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Locked in: Allen seals playoff spot with rout of McKinney Boyd
Photo courtesy of James Martin
By Andrew Snyder, asnyder@acnpapers.com
Allen punched its ticket to the playoffs Friday with a resounding 34-7 win against McKinney Boyd 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.
“They whipped us, basically,” said Don Drake, Boyd head football coach. “That's it in a nutshell. We couldn't move the ball with any consistency whatsoever. That puts your defense on the field for a long time.”
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.
“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 covered for it and 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 (5-3, 2-1) 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 didn't score again the remainder of the game.
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 against Allen. 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 and a touchdown on 7-of-15 passing (47 percent) and rushed for 25 yards on 14 carries to make up 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. They need to win just one of their last two games to make the playoffs, and they'll face winless Plano East (4-3, 0-3) next week at 7:30 p.m. at Murphy's Kimbrough Stadium before closing out against McKinney (5-3, 1-2).
“We've got two games and we have to go win one of them,” Drake said. “That's real simple. Our expectation is to go win both of them, but we need to go get it next week. I don't want to head into Week 10 with that on the line. I'd rather go play well next week and see if we can't come away with a victory and lock up that spot with three wins and get ready for that rivalry [against McKinney].”
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