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The Excellence of Execution: Eagles overwhelm Skyline for state semifinal berth
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
MESQUITE -- The Allen football team didn't let its chances go to waste Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.
As a result, the Eagles (13-1) are now two wins away from their second state championship following a 37-17 win over Skyline (12-2) in the Region II Finals.
"It's awesome any time you can get into the semifinal round," said Tom Westerberg, Allen head coach. "You know you're playing great and things are going well, so we'll take it and play football for another week."
The Skyline offense never set foot on the field though, thanks to a pair of nightmarish sequences orchestrated by the Allen kickoff unit. The Eagles opened the third quarter with a high kick that bounced off Skyline's Anthony Baker and right to Allen senior Oliver Pierce to set up shop at the Raiders' 34-yard line. Five plays later, senior Marcus Ward found the end zone on a 3-yard scamper for a 24-7 advantage.
"I said [Baker] isn't used to getting the ball a lot," Pierce said. "I told our guys to try to strip it, but he muffed the kick and we were there. That really changed the momentum."
Things didn't get any better for Skyline, which again fumbled the ensuing kickoff and gave Allen a 19-yard field to work with. The result was a 40-yard field goal by junior Carlos Arochi for a 27-7 edge and 10 points in the first 2:30 of the quarter.
Allen outscored Skyline, 17-3, in the third stanza, extending its lead to 34-10 after sophomore Kyler Murray bolted to the end zone from 6 yards out with 2:46 left.
The drive was jumpstarted by a 38-yard run from Murray that had 15 yards tacked on after a late hit by Skyline. Penalties of that ilk haunted the Raiders all game, yielding 98 yards on 11 flags to just four by the Eagles.
"At this time of year, you have to play good and play penalty-free as much as you can," Westerberg said. "We played that way and it turned out good for us."
The aforementioned scoring run was Murray's second on the ground on a day that saw him pass for 129 yards on 11-of-22 attempts for one touchdown and one interception. The signal caller added 122 rushing yards on 21 carries while Ward toted the rock 25 times for 125 yards.
"This is what we came out here to do," Murray said. "We didn't come out here to lose."
Skyline was only able to counter with a 27-yard field goal by Wilson Rivera with 7:25 left in the third. In the early stages of the fourth quarterback Devante Kincade found Ra'Shaad Samples from 13 yards out to cut Allen's lead to 34-17.
The Eagles upped their margin to 37-17 following a 23-yard field goal from Arochi.
Skyline never crept any closer.
Its final two drives ended in a punt and an interception by junior Ryan Johnson deep in Eagles' territory to preserve the victory and hold the Raiders to their lowest scoring output since Nov. 19, 2010 (a 38-0 loss to DeSoto).
"[Skyline] has all these Division I guys and a quick-strike offense," Pierce said. "We're trying to contain them and it just goes back to playing hard."
Allen's defense limited the Raiders to just 117 yards of offense in their first five series of the second half.
The Eagles set a similar tone to open the game, dashing Skyline's opening drive with an interception by junior Mayomi Olootu. Two possessions later, the Eagles stonewalled Skyline near the goal line and Rivera missed a 19-yard field goal. Allen enjoyed a more productive start, marching 79 yards in 11 plays with Murray finding senior Troy Knudsen for a 9-yard touchdown pass and 7-0 lead with 7:09 to play in the first.
Skyline didn't knot that count until 15 seconds into the second quarter when Kincade eluded a pass rush and scrambled for a 24-yard touchdown run.
Kincade ran for 111 yards on 13 carries while throwing 19-of-37 for 220 yards, one touchdown and two picks. Ellis Onic added 55 yards on the ground.
The Eagles reclaimed the lead with 1:49 to go in the first half following a 24-yard touchdown run by Murray and got the last laugh before halftime after moving to the Skyline 19-yard line with six seconds left. The Eagles attempted a shot at the end zone, which fell short, but still left one second for Arochi to kick a 36-yard field goal and give Allen a 17-7 lead at the break.
"That was huge because it allowed us to play with a two-score lead," Westerberg said. "It changes some things defensively and takes some pressure off and then with what happened at the start of the second half with the two turnovers was huge for us."
That manner of execution has Allen moving to the Class 5A State Semifinals against DeSoto, which dispatched of Southlake Carroll, 49-45, on Saturday.
The two teams will square off at 6 p.m. Saturday from SMU's Ford Stadium.
"Coach said before the game that this is one of the best teams (he's had) as far as everyone playing for each other," Pierce said. "We take it one game at a time and all summer long, people doubted us and we've used that as motivation.
"We really stuck together and I'm so proud of these guys."
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