were sidelined, and playing in the 8-4A, that was too much to overcome.
Vereen said that is the reason fans shouldn't read much in that 4-6 record. In fact, he said he expects the Wildcats' defensive secondary to be tested Friday night.
In their scrimmage game, the Dragons blanked the Carlisle Bison, 28-0. The Bison come in ranked number 2 in the state in some Class 2A polls after returning nine starters from a team that went 10-2 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
Vereen said DeWitt did most of its damage through the air. "They've got three receivers that will be as good as any we will see," he said. "Two of them run 4.5's or (4).63's - they're good." And they're also tall. Among the targets for the Dragons' 5-10, 160-pound senior quarterback Kaden Pippinger are 6-4 Marshaun Bowers, 6-2 Kaiden Golden, 6-3 Raedric Frye and 6-1 Cameron Alexander. Bowers and Frye were members of the DeWitt basketball team that made it to the Class 4A state semifinals last year.
"I'm telling you, they've got some athletes," Vereen said.
"This is a very big test," he added.
Rison, meanwhile, will counte…