The Aledo Bearcats (6-0, 3-0) controlled Friday’s contest from start to finish and defeated the Joshua Owls (3-3, 1-2) 55-0 in Joshua.
Aledo scored three rushing touchdowns, a passing touchdown and a defensive touchdown in the first half at Joshua.
The Joshua Owls (3-2) didn’t cross the 50 in the first half and ended the first quarter with just one total yard of offense.
Things never got much better for the Owls, as they only crossed the 50 once, and were outgained by Aledo by over 500 yards offensively.
The Bearcats gifted the Owls some penalty yardage in the first half, but Joshua had nothing for Aledo’s stout defense.
Aledo’s first touchdown came on the second play of the opening drive.
Bearcat quarterback Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi made his return with a 73-yard connection to Brian Fleming.
Fowler-Nicolosi looked impressive in his return behind center.
“He has been out since the second quarter of the Burleson game,” Aledo head coach Tim Buchanan said. “For him to come back, nearly two and half weeks later, and to play as well as he did– that is very impressive. I wouldn’t expect anything less out of him.”
Five minutes later in the quarter, Sammy Steffe scored his first of three rushing touchdowns on a 19 yard scamper.
Connor Smith then got into the game, and hit a hole near the Bearcat’s sideline for a 61 yard touchdown.
The Bearcats were quiet for a few minutes and got into the red-zone midway into the second quarter.
Joshua came up with a stop and forced a Clay Murador field goal from 20 yards out.
With a 24-0 lead, Aledo continued to force the issue on defense, and for the second straight game, Davhon Keys grabbed a pick-six.
After the interception return, Aledo led 31-0.
The final score of the half came after a blocked punt that gave the Bearcats the ball at the Owl’s two yardline. Steffe then punched it in for a touchdown to conclude the half’s scoring.
Steffe had 50 yards rushing and two touchdowns at halftime.
Fowler-Nicolosi was pulled on the last drive of the first half and concluded with 134 yards on just six passes.
Joshua running back Kolby Smith had 13 carries and 35 yards.
The Owls quarterback Jaydin Pool completed just one pass in the first half for two yards.
The second half was much of the same and the Bearcat’s kept their composure and intensity in another dominating performance.
“If you got your foot on their throat, just keep going down,” Aledo running back Sammy Steffe said regarding the second half.
Going into Friday’s game. the Bearcats had high expectations, but Steffe knew they had to keep focused.
“Coach said if we go out with the mentality that it’s going to be easy, they might be able to stay with us,” he said. “So, we were just trying to keep our district win streak going. We just got 99. We’re just trying to get business done.”
In the second half of Aledo’s 99th straight district win, the Bearcats scored on a 58 yard Steffe run 35 seconds into the second half.
Later, Fleming scored again on a 45 yard touchdown reception from Hayden Brant.
Jace Sims concluded the evening’s scoring with a 26 yard field goal, that put Aledo ahead 55-0.
Buchanan naturally wants the Bearcats to continue to improve incrementally, as the regular season enters it’s final stage.
The Aledo defense, however, has exceeded the lofty expectations heaped on them.
“We knew coming out of last year that we were pretty good on defense,” Buchanan said. “This year, we had some really key football players coming back and that we should be good. Our kids have continually gotten better. Hopefully we can stay healthy and continue to get better and better, and they will. They are very dedicated young men.”
Aledo faces Mansfield Timberview (2-3, 1-1) at home next Friday.
Last season, Timberview stayed close with Aledo in the Bearcat’s 44-28 win.
Timberview went on to upset Ennis in the playoffs and is an opponent Buchanan admires.
“I haven’t really watched them yet, but they are just as talented as they have always been,” he said. “Just like Ennis learned last year, don’t underestimate Mansfield Timberview and Coach James Brown.”
Next Friday’s game kicks off at 7 p.m. at Bearcat Stadium.
Scoring
1st Quarter
A — Brian Fleming 73 pass from Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi (Clay Murador kick) (10:14) 7-0
A — Sammy Steffe 19 run (Murador kick) (5:00) 14-0
A — Connor Smith 61 run (Murador kick) (1:03) 21-0
2nd Quarter
A — 20 yard field goal by Murador (6:36) 24-0
A — 15 interception return by Davhon Keys (5:42) 31-0
A — Steffe 2 run (Murador kick) (1:40) 38-0
3rd Quarter
A — Steffe 58 run (Murador kick) (11:25) 45-0
A — Fleming 45 pass from Hayden Brant (Sims kick) (5:50) 52-0
4th Quarter
A — 26 yard field goal by Sims (11:11) 55-0
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