UIL championship teams Aledo, Denton Ryan to meet in district next two seasons
When Tim Buchanan started to look at possibilities which district his Aledo football team could end up for the next two years, he didn’t rule out a pairing with another strong program, Denton Ryan.
A limited few, if any, gave the idea any merit, but it turns out the coach’s prediction was on the money.
“I really thought two months ago when I started looking at it and everyone was making their predictions for us, I said you wait, we could be in a district with Ryan, and no one thought that was accurate,” Buchanan said.
Aledo and Ryan, two of the top football teams in the country, were realigned in District 3-5A Division 1 during the 2022-24 UIL realignment that was announced Thursday morning. Aledo made the bump to Class 5A D1 for the first time.
So it will be Aledo, Ryan, Azle, Burleson Centennial, FW South Hills, The Colony, Justin Northwest, Saginaw and Brewer in a nine-team football district for the next two seasons.
“I don’t think anyone at the UIL likes me,” Buchanan chuckled. “A nine-team district, that’s number one. Then we go in with Denton Ryan and The Colony, and driving through the Metroplex to play a district game ... The Colony is the one that is pretty shocking.”
And it’s a powerhouse of a district as five of the nine teams — Aledo, Ryan, Azle, Northwest and Brewer — won a district championship last season, with Azle, Northwest and Brewer sharing the title. Add in Burleson Centennial, and that’s six teams that went to the playoffs in 2021.
But when Aledo and Ryan meet on the football field later this year, not only will two championship teams play, but one of two lengthy district winning streaks are going to end.
Ryan has won 48 straight district games, with the Raiders’ last district loss being a 52-7 defeat against Denton Guyer on Nov. 7, 2014. Aledo has won 103 straight, a national record. Its last district loss came against Everman, 35-28, on Oct. 5, 2007.
But it’s not as if the schools do not have any history. The programs have met twice, with Ryan winning both meetings; 34-27 in 2002 and 17-0 in 2003.
Still, that’s the past, and while the streaks are the issue of today, Buchanan isn’t focusing on them. “I never thought about the win streak,” he said. “I just thought about two teams that have the potential to play for a state championship. We could play twice, one in district and again in the playoffs if we both do what we’re supposed to do.”
The Bearcats have won a UIL 11-man state record 10 football state championships with nine of those titles coming in the past 14 seasons. Ryan has won three titles, most recently during the 2020 season. Both programs have combined for 197 wins and 14 losses since the start of the 2015 season.
“Ryan has been good ever since Joey Florence got there about 20 years ago. Dave [Henigan] worked with Joey so it’s not surprising to me that Ryan is where they are,” Buchanan said. “They have great coaches and it’s a great school district. So it’s no surprise that whole district, Ryan, Guyer, Denton, Braswell are where they are.”
This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 2:29 PM.
