Aledo’s defense helps the Bearcats pull away from Justin Northwest in district opener
After wins against two high-quality opponents to open the season and a week where several players missed practices because of a bug going around the team, the Aledo football team appeared a bit listless, especially on offense, in the District 3-5A Division 1 opener against Justin Northwest.
The Texans gave it everything they had, but the Bearcats’ defense picked up an offense that was more workmanlike than dominating as Aledo pulled away for a 38-13 win over Northwest on Friday night at Buchanan Stadium.
“We were sleepwalking a little tonight and that’s just from a lack of focus all week,” said Aledo quarterback Hauss Hejny, a TCU commit. “We underestimated an opponent that’s a disciplined team and well coached. This was like their Super Bowl game for them.
“They came in hot. We walked into this game like we were just going to walk all over them. Our defense played a hell of a game and made some stops and scored some touchdowns for us which helped us out a lot.”
Aledo (3-0 overall, 1-0 in district), the top team in the Star-Telegram Class 5A rankings, upped its state record of consecutive district wins to 112.
It never really looked as if Aledo’s streak was ever in jeopardy, but the Bearcats were tested by Northwest. The Bearcats out gained Northwest by only 40 yards, 319-279, and held a tenuous 10-6 lead until late in the first half.
Aledo’s defense forced punts on the Texans’ first two series and the Bearcats were able to capitalize. Aledo drove 64 yards in 11 plays on its first possession, but the drive stalled at the Northwest 15 and Cole Crawford came on to convert a 32-yard field goal.
The Bearcats upped the lead to 10-0 when Hejny capped an eight-play, 61-yard drive with a 13-yard scoring run around right end with 23 seconds left in the first quarter.
Northwest (2-1, 0-1), which has made five consecutive playoff appearances and is predicted to make a sixth this season, answered immediately. Running back Nate Jean gained 22 yards to the Aledo 30 then bulled in from the one seven plays later to cut the lead to 10-6 with 9:13 left in the half.
The Texans’ defense held Aledo on downs on the Bearcats’ next possession. But Aledo’s defense got the first of three, big turnovers to squash Northwest’s momentum.
Aledo safety Boogie Owens picked off a Northwest pass at the Bearcats’ 37 and returned it 11 yards to the 48. Four plays later Hejny hit Tyson Timms with a 41-yard scoring pass to give Aledo a 17-6 lead with 3:55 left before the intermission.
Aledo opened the second half with a long drive to give itself some cushion. Raycine Guillory scored on a one-yard run with 7:53 left in the third quarter to up the lead to 24-6.
“I felt like mentally that were weren’t really here,” said Guillory who led Aledo with 117 yards rushing on 24 carries. “We’re bouncing off a sickness that’s going around on the team. Their game plan was to stop the run and they came out with a really good game plan, but we came out and executed and the defense did their thing.”
But the Aledo offense was done for the night. Northwest forced two three and outs on the Bearcats’ next two possessions, but the Aledo defense was picking up the slack with TDs of their own.
Aledo’s Ben McElree stripped the ball from Northwest quarterback Leddie Thompson and Owens was there again. This time he scooped up the ball and raced 52 yards for a score to make it 31-6 midway through the third period.
“We played great and we needed that,” said Owens. “We gave up a lot of points in the first two games, but tonight we made plays and got after it. We probably underestimated them a little bit. They’re better than we thought.”
Cooper Cyphers tipped a pass to himself midway through the fourth quarter and returned it 51 yards to cap the scoring for Aledo.
Ife Durodoye had a nice night for the Texans with 122 rushing yards on 15 carries including a 57-yard scoring run right up the middle of the Aledo defense on the second play of the fourth quarter.
“Offensively we just didn’t come out as fast as we needed to,” said Hejny. “We came out flat. We’ll go back and look at the film and we’ll hold ourselves accountable.
“I’ll put some of that blame on myself for not holding my teammates accountable and not making sure that we were ready to go. We’ll correct that and our coaches will correct that and we’ll make sure that we stay focused and locked in the rest of the season.”
This story was originally published September 9, 2023 at 1:15 AM.