Bearcats drop Week 1 matchup to North Crowley

The Aledo Bearcats hadn’t been shut out in a game since Dec. 7, 2003, when they lost 17-0 to Denton Ryan.

That changed Friday night, Aug. 28, as the Bearcats dropped their highly anticipated Week 1 matchup with North Crowley, 26-0.

Offensively, the Bearcats couldn’t string anything together. They turned the ball over on downs three times and weren’t able to establish anything through the air or on the ground. They also had two phantom turnovers in scoring range, with a tipped pass turning into a 65-yard pick-six for North Crowley cornerback Braylen Cunningham, and a fumble by quarterback Tre Williams at North Crowley’s 16 yard line late in the first half. The fumble paved the way for a backbreaking 65-yard touchdown reception by Panthers wide receiver Kade Smith, which increased the Panthers’ lead to 26-0 at the half.

The Aledo rushing attack finished with 40 rushes for a total of negative 17 yards.

Defensively, the Bearcats surrendered three touchdowns, those all being passing touchdowns by Panthers quarterback Jacob Torres. Torres connected with 4-star recruit Damarion Mays for a 55-yard touchdown with 6:13 left in the first to start off the scoring for the Panthers. Afterward, he hooked up with running back and University of North Texas pledge G’yrell Smith for a 12-yard score at the 11:15 mark in the second quarter, along with wide receiver Kade Smith with 1:05 left in the first half.

In an extremely uncharacteristic performance, the Bearcats looked flat on both sides of the ball.

They look to rebound next week at home against Waco Midway at Tim Buchanan Stadium. Head coach Robby Jones emphasized having a mindset of moving on to the next game.

“We’ve gotta put this one behind us and go on to the next week,” Jones said. “This one’s over. We don’t have to dwell on this one. We can learn from it; we can move on; and we can go get better next week and show that we’re a better football team.”

Jones also discussed improvement.

“We had some untimely penalties. We had some miscues in blocking assignments. We had some routes not run correctly, and those things led to putting us in bad situations. We’ve gotta do a better job and get our kids ready for next week.”