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No. 1 Hit: Plano throttled by Allen
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@acnpapers.com
Plano Senior had all the momentum on its side early Friday night.
Taking on Allen, the newly-minted No. 1 team in the country, in front of an overflow crowd at Clark Stadium, the Wildcat faithful were in a frenzy following a game-opening kickoff return by senior Sam Morell to the Eagles 19-yard line.
But in a scenario that would repeat itself, Plano (0-1 in district) went three-and-out from there. The Wildcats also missed the ensuing 34-yard field goal, giving the ample Allen (1-0) crowd reason to cheer and setting the stage for an eventual 44-7 Eagles victory.
Allen's defense allowed two yards after the lengthy return by Morrell, who also had 27 yards rushing on six carries, forcing the unsuccessful field goal attempt.
"That was tough right there," said Jaydon McCullough, Plano head coach. "It kind of killed our momentum early."
Plano's offense didn't have much success in the drives that followed.
Thanks in part to Allen's consistent defensive pressure and sacks from seniors Deandre Hill, Chris Jackson and junior Stone Drulman, Plano managed just 122 yards and seven first downs. Fifty of those yards and three first downs came courtesy of senior Rakeem Crawford, who had 56 yards on seven carries, in the final drive of the game. Plano had 11 drives. They ended in six punts, two turnovers on downs, two ends to the half and one missed field goal.
"Our coaches talk about making big plays," said Andrew Rodriguez, Allen senior wide receiver. "Tonight it was put up or shut up and our defense put up big time."
Allen's offense wasn't bad either.
The Eagles held a 23-0 halftime lead after scoring on each of its first-half possessions.
"We knew we had to put points up early to try and take the big crowd out of the game," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez aided plenty in that pursuit as he had eight catches for 145 yards and three touchdowns. But despite the gaudy numbers, Rodriguez was quick to spread the credit around.
"Our offense was really balanced tonight," he said.
Indeed it was.
Following Plano's missed field goal, Allen marched 80 yards in 13 plays with the capper coming on a 26-yard touchdown toss from senior Alec Morris to junior Oliver Pierce. Morris had little pressure on him for the bulk of the night and completed 22-of-32 passes for 305 yards and four touchdowns, bringing his season total to 17 touchdowns against zero interceptions.
"We came out and executed really well tonight," Fleener said. "And it was fun because we had a lot of big third- and fourth-down conversions."
Allen's offensive success didn't come strictly through the air.
The Eagles were also effective on the ground with the trio of juniors Marcus Ward, Jeff Harris and senior Jonathan Williams. Ward had 107 yards on seven carries while Harris ran the ball six times for 49 yards and the touchdown that set the final at 44-7.
Williams may have been the biggest point of interest for Allen fans though.
Making his return after missing the past two games due to back spasms, the Missouri commit showed no ill effects as he ran the ball 14 times for 95 carries. Williams also had one of the team's three first-half touchdowns with sophomore Carlos Arochi adding a 27-yard field goal to give the Eagles a 23-0 lead at the break.
In the first half, Allen ran 42 plays to just 17 from Plano, which didn't have a drive longer than six plays.
"We just didn't execute tonight and Allen had a lot to do with that," McCullough said. "We had to adjust to their speed, their size, their physicality and we got a little overwhelmed."
That continued in the second half when Allen scored 58 seconds in on a 45-yard touchdown catch by Rodriguez that made it 30-0.
"In the locker room our coaches talked about coming back out, putting points on the board and really keeping the momentum," Rodriguez said. "And we were able to do that."
Plano got on the board after that as senior Xavier Harbert disrupted a handoff between Morris and Williams, grabbed the ball and went 65 yards to the house to make it 30-7. Not only did that play represent Plano's lone points, Harbert was responsible for Allen's first turnover of the season.
"We are still trying to work Jonathan back into the rotation and on that play Alec was trying to pull the ball out and Jonathan was clamping down on it," Fleener said. "It's something we'll work out as he gets more reps again."
Allen came back with touchdowns from Rodriguez and Harris.
Plano's offense couldn't respond in kind as junior quarterback Richard Lagow completed only 5-of-13 passes for 23 yards while senior dual-threat running back Kevin Merrill had 15 yards rushing and negative-5 yards receiving in a 44-7 loss.
"We're down right now and we're disappointed," McCullough said. "But if we stick together, learn from this and don't let the negativity drive us apart, then we still have a chance to be successful."
Up next for Plano, a road game against Hebron at 7:30 p.m. Friday while Allen hosts Lewisville at the same time.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
jall76 wrote on Sep 28, 2011 10:35 AM:
" How about a mention of the poor sportsmanship displayed by the Allen team when the Plano player was injured with 38 seconds to go...not a single Allen player or coach took a knee...which is common courtesy typically shown by high school players. "
fan11 wrote on Sep 30, 2011 9:53 AM:
" Jall76. I think you are a little bitter about the game. There was no taunting and the Allen defense moved back about 10 yards from the line of scrimmage during the injury. I think they should have taken a knee, but don't think it was poor sportsmanship to not do so.
Let's talk about the poor sportsmanship when the Plano band always plays to their side of the stadium when they are visitors. "
Let's talk about the poor sportsmanship when the Plano band always plays to their side of the stadium when they are visitors. "
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