With Aledo star running back Jase McClellan seeing limited carries due to a lingering injury, quarterback Jake Bishop delivered for the second week in a row Saturday in the Bearcats 28-21 victory Saturday afternoon in a Class 5A, Division II state semifinal at Abilene Christian University.
With the Bearcats facing a fourth-and-three play from their own 31 with 4:08 left in the game, Aledo coach Tim Buchanan left the offense on the field, even after Lubbock Cooper called a timeout.
Buchanan said after the game that he never thought about punting the ball.
“We didn’t do a good job of stopping them in the second half, and I wasn’t sure if we would ever see it (the football) again,” Buchanan said.
The win advances Aledo to the 5A Division II state championship game, which will be a rematch of last year’s title game against Fort Bend Marshall. The game will be played 11 a.m. Saturday at AT&T Stadium. It is the ninth time in 11 seasons that Aledo has advanced to the state championship game.
“I saw a gap and just hit it,” Bishop said of the 45-yard run. The quarterback led the team with 105 rushing yards on 10 attempts. His 11-yard TD run and two point conversion pass to Jo Jo Earle gave Aledo a 21-14 lead in the third quarter.
The 45-yard run was a called quarterback run to the left. Bishop got a crease between blocks on the outside from McClellan and Jaedon Pellergrino to spring him for the long run.
McClellan finished the game-winning drive with his third short TD run, this time from two yards out with 1:55 left in the game.
Although Cooper got one final chance when the Pirates started from their own 38 1:51 left to play. However, the Aledo defense was up to the task and Cooper lost three yards in four plays to turn the ball over on downs.
McClellan got the Bearcats first TD when Aledo scored on the opening possession of the game. His three-yard run capped a 75-yard opening drive to make it 6-0, but the extra point was wide, which allowed Cooper to twice take 1-point leads in the game.
McClellan carried the ball just 19 times for 95 yards in the game, after getting 40 carries in last week’s victory over Ennis.
McClellan carried the ball just 7 times in the second half, but he came in for the game-winning drive and scored the winning TD on a 2-yard run.
Scoring Summary
A — Jase McClellan 3 run (kick failed),
LC — Isaiah Johnson 1 run (Brock Thompson kick)
A — McClellan 1 run (Micco Little kick)
LC — Cooper LaFebre 40 run (Thompson kick)
A — Jake Bishop 11 run (Bishop pass to JoJo Earle)
LC — Johnson 3 run (Thompson kick),
A — McClellan 2 run (Little kick)
Team Statistics
Team ………………….LC………….A
First downs……. ……15…………19
Rushing…………….38-272……34-244
Passing yards………..38…………130
Comp.-att.-int……6-12-0……..9-21-0
Fumbles-lost…………0-0………..0-0
Punts-avg…………….3-30.3…..2-44.5
Penalties-yards………3-11……..1-10
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing:
Lubbock Cooper – Isaiah Johnson 22-139, Cooper LaFebre 6-70, Jacob Dennis 4-23, Tylor Hairston 6-40
Aledo – Jase McClellan 19-95, Jake Bishop 10-105, Jaedon Pellegrino 1-15, DeMarco Roberts 2-4, JoJo Earle 2-36
Passing:
Lubbock Cooper: Cooper LaFebre 6-12-0-38
Aledo: Jake Bishop 10-21-0-130
Receiving:
Lubbock Cooper – Robert Mott 1-20, Isaiah Johnson 2-7, Tyler Hairston 1-4, Ty Carter 1-(-3), Ben Marcinkowski 1-10
Aledo – JoJo Earle 3-60, Money Parks 3-28, Jaedon Pellegrino 2-27, Jase McClellan 1-1, Micco Little 1-14
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