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Why Aledo's dominant offense might be best in high school football history

Aledo won three consecutive state championships with the most prolific offensive player in high school football history.

But two years after running back Johnathan Gray set a national record with 205 career touchdowns before heading to the University of Texas, Aledo has scored at a rate never seen before.

While averaging 65.7 points per game, Aledo (15-0) has scored 985 points, a national record. With one game to go — Saturday’s Class 4A Division II state championship game against Brenham (14-1) at noon at AT&T Stadium — the Bearcats have scored 82 more points than the previous national record held by the 2001 team from Albemarle (N.C.).

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To put Aledo’s dominance in perspective, Class 5A power Katy produced what was then the fifth-highest season point total in national history (of totals reported to the High School Sports Record Book) when it scored 829 points last year while winning its seventh state championship. Southlake Carroll, which has won a state record-tying eight state titles, entered this season No. 10 on that national list with 803 points scored in 1992.

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“People keep wanting to say, ‘Are they better than the teams you had with Johnathan?’” said Tim Buchanan, who has a record of 226-53-3 in 21 seasons as Aledo’s coach. “If we win a state championship, I’m going to say they’re in the same class.”

Buchanan, who guided Aledo to all four of the school’s football state titles — in 1998, 2009, 2010 and 2011 — called this “the most complete team I’ve ever had.” He added, “We’ve got a great defense.”

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Aledo’s 4-3 defense hasn’t allowed more than 16 points in a game, and in Saturday’s state semifinal, it held an undefeated Ennis team that was averaging 44.2 points to just six. That was Aledo’s third victory against a state semifinalist, following wins of 44-3 over Highland Park and 56-14 over Stephenville in the first two games of the season.

Aledo had five returning starters on offense from last season’s 10-2 team that lost in the second round of the playoffs. But Aledo’s spread offense has averaged 531.4 yards per game and has scored more than 70 points seven times, including wins by scores of 84-7 (twice) and 91-0.

“The offensive line opens up huge holes, and I haven’t gotten sacked very many times,” junior quarterback Luke Bishop said. “It also helps that the defense gives us great field position.”

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On special teams, junior Ryan Newsome has returned seven punts for touchdowns — one short of the national record for a season — and also has a kickoff return for a score. Senior Chance Nevarez has set national records for extra points made in a season (127) and consecutive extra points made (202). And senior Parker Shaunfield has made 12 of 14 field goal attempts, including a 52-yarder.

“The big difference in this team is how many weapons we have,” Buchanan said. “When we had Johnathan … if you could stop us from throwing the ball like Lake Travis did in 2011 and just kind of contain Johnathan, you could beat us.”

In that regular-season matchup of defending state champions in 2011, Gray ran for four touchdowns — breaking the state record for career touchdowns in the process. But Lake Travis won, 62-35, by shredding the Bearcats’ defense for 606 yards and holding Aledo to 126 passing yards.

Bishop is the younger brother of former Aledo standout quarterback Matthew Bishop, who helped the Bearcats win their three straight state titles. After replacing Pate Davis, now at Air Force, Luke has completed 71 percent of his passes and thrown for 2,541 yards and 34 touchdowns with only two interceptions in his first year as the starting quarterback.

Aledo has five players with more than 600 yards rushing, led by junior running back Jess Anders (1,402 yards, 35 touchdowns). There are five players with more than 400 yards receiving, paced by senior Taco Anderson (671 yards, six TDs).

“We’re really good as a unit,” Anderson said. “When one guy has a big game one week, then they’ve got to double cover him, and one other guy is open.”

It helped that the Bearcats added Newsome, a wide receiver/quarterback who transferred from Hurst L.D. Bell. Newsome, who has offers from several Big 12 schools, has scored 24 touchdowns.

No Aledo player has committed to play college football yet. But Newsome is one of five players with offers, along with four seniors: fullback Daythan Davis, middle linebacker Jordan Mittie, offensive tackle Ernie McQuade and defensive tackle Cory Stitle.

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To appreciate just how dominant the Bearcats have been, look at their punting numbers. Aledo has punted only 13 times. Their opponents, meanwhile, have punted 105 times.

After Aledo beat Fort Worth Western Hills, 91-0, on Oct. 18, a Western Hills parent filed a complaint accusing the Aledo coaching staff of bullying. The district investigated and found no grounds for bullying, and even the complaint showed that Aledo players were doing things the right way.

“The guy filed it on me, not on the players,” Buchanan said. “In the report, he said the Aledo kids showed extremely good sportsmanship during the contest.”

Follow Greg Riddle on Twitter at @DMNGregRiddle.

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Best Aledo team ever?

This season’s Aledo team has scored more points than its state championship teams in 1998, 2009, 2010 and 2011 and has allowed fewer points than all but the 1998 team. A comparison:

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