In this titanic matchup, the Bearcats scored the game’s first two points, fell behind by a dozen and then burst through the finish line by scoring the final 13 points of the contest. The rollercoaster ride ended with a winning touchdown run by senior quarterback Lincoln Tubbs to help Aledo edge the Raiders in a thrilling 15-14 victory. The win increased the program’s record-extending streak to 131 consecutive district wins – an active streak since October 5, 2007.
“It’s definitely satisfying. We knew it was going to be a tough game – it’s never easy against these guys (Denton Ryan),” Bearcats head coach Robby Jones said. “These guys are well coached and (Dave) Henigan always has a little wrinkle that we haven’t seen that has a chance to pop for a touchdown, which you saw on that pass play in the first half. They do a great job coaching over there, their kids play hard and they take pride in playing great defense. They’ve got a really good defense, especially up front. It was just a slugfest out there tonight.”
Aledo (6-0, 4-0) moved the ball during its first two offensive possessions as senior quarterback Nash McElree established good early rhythm with star senior wideout Kaydon Finley, who hauled in four first-quarter catches and seven receptions overall, but the Bearcats could not break into the red zone in the early stages.
The showdown was highly physical throughout and Aledo used its stingy defense to nose out in front first. After Aledo’s opening offensive possession stalled out after nine plays, the Bearcat special teams unit made a big play when junior Ashton Hebel and sophomore cornerback Jordan Hall teamed up to down Riley McCracken’s punt at the 1 yard line. Three plays later, Raiders senior quarterback Quin Henigan faced heavy pressure from Aledo defensive standout Cooper Cyphers while scrambling to find an open receiver from his own end zone. Cyphers’ near-sack ultimately produced an intentional grounding call which, by rule, resulted in a safety and an early 2-0 lead for the Bearcats at the 4:57 mark of the first quarter.
“Our guys like them a little contact,” Jones said of his defense. “So they were getting after it and they were getting excited — we got a little too excited a couple of times and got some penalties. If it’s an effort penalty, you can let that slide, and doing something silly – maybe talk too much after the play – that can be corrected.”
The spirited defense provided another opportunity for the offensive unit, but Denton Ryan (4-1, 2-1) forced a punt after four plays. The teams exchanged forceful tackles, verbal jabs, competitive emotions, and multiple punts on consecutive possessions. The competition stayed spicy as the offenses remained stagnant, until the home team broke the cycle at the halfway point of the second quarter — when the Raiders picked up their primordial first down of the contest.
Denton Ryan moved the sticks one more time and, facing 3rd-and-9 from its own 48 yard line, Quin Henigan found Tre’vaughn Reynolds wide open on a busted coverage for a 52-yard score. The hidden-wrinkle touchdown play and ensuing extra point gave Denton Ryan a 7-2 lead with 4:06 left before halftime.
Aledo senior captain Lamel Swanson set up Aledo nicely with a long return to the Denton Ryan 47 yard line with 3:56 left, and the Bearcats were able to drive the ball down the Raiders 2 with less than two minutes remaining. However, a faulty snap over the head of Tubbs pushed the Bearcats back to the Denton Ryan 15. After that, a false start infraction moved Aledo in reverse for five more yards. Then, Peyton Shaffer lined up to kick a 37-yard field goal with 1:46 to go, but Raiders defensive star John Catlin blocked the kick to preserve the home team’s five-point lead, which held up at halftime.
Aledo was down but far from out as Jones provided a trick of his own for the second act, even though things looked bleak halfway through the third quarter.
The Bearcats primarily used Tubbs at signal-caller to provide more mobility in the backfield against Ryan’s elite front, but he tossed an interception to Arizona-commit Xaier Hiler, who housed the 52-yard pick-six with 5:58 left in the third quarter. At this point, Denton Ryan held a double-digit lead at 14-2. With the district-record streak in peril and, more importantly, the driver’s seat in District 3-5A slipping away, Aledo had to seize momentum. Dramatically, things took one final dip before they got better.
The Bearcats stuck with Tubbs behind center as the Bearcats faced 2nd-and-30 after a flurry of uncharacteristic penalties, needing to reach the Denton Ryan 39 to move the sticks. With less than three minutes in the quarter, Tubbs was trying to connect with Finley deep down the sideline, but the pass was picked off by Catlin and returned to the Aledo 45. In a dramatic twist, Ryan was called for a game-changing flag as Finley was interfered with on the reception attempt.
