FOOTBALL: ’Cats entertain homecoming crowd with blowout victory

By the time Aledo senior Landry Wolf received her homecoming queen crown at halftime, the No. 1 Aledo Bearcats held a 28-0 lead. Before the coronation and halftime horn, star senior wideout Kaydon Finley gave the homecoming crowd plenty to cheer about with a 40-yard Hail Mary touchdown reception. In the end, the Bearcats emerged from their district contest against Fossil Ridge with a 56-14 win Friday night at Tim Buchanan Stadium.

“I like the way we started, we were executing well,” Bearcats head coach Robby Jones said. “We did really well the first three or four drives in the first quarter. I like the fact that we were taking care of the football, we didn’t turn the ball over and the defense played well.”

Ethan Marchilinski halted the first Panther drive with a tackle for a loss, Alex Patton broke up a third-down pass to stop Fossil Ridge’s second drive and the Bearcats stuffed the Panthers once again in the following drive to open the game.

Through one quarter of play, the Aledo offense collected a hat trick of touchdowns while the defense limited the Panthers to 11 yards of offense. Offensively, Aledo put an emphasis on its improving passing attack, especially during its first three possessions. Aledo passed the ball nine of its first 11 plays while two of its first three touchdowns went through the air.

“We’re pleased with how we’re progressing with the passing game, we’re going to need that,” Jones said. “We’re going to need the run game big time next week, but we’ve got to be able to get the ball to our playmakers out wide.”

The playmaking was at a premium in the first half outside the numbers with a specific emphasis on feeding Finley the ball. The talented senior, who is committed to play at Notre Dame, hauled in nine receptions for 91 yards and two touchdowns. He collected five passes from junior quarterback Nash McElree and four from senior signal caller Lincoln Tubbs.

“Me and Nash’s confidence builds every week, just from practice, the film room, the weight room – everything we do together,” Tubbs said. “We’re building chemistry and I’m glad we’ve gotten to this point where we can connect. The timing has been great between us and the receivers. I think it’s getting better and better each week. When we put an emphasis on it in practice, we practice like it’s a game, so when we come out to the game, it’s nothing different. We’re playing at a Friday-night light speed, and it just felt like we’ve been doing it for a while.”

The aerial assault was good for 187 yards against Fossil Ridge and the rushing attack and execution were strong as well. Aledo amassed 247 yards on the ground, committed only two penalties (both blocks in the back on punt returns) and did not commit a turnover. Despite the positive, Jones wants to see his team impose its will more consistently.

“We started really well, but then we went two straight series having to punt, so I don’t like that,” Jones said. “We kind of took our foot off the gas and had a lull. We don’t like doing that. We want to stay on it, get points on the board and let’s get it going – I hate to punt.”

“On defense, we just got out of our lanes a couple of times, letting that quarterback scramble on us,” Jones said. “One of them, the ball was on the ground, so the defensive end came inside, he picked it up, got around us and we were out of our lane. We’ve got to make sure that we don’t do that next week.”

In the second half, Aledo padded its lead with multiple second-half scores, including a 29-yard scramble by McElree, a 36-yard connection between Tubbs and tight end Skylar Kirk and an 80-yard burst by Rudy Moya in the waning minutes to put the cherry on top of Aledo’s dominant homecoming night outing.

Moya led all rushers with 111 yards and a score on three carries while McElree produced 51 yards on the ground. Brady Powell added 29 rushing yards and a score while Winkfield finished with 31 yards on nine carries. Eight different Bearcats caught at least one pass against Fossil Ridge (1-4, 0-3).

Up next, the Bearcats will compete in their most important game of the season to date against a fellow top-five foe. Jones knows the contest against Denton Ryan will not make or break the season, but there is no lack of motivation for the ’Cats entering this matchup.

“We’re really eager for this next matchup. We’ve been waiting for this game for a while now,” Tubbs said. “I mean, it’s been months after months with the memory sitting in the back of your mind, so we’re going to come out hot and come out ready. This has been driving us and what we’ve been looking forward to.”

Aledo (5-0, 3-0) will hit the road to face the No. 4 Denton Ryan Raiders (4-0, 2-0) at 7 p.m. Friday at C.H. Collins Athletic Complex.