James Albritton / The Community News: Sophomore Rob Blowers gets the open-field stop to punctuate the Aledo Bearcat Homecoming win. The Bearcat defense shut down the Azle Hornets on the way to a 42-0 victory.

By Tony Eierdam

Junior quarterback Trey Ozee led Aledo on six scoring marches and the Bearcats defense pitched its second straight shutout as Aledo cruised past Azle, 42-0, Friday night at Bearcat Stadium on Homecoming Night.

Homecoming Night was indeed special in Aledo. In addition to the blowout win, the Aledo Ladycats 2008 state champion softball team was honored with a ring ceremony before the game, and at halftime, Aledo senior Kristin Pass was crowned Homecoming Queen.

Ozee stepped in for injured senior QB Tanner McDonald and completed nine of 14 passes for 103 yards and one interception. McDonald, along with other starters Joel Hasley, Chase Rutherford and Aaron Corby, missed the game due to minor injuries, and all are expected back next week (Friday, Oct 17) when the Bearcats (6-0, 3-0) travel to Saginaw.

The loss drops Azle to 1-5 overall and 0-3 in 6-4A.

Bearcats head coach Tim Buchanan was pleased - but not surprised - with Ozee's poise and execution.
"Trey was the only quarterback who took reps all week," Buchanan said. "Trey was a little nervous, but he really ran the offense well. He didn't have any bad plays, and he made the right read on his interception, but the ball floated a bit on him. He was really smooth in our two-minute drill at the end of the first half (completing four consecutive passes), but we missed a block on one of the incompletions or we would have had a touchdown.
"Trey did a good job of getting rid of the ball, and if he wouldn't have gotten hit it would have been a touchdown. But again, I am very pleased with the way Trey ran the offense.
"And our offensive line did another good job. Azle knew we were going to run the ball, and we were still able to rush the ball on them."

Bearcats running back Jonathan Gray also had a big game. The freshman carried 21 times for 146 yards and four touchdowns, all of which came in the second half.

Aledo piled up 167 rushing yards (313 total), as Aaron Ates, Austin Stockon, Cameron Cunningham, Ryan Conn and Brian Vogel also carried the ball in the Aledo backfield.

Aledo led 14-0 at the half courtesy of a four-yard touchdown run by senior running back Ates and a five-yard blast up the middle by senior RB Stockon. Both extra point kicks came off the foot of senior kicker Cody Hale, who was 6-for-6 on conversion kicks for the game.

Buchanan turned Gray loose in the second half. The running back scored on TD runs of 30, 4, 13 and 8 yards.

Buchanan also praised the Bearcats defense, a unit that has shut out opponents in 11 straight district quarters.
"We are going to hang our hats on defense," Buchanan said. "We are going to put good football players on that side of the ball, and Coach (Steve) Wood (defensive coordinator) does a great job as well as the rest of the defensive coaches. Our kids played hard on defense, and Azle is young but showed some spurts on offense and are improving every week."

For the complete story, and for more comments from Buchanan and comments from some of the Bearcats, please see the Oct. 17 issue of The Community News.