Bearcats defeat The Colony as scoreboard malfunctions

Time stood still at Tommy Briggs Stadium in The Colony on Friday, Sept. 29.

Well, on the scoreboard, at least. As far as The Colony Cougars were concerned, time probably couldn’t move fast enough as they were humbled 60-14 by the Aledo Bearcats in their District 3-5A Division I contest.

The scoreboard clock malfunctioned early in the first quarter and never recovered — with the exception of somehow working during the halftime performances. Officials on the field had to keep game time and keep both sidelines informed throughout the contest.

“The difficult part was time management,” Aledo wide receiver Trace Clarkson said of the strange scenario.

But not that difficult, clearly, as the Bearcats (6-0, 4-0 in district) overcame some early glitches to run away with their 115th consecutive district victory dating to 2007. They also scored in their 289th straight game, as documented by local statistical expert Deacon Starnes in the press box.

With touchdowns on four first-half possessions, combined with Aven Lawrence’s 88-yard kickoff return for a TD, Aledo had a 32-7 halftime lead. It was more than enough to make sure the Cougars (2-4, 2-2) didn’t pull off another upset like they did the previous week in Denton.

Remember, this is a team that went into Denton a week earlier and upset Ryan 27-20.

“That kickoff return was great. Aven is one of the fastest kids in the school,” Aledo coach Robby Jones said.

Lawrence was on both the 800 and 1600-meter relays that advanced to state for Aledo in the spring. The 800 finished fourth.

Of course, the Bearcats were far from being finished scoring on the night.

 

Big night for quarterbacks

Quarterback Hauss Hejny had another standout night for the Bearcats. The TCU commit was unofficially 7-of-12 for 174 yards passing with an 86-yard score to Clarkson to make the score 19-7. It was his 12th passing TD of the season with no interceptions.

Hejny also ran six times for 80 yards with touchdowns of 11, 22, and 20 yards on three straight drives to build the advantage to 39-7. It was his most productive rushing game of the season as he came in with 222 yards and a pair of touchdowns through the first five contests.

In all, the Bearcats rushed for an unofficial 279 yards, including 79 on 11 carries from their leading rusher, Ray Guillory, who also scored a 10-yard touchdown to put Aledo up 6-0 after their first possession. Guillory now has 14 touchdowns (11 rushing, 3 receiving) and more than 750 total yards (614 rushing, 141 receiving).

Backup quarterback Gavin Beard was certainly not bothered by not having a scoreboard clock. He was a perfect 6-for-6 for 74 yards.

“We were just playing ‘til the whistle. It (the clock) wasn’t a problem. I just love getting reps and getting out there with my guys,” Beard said.

“When Gavin comes in we want him to operate the offense, and that’s more than just handing the ball off,” Jones said. “We want him to get those reps.”

Likewise, backup running back Kaden Winkfield wasted no time when he got his hands on the ball. He picked up 66 yards on seven carries, including touchdowns of 7 and 27 yards to run the score to 53-7 before fellow backup running back Cole Plumbley ended Aledo’s scoring with a 4-yard TD to account for the final score.

 

Early deficit

While the final score was indeed another blowout for the Bearcats, there were some moments early when the Cougars had the lead and were in possession to regain it.

After the Bearcats marched down the field, going 60 yards in six plays, capped by Guillory’s TD, they soon found themselves down 7-6. A bad snap on a punt gave The Colony the ball at the Aledo 29-yard line.

Six plays later, Cougars quarterback Carson Cox connected with Xavier Green for a 17-yard TD pass.

Then, after Lawrence’s kickoff return, Cox hit Carmelo Torres for a 66-yard completion that moved the ball to the Aledo 12. Torres had a clear path to the end zone had not Jake Gillespie chased him down.

However, the threat was squelched when two plays later Cox was sacked by Aledo’s Ben McElree for a 15-yard loss. An 11-yard completion on fourth-and-25 turned the ball back over to the Bearcats.

“That was a big defensive stand, but that’s the reason those guys are on the field,” Jones said. “We expect them to make big plays.”

The Aledo defense also stopped Cox for no yardage on a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-2 in the third quarter. Also, Chris Johnson intercepted a pass near the end of the first half.

Next up

The Bearcats are on the road again this week as they travel to Fort Worth to face South Hills at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 5. The Scorpions (0-5, 0-3 in district) have been outscored 172-7 in league play and are coming off a 68-0 home loss to Denton Ryan. They have not scored in 10 consecutive quarters.

While the Bearcats bring a 20-game win streak into the game, the Scorpions come in having lost 13 straight.

 

Aledo 60, The Colony 14

Aledo	12	20	21	7	-	60
The Colony	7	0	0	7	-	14

A - Ray Guillory 10 run (run failed)
TC - Xavier Green 17 pass from Carson Cox (Stephen Jameison kick)
A - Aven Lawrence 88 kickoff return (run failed, bad snap on kick attempt)
A - Trace Clarkson 86 pass from Hauss Hejny (Cole Crawford kick)
A - Henjy 11 run (run failed)
A - Hajny 22 run (Crawford kick)
A - Hejny 20 run (Crawford kick)
A - Kaden Winkfield 7 run (Crawford kick)
A - Winkfield 27 run (Logan DeFranzo kick)
TC - Karim Mashak 9 pass from Dominic Jeffery (Jameison kick)
A - Cole Plumbley 4 run (DeFranzo kick)

Unofficial statistics

Team

First downs: Aledo 18, TC 15.

Rushes-yards: Aledo 36-279, TC 38-151.

Passing yards: Aledo 248, TC 212.

Caught-thrown-intercepted: Aledo 13-18-0, TC 21-35-1.

Fumbles-lost: Aledo 2-1, TC 1-0.

Penalties-yards: Aledo 5-55, TC 2-10.

Punts-average: Aledo 1-37.0, TC 5-32.0.

Third-down conversions: Aledo 6-8, TC 4-14.

Fourth-down conversions: Aledo 0-1, TC 0-3.

 

Individual leaders

Offense

Rushing

Aledo: Hejny 6 carries, 80 yards, 3 TD; Guillory 11-79, TD; Winkfield 7-66, 2 TD; Hawk Patrick-Daniels 4-46; Plumbley 5-14, TD; Blake Burdine 2-5.

TC: Rodney Gould 14-66, William Allen 7-40.

Passing

Aledo: Hejny 7-of-12-0, 174 yards, TD; Gavin Beard 6-6-0, 74 yards.

TC: Cox 19-32-1, 188 yards, TD; Dominic Jeffery 2-3-0, 24 yards, TD.

Receiving

Aledo: Clarkson 3 catches, 117 yards, TD; Tyson Timms 2-32; Patrick-Daniels 2-31; Kaydon Finley 2-29; Burdine 1-16; Jayden Griswold 1-13; Guillory 1-6; Brett Turner 1-4.

TC: Carmelo Torres 4-81; Xavier Green 3-41, TD; Riley Stewart 4-37; Chase Glover 7-37.

Defense

Sacks

Aledo: Ben McElree, Cooper Kohan.

Interception

Aledo: Chris Johnson.