Aledo’s second half comeback falls just short in season opener

The 2022-23 Aledo Bearcat football season opened Friday night, Aug. 26, taking on the three-time defending TAPPS Division 1 State Champions Dallas Parish Episcopal Panthers at Gloria H. Snyder Stadium in Dallas. The season opening game cannot make or break your season, but do not tell that to these two teams.

Season opening games have a certain air of anticipation. All the off-season work that the student athletes put in finally gets to be tested and the individuals take the first step in becoming a team.

The Bearcats are a young team, and this would be a great test for both sides of the ball.

Aledo won the coin toss and decided to receive. Junior quarterback Hauss Hejny took the reins as Aledo’s signal caller and was guiding the Bearcats’ offense with a pass to Junior Tyson Timms to the 35-yard line. Aledo’s first drive stalled out at the 29 after an incomplete pass on fourth down.

The Panthers started on the 29-yard line, and it was clear from the start that they were going to try to throw the ball on the Bearcat defense. Sophomore quarterback Sawyer Anderson’s main target was Senior Tre Williams. As running back and wide receiver, Williams was a threat all night for Aledo.

The Panthers’ first possession took a lot of time off the clock but, it did pay off for them with a touchdown to take a 7-0 lead with 4:03 left in the first quarter. Aledo’s second possession started on the 25. 

They started the second quarter with a third-and-two from the Panthers’ 12. After three plays Aledo had a fourth-and-three from the 3. The next play was very controversial and did not go the way for the Bearcats.

Hejny took the snap and went to the left side and was being chased by three Panthers heading into the end zone. As Hejny was stretching out the ball to break the plane of the goal line, the ball was knocked out of his hand and went out of bounds in the endz one.

From this reporter’s point of view, roughly 20 feet behind the end zone), Hejny’s knee was down at the 2-yard line before the ball was knocked out of his hand. In that case, the Panthers would have had the ball on the 2-yard line. Instead, it was going to be placed on the 25. Coach Tim Buchanan had a rare penalty for arguing the call and the Panthers started on the 40.

Aledo’s defense was able to hold the Panthers to a field goal and the lead was 10-0 at the 7:30 mark. Aledo’s offense was forced to punt on their next possession. The Panthers’ multi-purpose back Cedric Mays, took a handoff on their second play and ran into the end zone giving Parish a 17-3 lead heading into halftime.

The Panthers received the second half kick and started on the 29. On the second play of the third quarter, Anderson threw a 71-yard touchdown stretching the Panther led to 24-3 with 11:43 remaining in the third quarter. 

Aledo’s offense started to control the line, giving Hejny time to find Jalen Pope for a 39-yard touchdown pass at the 4:09 mark of the third quarter. The PAT was blocked, and Aledo had closed the lead to 15, 24-9.

Aledo's Jalen Pope had five receptions for 106 yards and a touchdown against Parish Episcopal.

The Panthers received the kick and started at the 32. After a first down conversion, Anderson was looking for Benson across the middle but, the pass was broken up and Jaden Allen picked up the deflection and returned the ball to the 1-yard line. 

Aledo was able to score and succeeded on a 2-point conversion, bringing the score to 24-17 going into the fourth quarter.

Aledo could not capitalize on a few opportunities during the fourth quarter to move the ball; penalties and an interception kept them from the end zone. Parish had an opportunity to put the game away with a 35-yard field goal, but the ball hit the right crossbar and Aledo took the ball with 7:47 left in the game.

The Bearcats were energized with the opportunity to go down and to try and tie the ball game with 3:38 remaining. Aledo moved the ball down to the 31, but it came down to a 4th and 9 at the 1:38 mark.

Hejny was unable to complete the pass across the middle and the Panthers took over and ran out the clock.

“Our kids played hard. It was not the lack of playing hard,” Buchanan said after the game. “Our defense played well most of the night. Holding them to 24 points was good job by our defense. Offensively we just need to score more efficiently.”