Bishop earns Offensive MVP honors with 300 total yards of offense

On the list of all-time Texas high school championship teams, Aledo stands alone.

The Bearcats recovered Fort Bend Marshall’s onside kick with 49 seconds left to hold on for a 45-42 win to earn their ninth state championship, breaking a tie with Katy, Celina and Southlake Carroll for most titles won by schools that play 11-man football. Richland Springs won its ninth 6-man title earlier this week.

“It really hasn’t set in just yet,” Aledo coach Tim Buchanan said. “I know this. What this school district has accomplished in the last 20 years has been remarkable. It’s a great place to live, a great place to raise a family and a dad-gum good place to play football.”

Jase McClellan and Jake Bishop led a balanced Aledo attack that kept Marshall’s defense on its heels all afternoon. Bishop’s passing carried the Aledo offense early. He threw three first-half touchdown passes, including a pair to Money Parks, and ran for a score as Aledo stayed one step ahead of the Buffaloes.

McClellan battled through a leg injury to do most of his damage in the second half, when he rushed for rushed for 161 of his 218 yards, including both of his touchdowns.

“At halftime I just felt like I needed to make some plays for my team,” he said. “I just had to put the pain aside and just do it.”

His 63-yard run early in the third quarter gave Aledo (15-1) a 35-20 lead, and his 17-yard run pushed the lead to 45-27 midway through the fourth quarter.

“With Jase there is always a chance he’s going to make a big play,” Bishop said. “[The 63-yard run] was a big play in the game. It came right after a defensive stop and that was a game-changer.”

“We wanted to control the line of scrimmage and stop the run,” Marshall coach James Williams said. “We were up and down with that but too much down. Give them credit. We didn’t do a good enough job stopping their running game.”

While Marshall’s defense focused on stopping McClellan early, Bishop took advantage through the air. He threw three touchdown passes in the first half, including a pair to Money Parks, as the Bearcats stayed one step ahead of Marshall. Bishop passed for 244 yards and three scores and added 42 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Parks and Jo Jo Earle combined to catch 10 passes for 239 yards.

“We worked all week on the routes and getting our timing down,” Bishop said. “They are great route-runners. I just wanted to give them a chance and let them make plays.”

Trailing 45-27, Marshall (14-2) staged a furious fourth-quarter rally. Malik Hornsby’s 36-yard scramble set up Devon Achane’s 2-yard run to bring the Buffaloes within 45-34. After stopping Aledo on downs, Hornsby connected with Achane on a 34-yard completion to set up an 8-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Tryon with 49 seconds left. Hornsby’s 2-point conversion run pulled Marshall within 45-42, but Caden Anderson recovered the onside kick to seal the win for Aledo.

“Like last year, this didn’t work out the way we wanted,” Williams said. “We worked really hard just to get back here, and I’m so proud of our guys for that.”

Aledo beat Marshall 55-19 to win the 2018 title.

Achane and Hornsby led Marshall’s comeback. Hornsby rushed for 155 yards and passed for 157. Achane produced 171 yards rushing and another 121 receiving.

- Jay Plotkin

 

VIDEO RECAP

BOX SCORE

Aledo               14        14        10        7 - 45

FB Marshall      7          13        7          15-42

Scoring

1st quarter

Aledo-Money Parks 28 pass from Jake Bishop (Micco Little kick)

Aledo-Jo Jo Earle 40 pass from Bishop (Little kick)

Marshall-Malik Hornsby 10 run (Idi M’Mongelwa kick)

 2nd quarter

Marshall-Brandon Tryon 13 run (kick failed)

Aledo-Parks 34 pass from Bishop (Little kick)

Marshall-Hornsby 1 run (M’Mongelwa kick)

Aledo-Bishop 1 run (Little kick)

3rd quarter

Aledo-Jase McClellan 63 run (Little kick)

Aledo-Little 29 field goal

Marshall-Devon Achane 17 run (M’Mongelwa kick)

4th quarter

Aledo-McClellan 17 run (Little kick)

Marshall-Achane 2 run (M’Mongelwa kick)

Marshall-Tryon 8 pass from Hornsby (Hornsby run)

 

Team Stats        Aledo   Marshall

1st downs          27        19

Rushes-Yards    53-309  33-343

Passing Yards    244      157

Passing 11-16-0 11-17-0

Fum-Lost          0-0       0-0

Pen-Yards         2-17     5-39

Punts-Avg         1-34.0  2-49.0

Individual Leaders

Aledo

Rushing: Jase McClellan 25-218, 2 TDs; Jake Bishop 13-46, TD; Jo Jo Earle 10-43

Passing: Bishop 11-16-0-244, 3 TDs

Receiving: Money Parks 6-132, 2 TDs; Earle 4-107, TD; Micco Little 1-10

Fort Bend Marshall

Rushing: Devon Achane 17-171, 2 TDs; Malik Hornsby 13-155, 2 TDs; Brandon Tryon 1-13, TD

Passing: Hornsby 11-17-0-157, TD

Receiving: Achane 7-121; Ja'vion Matthews 2-19; Tryon 1-8, TD