Editor's note: This story has been updated with official stats.
The Aledo Bearcats and Abilene Eagles had never played a game against each other in their many seasons of football — a history that includes 18 state championships.
After Friday night's contest at Tarleton State University's Memorial Stadium in Stephenville, the Eagles might want to wait a while before the two meet again.
The Bearcats (14-0) dominated the contest from the outset, winning 56-21 to run their winning streak to 28 games and advance to their 13th state semifinal in 15 seasons. In the previous dozen times they won 11 to move on to the state final — and then won 10 of those.
In short, the Bearcats are two wins away from their 12th state championship in team history. They will next face Forney (13-1) at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8, at Midlothian Multi-Purpose Stadium.
The Jackrabbits outlasted upstart Lancaster (8-6) 43-41 on Friday, Dec. 1
Before the Eagles (11-3) hardly got off the bus they found themselves in a 28-0 hole as Aledo scored on its first four possessions. Three of the touchdowns came before the game was even five minutes old.
The Bearcats took the opening kickoff and marched 67 yards in six plays, with Devhon Keys scoring his first of three touchdowns on the night from 4 yards out in the Raider formation, in which he takes the snap from center. Following an 18-yard TD run by Hawk Patrick-Daniels and a wild kickoff recovery, Keys again found the end zone on a 5-yard run and Aledo had a 21-0 lead before some folks had made it to their seats.
On the kickoff, the ball bounced off an Abilene player and ricocheted back into Aledo territory, where Chase Wilburn pounced on it for the Bearcats.
The first quarter ended with Aledo quarterback Hauss Hejny connecting with Colton McCoy for a 16-yard touchdown. It was the first of two TD throws for Hejny, who also hit Trace Clarkson for a 50-yard score in the fourth quarter that gave Aledo a 56-14 lead.
The Bearcats were most dominant with their run defense. They limited the Eagles to minus 3 yards on 17 carries.
"We just played more aggressive than they did," Keys, a linebacker, said. "They are a really good team. They made it to the fourth round, but we just came out aggressive and took it away from them."
Aledo Head Coach Robbie Jones praised the game plan of defensive coordinator Brad McCone and the way the players carried it out.
"We came in with a really good game plan and the kids executed it extremely well," Jones said. "Our defense played lights out the entire football game."
The longest run of the night by the Eagles was 6 yards. They lost yardage on eight runs and were held to zero yards on two other runs.
As for the pass defense, Aledo's Cooper Kohan had a key interception midway through the third quarter after teammate Ky Howington blocked a pass. It set up Keys' third TD, a 2-yard run, and a 42-14 lead.
One particular area in which the Aledo defense controlled the game was on third down. They held the Eagles to a 1-for-11 performance.
On fourth down, Abilene was 0-for-3.
Meanwhile, the Aledo offense converted five of 10 third-down chances, including five of their final six after starting 0-of-4.
On fourth, the Bearcats were 1-of-2
Hejny accounted for more than 300 yards of offense and three touchdowns. He passed for 203 and ran for 105, including a 35-yard score early in the third quarter that put Aledo up 35-14 when Abilene appeared to be on the verge of a rally..
The Eagles scored twice in the second quarter to close to within 28-14 at the half. The first came after an Aledo bad snap on a punt that set Abilene up at the Bearcats' 3-yard line.
Hejny stood out even when he didn't have the ball in his hands. On a 40-yard touchdown run by Patrick-Daniels, Hejny threw what might have been the block of the night to clear the way.
"When I cut back I saw somebody in black shoot past me like a rocket," Patrick-Daniels said. "I didn't know who it was at that moment, but it was a heck of block by Hauss."
Hejny said, "I played receiver my sophomore year and many of my plays were blocking."
Jones noted, "When he was playing receiver he was one of the best blockers we had." Then, he added, "You hold your breath every time that kid gets contact. But he's going to go compete, doing whatever it takes to help the team win."
After getting off to a big start, running back Ray Guillory left the game for the Bearcats in the first half. He returned for limited action, but left the game again with what is suspected to be a flare-up of the sprained knee that sidelined him for the last game of the regular season and the first game of the playoffs.
