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Locked in: Allen seals playoff spot with rout of McKinney Boyd
BY Andrew Snyder, asnyder@starlocalnews.com
MCKINNEY -- Allen (7-1, 3-0) punched its ticket to the playoffs Friday night with a resounding 34-7 win against McKinney Boyd (5-3, 2-1) at Ron Poe Stadium.
The Eagles defense held the Broncos to just 141 yards of total offense and their star running back, Bryan Driskell, to just 30 rushing yards.
"We played really well," said Tom Westerberg, Allen head coach. "Holding Driskell to that little yardage shows a great effort up front; really, the entire front seven did a great job."
Eagles sophomore quarterback Kyler Murray rushed for 147 yards and three touchdowns and threw for 207 yards on 21-of-27 passing (78 percent) as the force behind an offense that compiled 479 yards and scored on all but one of their six possessions in the first half. The Eagles rattled off 27-unanswered points in the first and second quarter alone on a pair of field goals, a 28-yard and 65-yard touchdown run from Murray and a 7-yard scoring rush from senior Oliver Pierce.
"They're explosive offensively," Drake said. "[Murray] is such a weapon with his feet, and he made some huge plays tonight that hurt us, no doubt. They beat us."
Pierce was the team's leading receiver and had six catches for 60 yards to go with eight carries for 28 yards. He also returned kicks and played at defensive end as the Eagles do-everything weapon of choice.
The only misstep the Eagles made in the opening half was a Murray interception into the hands of Boyd junior outside linebacker Adam Brown. They didn't pay for the mistake though, as their defense forced the Broncos to punt the ball back four plays later to set up a 10-play, 73-yard scoring drive.
On the flip side, Allen made the most of Boyd's mistakes.
After the Broncos fumbled a kickoff return with a minute to go before halftime, the Eagles quickly worked their way into range for an 18-yard field goal from junior kicker Carlos Arochi and a 27-0 lead at the break. Arochi also hit a 19-yard field goal in the first half.
The Eagles opened the second half with a methodical 10-play, 79-yard scoring drive that closed on a 1-yard scoring rush from Murray, his third and final touchdown of the night. Allen, now with a 34-0 lead, didn't score again.
Boyd managed to keep its recent string of forcing turnovers going against Allen.
In the second half, the Broncos recovered a fumble and senior defensive back Taylor Fann set up their lone scoring drive with an interception in the fourth quarter.
Boyd converted that interception into points with an eight-play drive helped along by a pass interference call. The Broncos scored on an 18-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Curtis Ladd to junior wideout Slater Brown. That score came with just over one minute left in the game, and Allen ran out the rest of the clock on its ensuing possession to stake its claim to a playoff spot.
"Our kids are going to play," Drake said. "They're going to give effort. They're going to do those things. They know that expectation is there and that if they don't play hard, they're not going to play. That's just plain and simple. They kept fighting and that's what we expect them to do. We've just got to play better, and we've done that this year. Our kids have performed better than what they did tonight, and obviously Allen has a lot to do with that. I'm not taking anything away from them."
Ladd threw for 81 yards on 7-of-15 passing and rushed for 25 yards for the bulk of Boyd's offense. His favorite target was Brown, who had three catches for 44 yards.
Despite the loss, the Broncos are still in an advantageous position in 10-5A, needing a win against Plano East or McKinney to make the playoffs. The Eagles can clinch at least a share of the 10-5A title when they return to Poe at 7:30 p.m. Friday to face McKinney.
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