Aledo survives: Bearcats force overtime, score game winning touchdown to best Richland

In overtime, Raycine Guillory Jr. swept left 8 yards for the winning touchdown to lead Aledo over Richland, 48-42, at Tim Buchanan Stadium Oct. 25 in District 3-5A Division I high school football contest. Guillory had six touchdowns and 263 yards on 32 rushes.

“We knew they were a good football team,” Aledo coach Robby Jones said. “We know they were explosive offensively. There’s always a chance of that happening. We told the kids all week they’re just a really good football team.

“Just coming in here we needed to be ready to roll. They started with that onside kick that took a possession away from us. We turned the ball over a couple of times. We kind of hurt ourselves at times. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit. They had a great game plan. They executed it well and had a chance to win the game.”

Moments before, the Bearcat (7-1, 6-0) defense stopped Richland (7-2, 5-2) on third and fourth downs on the first possession of overtime to set up the deciding TD drive. First, on third-and-one from the 5 yard-line, running back Hunter Moreno was dropped up the middle for a yard loss.

Richland nixed a field goal attempt. And, on fourth-and-two, quarterback Drew Kates’ pass fell incomplete in the right side of the end zone.

On second down prior to that, Kates threw complete to speedy Deon Jones who looked like he would be the hero of the night. Jones caught it for a seven-yard gain to the five-yard line and might have scored had his momentum not carried him out-of-bounds.

That set up the third-and-one situation where the Bearcat defense stood tall.

Earlier, it was Jones’ heriocs when it looked like he had been knocked out of the game that forced overtime. Aledo, No. 1 in the Star-Telegram’s Class 5A rankings, had been relegated to playing catch-up for most of the night and was down by 14 twice before battling back.

The Bearcats took their first lead, 42-35, with 3:48 left after scoring three straight touchdowns.

It was then up to the Royals to come back. They did so when Jones made a diving catch in the left side of the end zone on fourth-and-16 for a 30-yard tying touchdown (and extra point) with 1:02 remaining.

The senior had missed the previous five plays of the drive when, after making a catch, he had to be helped off the field with what appeared to be an ankle injury. He came back into the lineup when it mattered most.

Though they had no more timeouts left, it still seemed possible the Bearcats would win it in regulation since they had driven for a touchdown with little time left in the first half. Earlier, with only 55 seconds left before intermission, they had forced a punt and taken over at their 34-yard line.

They drove the distance in seven plays. The final one was a short completion to the left side, which Gulliory converted into a 30-yard touchdown reception with 11 seconds left that cut into the Royals’ lead, 28-21.

This time, near the end of the game, they were not able to repeat the feat, and they found themselves in a rare overtime situation at home.

On the opening drive of the second half, the Royals went 62 yards in 10 plays, with Hunter Moreno scoring from the 1 to reinstate the two-touchdown advantage, 35-21. All were runs mostly by Kates on keepers up the middle.

Meanwhile, the Bearcats were having success both running and passing the ball. Guillory scored from 43 yards out about a minute later to pull within a score. The junior stutter-stepped to his right saw a crease behind his guard and then took it to the house straight up from there.

Three possessions later, with 6:53 left in the game, Guillory scored from 29 yards out to knot it at 29.

The Bearcats took the lead with a one yard run by Guillory. The scoring drive was made possible by a diving interception by Ben McElree at the Richland 43-yard line and a 31-yard reception to the 1 on the play before the touchdown in which Kaydon Finley out-leaped his defender.

“Both teams have good offensive lines,” observed Jones. “They pound the ball inside. We were having success with it early. We kind of stopped it there late, which was the big difference in overtime.”

On offense, the coach singled out starting center Chase Anderson, left guard Payton Anderson, and right guard Ryan Campbell as keys to their success of running inside.

Richland led 28-21 at halftime after a see-saw first half that saw the fired-up Royals first lead of 14 points. Both sides employed the hurry-up offense.

Aledo will look to extend its district win streak to 126 against Azle on Nov. 1, while Richland, after a bye week, will look to bounce back against Azle on Nov. 8.