Is Aledo’s district win streak in trouble? State-ranked Denton Ryan is a serious challenge

The Aledo Bearcats have won 122 consecutive UIL high school football district games.

Former head coach Tim Buchanan orchestrated one of the most legendary streaks in high school sports history. Now, Robby Jones has played a pivotal role in protecting Aledo’s legendary reputation.

Aledo will face Denton Ryan at 7 p.m. Friday at Tim Buchanon Stadium in what is possibly the Texas high school football game of the year. The Raiders (4-0) are Dave Campbell’s Texas Football’s No. 1 ranked Class 5A Division I team in Texas, while Aledo holds the No. 2 spot.

Jones is in his second year as Aledo’s head coach, but he isn’t a stranger to the pressure. He has served as Aledo’s offensive coordinator since 2000, long before the historic district win streak began on October 12, 2007.

It’s been nearly 17 years since the start of the streak. Some of the players on Aledo’s varsity team weren’t born yet, and others were infants.

For these players, they’ve never seen anything but Aledo’s consistent dominance. The Bearcats haven’t won a state title every year, but the district win streak was a constant and a sign of the program’s greatness.

A win streak of this magnitude requires elite preparation and consistency; one bad day or a span of bad luck could ruin it. Obviously, no one wants to be on the team that loses the streak.

It comes with a lot of pressure, which Aledo is used to. No school in Texas has higher expectations than Aledo, which holds the UIL record with 12 state championships.

The upcoming matchup, however, has little to do with pressure and everything to do with football. Each team will bring their A-game. Here is the big question: Does Aledo have what it takes to defeat Denton Ryan?

The Raiders look better than ever and have earned every bit of their No. 1 ranking. The offensive line is packed with division-one recruits, such as five-star Alabama commit Ty Haywood, who has a 6-foot-5, 285-pound frame.

Defensively, Ryan has only allowed 55 points in four games, and the defensive line has been effective in all facets. The Raiders’ have been a force, but questions still need to be answered.

Head coach Dave Hengian, at the beginning of the season, spoke of the team needing to find an offensive identity. For a state-ranked powerhouse, that can be hard to answer without elite, high-quality competition.

Ryan certainly will have the highest quality Class 5A competition possible against Aledo. They’ll need to perform when it matters most.

Aledo has a few questions of its own that need answering.

Quarterback Gavin Beard is in his first year as the varsity starting quarterback and has missed two games due to injury. He has incredible talent, but is his limited experience enough to take down a team like Denton Ryan?

Hauss Hejny, now a TCU player and the Bearcat’s last quarterback, had championship experience and loads of playing time under his belt.

Aledo also lost Davhon Keys, an elite linebacker now at LSU. Depth has always been a strength, but surely Aledo misses the presence of two elite college prospects.

That is also part of the wonder of Aledo, and why they’ve been so great for so long. When one player leaves, another one steps up to the challenge. One player to watch is wide receiver Kaydon Finley, a junior with offers from Texas, Baylor, Georgia, SMU, TCU, Texas A&M and more.

Looking at the talent levels of both teams, it’s easy to see Friday’s game will be Aledo’s most formidable district challenge in quite some time.

Despite having a higher state ranking, it’s debatable whether or not Denton Ryan is the favorite on Friday. It’ll be a tough matchup on the road in Bearcat country.

Recent history shows that the Bearcats overcome these challenges.

Aledo, in 2022 and 2023, defeated Denton Ryan in 35-21 and secured a narrow 25-29 victory to keep the streak intact. The Bearcats went on to win a state championship in both seasons.

Before the streak began, Ryan got the best of Aledo in the 2002 and 2003 regional championships. In those seasons, Ryan won a state championship and finished as a state runner-up in 2002 and 2003, respectively.

For high schoolers, the early 2000s are more than a lifetime ago. All streaks must eventually come to an end. We’ll find out if that’s the case for Aledo on Friday.

The Star-Telegram has Aledo ranked No. 1 in the Class 5A rankings, with Denton Ryan taking the No. 2 spot despite the Bearcat’s loss to Denton Guyer.

The Bearcats, arguably the UIL’s most storied program, will be the undisputed kingpin of Class 5A teams until another beats them, whether it’s the playoffs or the regular season. They’ve earned that right.