The Aledo Bearcats have been to the playoffs every season since 1996. And in each of the past 25 years they won at least one postseason contest.
Thanks to Friday’s 68-0 homecoming victory against Fort Worth South Hills, they’ll get a chance to extend that streak as they clinched yet another playoff berth.
With the victory, the Bearcats (5-2 overall) improved to 5-0 in District 3-5A Division I. Next is a trip to unbeaten Burleson Centennial (6-0, 4-0) Friday, Oct. 14, in a showdown of state-ranked teams.
The Spartans, who are coming off a 23-16 home victory against Denton Ryan — also state-ranked — were No. 8 in the state according to MaxPreps and fourth in the Padilla Poll entering the weekend. Aledo was ranked No. 3 by MaxPreps and No. 5 in Padilla.
Dave Campbell’s state rankings had Aledo sixth and Centennial unranked.
“They’re good. We knew they were going to be good, so get ready,” Aledo coach Tim Buchanan said.
Ryan, Aledo’s opponent on Nov. 21 in Denton, came into the weekend No. 3 in Dave Campbell’s, No 12 in Padilla and 19th in MaxPreps.
The game against Centennial is expected to be the most serious threat to Aledo’s state-record 108-game district winning streak in years. Not since starting 0-2 in league play in 2007 have the Bearcats been on the losing end of a score in a league contest.
“I do not worry about that,” Buchanan said. “I worry about playing a good football game.”
The Bearcats certainly did that against the Scorpions, and they did so up and down the roster. Nine different players scored, nine players carried the ball at least two times, and eight caught at least one pass.
And both quarterbacks threw for touchdowns.
“A lot of kids got to play and every kid had a good time,” Buchanan said. “It’s a dadgum game. It’s supposed to be fun, and I think everybody had fun.”
Well, maybe not the Scorpions (1-5 overall, 0-4 in district), who have now been outscored 295-0 in their five losses opposite their lone victory, 42-21 over Class 4A Division II Venus.
Aledo had Friday’s win well in hand by the end of the first quarter as they led 28-0. They added 20 more in the second for a 48-0 halftime advantage.
Starting quarterback Hauss Hejny threw touchdown passes of 7 and 29 yards to tight end Tyson Timms within the game’s first four minutes. Then, backup quarterback Brant Hayden connected with Jalen Pope for an 8-yard TD pass and Hawk Patrick-Daniels added a 4-yard run to wrap up the opening period.
Hayden scored on a 16-yard run and Caleb Pope tacked on a 5-yard score in the second quarter. The defense got in on the action as well, with Jaden Allen returning an interception 71 yards for a touchdown.
Third-quarter scores were a 1-yard run by Ryan Cox and a 5-yard run by Ryan Morton. Brett Turner capped the night with a 41-yard scamper to the end zone in the fourth quarter.
Unofficial statistics had Hejny finishing the night 5-for-6 passing for 102 yards, while Hayden completed six of 11 for 42 yards.
Aledo rushers were Patrick-Daniels, six carries for 59 yards; Cox, 9-54; Turner, 2-53; C. Pope, 6-48; Jedidiah Emeka-Okoye, 3-30; Hayden, 3-24; Ben McElree, 2-11; Morton, 2-11; and Tanner Wheaton, 3-9.
Aledo receivers were Gavin Olenjack, 2-46; Timms, 2-36; Kaydon Finley, 1-20; C. Pope, 1-15; Ethan Smith, 1-12; Toby McDonald, 2-8; J. Pope, 1-8; and Austin Keith, 1-0.
The Aledo defense posted a pair of sacks and limited the Scorpions to 58 total yards, including 9 rushing on 23 carries. They stopped South Hills for negative yards on eight carries and zero yards on three others. Two passes also went for 0 yards while another gained just a yard.
Meanwhile, Aledo compiled 443 yards (300 rushing, 143 passing) and had 20 players of 10 or more yards (13 rushing, 7 passing).
The Bearcats also committed no penalties, while South Hills had just four. Each team had a turnover, the aforementioned interception by the Scorpions and a fumble by Aledo.
Aledo has now outscored its five district opponents by a combined 297-54.
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