The Aledo Bearcats punched their ticket into the 5A DI state semifinal with a 56-21 victory over Abilene in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicates.
Aledo got three touchdown runs from Davhon Keys, two passing touchdowns and a running TD from quarterback Hauss Hejny and two touchdown runs from Hawk Patrick-Daniels.
The Bearcats started the game by jumping out to a 28-0 lead with 13 seconds left in the first quarter. Abilene didn’t get a first down in the first quarter. In fact, the Aledo defense held Abilene to minus 5 rushing yards (unofficially) in the game and forced the Eagles to turn the ball over on downs each of the three times they left the offense on the field on fourth down.
Early in the game the Aledo defense stopped Abilene for a a yard loss on a fourth-and-one. In the second quarter, Abilene threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-five. In the third quarter, Abilene completed a pass on fourth-and-one, but Boogie Owens dropped the receiver for no gain to give the ball back to the offense.
The Aledo defense also got a third-quarter interception when linebacker Ky Howington tipped a pass into the air and defensive end Cooper Kohan came down with the diving interception.
Aledo’s first four offensive drives ended in touchdowns. Keys started the scoring with his 4-yard run out of the wildcat formation and he scored Aledo’s third TD on a 3-yard TD run. Keys had 33 rushing yards on five attempts in the game. He also had a 3-yard TD run in the third quarter.
Hawk Patrick-Daniels had an 18-yard TD run up the middle to score Aledo’s second TD. Patrick-Daniels also had a 40-yard TD run in the third quarter.
Quarterback Hauss Hejny threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Colton McCoy on Aledo’s fourth possession. Hejny also had a 35-yard TD run in the third quarter and a 50-yard TD pass to Trace Clarkson in the fourth quarter. Hejny unofficially had 203 passing yards and 100 rushing yards in the game.
Abilene cut Aledo’s 28-0 lead to 28-14 with a couple very short drives set up by special teams.
Aledo was forced to punt twice in a row in the second quarter after running back Raycine Guillory left the game with an apparent injury. The first time Aledo was in punt formation, the ball was snapped over the punter’s head and Abilene took over on the Aledo 3. Two plays later Abilene scored to make it 28-7 with 8:32 left in the half.
Aledo went three-and-out on its next drive and this time the punt went just 10 yards to give Abilene the ball at the Aledo 30. A penalty moved the ball to the 15 and three plays later Abilene got a 14-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-14. Abilene needed just 18 yards of offense to score those two touchdowns.
Aledo led 28-14 at halftime, but the Bearcats had 308 total yards in the first half to just 87 for Abilene.
Keys and Hejny both said that the team wasn’t rattled at halftime when Abilene cut into Aledo’s lead in the second quarter.
Aledo bounced back in the second half to score the next 28 points to increase the lead to 56-14 before Abilene got a fourth quarter score against the Bearcat reserves.
“It definitely showed resilience,” Keys said. “Even in the face of adversity we were still fighting hard, working hard.” Keys also praised the offensive linemen for his ability to score three times.
Aledo finished with 331 rushing yards and 213 passing yards even though the starters sat out for the final 10 minutes of the game. Abilene finished with 181 total yards, with 73 yards coming on that fourth-quarter TD drive.
Undefeated Aledo will meet 13-1 Forney in the state semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Midlothian ISD Stadium. Forney had to play two overtimes to take a 43-41 victory over Lancaster.
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