The No. 1 ranked Aledo Bearcats got two touchdowns each from Jo Jo Earle and Jase McClellan to knock off previously undefeated South Oak Cliff 28-14 in a game that was delayed more than three hours by the weather.
Aledo will play Frisco Reedy in the 5A-II Region II final next week.
The Regional Final against Frisco Reedy will be played 7:30 p.m. Friday at Penning Field. Aledo will be the visiting team.
Aledo came out with a plan to use their power running game to move the ball and keep the Golden Bears big play offense off the field.
The Bearcats rushed for 260 yards in the game, including 133 yards on 33 carries for McClellan and 86 yards on 18 carries by quarterback Jake Bishop.
Aledo got the ball first after South Oak Cliff won the toss and deferred until the second half.
The Bearcats used 12 straight running plays to move 80 yards to score on their opening drive.
With the Golden Bears keying on McClellan, quarterback Jake Bishop kept the ball on the option to open the game with a 22 yard run. The first 11 plays of the drive were runs by Bishop and McClellan, which took the ball to the Golden Bear’s 17 yard line.
Facing a second and 6 from the 17, Aledo lined up in a wildcat formation with Earle lining up at quarterback. The move seemed to check South Oak Cliff by surprise. Earle ran to the right then cut back inside to race untouched for the 17-yard score to give Aledo the early 7-0 lead.
South Oak Cliff came right back and ran for some long runs to move the ball down the field. The Golden Bears had 4 long runs for 63 yards on their first possession, and they had another 33-yard run that went to the end zone called back by penalty. The Aledo defense took advantage of the penalty to stop the Golden Bears and force a short field goal attempt, which sailed wide and the score 7-0 Aledo.
Neither team could muster much offense for most of the rest of the first half. However, South Oak Cliff quarterback took a run up the middle for 39 yards with 2:25 left in the half to time the game at 7-7.
The Golden Bears finished the game with 146 rushing yards, but more than 100 of those yards came on the big runs on the first drive and the 39-yard TD run. South Oak Cliff managed just 44 yards on its other 15 rushing attempts.
Aledo used a dominate 20 minute stretch of game time that started in the final minute of the first half and continued until the middle of the fourth quarter to take control of the game.
Aledo came up with a big turnover just before the half when Max Lucas recovered a muffed punt at the South Oak Cliff 12. A penalty moved the ball back to the 22. Bishop then ran the ball for 5 yards then threw a 17-yard TD pass Earle that was a dart right between two defenders with just 14 seconds left in the half to make it 14-7.
Because of the weather delays, halftime lasted more than three hours.
In fact, Midloathian stadium announcer told the crowd at a little past 11 p.m. That the second half of the game would be played starting at 11 a.m. The next day. Gates would open a 9:30 a.m. Many people in the crowd began to leave. However, the athletic directors from both schools and the representatives from Midlothian decided to finish the game.
Aledo came back from the long weather delay and dominated. South Oak Cliff had as many first downs (1) as they had turnovers in the third quarter.
Aledo used the South Oak Cliff fumble to set up a 33-yard TD drive then ended in a 3-yard McClellan run to make it 21-7 with 2:17 left in the third quarter.
The Golden Bears went 3-and-out on their next drive and a 37-yard put gave Aledo the ball at their own 47-yard line.
Aledo then used an 11-play drive to use up the last of the third quarter and nearly half of the fourth quarter. McClellan’s 1-yard TD run gave Aledo a 28-7 lead with 6:23 left in the game.
South Oak Cliff got another big play just 23 seconds later when quarterback Sean Simms threw an 82-yard TD pass Donjaz Dunn to cut the lead to 21-14.
After forcing Aledo to punt, Simms threw a 43-yard pass to set up the Golden Bears at the Aledo 26. However, the Aledo defense managed to force South Oak Cliff to turn the ball over on downs after at the Aledo 9 to end the threat.
Also the Golden Bears finished with 314 yards to Aledo’s 298, South Oak Cliff got 164 yards on thee plays (the two TD plays and the 43-yard pass on the final drive).
In Aledo’s dominate third quarter and first half of the fourth quarter, the Bearcats ran 28 offensive plays to just 11 by South Oak Cliff.
Click here to see a gallery of action photos.
Scoring Summary
A – Jo Jo Earle 17-yard run (Harper Smith kick)
SOC – Sean Simms 39-yard run (Antonio Loya kick)
A – Jo Jo Earle 17-yard pass from Jake Bishop (Harper Smith kick)
A – Jase McClellan 3-yard run (Harper Smith kick)
A – Jase McClellan 1-yard run (Harper Smith kick)
SOC – Donjaz Dunn 82-yard pass from Sean Simms (Antonio Loya kick)
Jo Jo Earl had this 17 yard TD run and a 17-yard TD reception in the first half.
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