FOOTBALL: No. 1 Bearcats gear up for district slate

The No. 1 Aledo Bearcats passed their pre-district tests with flying colors in their first two outings of the 2025 season. Aledo, the top-ranked team of Class 5A Division I, defeated Class 6A powers Denton Guyer (21-14) and Lancaster (18-0) to open up a 2-0 record heading into District 5-5A Region I competition.

Maybe the most impressive statlines comes from the defensive side of the ball. In Aledo’s first two victories, the defense has surrendered 14 total points and fewer than 400 total yards of offense against two 6A programs that combined for 15 wins with each school advancing at least one round in the postseason.

“The defense has played really well in the first two football games, and we’re doing it without at least one of our starters,” Bearcats head coach Robby Jones said. “He’s been out the last couple weeks, and then the guy that took his place the first week wasn’t available this week, so we kind of had some musical chairs at the defensive end spot.”

Aside from the facts and figures that highlight this unit’s prowess, the way the defenders have executed has been eye-catching. From the angles taken, the gap discipline and the pursuit of the football, the Aledo Bearcat defense has been in top form, flying around the field at a very high level.

“The defense is playing at a championship level right now, and we’ve just got to keep that going,” Jones said. “They’ve made the quarterbacks we’ve faced very uncomfortable. The Guyer quarterback (Zephyr Kreye) is a good quarterback, but he didn’t feel comfortable in the pocket, and our guys stuck him a couple of times. I’m sure he was sore after the game, and then it was the same thing with the Lancaster quarterback. He got out of there pretty quick a lot of times because he probably saw the videos that Guyer’s quarterback was taking a beating.”

“Our secondary is playing as well as any we’ve ever had,” Jones said. “We’ve got the two safeties (Lamel Swanson and Kamron Hall) who are returning starters, so we felt really good there. We also knew that Alex Patton and Jordan Hall were going to be really good corners. They just hadn’t had a whole lot of varsity reps, but they’ve both stepped in, been very impressive and have made great plays out there.”

Along with strong play in the secondary, Jones appreciates the depth he has on the defensive line as well. With star edge rusher Carson Dempsey recovering from an injury, Jones has seen multiple players step in and step up to maintain the high level of push and production in the trenches.

“Along with Alex Patton and Jordan Hall, Cutter Harrell as a third defensive tackle has been very disruptive when he gets into the game,” Jones said. “He’s been very disruptive in the backfield and creating tackles for a loss. Of course, Cooper Cyphers – without Carson (Dempsey) being out there – Cooper has had to take on a lot more of the load than what he has originally had to do. With him being the only starting defensive end out there, his sacks are going down a little bit, which is frustrating for him, but it’s because they can concentrate more on him because you don’t have Dempsey on the other end right now. But, he (Cyphers) has been playing great and he’s going to continue to play great. Those sacks, you’re going to start seeing more and more of them.”

The Bearcats have rolled out both Lincoln Tubbs and Nash McElree to fill the quarterback void left from last season. While Aledo was limited to 45 passing yards in the first game, the Bearcats saw more success through the air at Lancaster, as both Kaydon Finley and Bayne Martin finished with multiple receptions, and the latter scored a touchdown.

“Of course, we need to do what we need to do to win, but we are going to use these first couple of district games to fine tune the passing game, you know, just getting the two quarterbacks comfortable throwing the football,” Jones said. “We also need to be figuring out what the best personnel package is out there for us, if it’s Lincoln (Tubbs) out at receiver and Nash (McElree) at quarterback for the majority of the time, or if it’s Lincoln taking most of the snaps at quarterback. We’ve got to figure that out here the next couple of weeks before we get to some of the big games in the middle.”

The next test for the Bearcats is their first district game of the season as Aledo (2-0) will host the Brewer Bears (2-0). The Bears started their season with wins over Saginaw (33-9) and Lake Dallas (14-10).

“They are a 3-4 defense and run a lot of cover-two,” Jones said of Brewer’s defense. “So, we know exactly where they’re going to line up formation-wise. They haven’t been very multiple, which has been one of the things with the previous two opponents we’ve faced – they are both very multiple with their defensive fronts. Brewer hasn’t shown to be very multiple, but they do a good job and have really good coaches over there that are getting these guys lined up in the right spots. Ron Mendoza is their defensive coordinator and he spent time with Todd Dodge at South Lake and the University of North Texas, so he’s a guy that’s got big-time football experience. They do a really good job defensively as far as their schemes.”

Along with experience and sound fundamentals on defense, the Bears bring plenty of size to the offensive side of the ball that has helped propel their run-based offense.

“Offensively, their offensive line is huge – they have a huge offensive line and a running back that was the district newcomer of the year,” Jones said. “The run game has been their strength offensively, because you’ve got those big boys up front and a good running back behind them. We’re going to try to make sure we’re taking away the run this week and make them be uncomfortable trying to throw the ball more than they’re used to.”

Aledo will continue to sharpen their craft and run their reps in practice this week, a calling card and large source of attribution to the team’s overall success. The way the team prepares has shown up on game days, and Jones expects nothing less for their latest matchup.

“I’m not real sure because I’ve been a part of it for so long, so I don’t know what’s different about our practices from other peoples’ because I don’t go to other peoples’ practices,” Jones said. “But, we do get a lot of compliments in the spring when the college coaches are coming around about the organization of our practice and the tempo of our practice – just how we do things around here. So, people that go around and watch other programs and then watch us, they give us compliments on what we’re doing, and some of them refer to it as a college-type atmosphere at practice.”

“The effort is always going to be there no matter who we are playing, and Brewer has typically played us hard – they don’t lay down like some other teams might,” Jones said. “We’ve got to go through, practice, have great effort and have great attitudes when we start the game, knowing we are playing a 2-0 team which isn’t coming in to be 2-1. They’re coming in trying to get to 3-0, so we’ve got to make sure that we’re focused and get after it.”