ARLINGTON – For more than half a quarter, Aledo didn’t look like the better team against Smithson Valley. The Rangers defense came out strong and posted a safety and an interception that led to points.
Half a quarter – that’s all.
The Bearcats came in as 11-time state champs – and that mentality finally came out and once it did, Smithson Valley had no answer. Aledo scored 51 unanswered points after trailing 8-0 to defeat the Rangers 51-8 in the Class 5A Division 1 state championship on Friday at AT&T Stadium.
Aledo (16-0), the #1 5A D1 team in the state, extended its UIL state record with its 12th football championship – 11 of which that have come since 2009. No other UIL program in the state has more than nine.
The Bearcats have now gone back to back on four different occasions. They also on in 1998, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022. They improved to 12-2 all time in title games.
Smithson Valley took everyone by surprise especially on Aledo’s first three drives.
The teams traded punts to start and on SV’s kick, the ball rolled and was downed at the 2. A hand off went to Aledo’s Hawk Patrick-Daniels, but Diego Davila tackled the Bearcat athlete in the end zone for a safety and two points. Hudson Woods initially slowed Patrick-Daniels before getting help from Davila.
SV’s offense got the ball back after the safety and got more points from its kicker.
Clayton Amaya drilled a record-breaking 49-yard field goal to give the Rangers a 5-0 lead with 6:59 left in the first quarter. The kick broke the Class 5A state champ game record – previously set by Port Neches-Groves’ Joey Price who made a 48 yarder against Stephenville in 1999. The 49 yards was also second longest all time in any classification, only trailing Austin Westlake’s Charlie Barnett, who made it from 53 against Denton Guyer in 2021.
Shortly after, the Rangers offense got the ball again thanks to an interception from their senior cornerback Zach Gingrinch. Aledo was called for a facemask on the return – giving Smithson Valley first and goal.
But Aledo’s D held and limited SV to another field goal – a 30-yard one from Amaya to up the lead to 8-0 with 5:29 left in the opening period.
While the momentum was on the SV sideline, the truth was that the Rangers had scored three times, but only for eight points. Aledo was still down by just one possession.
The Bearcats finally got rolling when Patrick-Daniels capped off a drive with a 23-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 8-7 late in the first quarter. TCU commit QB Hauss Hejny had a couple of nice runs to help the Bearcats march downfield.
Hejny was voted offensive game MVP last season against College Station
Patrick-Daniels, who rushed for 200+ yards and two TDs against Forney in last week’s state semifinals, was Aledo’s starting running back last season. He transitioned to slot and wideout this year as sophomore Raycine Guillory was named the starting back. But Guillory got injured and had to miss the last two games.
Aledo’s D – led by 4-star LSU commit Davhon Keys – made another stop and gave Hejny and the offense the ball back. Patrick-Daniels picked up big yardage and got a key block from offensive tackle DJay Williams. Then he capped it off with an 8-yard TD run to give Aledo the lead at 14-8 with 9:36 left in the half.
The Bearcats made a critical stop on fourth and 2 with Smithson Valley in their territory. Hejny responded with a 69-yard TD pass to Kaydon Finley for a 21-8 lead with three minutes left in the quarter. Cole Crawford made a 35-yard field goal as time expired to give Aledo a 24-8 advantage at intermission.
Aledo added three more TDs in the third quarter to make the run 44-0.
Hejny tossed a 29-yard TD to Colton McCoy and Patrick-Daniels punched it in from 51 yards to give the Bearcats a 30-point margin. Hejny chipped in a rushing touchdown to make it 44-8 with 2:20 left in the period.
RJ Blake capped the scoring with a 7-yard TD run with 3:55 left in the fourth.
Patrick-Daniels was voted offensive game MVP with 186 yards on 16 carries and three scores. Hejny rushed for 77 yards and added 202 in the air on 9 of 17 passing with three total touchdowns. Clarkson had four catches for 72 yards and Finley added 89 yards on three catches.
Keys was voted defensive MVP with 12 tackles, one sack and two for a loss. Arkansas commit Jaden Allen and Caden Atwood each had six tackles for Aledo.
Aledo will enter the 2024 season with a 30-game winning streak.
