No. 1 Aledo heads into showdown against No. 15 Richland

The No. 1 Aledo Bearcats enjoyed their bye week that followed district wins over Denton Ryan and Granbury. Now refreshed, recharged, and full of motivation, the top-ranked Bearcats (7-0, 5-0) will take their orange-and-black show on the road to the Birdville ISD Fine Arts/Athletics Complex, where they will face a No. 15 Richland Royals team that has won five of its last six contests. The game will kickoff at 7 p.m. Thursday night, one day ahead of schedule, due to inclement weather expected in the area Friday night.

Aledo has taken advantage of its 13 days off before it looks to extend its national-record district winning streak to 133 in a row. The ’Cats were able to regain their health collectively while also allowing quarterbacks Lincoln Tubbs and Nash McElree to further improve their timing and chemistry with the receiving corps.

The Aledo signal-callers have hit eight or more different receivers in a game multiple times this season, and the offense itself has been a juggernaut – to the tune of 40.1 points per game. Thus far, the Bearcats have collected more than 1,200 passing yards, 14 passing touchdowns, 1,605 rushing yards, and 24 rushing touchdowns. McElree’s 707 yards and 10 touchdowns lead Aledo through the air while star senior and Notre Dame-commit Kaydon Finley leads all receivers with 27 catches for 399 yards and six touchdowns.

Senior running backs Kaden Winkfield and Brady Powell have been pacing Aledo out of the backfield. Winkfield has a team-leading 482 yards and nine touchdowns while Powell has collected six touchdowns and 337 rushing yards. Tubbs’s versatility has been a plus for Aledo as well. The senior has gathered 737 total yards of offense – 351 passing, 273 rushing, 113 receiving – with six total touchdowns.

Coming into this matchup, Aledo’s defense has been the team’s overall anchor. The Bearcats defensive unit has not surrendered more than 14 points in a contest, including shutout wins over Lancaster and Granbury. Through seven games, the defense has amassed 190 tackles, 42 tackles for a loss, 42 quarterback hurries, 10.5 sacks, five interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

“They did a lot of tackling drills, making sure they’re being sure tacklers, which will be big this week,” Bearcats head coach Robby Jones said. “(Jayshon) Gibson is a really good running back.”

Gibson, Richland’s star junior running back, has received offers from schools such as Kansas State, TCU, Arkansas, Texas Tech, SMU, and Washington State. He has tallied 1,492 yards and 23 rushing touchdowns on 169 carries (8.8 yards per carry).

The Aledo defense, though, has faced and shut down talented offenses routinely this year. Led by its front seven, the Aledo defense has allowed fewer than 500 rushing yards this season, including holding Denton Ryan to 43 yards on the ground in the Bearcats’ previous 15-14 road win.

“We have to make sure we are all here for a common goal, let’s work together, stay together and be great teammates to one another,” Jones said. “We need to continue the work we’ve put in because it would be a waste of nine months of pure work to all of the sudden say, ‘Well, I’m tired and I don’t want to finish the season.’ That’s been our message all year is to finish. Finish every rep, finish every practice, finish every game – finish the season.”

With shorter practice and players healing during the bye week, Jones is expecting fresher legs in practice and on the gridiron during the game against Richland, who will present a formidable challenge. The Royals (6-2, 5-1) pushed Aledo to overtime last year, narrowly losing in a 48-42 battle.

“The offensive line is a big strength for them. Their running back is one of the best running backs we’ll see all year. He’s a Division I recruit, so he’s the real deal. Then they have some speed out at receiver, so their offense is a really good all-around offense – probably the best we’ve seen so far this year.”

The Royals are expected to be as close to fully healthy as Aledo entering the matchup on both sides of the ball. Richland’s offense is orchestrated by head coach Ged Kates’ son, junior quarterback Brett Kates, who boasts a 16-to-3 touchdown to interception ratio with more than 1,600 yards. Two receivers, Aaron Brooks and Benjamin Sanders, have combined for more than 1,100 of those yards and nine scores. Jones also touted Kates’ ability to make sound decisions in the running game and utilize his legs as he has more than 400 yards and five rushing touchdowns on the year.

In order to slow down their offense and control the game more to their strengths, Jones is challenging his veteran offensive line to step up and dominate.

“We want to be able to run the football against these guys,” Jones said. “I think if our offensive line can create those holes for us, then we can get opportunities to throw the football, which has gotten better as the year’s gone on as far as pass protection. We want to make sure that we get out and have a fast start, we need to put points on the board early, and then the defense needs to do what they’ve been doing all year, which is holding the other team out of the end zone.”