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No. 1 Bearcats look to extend state-record streak today in 5-5A grid action at Midlothian

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Fans and media often look at common opponents when trying to determine which high school football team compares to another, especially when the season gets into district play.

Last week was a good example. The state-ranked No. 1 Aledo Bearcats faced Everman, and the two had a common opponent: Burleson Centennial. Centennial had beaten Everman 35-8, while Aledo had defeated Centennial, 63-16.

Although no one expected Aledo to win by the margin of 74 points – the margin when comparing the two scores – this did indicate Aledo would be heavily favored going into the game. Aledo won by 46 points.

The Bearcats (4-0, 2-0 in 5-5A) will continue District 5-5A, Division II play at 7:30 p.m. Friday (Oct. 5) at Midlothian (4-1, 2-1) against the Panthers. The Bearcats hope to extend their 77-game consecutive district wins streak. Each district win is a new state record.

Aledo and Midlothian share the same common opponent, Burleson Centennial. Last week the Panthers fell to Centennial, 24-7.

However, Bearcats head coach Steve Wood said to “be careful” when doing a score comparison.

“Different teams match up differently with different teams, and I think to compare scores can get you in trouble sometimes,” he said. “The teams are made differently so certain teams do not match up well against certain others.”

Another similarity the Bearcats will face is Midlothian’s triple option offense, an offense the Bearcats saw in their win over Centennial. Wood feels seeing “that rare offense” two games ago will help the team prepare in practice and help it during the game.

“Midlothian runs the triple option like Burleson Centennial, which gave us a hard time from a defensive point of view when we played them (on Sept. 14),” Wood said. “We need to do a better job this week of defending the triple option.

“It helps that we saw it two games ago. The kids do not see the triple option much, and these days there is only a handful of team that run it. We went through 16 games last year and did not see it once, and now we will see it two times in three ball games.

“If we can correct our mistakes from the Centennial game we will be in good shape. It is a hard offense to simulate in practice, but I feel we can do a better job in that since we have already worked against the triple option this season.”

To read the entire advance see the Oct. 5 issue of The Community News.

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