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Turn-over-ing the Tide: Fumble, INT cost West against Allen
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@acnpapers.com
Turnovers often make the difference in a football game and Friday night's tilt between Plano West (4-3, 2-2) and Allen (7-0, 4-0) was no different.
The Allen offense committed three of the first four turnovers, but the Eagles defense forced the final two, altering the momentum and turning a 28-27 deficit into a 40-28 victory.
"Our defense stepped up and made plays," said Tom Westerberg, Allen head coach.
"Mistakes," said Mike Hughes, West head coach. "We've got to take care of the ball against a team like Allen. We had a chance to finish it off and put the nail in their coffin, but we couldn't hang on to the ball."
Though that one didn't directly impact the score, it flipped field position and eventually forced West to punt from its own 1-yard line. That gave Allen 18 yards to cover and senior quarterback Alec Morris did so in one run to put Allen ahead, 34-28, with 9:32 remaining.
The Eagles added to that lead two minutes later after senior linebacker Chris Hudson made an interception and returned it to the West 9-yard line.
"We needed a stop and a turnover," Hudson said, "and it was an awesome feeling to get those."
Hudson wasn't a likely candidate to make such a play as he was one of several Allen players, including junior linebacker Nick Cobb, that was injured earlier in the game.
"Our depth really helped us tonight," Hudson said. "We needed all of our players to get this win."
Allen senior Jonathan Williams, who had 166 yards on 28 carries, ran the ball twice following Hudson's interception. The second carry went 1 yard for an Allen touchdown and lead of 40-28, which was also the final score.
"I'm not into moral victories," Hughes said. "We've got to learn how to win these kinds of games."
That is something Allen, which also came from behind a week prior to defeat Plano East, has become adept at.
"We've been in a few close games now," Westerberg said, "and we've been able to make plays when we had to have them."
The defense made those plays in the second half, but the offense was on display early.
Allen got out to a 20-0 lead after scoring touchdowns on its first three drives. The Eagles scored on the first play from scrimmage, a 66-yard pass from Morris to senior Andrew Rodriguez, to take a 7-0 lead 20 seconds in. The next two drives ended in similar fashion. Morris threw a 20-yard strike to Rodriguez, who had five catches for 137 yards and three touchdowns, and a 16-yarder to senior Matt Cornell, one of his four grabs, for touchdowns. Morris accounted for five scores, completing 17-of-24 passes for 248 yards and four touchdowns and rushing the ball for 58 yards and a score.
But Morris also had his first interception of the season Friday and it was a costly one.
Allen led 20-0 and was on the offensive again after senior defensive back Kimani Smith made a pick. But the Eagles gave the ball back on the next play courtesy of West junior Jake Wodka.
"We had the linebacker drop into coverage for that curl," Hughes said, "and he was right where he needed to be."
That was the first of three Allen turnovers as the Eagles also had a pair of fumbles, which were recovered by West seniors Connor Vernon and Jordan Robinson.
"We turned the ball over a couple of times," Westerberg said, "or else this could have been a blowout."
But instead of Allen taking a 27-0 lead in the first, West put up the next two scores.
"It looked really bad early on, but our guys are not going to give up," Hughes said. "We got going offensively after that and had some big passes and runs."
West junior quarterback Travis Korry converted a 4th-and-9 on the ensuing drive with a 19-yard run and followed up with an 18-yard touchdown toss to Nathan Orbach to make it 20-7 with 1:12 remaining in the opening quarter. Orbach caught three passes for 53 yards while Korry completed 8-of-18 passes for 136 yards and ran for another 68 yards. Korry and Orbach's exploits were buoyed by the rushing attack of sophomore Auston Anderson and senior Carlos Wiggins. The former had 62 yards on 14 carries while the latter ran 32 times for 186 yards and had West's next three touchdowns.
Wiggins scored on a 1-yard run to make it 20-14 with 8:44 left in the second quarter and then from 3 yards to cut the Allen lead to 27-21 with 11 seconds left in the half.
West got the ball first in the second half and scored a touchdown to take a 28-27 less than two minutes in. That drive wasn't an entirely celebratory one though as senior offensive lineman Chase Thomas was stretchered off after appearing to break his right leg.
West's lead would last into the fourth, but not the end of the game as Allen scored the final 13 points to pick up the 40-28 victory.
Eagles junior Oliver Pierce had six catches for 65 yards in the win while West senior Luke Cashman caught three passes for 46 yards.
"This wasn't our best game," Hudson said. "West outworked us in the first half and they really played with a lot of heart, but we were able to find a way to win."
Allen continues at 7:30 p.m. Friday on the road against Flower Mound Marcus while West hosts Hebron at the same time from Clark Stadium.
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