The Weatherford Kangaroos travels a few miles east on Interstate 20 Friday, Oct. 23, to battle the Aledo Bearcats.
With both teams 3-1 in District 3-6A, the winner will have the inside track to second place with two games remaining. Arlington Martin is 4-0 atop the district standings and owns a tie-breaker, having already defeated both Aledo and Weatherford. Weatherford has a home game against Arlington Bowie (2-2) and an away game against Arlington High (2-2). Aledo has a game against Sam Houston (0-4) at Choctaw and a home game against Arlington Lamar (2-2).
Weatherford quarterback Braelyn Jones has passed for 1,321 yards, 14 touchdowns, and three interceptions while rushing for 260 yards and seven touchdowns. Running back DJ Quimby has rushed for 860 yards, 122.9 yards per game, and 10 touchdowns. Wide receiver Jakob Hemphill leads the Kangaroos in receiving with 691 yards and seven touchdowns.
The Bearcats’ defensive line is the strength of the unit led by Tymon Meeks and Max Forman. Cole Cox leads the team in tackles at linebacker while cornerback Jordan Hall leads the team in interceptions.
The Aledo running game has the one-two punch of speedy back Wyatt Dorsey (642 yards, seven touchdowns) and Izzy Roberts (446 yards, three touchdowns).
Aledo quarterback Tre Williams (989 yards, 11 touchdowns, five interceptions) has a plethora of targets to throw to. The team’s leader in receiving yards, slot Kane Lanier, is out with an injury but he has plenty of other players to distribute the ball to with six other players having caught a touchdown this season.
Weatherford linebacker Levi Hall leads the team in tackles with 65. Weatherford as a team has eight sacks, with defensive end Quinton Martinez leading the way with four. The Kangaroos have forced 13 turnovers, with eight fumbles forced and five intercepted passes. Hunter Ferguson leads Weatherford in interceptions with three.
Aledo head coach Robby Jones is leaning on his defensive line to stop Weatherford’s offense.
“Our defensive line needs to do what they’ve been doing all year,” Jones said. “We need to control the line of scrimmage and keep their running backs from getting lanes to run in. We need to do a good job at containing those guys.”
Jones emphasized not wanting his offense to turn the ball over.
“We can’t turn the ball over,” Jones said. “It’s one of our focuses every week. We got a little careless with the ball last week when we had three turnovers, and we’ve got to cut that out.”
Weatherford coach Marshall Williams said he knows the schemes from Aledo are not going to be a surprise. The Bearcats’ offensive and defensive systems have been in place for decades at this point besides subtle tweaks because they don’t fix what isn’t broken.
What he is most eager to see is how his players respond to the challenge.
“To me it’s about matching the intensity,” Williams said. “The game of football is about challenging the will of your manhood. The beautiful thing about places like Aledo is they have had the same systems for 10 to 20 years. They are going to do what they do. It always reverts back to execution. We are going to have to play fast and not turn the ball over.”
Williams has been saying since before the season he wants to see improvement from week to week, and this game, regardless of the outcome, is no different.
“It is the next opponent,” Williams said. “I’m not saying it doesn’t matter because they all matter. I just look at it as a great opportunity to play an elite program, and we have progressively gotten better every game. That has been the process. That has been all the focus for me in regards to what success looks like.”
Friday’s game will be Aledo and Weatherford’s first varsity matchup since Aug. 27, 2021. In that game, Aledo won 47-7 at home.
The last time Weatherford beat Aledo was in 2009 when the Roos beat the Bearcats 28-27 in overtime. It was Aledo’s one loss that season on the way to its second state title.
Aledo 14 21 7 0 - 42
Arlington 7 0 7 14 - 28
SCORING SUMMARY:
First Quarter
AL-Dorsey 59 rush (Parks kick), 11:49
AR-Nelson 54 pass from C. Cambron (Garrett kick), 11:24
AL-Nurse 30 pass from Pinnick (Parks kick), 2:25
Second Quarter
AL-Nussbaum 15 pass from Williams (Parks kick), 11:12
AL-Cox 2 pass from Williams (Parks kick), 7:10
AL-Dorsey 48 rush (Parks kick), 1:46
Third Quarter
AL-Nussbaum 31 pass from Williams (Parks kick), 9:06
AR-G. Cambron 12 rush (Garrett kick), 3:52
Fourth Quarter
AR-Brown 3 rush (Garrett kick), 10:41
AR-Henderson 53 rush (Garrett kick), 7:09
Individual Stats:
RUSHING - Aledo, W. Dorsey 13-149-2, I. Roberts 18-122, E. Pinnick 4-8, J. Hall 1-32.
