State Champs again! Aledo extends UIL record with 11th title in rout over College Station
Despite playing two of the best teams in the state, Aledo began the season with back-to-back losses against Dallas Parish Episcopal and Denton Guyer.
It was the first time they lost two straight games since 2007.
There was talk that Aledo may have a struggling season after the 0-2 start.
Well, the Bearcats can put all the doubters to sleep.
Aledo steamrolled past College Station 52-14 in the Class 5A Division 1 state championship on Saturday in front of 28,160 fans at AT&T Stadium. It’s the Bearcats’ 11th UIL state football title.
No other program has 10.
“Biggest thing is the way we started, going 0-2, no one expected us to be where we’re at today,” Aledo coach Tim Buchanan said. “These kids have worked their tails off since the start of the year, well actually since November last season after the South Oak Cliff loss. They have gotten better everyday from the off-season through the preseason to the district season and even the playoffs.
“We had to work so hard to get here and the kids never quit, the coaches never quit and there wasn’t a day where we walked in and said we’re not getting it or we just need to give up, nothing like that. It’s special, they’re all special. There’s no one that’s more special than the others, but this one is special because of these kids right here.”
The Bearcats (14-2) had a slow start last week against Longview when they trailed 14-3 before scoring two second-half touchdowns to take down the top-ranked 5A D1 Lobos.
There would be no slow start this time.
Aledo scored five touchdowns through a quarter and a half. Gavin Olenjack took the opening kickoff 31 yards to the College Station 49.
Five plays later and quarterback Hauss Hejny called his number and scored on a 30-yard touchdown run with 10:13 on the clock.
“Quick starts are a heck lot better than slow starts,” Buchanan said. “Our thought process was if we could get a fast start then it would make things a little bit easier for us and it worked just like what we thought.”
College Station (13-3), which came in averaging almost 38 points per game, had to punt three times and lost a fumble in the first half.
Jake Gillespie forced a fumble on the Cougars’ first drive and Davhon Keys recovered at the College Station 37.
Keys, who started the drive with the recovery, finished it with a 3-yard TD run from the wildcat to up the lead to 14-0 with 7:32 left in the first quarter.
Gillespie, who also doubles up as a return man, took a punt 51 yards to set Aledo up at the College Station 15. Seven plays later, Keys bulled his way from the 1 and Aledo led 21-0 with 3:42 on the clock.
“They’re too powerful and dangerous to give them a short field and they capitalized on those opportunities,” College Station coach Stoney Pryor said.
After another Cougars’ punt, Aledo orchestrated an 11-play scoring drive capped off with a Hejny 7-yard pass to Jalen Pope for a 28-0 lead with 10 minutes left in the half.
Another College Station punt resulted in another TD for Hejny and Pope. Hejny hit Pope on a screen and Pope turned on the jets for a 51-yard TD and 35-0 lead midway through the period.
“College Station is a really good football team. Their defensive front seven is strong and fast and I knew we’d struggle blocking them and running the football,” Buchanan said. “We did what we needed to do running the ball which opened up the pass game for us and defensively, our guys got better and better. I mean we were good at the start, but they continued to get better. The game plan worked like a charm.”
“Aledo does a fantastic job. They’re a great ball club and coach Buchanan and his staff do an outstanding job,” said Pryor, whose in his first season as head coach with the Cougars after being their offensive coordinator for the last 10. “It wasn’t the outcome we were gunning for today, but I’m proud of the kids and what they accomplished this season.”
Looking for any spark, College Station had its best drive to start the third quarter, going eight plays, but the drive was killed on a second Aledo fumble recovery. Keys jarred the ball loose from Jackson Verdugo and Christopher Johnson picked it up at the Aledo 29.
Aledo didn’t have a halftime lull as the Bearcats kept their foot on the gas. Hejny called his own number again on a 58-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 42-0 with 7:16 left in the third quarter.
After the Bearcats D forced yet another Cougars punt, Hejny hit Pope for 29 yards to the College Station 28. Aledo would settle for a 37-yard field goal by Clay Murador for a 45-0 lead with 2:50 left in the frame.
College Station got good field position on the ensuing drive at the 50 and the Cougars marched down to the Aledo 10 to set up a first-and-goal.
But on the next play, Arrington Maiden’s throw in the end zone was intercepted by Gillespie.
“We were close on a bunch of things, we just couldn’t stack up successes today,” Pryor said. “When we did, something would end that run or that opportunity.”
Aledo sent in backup QB Brant Hayden and he found Pope on the first play of the fourth quarter, a 76-yard touchdown to give Pope his third and a 52-0 lead.
The Cougars would avoid the shutout with a pair of TDs in garbage time, including when Maiden hit Paden Cashion from 23 yards. College Station then converted the two-point attempt. Then Madien and Cashion connected from 11 yards out as time expired.
“They make it really difficult to defend,” Pryor said. “We tired to close the run game, they run really well, but it comes at a cost. Aledo has a number of offensive weapons and that’s what makes them the danger they are.”
Pope set a new Class 5A state championship game record with 228 yards receiving, breaking the previous mark of 220 set in 2017.
He made eight catches and his three TDs are tied with six others for most in a 5A championship game.
His 228 yards are second most all-time in any classification, trailing Austin Westlake’s Jaden Greathouse, who had 238 in 2021.
“Jalen is a program guy. He started in the 2020 state game as a sophomore and had a good game that year. He continued to grow, literally. He got bigger and stronger and faster every year and there’s a reason the Air Force wanted him to come play football.
“I didn’t know he set a record. That’s pretty impressive.”
Hejny, who was state title game offensive MVP, threw for 175 and two TDs and added 143 and two scores on the ground. Hawk Patrick-Daniels chipped in 66 yards rushing on 16 attempts. Andrew Parkhurst had a sack and 5 1/2 tackles. Caden Boukadoum also had one sack.
“Even at 0-2, we’re going to practice and playing hard, trying to get better,” said Aledo D-lineman Ansel Din-Mbuh, who had 2 1/2 tackles and a tackle for loss. “We played really gap sound defense and it showed.”
Added D-lineman Lawson Moore, who had 1 1/2 tackles for a loss, “Coach Buc says the state championship winners are the ones that practice the longest and we take pride in that.”
Jaden Allen, a 4-star Texas commit, had a team-high six tackles. Gillespie was voted defensive MVP with his interception plus five tackles and the energy he gave Aledo on special teams.
Aledo out-gained College Station in yards 497-269.
“To put themselves in position to be repeat contenders not a couple times, but a bucket full of times is absolutely amazing,” Pryor said.
Buchanan becomes just the fifth coach in UIL Texas high school football history to win eight state championships, joining Gordon Wood (9), Scott Surratt (9), Jerry Burkhart (9) and G.A. Moore (8).
This is Buchanan’s 30th season with Aledo and 25 as head coach.
It was Aledo’s 13th trip to the state title game and the Bearcats have won 10 championships since 2009.
“Like coach Buc says, you take care of the little things and winning will take care of itself,” Din-Mbuh said. “We take pride in that. Every year it’s a new team, everyone says you’re going to add on to the legacy, but I think a lot of people forget, we also won for ourselves. We had to work for it too. It’s definitely not given.”
“What it means is I have had a bunch of really good assistant coaches and really good football players. Not one of those guys did it because they were a great coach, they did it because they had good players and what makes a good coach is putting the right players in the right spot and in the right time, and we’ve done that in Aledo,” Buchanan said of winning his eighth title as coach. “It’s really neat to be in that group, but in all honesty, it’s because of the kids and coaches that have worked for us in Aledo and played for us in Aledo.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2022 at 1:46 PM.
