Just ask Tascosa.
The No. 1 ranked and defending Class 5A Division I state champion Aledo Bearcats scored touchdowns on all nine of their offensive possessions Friday rolling over Tascosa 62-7 in regional semifinal action at Grant Teaff Tiger Stadium.
Tascosa could not stop the juggernaut Aledo offense – which didn’t punt or turn the ball over – and trailed 21-0 after the first quarter, 49-0 at halftime, 55-0 at the end of three, then avoided the shutout with six seconds to play on junior running back Reese Cabe’s 14-yard run.
Aledo moved to 12-1 and looked every bit capable of adding to its impressive history of back-to-back state titles in 2023 and 2022 and owner of 11 UIL state championships over the last 15 years.
In other words, anybody watching this football display on Friday knows running a comb through these Bearcats and there were no tangles.
Tascosa head coach Ken Plunk, his team entering Friday as the last 5A school standing in all the 806, saw his team finish at 7-6 and sputter to one first down in the first half thanks to an Aledo facemask penalty.
“That’s a very good football team,” Plunk said. “Our chance to stay in it was to match them score for score. We had a chance to get off the field on fourth down on their first drive and we don’t do it. We give up the really good throw and catch. Then on the ensuing drive we go three and out. When we have played with teams like that in the past we have always tried to match them offensively. They overmatched us today.”
Aledo sent the message from the get-go when Tascosa’s defense put the Bearcats in that situation Coach Plunk referred to: 4th-and-8 from its own 31.
Aledo junior quarterback Gavin Beard started what would be a familiar sight when he dropped a perfect pass to senior Blake Burdine (who ran out and up pattern and was closely defended) for the touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
“We had a slow start last week,” Beard said of Aledo’s 59-14 area win over Abilene High. “So this week in practice we emphasized to come out hot. That was a big momentum shift on that fourth downplay and set the tone for the rest of the game.”
Beard did not play a down in the second half leading Aledo to touchdowns on all seven first-half possessions with drives in length of 70, 66, 64, 60, 60 50 and 43 yards.
“I just have faith in my guys,” Beard said. “Numbers 14 (Burdine caught 2 TD passes) and 2 (junior Kayden Finley caught 2 TD passes) have been really consistent all year. I jut love those guys on my team and I’m glad to have them.”
Even though Aledo’s leading rusher and D-I prospect Raycine Guillory Jr. carried once on the first play of the game for 7 yards then departed with what appeared to be a minor ankle injury, that didn’t help the Rebs cause.
Aledo junior Kaden Winkfield stepped in and carried 12 times for 145 yards scoring on runs of 57, 39 and 3 yards. Winkfield made some strong cuts during his runs and did not play in the second half.
“Winkfield is a really talented running back and with Ray be going next year I think he’s going to step up into those shoes,” Beard said.
Tascosa was playing without starting quarterback Coltyn Fulton, who said Friday he suffered a torn ACL in last week’s win over Saginaw.
Senior Charlie McKinney stepped in at QB for the Rebs and Aledo’s aggressive and speedy defense was able to shut down the Rebs triple option offense no matter if the play was inside or outside.
Before Tascosa’s final drive it had taken four snaps in Aledo territory and managed three first downs on nine offensive possessions.
Junior fullback Tendrick Sargent led the Rebs with 55 yards on 13 carries.
“It’s never as bad as you think,” Plunk said. “You are going to match up with really, really good teams at some point. There is a reason they have won 12 state championships. We couldn’t get anything going and they had a really good plan.”
Tascosa definitely didn’t look like it would be a third round playoff team opening the season with a 33-21 loss to Palo Duro and sitting at 1-3 after four games.
“We played really well at times this year,” Plunk said, a smile breaking on his face. “If you had asked me that night after the Palo Duro game we would play the No. 1 team in the state in the third round of the playoffs I’d have said you are crazy. I’m proud of what we have done.
“Like I told our players, don’t let today ruin your accomplishments. You run into a buzzsaw and when all the energy is gone, you aren’t going to play well. That’s kind of what happened. Once we realized we weren’t going to hang with them we lost all our energy and they were able to score a bunch of points.”