PASSING - Aledo, T. Williams 7-13-124-2-2, E. Pinnick 1-4-30-1.
RECEIVING - Aledo, C. Palmquest 2-14, C. Nussbaum 2-46-2, M. Nurse 3-74-1, C. Cox 1-5-1, L. Kucish 1-15
SPECIAL TEAMS - Aledo, H. Parks 6-6 (XP)
DEFENSE - Aledo, A. Hebel 5 tck-2 TFL, J. Hall 2 tck, S. Scott 2 tck, D. Tillis 2 tck, C. Cox 5 tck, M. Forman 1 tck-1 TFL-SACK, B. Fisher 5 tck, D. Tillis 2 tck, C. Gamble 2 tck, E. Mangrum 2 tck, G. Wilbrun 2 tck, J. Welch 1 tck, K. Evans 1 tck, L. Kasper 1 tck, L. Bell 1 tck, M. Ogden 1 tck, O. Din-mbuh 2 tck, T. Meeks 5 tck-1 TFL
Granbury 13 0 7 0 - 20
Weatherford 7 19 21 7 - 54
SCORING SUMMARY:
First Quarter
G-Pugh 21 pass from Johnson (Kick good), 5:27
W-Quimby 33 run (Marino kick), 4:31
G-Johnson 4 run (Kick no good), 1:51
Second Quarter
W-Hemphill 25 pass from Johnson (Marino kick), 10:47
W-Clark 71 pass from Johnson (Marino kick no good), 7:31
W-Moore 20 pass from Johnson (Marino kick no good), :45
Third Quarter
W-Quimby 3 run (Marino kick), 9:46
W-Jones 3 run (Marino kick), 6:19
G-Taylor 12 run (Kick good), 1:47
W-Hemphill 71 pass from Johnson (Marino kick), :52
Fourth Quarter
W-Garrett 7 run (Marino kick), 3:51
Individual Stats
RUSHING – Weatherford, D. Quimby 25-166-2, C. Pope 4-43, M. Gilbert 1-22, B. Jones 4-12-1, E. Garrett 1-7-1. Granbury, S. Taylor 23-164-1, C. Johnson 18-76-1.
PASSING – Weatherford, B. Jones 12-16-4-0-263. Granbury, C. Johnson, 5-15-1-1-29.
RECEIVING – Weatherford, J. Hemphill 4-120-2, P. Clark 1-71-1, A. Moore 1-20-1, E. Garrett 3-27, D. Quimby 2-13, R. Tidwell 1-12. Granbury, B. Pugh 2-24-1, H. Rodgers 1-9, L. Rodriguez 1-2, S. Taylor 1(-6).
SPECIAL TEAMS – Weatherford, J. Marino 6-8 XP, B. Jones 2 punts-62.
DEFENSE – Weatherford, L. Hall 10 tck, 3 hurries, X. Olivares 8 tck, S. Garcia 8 tck, H. Ferguson 6 tck, 1 hurry, 1 interception, N. Soto 6 tck, 2 TFL, C. Schranz 5 tck, 1 FR, C. Goff 5 tck, K. Redditt, 5 tck, 4 TFL, C. Peterson 4 tck, Z. Zanetti 3 tck, 1 TFL, 1 FR, M. Neal 3 tck, C. Parker 2 tck, C. Rodriguez 2 tck, 1 PD, K. Hamton 2 tck, L. Blount 2 tck, 1 TFL, A. Arevalo 2 tck, J. Fidler 2 tck, B. Jones 1 tck, K. Lowe tck, A. St. Don 1 tck, 1 PD, Q. Martinez 1 tck, 1 TFL, 1 sack, 1 hurry, A. Feriend 1 tck, J. Lake 1 tck.
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