BULLARD — Dissecting the Bullard Panthers' 2012 schedule indicates a vast difference in the level of competition from the team's non-district to District 16-3A schedule.

The Panthers' four non-conference foes (Quitman, White Oak, Diboll and Huntington) combined to post a less-than-impressive 11-29 record in 2011, with none of the four schools finishing above .500.

Conversely, Bullard's six league rivals — Kilgore, Gladewater, Chapel Hill, Henderson, Gilmer and Spring Hill — combined to go 55-22 last year.

Head coach Shannon Wilson's boys, who are fresh off an 8-5 season a year ago, a magical year in which Bullard advanced all the way to the regional semi-final round in the state Class 3A playoffs for the first time in school history.

The new season will begin for the Panthers in front of the home faithful when Bullard hosts Quitman in Week 0.

On Sep. 7 the Red and Blue face their second-consecutive Class 2A opponent, when the Panthers are slated to pay a visit up to White Oak to tangle with the Roughnecks.

Bullard stays on the road the following week with a visit to Diboll on the docket.

The non-district portion of the Panthers' schedule will end on Sep. 21 when the Panthers are slated to meet another District 20-3A opponent in the Huntington Red Devils.

After an open date on Sep. 28, Bullard will open conference play on Oct. 5 when the Bulldogs of Kilgore are scheduled to appear at Panther Stadium.

Kilgore, who is dropping down from Class 4A, is returning nine starters off of a unit that went 9-5 in 2011 and made it as far as the regional final.

Bullard will trek to Gladewater for its first 16-3A road encounter on the evening of Oct. 12.

In the next three weeks, the Panthers will face the most daunting portion of its schedule as the Red and Blue will have to meet up with Chapel Hill, Henderson and Gilmer in consecutive weeks.

Those three schools went 39-4 in 2011, and the trio are predicted by Texas Football magazine to be the loop's playoff picks for this season.

The Panthers will host Chapel Hill ( Oct. 19) and entertain Gilmer on Nov 2, with a road date in Henderson sandwiched in between.

The regular season is schedule to come to a close on Nov. 9 when the Panthers hit the road to Longview to play Spring Hill's Panthers, a team that went 2-8 a season ago.

Bullard returns a solid nucleus of 21, including 17 starters from last year, so Wilson and company have plenty of razor-sharp arrows in their quiver, including Colton Mebane and Haden Bryant.

Mebane accounted for 2,848 total yards and scored 22 touchdowns — 13 through the air and nine on the ground — in 2011, while Bryant caught had nearly 800 yards in receptions.