Aledo rallies in second half to down Longview, Bearcats return to state title game
Mother nature made her presence felt on Saturday.
Aledo was nursing a three-point lead against Longview late in the fourth quarter of their Class 5A Division 1 state semifinal game at Kincaide Stadium.
The Bearcats were 56 seconds away from holding off the Lobos.
Then a lightning strike pushed both teams into a weather delay with Aledo leading 17-14. The packed stadium also had to be evacuated as fans made their way to their cars.
Then in the middle of the delay, the rain came and came in bunches.
When play finally resumed two hours later, Longview faced a second-and-16 at the 50. But the Lobos had a long incomplete pass to make it third down.
Then Lobos quarterback Jordan Allen had to throw it away to make it fourth down. On the final play, Aledo’s Christian Hillman batted down the pass at the line and Aledo ran out the clock for the 17-14 win.
“We were just staying motivated and having fun. It’s still a business trip, but you have to have fun doing what you love,” Aledo senior defensive lineman Ansel Din-Mbuh said of the delay. “We were just focused in the locker room, off our phones, eating food and getting nutrition and the coaches were drawing stuff up for us and it paid off.”
Aledo (13-2), No. 3 in the final regular season 5A D1 state rankings, will be going to the state title game for the 13th time in program history. The Bearcats will play College Station (13-2) at 11 a.m. Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. College Staton beat Corpus Christi Veteran’s Memorial 33-7 on Saturday to clinch its spot.
Aledo has won a UIL 11-man record 10 state titles, with its last coming during the 2020 season over Crosby.
“Feels good. Just gotta finish. The job’s not done yet,” Din-Mbuh said.
Longview (14-1), No. 1 in the state, shrugged off a slow first-quarter with two touchdowns in the second, led by 4-star Alabama commit Jalen Hale.
Aledo got the ball after a Longview punt with 10:30 left in the second quarter, but two plays later, quarterback Hauss Hejny threw a pass to Tyson Timms, who was hit by a defender causing the ball to fling into the air.
Ta’Darion Boone came down with the interception for Longview at the 39.
The Lobos picked up two third downs on the ensuing drive, but then was backed up to a first-and-19 at the Aledo 27 after a holding call. It didn’t do much as on the next play, Allen threw up an attempt to Hale, who leaped for it near two defenders and just broke the goal line for a 7-3 Lobos lead with 5:49 left in the half.
Then the Bearcats managed to get to the 50 on their next drive, but the possession stalled and Aledo was forced to punt. Another penalty pushed Longview back, but like their first scoring drive, the Lobos would find the end zone one play after the flag.
Allen hit Hale for a 55-yard touchdown, who had a step on his defender, to extend the lead to 14-3 with three minutes left on the second-quarter clock.
Ja’Keyvon Curry ended the next Aledo drive with Longview’s second interception and the Lobos took the 14-3 lead into intermission.
The Bearcats, though, turned up the gas in the third quarter.
“We had blown some assignments on the offensive line in the first half that really hurt us tremendously and put us behind the chains,” Aledo coach Tim Buchanan said. “We figured out who to block and we hit the big plays.”
Hejny picked up the first down on a third-and-10 at his own 25 and two plays later running back Hawk Patrick-Daniels broke several tackles on his way to a 60-yard touchdown to cut it to 14-10 with 10:52 left in the period.
Patrick-Daniels appeared to be bottled up, but got out of the swarm.
Davhon Keys and Lawson Moore had tackles for a loss and Longview had to punt with under nine minutes left in the third. Aledo answered with a 6-play, 65-yard drive capped by Keys’ 10-yard touchdown run to give the Bearcats a 17-14 lead with 5:44 on the clock.
The drive started with a 28-yard run from Patrick-Daniels from his own 35 to the Longview 37.
“Kids have gotten better week after week, heck they got better from the first half to the second half tonight,” Buchanan said. “It was a good football game. I’ll tell you, Longview is a good football team. John King is a great football coach. Lucky to come out on top. We had some luck go our way.”
The Lobos were forced to punt again, but may have turned around the field position when Aledo lined up for a punt at its own 13 following a sack.
Clay Murador, whose 37-yard field goal near the end of the first quarter gave Aledo a 3-0 lead, dropped the snap, picked it up, went around one defender and saw open space for a 25-yard gain to the 38.
However, the drive stalled near midfield and Longview retained possession at its own 20 with 9:28 left in the fourth quarter. The Lobos would convert a fourth-and-2 at their own 28, but Andrew Parkhurst’s sack sparked the Aledo D and forced a punt.
Aledo got the ball back with 4:34 left, but went three-and-out.
A short punt gave the Lobos the ball at the 50 with 2:59 left, but four plays in, Longview lost the ball and Parkhurst recovered at the 29 with 1:40 to play. Longview forced another three-and-out and short punt to the Aledo 44 with 1:16 remaining.
On the first play, Bryon Wheeler sacked Allen for a loss of 6 before the delay.
Aledo finished with 214 yards rushing and 286 total. Patrick-Daniels had 114 yards on 14 carries. Hejny threw for 72 yards and added 57 on 18 attempts.
Longview had 81 yards rushing and 144 passing. Taylor Tatum, who scored five total touchdowns in the regional final against Mansfield Timbervew, was held to 48 yards on 23 carries.
Allen threw for 144 on 7 of 10 passing and Hale finished with 118 yards on five catches.
“Even though they’re good players, Jalen Hale and Taylor Tatum are good players, they’re human too,” Din-Mbuh said. “We drew it up and doubled Jalen and stopped the run and were more physical than them.
“Everyone doubted us, calling us average, not good enough, mediocre so we had to show them, and we did against the best team in our division. We showed we can play ball too. People have said that Aledo has fallen off, no big names, but you don’t need big names to win. We’re 13-2 and going to state.”
This story was originally published December 10, 2022 at 6:08 PM.
