By Richard Greene Assistant Editor After two near misses in the past three games, the Pilot Point Bearcats' defense got its first shutout of the season Friday night. The Pilot Point defense limited the Pottsboro Cardinals to 111 total yards, including just five rushing, in a 46-0 victory at Massey Stadium. The win put the Bearcats on the brink of clinching a playoff berth out of District 6-3A. Pilot Point can clinch a spot next week with a win over Bowie, who lost to Sanger Friday night. "I'm proud of the kids," said Pilot Point coach Blake Feldt. "We needed this win and got it. We've got two big ballgames left. The big one is next week at Bowie." The Pilot Point defense, which has steadily improved all season, suffocated the Cardinals Friday, allowing them inside the 20 only once. The defense, which had a nine-quarter string of scoreless quarters snapped last week, missed shut outs against Trinity Christian-Addison and Whitesboro because of touchdowns on special teams. "For our defense, this is really three shutouts in four weeks," Feldt said. "I'm so proud of our defense. They have come such a long way. Coach [Casey] Pierce has done a super job." The defense sacked Pottsboro quarterback Hank Gray four times and tackled him for losses on nine plays. Gray finished with 11 carries for minus-35 yards. The unit also forced two turnovers, a fumble and an interception by Grant Guthrie. Guthrie returned the interception 54 yards to set up a two-play Pilot Point scoring drive at the end of first half and give the Bearcats a 26-0 halftime lead. With the defense in control, the Pilot Point offense rolled up 448 yards of total offense. The Bearcats took two plays or less to score on four of its seven scoring drives. The Bearcats ran for 290 yards on 35 carries. Quarterback Arthur Buckingham had 125 yards on nine carries, scoring on a 9-yard run with eight seconds left in the first quarter to give Pilot Point a 12-0 lead. Freshman Cooper Guthrie added 99 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries. Guthrie's 13-yard scoring run capped Pilot Point scoring. The Bearcats also got the passing game on track with Buckingham connecting with Ricky Henderson twice for touchdown passes of 31 and 16 yards. Buckingham finished 8-for-20 for 142 yards without an interception. Henderson caught three passes for 66 yards and the two scores. "Going into the game, we needed to get better throwing the football," Feldt said. "We've still got a long ways to go, but we showed improvement. Arthur did a great job. I'm proud of him. I'm proud of how we played overall."