ALEDO BEARCATS
Same standard, new level
In 24 years of 4A / 5A classification play, the Aledo Bearcats went 317-37, won four state championships and reached at least the third round in 22 of those seasons.
Aledo’ s jump to 6A after UIL’ s recent realignment leaves some to wonder if the football powerhouse can transition into Texas high school football’ s highest level and remain a state-championship contender.
For head coach Robby Jones and the Bearcats, despite brand new opponents, the standard remains the same. The goal is to extend an 18-year streak of winning a district championship and maneuver through a“ meat-grinding” playoff schedule against some of the top teams in the country, according to Jones.
Facing off against some of the best teams in 6A isn’ t brand new to the team, which uses its experience against Denton Guyer and Richland over the past few years. Moreover, the last few meetings versus Denton Ryan can be thrown into the mix for how competitive those games were for the Bearcats in 2024 and 2025.
In District 3-6A with Weatherford, Granbury and many Arlington ISD schools, Jones said it’ s hard to determine which team will give them their hardest test as they’ re unfamiliar with those programs. The closest thing the Bearcats have to these new opponents is scrimmaging Arlington Bowie a few years ago as Joseph Sam took over.
Bowie enters as the defending district
6 FIRST DOWN 2026 champion among the AISD schools.
Before Aledo sniffs district play, spectator attention solely focuses on the program’ s preseason schedule featuring Trinity in week three and North Crowley in week one.
Heading into UIL’ s realignment meeting, Jones originally had another opponent in mind and anticipated North Crowley being in the same district as them. Once districts were announced and the options of Jenks( Oklahoma) and Westlake never flourished, Jones reached out to new Panther head coach DeMarcus Harris.
“ We’ re going into it knowing it’ ll be a difficult task,” said Jones.
Defensive Tackle Tymon Meeks has a lot of former teammates playing for