Aledo football piles on points, secures massive victory over Abilene in area round

Last year Aledo faced Abilene in the quarterfinals of the playoffs. They won. This year, it was the area round when the Bearcats took down the Eagles 59-14.

The win means Aledo will still be playing over Thanksgiving break.

“That’s something you want to do,” said Aledo head coach Robby Jones. “When you’re in the playoffs, you want to make sure that you’re practicing over Thanksgiving.”

Playing in the third round of the playoffs is nothing new to Aledo. The Bearcats have played for a regional championship in every year since 2012.

Running back Raycine Guillory Jr. talked about the importance of this game to him as well as his team.

“This game was one of my favorites, I came back to my stomping grounds where I played as a freshman with Lake Ridge,” he said. “Being able to come here and get a big win in the playoffs is a blessing, but the main goal is the state championship.”

This year, a big part of that success has been Aledo’s big three offensive threats, which showed off tonight.

Quarterback Gavin Beard threw for 249 yards passing, 39 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns.

Two of those touchdowns were caught by wide receiver Kaydon Finley, who finished the game with 169 yards receiving and three touchdowns.

Guillory completes the trio, tonight scoring two touchdowns on 144 yards rushing and 27 yards receiving.

All three played less than three quarters against Abilene.

One of Guillory’s touchdown runs was an 86-yard rush on the first and only play of a drive. Finley had a one-play drive touchdown of his own—a 92-yard reception.

“You like to have those one-play drives, it shows the explosiveness of the offense,” said Jones. “But you also like to have those drives where the offensive line takes over for 8-10 plays.”

Wide receiver Blake Burdine scored a 13-yard receiving touchdown and Kaden Winkfield put in a garbage-time 4-yard rushing touchdown to put the Bearcats up by 49.

The Abilene team Aledo faced this year beat its first-round opponent 82-0, so it was important that the Bearcat defense was on-point.

Aledo gave up just two touchdowns. One was Abilene’s first drive when the Eagles recovered an Aledo fumble and the other was Abilene’s last drive in garbage time.

“We knew coming in that they had opportunities to some plays and score points, so it was good to see our defense go out and hold them,” said Jones.

A big part of that defense was three interception in the first half. Two from Adrian Fuller, who returned one back for a 52-yard touchdown, and one from Lamel Swanson.

It’s a secondary that has improved as the season progressed.

“We knew they were good players,” said Jones. “They were just inexperienced. So giving them some good game reps against two good football teams in the first two weeks, they held their own and now they’re doing a really good job.”

Now, Aledo will face Amarillo Tascosa (7-5), who handed Saginaw its first loss of the season to make it to the regional round. Tascosa beat Abilene 31-29 earlier in the regular season.

“Tascosa is a flex-ball team and they run the ball quite a bit, but they also throw the ball more than most flex-ball teams,” said Jones. “They’ve got some good football players, some good athletes, so it’s going to be a challenge.”