Despite limited action Friday, Guillory gained an unofficial 65 yards on just five carries. He leads the Bearcats in rushing this season with more than 1,200 yards and a team-best 21 touchdowns scored.
His status for the next round was uncertain immediately after the game.
This will be the seventh meeting all-time between the Bearcats and Jackrabbits, but their first in almost two decades. The teams played six consecutive seasons from 2000-2005, with Aledo holding a 4-2 advantage and the average score being 16-10.
at Memorial Stadium, Tarleton State University, Stephenville
Bearcats 56, Eagles 21
| Aledo | 28 | 0 | 21 | 7 | - | 56 |
| Abilene | 0 | 14 | 0 | 7 | - | 21 |
Al - Davhon Keys 4 run (Cole Crawford kick)
Al - Hawk Patrick-Daniels 18 run (Crawford kick)
Al - Keys 5 run (Crawford kick)
Al - Colton McCoy 16 pass from Hauss Hejny (Crawford kick)
Ab - Brayden Henry 2 run (Naim Segura kick)
Ab - Ryland Bradford 14 pass from Dylan Slack (Segura kick)
Al - Hejny 35 run (Crawford kick)
Al - Keys 2 run (Crawford kick)
Al - Patrick-Daniels 40 run (Crawford kick)
Al - Trace Clarkson 50 pass from Hejny (Crawford kick)
Ab - Bradford 12 pass from Slack (Segura kick)
First down: Aledo 31, Abilene 8.
Rushes-yards: Aledo 50-308, Abilene 17-(-2).
Passing yards: Aledo 216, Abilene 200.
Caught-thrown-intercepted: Aledo 13-23-2, Abilene 21-31-1.
Fumbles-lost: Aledo 1-1, Abilene 2-0.
Punts-average: Aledo 2-24.0, Abilene 5-34.6.
Penalties-yards: Aledo 8-77, Abilene 4-29.
Third-down conversions: Aledo 5-of-10, Abilene 1-of-11.
Fourth-down conversions: Aledo 1-of-2, Abilene 0-of-3.
Rushing
Aledo: Hejny 13 carries, 103 yards, TD; Patrick-Daniels 10-80, 2 TD; Ray Guillory 5-65; Davhon Keys 5-33, 3 TD; RJ Blake 7-27; Kaden Winkfield 5-24; Brady Powell 4-5; team 1-(-29).
Abilene: Chad Lara 8-3; Bryce Neves 1-1; Slack 2-(-3); Henry 6-(-4), TD.
Passing
Aledo: Hejny 12 carries, 105 yards, TD; Patrick-Daniels 11-82, 2 TD; Ray Guillory 5-65; Davhon Keys 5-31, 3 TD; RJ Blake 8-27; Kaden Winkfield 5-24; Brady Powell 4-5; team 1-(-29).
Abilene: Chad Lara 8-4; Bryce Neves 1-1; Slack 2-(-3); Henry 6-(-4), TD.
Receiving
Aledo: Clarkson 2 catches, 98 yards, TD; McCoy 3-38, TD; Kaydon Finley 3-32; Patrick-Daniels 2-26; Lamel Swanson 1-13; Tyson Timms 1-5; Blake Burdine 1-4.
Abilene: Jackson Howie 5-68; Bryson Perez 5-60; Bradford 7-52, 2 TD; Brelon Badon 3-12; Lara 1-8.
Interceptions
Aledo: Cooper Kohan 1.
Abilene: Upshaw 1, Tre Sharp 1.
Fumble recoveries
Abilene: Eduardo Rocha.
Tackles
Aledo: Jaden Allen 5.5, Chris Johnson 4.5,
Tackles for loss
Aledo: Decker Sanders 2, Kohan 1.5, Caden Atwood 1, Cooper Cyphers 1, Ben McElree 1, Carson Dempsey 0.5, Jaxon Richter 0.5.
Sacks
Aledo: Kohan 1.
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