Aledo’s Jase McClellan ran for 6 touchdowns in a little over two quarters to lead Aledo to a 63-16 victory over Burleson Centennial in Friday’s District 5-5A opener at Burleson ISD stadium.
McClellan finished with with 134 yards on 14 carries. His six carries that ended in touchdowns totaled 90 yards.
The Bearcats, who are the state’s top-ranked 5A team, improve to 3-0 and 1-0 in district. The Spartans fall to 2-1 overall and 0-1 in district.
McClellan had five touchdowns in the first half, including on Aledo’s first two possessions.
After the Aledo defense forced the Spartans to put on their first possession, the Bearcats drove 59-yard on eight plays with McClellan scoring from 8 yards. Aledo led 7-0 with 7:25 left in the first quarter and the defense got the ball right back on a fumble recovery by Aledo linebacker Collin Johnson at the Spartan 34.
McClellan scored on the first play of the drive by outracing the Centennial defense down the left sideline for his second TD of the game to make it 14-0 with 6:24 left in the first quarter.
The opportunistic defense scored the next points for Aledo when defensive back Jake Ford recovered a fumbled option pitch in the endzone. The extra point made it 21-0 Aledo with 4:50 still to play in the first quarter. At that point Aledo had more touchdowns than Centennial had first downs. The Aledo defense came up with six fumble recoveries on the night.
However, the Centennial offense suddenly came to life and the game turned into a track meet for the next quarter. Centennial got a 70-yard TD run on the second play of it’s next possession to cut the lead to 21-7 with 4:05 left in the first quarter.
Aledo got that TD right back almost before the Centennial band finished playing the Spartan fight song. Avery Jackson’s kick return set up Aledo near mid field. On the first play, Aledo lined up with a two back set featuring McClellan and Jo Jo Earle. Earle took the handoff and raced 51 yards for the TD to make it 28-7 with 3:48 left in the first quarter. Earle finished the game with 5 carries for 92 yards as well as four receptions for 54 yards.
McClellan also had touchdown runs of 8 and 4 yards late in the second quarter as the Bearcats opened up a 49-16 halftime lead.
McClellan got his six TD on a 35-yard run with 5:13 to play in the third quarter to make the score 56-16. That ended the night for McClellan and the first team offense.
Click here for gallery of action shots from the Centennial game.
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Jase McClellan scores his second TD of the night, this time on a 34-yard run. Photo by Tom Marvin
Jo Jo Earle ran for a 51-yard TD on this play. Photo by Tom Marvin
Jase McClellan on another of his 6 TD runs. Photo by Tom Marvin
Jase McClellan on another of his 6 TD runs. Photo by Tom Marvin
Avery Jackson scored on this 9-yard run in the fourth quarter. Photo by Tom Marvin
Aldo defensive end Logan Thurman forces one of six lost fumbles by Centennial on the night. Photo by Tom Marvin
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