Denton Guyer snaps Aledo's Texas high school football win streak: 'We kept fighting'

Wildcats end two-time defending UIL 5A state champ Aledo’s 30-game win streak in 2024 season opener

Buck Ringgold, SBLive Sports | Aug 31, 2024

Zadian "Zay" Gentry contends a pass against Denton Guyer as a sophomore. The SMU commit will play for Anna as a senior. / Photo by Robbie Rakestraw, SBLive

DENTON, TEXAS - It took a while for Corbin Glasco to remove all the tape off his feet following his team’s 2024 Texas high school football season opener Friday.

The Denton Guyer junior receiver was feeling the pain, but not necessarily from his feet. He had entered the Wildcats’ game against two-time defending 5A Division I champion Aledo at less than 100 percent.

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But Glasco was more than determined to show out. Indeed, he didn’t have time for the pain.

Glasco scored two important touchdowns - including a kickoff return as time expired in the first half - as Guyer outlasted Aledo in a wild, back-and-forth game, 35-30, at the C.H. Collins Athletic Complex.

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“My legs hurt and it really isn’t my feet, it’s my calves; I was cramping up,” he said. “In fact, I was cramping up on both of my touchdowns.

“Then I had this little back injury (prior to Friday’s game), but you know, I had to push through it. … I was going to play regardless, so hurt or not, I was still going to play.”

Glasco’s first TD came at an unlikely juncture.

With eight seconds left in the first half, Aledo - which had led 16-3 early in the second quarter before Guyer (1-0) rallied to tie the score at 16-all - regained a 23-16 lead when junior tailback Raycine Guillory went in from a yard out.

On the ensuing kickoff, the ball bounced once and then high over a Guyer player before Glasco picked it up at his own 17-yard line. But he immediately found running room, and raced down the sideline.

Then, near the Aledo 35, Glasco cut upfield to elude a pair of tacklers, and also shook off another tackler a few more yards downfield before breaking free, completing the touchdown with time expired. Ford Stinson’s PAT kick tied the score at 23-all entering halftime.

😱 @CorbinGlasco returns the 80+ yard kickoff for @DentonGuyer_FB to tie the game before halftime 🔥 #TXHSFB pic.twitter.com/xLkwHREN9X
— NFHS Network (@NFHSNetwork) August 31, 2024

“I knew they was going to do it some funky way, and I didn’t know it was going to bounce like that, so I came up and caught the ball and I saw a crease, went to the other side and scored,” Glasco said.

His half-ending TD also capped a tremendous performance by Guyer’s special teams. All 23 of the Wildcats’ first-half points came on special teams, three field goals from Stinson, Glasco’s TD and also a blocked punt by senior Zach De Anda, who then grabbed the ball and went in from 15 yards out.

“They say special teams wins games, and that just showed on the scoreboard right there,” Glasco said. “I’m on the special teams unit, so I take pride in that, and it’s all or nothing for my special teams.”

But Glasco wasn’t through scoring.

After Aledo (0-1) regained the lead, 30-23, on a long TD play inside the opening minute of the second half, the Wildcats once again had an answer minutes later. And it came with Glasco taking a reverse and once again finding running room, going in from 54 yards out.

“I came around that corner, split the guy, made a move and scored,” Glasco said.

That tied the score, 30-all. Guyer then broke the tie with eight minutes left when sophomore defensive lineman Khyren Haywood got a sack in the end zone for a safety.

Stinson then made his fourth successful field goal try in the final minutes, and the Wildcats also denied a last-ditch drive by Aledo with time running out after the Bearcats advanced past midfield.

It was the first loss for Aledo after winning 30 straight games. The last team to defeat the Bearcats? None other than Guyer, which came in the second week of the 2022 season.

“(I liked) how we fought,” Glasco said. “There were so many times we could have gave up and tapped out, but at the end of the day, we kept fighting and that’s how we scored and we got the victory.”

Glasco is also the Wildcats’ only returning receiver, having accounted for nearly 1,000 all-purpose yards and scoring nine TDs.

He also had to learn playing with a new quarterback in senior Kevin Sperry. Sperry, an Oklahoma commit, transferred to Guyer in the offseason after leading Midwest City (Okla.) Carl Albert to a state title last season.

“He’s very good; he’s vocal and he’s a great leader,” Glasco said of Sperry. “He’ll text me, like, ‘Hey, want to go throw?’ And I’ll say, ‘Yeah, sure.’

“That’s just a routine thing we try to do to keep that chemistry.”

In Sperry's debut with the Wildcats, he completed 9-of-22 passes for 160 yards. Glasco caught one pass for 40 yards and also carried the ball three times for 73 yards, including his third-quarter TD.

Glasco also hopes a game like he had Friday boosts his stock even more with college programs. So far, teams like Kansas State, UTSA and Toledo have expressed interest, and Glasco noted he received an invite from UTSA to attend one of its games this season.

“I was the only returning starter from last season’s team, so I had to be a leader, a big leader, and try to get them ready for (Friday’s) game and they showed out,” Glasco said. “And I was cramping up, so other people had to go in for me and they did their job and when most people are doing their job, that results in victories.”

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