To those used to winning, losing, for lack of a better phrase, sucks.
And in a place like Aledo, where it occurs about as rarely as the Dallas Cowboys reach the Super Bowl, the impact is even harder. After all, it’s only happened 16 times since 2008.
One of those rare times was this past Friday in Denton. The Bearcats’ 30-game winning streak, the second longest in team history — they could have tied the all-time record with a win — came to an end with a 35-30 loss to Guyer.
Aledo could have won the game. Aledo should have won the game. However, in another rare instance, the Bearcats practically gave it away for all intents and purposes, all due respect to Guyer.
Before you go thinking this column is an attack on all the Bearcats did wrong, let me just say that, yes, we will address those mishaps. But they also did a lot right and we’ll get to that momentarily.
And if anyone has followed the Bearcats in any capacity over the years, you don’t need to be told there is plenty of good lying ahead this season.
The Wildcats took advantage of the moment and played inspired football once the door was opened. That’s what good teams do, and Guyer consistently has a good team.
In fact, the Wildcats are one of the very few teams that can claim to have a lead in their series against Aledo. Since they first met in 2012, Guyer now leads 4-2.
Problem is, it’s usually the Bearcats who are the ones capitalizing on the opening and coming away with the win. Case in point, when they trailed Denton Ryan late in the game last season at Tim Buchanan Stadium, Hauss Hejny saw a lapse in the Raiders defense and raced more than 50 yards for the game-winning touchdown in a 25-19 victory.
Last Friday night, however, there was no such magic. Aledo saw leads of 16-3, 23-16 and 30-23 slip away.
The main culprit against Guyer was special teams. A punt was blocked for a touchdown, a kickoff was returned 83 yards for a TD on the final play of the first half, another punt went 11 yards and they missed a chip-shot 25-yard field goal.
Not since, well, a 44-14 home loss to Guyer on Sept. 2, 2022 — the Bearcats’ last loss before this one — had Aledo had such an off night for its special teams.
Not to leave those guys on an island, let’s remember that the defense gave up eight runs of 10 yards or more, including a 54-yard touchdown. The offensive line allowed three quarterback sacks.
That said, trust me when I say this was certainly more of an aberration than the norm as the team moves forward. Better yet, trust Bearcats coach Robby Jones, who said after the game they don’t want to feel this way again this season.
While I would never advocate for betting on high school sports, if I did I would wager a lot that it’s — pardon the pun — a good bet they won’t know this feeling again anytime soon. Like a Tom Hanks movie, when the Bearcats take the field, odds are it’s going to be an enjoyable experience — well, unless you’re on or cheering for the other team.
Folks like to look for positives in a loss. For example, at least we didn’t get rained on or have a lightning delay like they did in the Weatherford game.
But seriously, the Bearcats really do have a lot on which to feel positive about as they navigate through a tough season. Remember, they still have the likes of Lancaster this week, along with league games against Ryan and Richland, all at home.
For starters, Ray Guillory is back. The star running back was expected to get at most around 10 carries. He finished with 22 carries for 89 yards and a TD.
“He made the most of his carries,” Jones said. “As the season goes on he’ll get more involved. He’s a big difference maker. Our offense is going to be better when he’s out there.”
Guillory, a junior, has the talent to follow in the footsteps of Jase McClellan, who went on to a sterling career with the Alabama Crimson Tide and is now on the opening day roster for the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL.
Then there’s his backup, Kaden Winkfield, who carried 18 times for 85 yards, including a beautiful TD run of 39 yards. It’s easy to agree with Jones when he said, “He’d be a No. 1 pretty much anywhere else.”
Entering the game one of the big question marks was how much pressure could Aledo’s defensive line — the most experienced part of the team — put on heralded Guyer quarterback and University of Oklahoma commit Kevin Sperry? The Bearcats defense limited one of the nation’s top high school signal callers to a modest 12-of-26 performance for 178 yards with an interception by Adrian Fuller and a sack by Jacob McIntire.
“They put good pressure on him,” Jones said.
Credit should also be given to the all new Aledo secondary. Sperry had two completions that went for 41 and 49 yards, but nothing else went for more than 18 yards — and let’s not overlook those 14 incompletions.
Often in early season games, particularly openers, penalties will be a problem for teams, especially teams lacking starting experience. The Bearcats were only flagged five times for 30 yards.
Likewise for holding onto the ball. Aledo fumbled just once and managed to retain control, along with giving up an interception.
Meanwhile, the defense forced three fumbles and recovered two to go with an interception.
The Aledo offense also converted six of 16 third-down attempts and was 3-of-5 on fourth-down attempts, while the defense held Guyer to 2-of-10 and 1-of-2 in those categories.
Bottom line is Aledo has been here before. After all, in seven of their 12 state championship seasons, they had at least one loss. Heck, twice they even had two.
And in some of those seasons they lost a lot worse than this game. We mentioned the home loss to Guyer in 2022, but also in 2011 they lost 62-35 at home to Lake Travis and in 2014 they fell, again at home, 42-7 to California Bishop Amat.
In other words, a single game does not a season make. No one has proven more than the Aledo football program.
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