Greatness, like everything, has a beginning. Legends continue to add to that greatness.
You know, like the Aledo Bearcats football program.
Two giant phases of the greatest high school football program ever to put on shoulder pads and helmets were on display at halftime of this past Friday's game against Burleson Centennial at Tim Buchanan Stadium. At halftime, the 1998 and 2013 squads were recognized for what they brought to the historic resume'.
Of course, by that time the score was 35-0 as this year's Bearcats showed once again they are favorites to add their chapter to the continuing story by going on to humble the Spartans 42-0. It was the 117th straight district victory for the program, dating to 2007, a national record.
This year, of course is the 25th anniversary of the 1998 team. This is the one that started it all, winning a Class 3A state championship and finishing 13-1.
Coming off a 14-1 season in 1997 that included a berth in the state semifinals, the 1998 version got off to a 1-1 start. They lost 21-14 to Bridgeport in season's second game and then reeled off 12 straight victories, topping another program with a long history of success, the Cuero Gobblers, 14-7.
I had only moved to the area couple years earlier. Honestly, like many at that time who did not live around Fort Worth - and probably some who did - I had never heard of the town of Aledo or the Bearcats.
It didn't take long for them to become embellished on my mind, however. And now, the community and school district is renowned - and not only for the football success.
A common question from those outside the program having such success is how do they keep getting so many great players? That's a good question, but one that's really quite simple to answer.
When you are great at what you do, folks want to be a part of it. For example, if you are moving into the area and your child has athletic abilities, why on earth wouldn't you want he or she to play for a school like Aledo? Add in that they will also be getting one of the best high school educations the state has to offer and it's a no-brainer - although, as their academics record will prove, there are lots of brains in the Aledo ISD.
But I digress. This article is about high school football and the fact that nowhere in Texas is it played better than Aledo.
And it could be argued that at no time in history was it played better than the 2013 team - certainly on offense. On their way to finishing 16-0 that squad outscored its opponents 1,023-140.
If you were not aware of this before, yes, you read that correctly. They are the only team at any level, from peewee to the Tom Brady Patriots to score more than 1,000 points in a season.
First-year Bearcats head coach Robby Jones was the offensive coordinator for that juggernaut, which was also the last team Tim Buchanan coached before retiring for the first time. After serving as athletic director only from 2014-18, Buchanan returned in 2019 to win three more state titles, but none before or after matched the explosiveness of the team in 2013.
"It was great to see those guys on those teams tonight. I didn't know the '98 guys as most of them were gone before I got here," Jones said, noting that some of the younger players might have crossed paths with him. "But what they accomplished was a big part of history. They were the first state champs, and that's something special."
Something the 1998 team and the 2013 team have in common is both came up short of their goal the season before. The 2012 team finished 10-2 and exited in the second round of the playoffs - something unheard of in Aledo, especially considering they were coming off three consecutive 4A state championships.
But, just like their 1998 counterparts, they regrouped with a focused mission.
"That 2013 team made a goal to go undefeated," Jones said. "Something that made them so great is our second team was better than most other first teams."
I still remember getting a simple answer to a question I texted Buchanan just prior to the 2013 season. I asked his general thoughts on bouncing back after 2012, a season in which both of their losses came to state champions in 4A, Stephenville (Division II) in the regular season and Denton Guyer (Division I) in the postseason.
It read, "Going 10-2 and losing in the second round led to a hard offseason."
I saw the 2013 team only once as I was working as sports editor at another newspaper at the time, but that's all it took to realize I was seeing something special. They took apart an 8-0 team that was enjoying its best season in almost six decades, winning 72-6.
Bear in mind that game, and most others they played in the regular season, featured a running clock with no stoppage for a large part of the second half. In other words, they scored a lot of their points without the help of the clock stopping for incomplete passes or players going out of bounds.
Jones and Buchanan will also be the first to tell you (well, one might be first, the other second) that one reason the offense was so prolific in 2013 was the staunch defense of that team. They held 10 opponents to no more than one touchdown.
It was clear the current players were inspired by those two great teams of the past. Of course, many of the players on this year's team have already made a mark, overcoming an 0-2 start to go 14-2 and win state last year.
"Those teams were great and they gave us something more to play for," senior linebacker Davhon Keys said. "That's our goal, to be even better."
Quarterback Hauss Hejny smiled and said of the 1,000-plus points scored, "I'm thinking about it."
In reality, there is no better or worse when it comes to a program like Aledo. There is simply greatness, and while each team has its own form, they are all just that, great.
Ask the players on those two honored teams, or any of the others in story that is Bearcats football and here's betting they will tell you they just proud parts of a larger legend.
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