They just keep winning

Logic dictates that the Aledo Bearcats football team will lose another district game at some time.

Whether it will be in our lifetime is the question.

The Bearcats ran their national-record district winning streak to 123 with a come-from-behind 42-27 victory against Denton Ryan at Tim Buchanan Stadium, or what has been branded as “The Buc” by some players.

Let that soak in. One hundred and twenty three straight victories. That’s a lot of wins by a lot of players over a lot of years.

Some of us have trouble doing the same thing for 123 minutes.

Not since Oct. 5, 2007, the birthday of one of our Community News photographers, Breleigh Mayer, have the Bearcats lost a league contest. Her mother and my good friend, Mercedes Mayer, was, in fact, supposed to cover the game for another newspaper that night Everman beat Aledo 35-28, but for obvious reasons she did not make that deadline.

The way things are going, Mercedes might be a great - or even a great-great - grandmother before the Bearcats lose again to a district foe.

“That was right after I was born. That’s crazy,” said Aledo defensive tackle Jaxon Richter, who was born in November of 2006. “We don’t really talk about it, but everybody likes to bring it up, especially with games like this. We just want to win games.”

Richter had a blocked pass on the next play after teammate and defensive end Carson Dempsey did the same. It came after the Bearcats had taken the second-half kickoff and drove downfield to cut their deficit to 27-21 - and it emphasized to Ryan that they still had a lot of work to do if they were going to make history.

A lot has happened since the last loss

Dempsey, who was born in May of 2007 and was only a few months old, was asked who was president the last time Aledo lost a district game. Without hesitation and with an answer that would make any civics teacher proud, he said “George W. Bush.”

The United States has had three more presidents since. Also:

• Nick Saban was still two seasons away from leading the Alabama Crimson Tide to its first national championship with him as coach.
• Patrick Mahomes was only 12 years old.
• The Ice Bucket Challenge wouldn’t happen for another seven years.
• Blackberry phones were still popular.

Now, the question is what will happen first, the Dallas Cowboys get back to the Super Bowl or the Bearcats lose a district game.

How did they do it?

In the words of running back Raycine Guillory, who wouldn’t be born until Oct. 31 of 2007, the Bearcats “Had to be legendary” to rally and squelch the greatest threat to their - well, legendary - streak. They were indeed just that, starting with a 100-yard kickoff return by Adrian Fuller in the closing moments of the first half to make the halftime score 27-14.

Then, in the second half, they simply dominated, outscoring the Raiders 28-0. Guillory played his part, scoring three touchdowns, including the clinching touchdown when quarterback Gavin Beard, who appeared to be taking off on a rare run - for him - flipped the ball to Guillory, who raced 29 yards to the end zone.

“After that kick return, we carried the excitement over into the locker room,” Richter said. “Then, the offense did what it was supposed to do and the defense did its thing.”

Running back Kaden Finley, born on Sept. 11 of 2007, said the team was told at halftime, “We need to be strong minded and not blame each other.”

Then, he added, “I feel really excited to be a part of the streak.”

Been down before

Aledo head coach Robby Jones has been involved in 11 of the Bearcats’ state-record 12 state championships, including last season when they were 16-0 in his first year at the helm. He was offensive coordinator for the other 10 since 2009.

In that time he’s seen the team experience some close calls. He knew then what could happen if they stayed calm and what could happen on this night.

For example, in 2019 they were taken to overtime at home by Midlothian before escaping 34-28. And last season they let a 17-0 lead slip away as Ryan took a late 19-17 lead before quarterback Hauss Hejny - now at TCU - scored from more than 50 yards out in the final moments for a 25-19 win, also at home.

“We’ve had some tough district games. When they put us in with Ryan, we knew it would be tough,” Jones said, adding about this night, “We said okay, things aren’t going our way, but we can’t think we won’t come back. We’ve done it before and we did it again. The kids just don’t like losing.”

As for that question about the Cowboys getting to the Super Bowl before the Bearcats lose another district game, Jones said with a grin, “The Cowboys getting back to the Super Bowl.”

Then, he added with a chuckle, “Is Jerry (Jones) going to hire a real GM?”

Sure, when Hell freezes over. But then, it wouldn’t be surprising if that also happens before Aledo’s streak ends.