On the gridiron, the Bearcats started fast, continued to push, and never looked back. In the end, Aledo emerged victorious by a final score of 61-0, which extended the program’s national record-extending district win streak to 132 in a row.
“I think we got some work done. It’s great to get out here and be able to work on throwing the ball in live action against another team with them changing up coverages,” Bearcats head coach Robby Jones said. “It’s good to be able to do that, and I thought all the quarterbacks handled it pretty well.”
The three quarterbacks who took the field: Nash McElree, Lincoln Tubbs, and Christian Sandoval, completed more than 73 percent of their passes and combined for 262 passing yards and two touchdowns without a turnover. Additionally, nine different receivers caught a pass in a game without star senior wideout Kaydon Finley.
Along with the strong passing attack, the Bearcats ran the ball with authority, to the tune of 181 yards and six touchdowns on 28 total carries, good for a 6.5-yard per carry average. Collectively, Aledo out gained Granbury 443-82 with 66 of Granbury’s yards coming off one play. The continuity and physicality up front allowed the quarterbacks time to operate in the backfield while plenty of running lanes were created for the ball carriers to burst through.
“Our offensive line, we felt like was going to be a lot better this year than probably what we had last year because we had so many guys coming back,” Jones said. “That’s a big point of emphasis is to improve up front and get that run game going. It was big for us last week and it’s going to be big for us again down the road.”
The lone near-score by Granbury came on a 66-yard run as the first quarter expired. On that play, Aledo defensive back Alex Patton chased down the ball carrier within yards of the end zone, and after an Aledo penalty extended the drive following an unsuccessful third-down play by Granbury, the stalwart defense still stood tall and put an iron curtain in front of the goal line.
“It was big to get the shut out. We had, I think, three missed tackles on the long run, but then we had — I think it was AP (Alex Patton) who ran him down to keep him out of the end zone. It was also a good job by our guys keeping them out of the end zone after they got down there. We had a silly penalty that gave them new life, which provided a possibility for them to score again, but they stepped up and kept them out of the end zone — that was the big thing.”
Patton, who also caught a 35-yard touchdown in the third quarter, accounted for six of Aledo’s 61 points and arguably prevented six by Granbury. Star senior running back Kaden Winkfield scored two of Aledo’s first three touchdowns from 29 yards and 22 yards out, respectively. Junior wide receiver Bayne Martin found paydirt on a 19-yard reverse before Winkfield’s second score, and senior running back Brady Powell rumbled in for a 15-yard score at the 2:26 mark of the second quarter. The defense flexed its muscles moments later, forcing a safety on a bad snap on a Granbury punt attempt to make it a 30-0 lead, and Tubbs found Patton wide open for a 37-0 halftime lead.
In the third quarter, McElree engineered 56- and 39-yard scoring drives. The first possession culminated in a 23-yard scoring toss from McElree to tight end Skylar Kirk while McElree called his own number from six yards out on the second scoring drive. At this point, Aledo held a 51-0 lead entering the fourth quarter. Payton Shaffer tacked on a 24-yard field goal and Jeremiah Johnson ran in a short touchdown in the fourth quarter for the final margin of victory of 61 points.
Tubbs finished with 111 passing yards and a touchdown pass while completing 10 of his 14 pass attempts. McElree went 8-for-11 89 yards and a touchdown to go with 16 rushing yards and a score. Sandoval added 62 passing yards while Winkfield was the games leading rusher, finishing with 60 yards and two touchdowns on five carries. Powell and Martin combined for 63 rushing yards and two scores while senior Jamal Hollister was the leading receiver with five catches for 62 yards. Martin added 57 yards on six receptions while Kirk caught a touchdown amongst his four receptions for 49 yards. Kam Hall recorded a third-quarter interception for the Bearcats defense while tackling and penetration was sound throughout.
“Overall, we’re fairly healthy. We’ve got a few guys that are banged up, so we’re going to heal up over the bye week,” Jones said. “We’re going to work on outside holes, go one-on-one to, you know, iron sharpens iron or whatever they say. We’re going to have our offense versus our defense in those types of situations just working on ourselves, working on getting better. We’ll also peek over at Richland and see what’s going on with Richland and kind of have a partial game plan. It won’t be all the way in for next week, but we’ll work on some things that we’re planning on doing against them.”
The Bearcats (7-0, 5-0) will travel away from Tim Buchanan Stadium to take on the Richland Royals (5-2, 4-1) following each of the schools’ respective bye weeks. The Royals and Bearcats will clash at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24, at the Birdville Fine Arts/Athletic Complex.
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