After the penalty, Aledo caught fire as Tubbs led a three-headed rushing attack in what proved to be a devastating onslaught of successful outside zone-read option plays, gradually wearing down the mighty Raiders defense.
“That’s when we had some long drives there, they were kind of getting tired, so we wanted to have a little bit more of a quarterback run game in the second half,” Jones said. “They (Denton Ryan) started cramping up and had a lot of players coming out with cramps. I think it worked getting him (Tubbs) involved in the run game and just trying to grind out the ugly yards that we got.”
Aledo’s offense marched down the field on a 13-play, 84-yard touchdown drive that exclusively featured running plays produced by the legs of Tubbs and senior running backs Kaden Winkfield and Brady Powell. The drive culminated in a grown-man, 11-yard rumble to the end zone by Powell with 31 seconds left in the third, which allowed Aledo to cut the deficit to 14-9.
The bruising momentum spilled over into the fourth quarter after a three-and-out forced by the Bearcat defense reaped rewards for the special teams. A bad snap by Denton Ryan set up Aledo’s offense in plus-territory that gave the potent, pick-your-poison power running game another chance to further impose its will.
Subsequently, Tubbs engineered a 10-play drive and called his own number from a yard out to catapult the Bearcats in front by a point. The two-point conversion try was unsuccessful, but the Bearcats impressively clawed back from a 12-point deficit in stunning fashion to take a 15-14 lead with 7:54 left in regulation.
“The work we put into the offseason and into practices, I think that’s what allows us to overcome that third and fourth quarter when the other team’s tired,” Tubbs said. “The execution with the backers felt great. We practice our plays a lot, so it’s fun to see us achieve and get a lot of yards on that play. We’re so strong in that part of the game because you have two options – you can pull it or give it. Especially with Wink (Kaden Winkfield) and Brady Powell, those are the two best running backs in the state and I have a lot of faith in them.”
With senior linebacker Chase Wilburn leading passionate celebrations with his teammates and Cyphers leading a suffocating effort up front, the Bearcats stonewalled the Raiders on their final two offensive possessions.
“We were shutting them down all game, they scored from one play from a busted coverage – that’s it,” Cyphers said. “We weren’t nervous at all going out on the field and shutting them down again. We knew what we had to do and knew we could do it.”
Denton Ryan was forced to punt trailing by one punt one final time to Aledo, whose offense set up shop on its own 18 with 2:40 left. From there, the unstoppable train continued producing positive yards on the ground, and a late five-yard run on 3rd-and-2 by Tubbs – Aledo’s third first down of the closing drive – put the game on ice.
“Oh my God, it feels great,” Cyphers said of the win. “For the team that took us out of the playoffs last year, to come in and win a game like that – feels amazing.”
Tubbs led the charge with 2-for-5 passing for 22 yards and an interception, one reception for eight yards and starred on the ground with 84 yards and the winning score on 21 carries. Winkfield tallied 17 carries for 63 yards while Powell had a touchdown to go with 59 yards on nine totes. Finley led the receiving corps with seven catches for 63 yards while McElree went 9-for-11 for 64 yards through the air.
Overall, Aledo carried the ball 52 times for 195 of its 281 total offensive yards. Aledo out-gained Denton Ryan 281-171 and limited the Raiders to six total rushing yards. Wilburn led the defensive effort with 11 tackles and 2.5 tackles for a loss while Cyphers and Carson Dempsey combined for five stops and combined for six quarterback hurries. Star defensive lineman Tymon Meeks starred with three tackles, two tackles for a loss, and two quarterback hurries while junior Cole Cox was also impactful with five tackles and two tackles for a loss. Swanson anchored the secondary with seven tackles while Patton had an interception.
Additionally, Aledo overcame double-digit penalties that accumulated more than 100 yards, and Jones knows that while plenty of passion and competitive spirit was at play in this game, the amount of yellow flags must reduce moving forward.
“We’ve got other teams in the district that could knock us off, Richland took us to overtime last year, so we’ve got to look at the at game here in a couple weeks,” Jones said. “When we go to their place, we better be ready because we’ve seen some videos on them and they’ve got a really good offensive line and running back.”
Before renewing hostilities with the No. 18 Richland Royals (5-1, 4-0) on Friday, Oct. 24, the Bearcats will host the Granbury Pirates (2-3, 1-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at Tim Buchanan Stadium, which will be followed by the Bearcats’ bye week.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here