The 2023 edition of Dave Campbell's Texas Footbal is out and high school football fans throughout the Lone Star state are thumbing through the pages to see what the prognosticators are saying about their favorite team.
In Aledo an annual question is whether or not the Bearcats are preseason No. 1 and are they favored to win another state championship.
Quick answer: They are and they are.
This comes as no surprise to first-year Bearcats head coach Robby Jones, who is taking over for the retired legend Tim Buchanan. Jones was along for the ride the past two decades as the Bearcats won 10 state titles (they also won one in 1998 before he arrived), and now he inherits a program that brings back a plethora of talent from a Class 5A Division I state champion (seven offensive starters, five defensive).
“No pressure, right?” Jones said with a laugh. "I kind of expected it, to be honest with you. We have our quarterback back, our top rusher, our entire secondary.
“Nothing really changes because of the success we've had in the past. A target's always on us.”
The Bearcats are ranked No. 1 in 5A Division I, with Longview second. They are followed by College Station, Lancaster and Mansfield Timberview.
The Bearcats defeated Longview 17-14 in the state semifinals and College Station 52-14 in the state final.
“I prefer for them to rank other teams ahead of us. It makes our kids kind of feel disrespected, kind of like when they had Denton Ryan ahead of us last year,” Jones said.
Last season, Longview was preseason No. 1, Ryan was second and Aledo third. Ryan and Aledo are both in District 3-5A Division I, which meant the Bearcats weren't favored to win their district for the first time in well more than a decade.
Of course, Aledo did win district and enters the 2023 campaign with a national-record 111-game district winning streak. This includes a 35-21 victory at Ryan last season.
To win another district championship, however, the Bearcats are going to have get past Burleson Centennial, ranked 13th in the state, and Ryan, No. 15. Both of those matchups will be in Aledo this season.
“Our district is really tough. Ryan was disappointed in how their season ended last year. They expected to meet us in the fourth round,” Jones said. “They have a lot of young talent. We saw those young guys last year and they're only getting better.
“Centennial lost a lot, but they reload that triple-option offense. It's a system.”
The Bearcats defeated Centennial twice last season, 64-21 in Burleson in the regular season and 42-21 in the Region I final. Those were the Spartans' only losses in a 12-2 campaign.
In addition to having two state-ranked teams in their district, the Bearcats will open the season against a pair of state powers - the only two teams to defeat them in last season's 14-2 record. They host four-time defending Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools Division 1 state champion Dallas Parish Episcopal, preseason No. 1 among TAPPS large schools. They then travel to Denton Guyer, No. 9 in Class 6A.
On the national scale, Aledo is No. 53, according to MaxPreps. Guyer is No. 58 and Episcopal is No. 62.
Two Bearcats earned preseason Class 5A All-State accolades from the magazine.
Fresh off of being named the Class 5A Division I state championship game MVP, quarterback Hauss Hejny was honored on the offense. The TCU commit rushed 10 times for 142 yards and two touchdowns and completed 11 of 14 passes for 176 yards and two more TD in the state final. In all, he rushed for 1,276 yards and 15 TD while throwing for 2,092 yards and 20 scores with just seven interceptions during the season.
Keys led the team with 102.5 tackles, including 82 solo, along with 8.5 for a loss and an
interception returned 73 yards for a touchdown. He also recovered three fumbles and forced three.
As for other area football teams, the Brock Eagles are preseason ranked No. 2 in Class 3A Division I and the favorites to win District 4-3A Division I. Also, the Weatherford Kangaroos are picked fifth in District 3-6A.
The Eagles, coached by former Aledo assistant Billy Mathis, are coming off of an 11-5 season that saw them rebound from an 0-4 start to reach the state championship game. They finished second in the state to Franklin, falling 17-14 on a last-season field goal. Brock returns seven offensive and seven defensive starters.
Weatherford narrowly missed the playoffs last season, finishing 7-3. The Kangaroos return five offensive and five defensive starters.
The Peaster Greyhounds (3-7 last season) are picked sixth in 4-3A Division I and the Willow Park Trinity Christian Eagles (1-9) are predicted to finish fifth in TAPPS Division 3 District 1. The Greyhounds bring back seven offensive and eight defensive starters and the Eagles return nine offensive and seven defensive.
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