Aledo falls to 0-2 after loss against Denton Guyer, 5-star OU commit Jackson Arnold
When Rodney Webb stepped down as the head coach of the Denton Guyer Wildcats, it was speculated as to just how that would affect the performance of the reigning state finalists.
As the first two weeks of the 2022 season have come and gone, it is clear that the Wildcats (2-0) are right on par with where they expect to be as they defeated the 5A powerhouse Aledo Bearcats (0-2) 44-14 on Friday night.
“It just shows you how little coaching has to do with it,” Guyer head coach Reid Heim commented. “We’ve got great kids. They’re great character kids, they love Denton Guyer, they play their tails off. I’m just trying to not mess it up and get out of their way. All the credit goes to them.”
Guyer moves on to face Lancaster at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9; while Aledo looks to avoid its first 0-3 start since 1990 when it faces Justin Northwest at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8.
The Wildcats started the game well as they took just over a minute to get on the board when 5-star Oklahoma-commit Jackson Arnold called his own number and ran it in from 10 yards out.
Aledo responded with a drive of its own capped off with a 16 yard scoring run by 3-star Davhon Keys, No. 36 in the Star-Telegram Top 100.
From there, it was all Guyer, No. 6 in the 6A state rankings.
A 24-yard field goal by Ford Stinson gave the Wildcats the lead for good. After stopping the Bearcats, Guyer only needed seven seconds to score again as Arnold found Josiah Martin to make the score 17-7 at the end of the first quarter. Again, after a stop, Arnold found Landon Sides from seven yards out to widen the gap and put Aledo at an arm’s length.
Trey Joyner got his name in the scoring column midway through the second quarter with a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 31-7 Wildcats. After stopping Aledo, yet again, Arnold connected with Sides one more time before the half ended with Guyer leading 37-7.
“Our offensive coordinator came to the locker room at halftime and just gave the usual talk,” Arnold said. “He told us before he left that we need to think of it as 0-0 and go win this half and not let up.”
Aledo got in the end zone again in the third quarter when Keys busted his way in for his second score of the game.
However, the Wildcats were not about to allow a comeback to happen as Arnold connected with Martin one final time in the fourth quarter, bringing the final score to 44-14.
“They did a good job,” Heim said about his opponent. “I know that they are a really good team and our guys were able to show up and be ready. We came to a hostile environment, it was a long drive, and we were able to get off the bus and be ready to play. If we can continue to do that on road games, that gives you an opportunity to be pretty dang good.”
Guyer had edged out Aledo, 60-57, during their last meeting in 2019.