DENTON – After winning their 12th state championship in 2023, the Aledo Bearcats marched onto the C.H. Collins Athletic Complex Field under the Friday Night lights for the first time in 2024. Aledo competed in their season opener against the Class 6A Denton Guyer Wildcats riding a 30-game winning streak dating back to the Bearcats’ last loss – a 44-14 defeat against the same Guyer squad on Sept. 2, 2022.
Last year, Aledo took down Guyer 48-45 in Denton in a memorable shootout. But this time the Bearcats were on the wrong end of the latest rematch as the Wildcats avenged last year’s defeat by handing Aledo a 35-30 loss.
“We’re going to be better tomorrow because we’re going to come back and learn from our mistakes,” Bearcats head coach Robby Jones said. “We’re not going to make those mistakes anymore and, by eliminating the mistakes we made, we’re going to win a lot of football games. We don’t plan on having this feeling again this year.”
Guyer now leads the overall series 4-2. It was also the first time the home team won in the series.
With the game tied at 30 midway through the fourth quarter, the Bearcats took the ball at their own 2-yard line. After reaching the 8 and facing third down and 4 yards to go, a safety gave the Wildcats the lead, 32-30.
The Wildcats would add a field goal a few minutes later.
After the teams exchanged punts, Aledo had one last gasp, taking the ball at the Guyer 48 with 48 seconds remaining. A completion from junior quarterback Gavin Beard to junior receiver Kaydon Finley moved the ball 9 yards, and then the Bearcats converted on fourth-and-1.
However an incompletion, sack, and a short pass under pressure for 3 yards as time ran out and ended their hopes.
Photos by Breleigh Mayer
Aledo’s defense limited the home team to a field goal on the game’s opening possession and the Bearcats offense carried that positive momentum into its first possession. The Wildcats’ onsides kick attempt was unsuccessful, putting Aledo in plus territory at the Guyer 46 with 10:08 left in the first quarter.
Then, Aledo marched down the field in seven plays and found the end zone after Beard connected with Finley for a 7-yard score. After the successful point-after attempt from senior kicker Cole Crawford, Aledo held its first lead of the game at 7-3 with 7:18 to go.
“They’ve had a strong connection since peewee football,” Jones said. “That’s going to be a connection that’s going to be big for us all year. Kaydon Finley is going to have to make a lot of catches and a lot of plays for us throughout the season.”
The ensuing defensive possession produced a safety to increase the lead to 9-3 at the 5:25 mark. After Aledo’s next offensive drive resulted in a missed field goal, the visitors took the momentum right back as junior defensive back Lamel Swanson pounced on a ball jarred loose from a Guyer ball carrier on the last play of the opening quarter.
Then, lightning struck twice as junior running back Kaden Winkfield found paydirt from 39 yards out on the first play of the second quarter. Winkfield’s sprint to the end zone extended the lead to 16-3 in a matter of seconds.
After limiting the Wildcats to field goals on their next two offensive possessions, Aledo got the ball back with 5:29 remaining before halftime after the Wildcats rallied to knot the score at 16-all, but star junior running back Ray Guillory capped off the 15-play, 79-yard drive with a 1-yard waltz into the end zone. The Bearcats converted three third downs and one fourth down on the drive while the defense remained stalwart in the red zone.
“Those guys got down there and fought. You’ve got to strap it up and do whatever you can to keep them out of the end zone and our defense did that,” Jones said of his defense. “We limited them (Denton Guyer) to field goals a lot of times. A lot of times when you’re able to do that, you come out on the right end of games, but unfortunately tonight we didn’t.”
The momentum began to turn from two big plays by Guyer’s special teams unit right before halftime. The first was a blocked punt by Zach De Anda returned 15 yards for a score at the 5:35 mark of the second quarter, and the second was an 83-yard kickoff return touchdown by Corbin Glasco as time expired, which tied the score at 23-23 at intermission.
“We’re going to go back to work. We’ve got to be more focused when we’re practicing our special teams,” Jones said. “Maybe we aren’t as focused as we need to be when we’re doing special teams because we had a punt blocked due to a bad snap due to a miscommunication with our protection that allowed their guys to come through and get the block.”
As they did on the first play of the second quarter, Aledo jolted the Guyer defense for another long score to begin the second half as Beard found Finley down the sideline for a 72-yard catch-and-run touchdown that pushed the Bearcats’ nose in front, 30-23. However, Guyer’s defense continued to stymie Aledo the rest of the way, outscoring the Bearcats 12-0 with more of an offensive attack revolving around quick decision making from OU-committed quarterback Kevin Sperry.
Despite the unfortunate finish, Aledo had its chances to claim the victory. However, the Guyer defensive line provided plenty of pressure for Beard to navigate through.
“He just needs to make the right plays in pressure situations,” Jones said of Beard. “He got flushed the wrong way opposite of where his open receivers were, which was also a good job by them (Guyer). Gavin is going to be all right.”
While the final result was a loss, Jones saw several positives that included the effort by the defense - particularly the experienced line - and the performance of the Guillory-Winkfield tandem in the backfield.
Guillory, who is coming off an injury, unofficially produced 92 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries while Winkfield unofficially tallied 18 carries for 110 yards and a score. Beard completed 15 passes to four different receivers for 186 yards with two touchdowns against one interception. Finley caught both touchdowns with eight receptions and 141 yards while Waldron Byars and Blake Burdine combined for 42 receiving yards with three catches apiece.
The Bearcats will take the field again for their home opener at 7:30 p.m. Friday against Lancaster.
| Aledo | 9 | 14 | 7 | 0 | - | 30 |
| Guyer | 3 | 20 | 7 | 5 | - | 35 |
G - Ford Stinson 35 FG
A - Kaydon Finley 7 pass from Gavin Beard (Cole Crawford kick)
A - Safety, ball kicked out of end zone after bad snap to punter
A - Kaden Winkfield 39 run (Crawford kick)
G - Stinson 25 FG
G - Stinson 27 FG
G - Zach De Anda 15 return of blocked punt (Stinson kick)
A - Ray Guillory 1 run (Crawford kick)
G - Corbin Glasco 83 kickoff return (Stinson kick)
A - Finley 72 pass from Beard (Crawford kick)
G - Glasco 54 run (Stinson kick)
G - Safety, tackle in end zone
G - Stinson 25 FG
Team statistics
First downs: Aledo 17, Guyer 14.
Rushes-yards: Aledo 46-183, Guyer 27-178.
Passing yards: Aledo 186, Guyer 187.
Caught-thrown-intercepted: Aledo 15-24-1, Guyer 12-27-1.
Fumbles-lost: Aledo 1-0, Guyer 2-1.
Punts-average: Aledo 4-24.0, Guyer 3-35.3.
Penalties-yards: Aledo 3-15, Guyer 13-85.
Sacks: Aledo 1, Guyer 3.
Individual leaders
Rushing
Aledo: Winkfield 18-110, TD; Guillory 21-92, TD.
Guyer: Corbin Glasco 3-73, TD; Sterling Schneider 7-45; DJ Black 9-41.
Passing
Aledo: Beard 15-24-1, 186 yards, 2 TD.
Guyer: Kevin Sperry 12-26-1, 187 yards.
Receiving
Aledo: Finley 8-141, 2 TD; Blake Burdine 3-20; Waldron Byars 3-16.
Guyer: DJ Reese 3-75.
Fumble recovery
Aledo: Lamel Swanson.
Interceptions
Aledo: Adrian Fuller.
Guyer: NA.
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