The Bearcats amassed 434 total yards of offense with only two penalties and no turnovers in a crisply executed contest under the Friday Night lights.
“You’ve got to be happy with a 56-14 victory. I think we’ve kind of lost sight of that over the years because of the level of play that we’re used to playing in,” Bearcats head coach Robby Jones said. “It’s almost where you’re disappointed sometimes when you don’t do as well as you think you should even though you beat the team 56-14. We are pleased with the overall performance of the kids. There were things that we needed to do better, and we’re working on that this week to make sure that we do play a lot better this week than we did last week.”
Aledo (5-0, 3-0) took care of business to earn their third straight district win this year, and the 42-point margin kept Aledo’s district margin of victory at 46 points per contest. The offense has scored 55.3 points per league contest while the stingy defense has allowed only 8.4 points per game through the entire season.
“Right now, the defensive front and the way the defensive front has been playing has been our biggest strength – they’ve been playing great and hope they do so again this week,” Jones said. “We gave up 300 yards rushing in the playoff game against Denton Ryan last year, and we want to make sure that we correct that and have a better showing against them up front this week.”
The Bearcat defense will need execution, playmaking and diligence to combat a Raiders offense that has per-game averages of 203 passing yards, 171.5 rushing yards and 32.5 points per game. Jones is looking to new faces such as Ethan Marchilinski, Sam Foreman, Cooper Elms, and Tripp Calwell to have an impact in the trenches to slow down the Raiders offensive attack and preserve their historic district winning streak.
“The streak isn’t a big factor in that, but we do want to keep it going,” Jones said. “We did mention it a little bit this week, the fact that this has been going on for 18 years now. There have been 18 other teams that have done their part in this. Now, we’ve got to hold up our end of the mark to keep that streak going, but the main thing is to win the football game so that we can be on top of the district and put ourselves in a good situation going into the playoffs.”
While Denton Ryan has been an explosive team on offense, like Aledo, they are driven by their defensive prowess. The Raiders benefitted from game-altering defensive scores in their pre-district wins over V.R. Eaton (26-20) and Mansfield Timberview (20-12), and the team has created eight turnovers (four interceptions, four fumble recoveries) along with 11 sacks.
“Their defense is kind of what drives them, very similar to us – we are very similar teams,” Jones said. “Their defensive line is one of the more dominant defensive lines you’re going to see, and I’m sure when people see us, it’s the same thing about our defensive line. That’s the big key is the strength of their defensive line, which is one of the best in Texas. They graduated two of their linebackers and returned one player from the secondary from last year’s team, but they all run through the defensive line, which creates havoc, creates turnovers and causes quarterbacks to make bad decisions with the ball. They thrive on turnovers, so we have to make sure we take care of the ball.”
Aledo has turned the ball over six times this year (three fumbles, three interceptions) and have only coughed up the ball once in their last two outings. Aledo is aiming to avenge its 31-21 loss to the Raiders in last year’s regional final, where the Bearcats were held to 39 rushing yards and surrendered 455 yards of total offense.
“It’s a game that a lot of people have circled on the calendar because it was a playoff game last year that we lost, and they circled it as well because we’ve gotten the best of them three times in the last three years,” Jones said. “It’s going to be a big-time game with two of the top-five teams in the state of Texas in our classification – it’s a huge game. You can see a little more excitement in the kids during practice this week, just because they’ve realized, ‘Hey, look. This is one of the teams that we want to go out and compete against in a good game.’ We’re focused on beating Denton Ryan because they are our opponent.”
Now, the top-ranked ’Cats gear up for a colossal matchup on the road, and Jones needs his team’s best up front for the Bearcats to claim their 130th-straight league win.
“Our offensive line needs to do a really good job of controlling their defensive front,” Jones said. “If we can do that and not turn the ball over, we’re going to be successful.”
The Bearcats will be the visitors as they take on Denton Ryan at 7 p.m. Friday at C.H. Collins Athletic Complex.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here