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Eagles continue Plano ISD stranglehold in win over West
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@acnpapers.com
For the second straight week, Allen (7-0, 4-0) defeated a Plano ISD football team.
And for the second straight week, multiple turnovers from the Eagles made the game closer than it needed to be.
But considering the end result was still a 38-28 Allen victory over Plano West (3-4, 0-4), Eagles head coach Tom Westerberg couldn’t complain too much.
Allen appeared well on its way to a more stylish victory when, already leading 28-21, the Eagles marched down the field for a touchdown to open the second half and were knocking on the door once more followed by a three-and-out forced by the defense.
“At the half, coach (Westerberg) said he wanted us to come out of the gates strong,” said Blake Boyd, Allen senior wide receiver, who had four catches for 67 yards and two touchdowns. “And we had a really good first drive to start the second half.”
But then, the turnovers began.
Allen junior running back Jonathan Williams, who picked up his sixth straight 100-yard-plus game by running for a touchdown and 175 yards on 31 carries, fumbled the ball at the West 1-yard line. The ball was scooped up in the end zone by senior Justin Bass. The Wolves wouldn’t score on that drive, but did get another shot as junior Matt Owoseni recovered an Eagles fumble on the ensuing punt.
“Our defense played its hearts out tonight,” said Mike Hughes, West head coach. “We talked to the guys before this game about going out and competing and I think you saw tonight that these kids competed very hard.”
Four plays after its second fumble recovery, West got on the board.
The Wolves slashed their deficit in half, pulling to within 35-28 with 2:40 left in the third, following a four-play drive that was punctutated by a 25-yard touchdown run from Jarrett Horan. The senior running back had 150 yards on 15 carries against the Eagles.
“Horan just went off tonight,” Hughes said. “You could tell he was ready to play.”
West got a 38-yard completion from senior quarterback Nick Glogau to junior wideout Carlos Wiggins, who had three catches for 53 yards, to start its next possesion, but not much else after that. Allen stopped a fake punt attempt on that drive and then forced back-to-back three-and-outs to close the game. The Eagles defense allowed just 84 yards in the final two quarters.
“We made a few adjustments at the half,” Westerberg said, “and I think our defense played pretty well in the second half.”
West, however, was able to hang around when Allen’s third fumble of the half was picked up by Wovles junior Bryce Cottrell.
“I’m seeing the same thing everyone else does I’m sure,” Westerberg said. “We are fighting for those extra yards and not holding on to the ball.”
Allen overcame its turnovers and added a 27-yard field goal to set the final at 38-28.
And while the game ended with West at a standstill on offense, it started quite differently as the Wolves scored touchdowns on two of their first three drives to take a 14-6 lead.
Glogau has been called upon at times to jumpstart the West offense, but Friday night he dropped the first half of the word and got the start. Glogau, who completed 10-of-16 passes for 190 yards, connected on his lone touchdown pass with a 26-yard toss to sophomore Tim Okposin to make it 14-6. Glogau would also run two touchdowns in despite being faced with a relentless Allen pass rush for much of the game.
“Nick is a leader,” Hughes said, “and he really gave us a spark tonight.”
West’s lead wouldn’t last until halftime though as Allen, which botched the snap on its initial extra point, scored three more touchdowns before the break. All came in the second quarter with the first one, with 10:16 to go until the half, an 11play, 80-yard drive that came to a completion on a 9-yard connection between junior quarterback Alec Morris and Boyd.
“Our coaches told us we needed to put together 10- or 12-play drives,” Boyd said, “and kind of punch them in the mouth.”
After tying the game, 14-14, Allen took its first lead of the night 48 seconds later when a West kickoff fumble left the Eagles with a short field. Morris, who also completed 20-of-27 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns, ran the final score of the half in on a 1-yard keeper to put Allen in front at the break, 28-21. Eagles junior Andrew Rodriguez was the favorite target of Morris as he caught five passes for 82 yards.
West kept it close over the final 24 minutes, but Allen would eventually prevail, 38-28.
“I think there are a lot of teams with three district losses that would’ve just given up, but these boys didn’t do that,” Hughes said. “We fought until the end and … no excuses, we just got beat.”
West’s next travels to Hebron for a 7:30 p.m. Friday clash with the Hawks.
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