Picks
Aledo – III
CC Calallen – I
Advantage
Aledo, three votes to one
Reasoning
Aledo is easily one of the most dominant teams in the state. That is unquestioned fact, year in and year out, but this year they’ve been more excellent than normal. After struggling in their season opener against Colleyville Heritage, they’ve absolutely dominated every other team they’ve played. A defense that looked vulnerable has stiffened. An offense that looked like it had faults now looks seamless. Aledo has adapted and adjusted, and is now one win away from an undefeated season.
Aledo thrives on making you play their game. If there’s another team in the state that does the exact same, It’s CC Calallen. Led by Gaige Lamb and head coach Phil Danaher, Calallen is one of the most disciplined and tough teams in the state. Make no mistake: Calallen will not roll over if Aledo goes up by multiple scores.
In this game, we believe that’s the difference. If Calallen can force Aledo to play on their terms, Calallen has more than a chance. If Aledo does the normal Aledo thing, we still feel like Calallen won’t stop fighting. These are two well-coached teams. The only significant gap is in talent, where Aledo shines.
The difference in this game, and the reason why we ultimately pick Aledo to win, is talent. The Bearcats are deep at every position, but especially running back, where they could start three different players and have little to zero dropoff. They’re skilled at every position, especially the most important ones, with names like Wes Harris and Chuck Filiaga dotting both of their lines. Aledo is stacked, and we like that talent to eventually win out against Calallen’s iron will. However, this will be a much closer game than most are predicting.
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