In a Friday Night matchup of Texas High School football titans, the No. 1 Denton Ryan Raiders visited the No. 2 Aledo Bearcats in a pivotal District 5-5A Division I showdown at Tim Buchanan Stadium. Coming into the game, Aledo was eager to win its 123rd consecutive district game, but the Raiders were equally enthusiastic to spoil the longstanding streak.
The visitors stunned Aledo early by building a 27-14 halftime lead through explosive playmaking on offense and a fundamentally-sound defensive performance. However, the Bearcats regrouped masterfully during the intermission. Offensively, Aledo moved the ball at will in the final two quarters while the defense posted a suffocating second-half shutout. Ultimately, the combination proved too much for Denton Ryan to overcome as Aledo stormed back for a crucial 42-27 victory.
“It feels good to win a game like this, especially since we came back from being down early,” Aledo head coach Robby Jones said. “It showed their fight and that they won’t give up. They continued to fight, scrape, and battle to get back on top. They did that not only in the game, but maybe in the rankings as well.”
Denton Ryan was fearless in its opening drive of the game. The Raiders faced 4th-and-1 from their own 47 yard line and converted, courtesy of a 53-yard touchdown run by Uzziah Warmate. The extra point attempt was blocked but Denton Ryan was ahead 6-0 just 92 seconds into the game. On Aledo’s first offensive possession, junior quarterback Gavin Beard helped guide the Bearcats deep into Ryan territory, but Beard threw an interception at the Denton Ryan 3 that ended the drive with 6:19 left in the first quarter.
After that, however, the Bearcat defense forced the Raiders into two negative rushing plays, the latter resulting in a safety by sophomore Alex Patton that got Aledo on the board, trailing 6-2 with 5:39 to go. Then, Aledo cut the deficit to 6-5 on a 36-yard field goal off the right foot of senior kicker Cole Crawford with 3:02 remaining.
With 2:47 left before halftime, Denton Ryan built a 27-8 lead after three consecutive second-quarter touchdown drives after Raiders junior quarterback Quin Henigan threw scoring passes of 39, 58 and 59 yards. However, special teams playmaker Adrian Fuller helped the home team respond as he ran back the ensuing kickoff for 100 yards to the house with 2:25 left, cutting the deficit to 27-14 – a score that held up at the half.
“We are able to look at film in the locker room at halftime nowadays, and the coaches did a really good job of taking away things they (Denton Ryan) were successful at,” Jones said. “I think Coach (Joe Ryan) Williams did a good job of adjusting and spreading them out a little more to give Ray (Guillory) more holes to run the ball through while also getting the ball down the field to (Kaydon) Finley.”
“Everyone was kind of doubting themselves in the second quarter going into halftime, but we regained that confidence when we got into the locker room,” star junior wideout Kaydon Finley said. “We have great leaders in the locker room that build everybody up, giving out handshakes and just pumping everybody up. When we came back out on the field, we had no doubt that we were going to play our best football and give our best for the person to the left and right of us.”
Finley showed the value of his words through his actions as he caught an 11-yard touchdown on Aledo’s first possession of the third quarter, which cut the deficit to 27-21 with 9:54 left in the third quarter. Then, the black and orange fire continued to burn brightly.
“It felt really good to get everybody back in the game by scoring that touchdown coming out of the half,” Finley said. “It felt great knowing my teammates are counting on me – I love that. I love that they have trust in me. I’m going to take that with me every day, keep it in the back of my mind and just grind every day for my teammates.”
The Bearcat defense hunkered down and forced the Raiders to punt the ball with 8:23 left in the quarter – Denton Ryan’s first punt of the game. After that, Aledo’s star junior running back Raycine Guillory got things going as he ran the ball with tenacity. On Aledo’s ensuing offensive possession, Guillory rattled off a 41-yard run and capped off the scoring drive with a 6-yard touchdown at the 5:21 mark of the quarter. Crawford’s point after attempt was true as the Bearcats took their first and final lead of the game at 28-27.
Aledo’s defense then took the field and continued to show its grit. The Bearcats contained the outside edges, bottled up the passing game and eventually showed their opportunistic side. With the Raiders driving the ball near midfield, junior linebacker Chase Wilburn recovered a fumble at the Denton Ryan 49 with 3:51 left. Then, the offense took over and Guillory made the Raider defense pay once more with a 3-yard score that boosted Aledo’s lead to 35-27 with 1:18 remaining.
After a few scoreless minutes of football, Aledo clinged to their eight-point lead in the fourth quarter as the offense set up shop on its own 30 yard line with 9:09 left in regulation. The Bearcats faced 3rd-and-8 from the Denton Ryan 29 later in the drive, and Beard and Guillory provided the play of the game to help Aledo deliver the knockout punch to its district foes.
“When we hit that play, I knew what it was,” Guillory said. “I told Gavin (Beard) to toss me that rock and, when he did, it was such a relief. I just thought, ‘Thank you, just let me be me.’ I just had to be ready for the moment.”
Beard was flushed to his right, faked out a defender and flipped the ball to an open Guillory in the flat, who raced to his left through and around numerous Denton Ryan defenders for an electric 29-yard score. The key touchdown capped off a decisive eight-play, 70-yard drive and increased Aledo’s advantage to 15 points with 5:03 remaining.
“I read the defense and what not, everything broke down and I kind of scrambled outside the pocket,” Beard said. “I hit the defender with a pump fake, flicked it over the dude’s head – I’ve done that a couple of times in previous games – and just tried to make a play out there.”
The Bearcat defense secured the victory thanks to a Kamron Hall interception with 3:00 left while the legs of senior running back Kaden Winkfield earned the clinching first down for the home team, who showcased an impressive ability to come from behind.
“It gives you all the confidence in the world because you can go out and not play your best football in the first half, then come back in the second half and come out on top,” Jones said.
“It shows how hard we work in the offseason, the summer, on the track – we just work harder than everyone else,” Beard said. “Everything we get is earned, nothing is given to us and we weren’t going to let them (Denton Ryan) come in here and take that district streak from us.”
Guillory led the way as he carried the ball (unofficially) 23 times for 154 yards and two touchdowns while also catching three passes for 44 yards and a score. Beard completed 12 of his 21 pass attempts for 125 yards with two touchdowns against one interception. Finley was the leading receiver with seven receptions for 84 yards and a touchdown while Winkfield contributed 121 yards on 13 carries. Hall and senior linebacker Owen Henderson each recorded an interception while Wilburn had a fumble recovery.
Furthermore, the Bearcats extended their state-best district winning streak to 123 games in a row – a streak that has been active and has held its swagger since 2007.
“It’s a great accomplishment for our program because it shows the longevity of how we’ve been able to sustain this for so long,” Jones said. “We also like disappointing those who came to see the streak end. We’re going to do our best to try to keep this streak going because we don’t like losing football games around here.”
The Bearcats (5-1, 4-0) will be back on the gridiron at 7 p.m. Friday at Granbury. The Pirates are coming off its bye week following a 63-20 home loss to Denton Ryan in its most recent outing.
Scoring plays
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