The Aledo Bearcats opened the 2021 season in dominating fashion in front of a nearly capacity crowd. Aledo (1-0) defeated the Weatherford Kangaroos (0-1) 47-7 Friday.
The Bearcats had five rushing touchdowns, three from Ryan Williams and two from Connor Smith.
Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi threw for two touchdowns. He connected with Jason Llewellyn and Jalen Pope.
Aledo led 19-7 at halftime.
Fowler-Nicolosi started the scoring off with a 17 yard pass to Llewellyn in the first quarter. Ryan Williams then scored twice with a touchdown run of two yards and later 15 yards.
Weatherford had an extended drive, in the first half, that lasted nearly nine minutes and resulted in the Roos’ only points.
Williams had 61 yards rushing in the first half and ended up with 137 yards and three touchdowns against the Roos.
Smith rushed for 93 yards and two TDs on just nine carries.
Aledo had 460 yards to total offense while it held Weatherford to 163 total yards.
Head Coach Tim Buchanan believes the Aledo rushing attack is balanced and deep.
“We got three or four kids that can run the football, that is one that we do have,” Buchanan said. “In his first start, as the number one tailback, (Williams) did a lot of great things. Connor Smith came in, same thing. Connor is a good running back. (Sammy) Steffe even got a few carries, so it’s a good thing to have.”
Aledo struggled in the first half on two PAT attempts, but in the end it wouldn’t matter.
The Aledo defense kept Weatherford’s passing attack at bay in the first half and forced the Roos to keep the ball mostly on the ground. Weatherford had the ball for over 15 minutes of the first half, compared to nine minutes for the Bearcats.
However, the second half was all Aledo.
The Bearcats scored four times in the second half, three of the touchdowns were on the ground.
Once the team got a feel for the Roos’ attack, Buchanan and the Bearcats were able to quickly tailor a new approach that proved to be effective.
“Our first game of the year, we had scrimmage video, and didn’t really know how they were going to attack us,” he said. “At halftime, we were able to make some adjustments. Our kids did what we asked them to do and had a much better second half defensively.”
On Thursday, Aledo will travel to Frisco Lone Star (1-0).
Lone Star opened the season on Thursday against SA Cornerstone Christian and won 59-14.
Last season, the Bearcats squeaked out a come from behind win against Lone Star, 34-32.
Penalties loomed large in Aledo’s opening night win against the Roos, and will be a focus in practice this week.
“We have to cut out the penalties that we had,” Buchanan said. “We had a couple penalties that extended drives and then offensively, we kind of lost focus a couple of times late in the game. We have to work that stuff out, because against Lone Star, that’ll get us beat.”
Click here to view the play-by-play
Scoring:
A- Jason Llewellyn 17 yard pass from Fowler-Nicolosi (Clay Murador kick)
W- CJ Thornton 1 run (kick)
A- Ryan Williams 2 run (run failed)
A- Williams 15 run. (pass failed)
A- Jalen Pope 10 yard pass from Fowler-Nicolosi (Murador kick)
A- Williams 3 run. (Murador kick)
A- Connor Smith 6 run. (Murador kick)
A- Smith 11 run. (Murador kick)
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