SOUTHLAKE, Texas — In the shadows of DFW Airport, the Eagles of Allen prepared to take on the Warriors of Arlington Martin, with both teams battling until the final whistle.
In the end, though, Allen was academic, dispatching Arlington Martin 48-25 Friday at Southlake Dragon Stadium and advancing to the regional final round of the UIL 6A playoffs.
Things started off well for Allen (12-0) as they forced the Warriors into an early third down where Juma Otoviano threw an interception to Taj Bickham who took it all the way back for the touchdown.
Arlington Martin(11-1) tried to respond by driving down to the Allen 6 yard line to set up a Johnny Schifano 23 yard field goal to make it 7-3 Allen. On the first drive, Allen had, the Martin defense forced them to go three and out. The Eagles quickly did the same to Martin to end the first quarter.
“I thought we handled adversity well, ” running back Brock Sturges commented after his big performance on the ground. “They came out firing, I thought we came out and matched their energy.”
Shana Willeford/TexasHSFootball
On the second play of the second quarter, Grant Tisdale threw downfield to Theo Wease for the 36-yard touchdown to put Allen up by 11. They quickly forced Martin to punt but Taj Bickham touched the ball while trying to get away from the punt and Martin recovered at the Allen 7-yard line.
Martin’s Brayden Willis punched the ball in from a yard out on the ensuing drive to make it 14-10. It then appeared for a moment like Martin had recovered the onside kick but they were called for kick catch interference and the ball was given to Allen. They wasted no time driving down the field and scoring on a 4-yard run by Brock Sturges to put Allen up 21-10.
Right before the half ended, the Warriors were able to punch it in on a 1 yard run by Ottaviano. However, the extra point was no good and the score remained 21-16.
The Eagles came out in the second half and immediately seized momentum with a 23-yard pass from Tisdale to Wease to make it 28-16, and then by forcing a three and out for Martin. Allen then used the powerful running of Brock Sturges to drive 70 yards capped off by a 4 yard run by Sturges to make it 35-16 Eagles.
Arlington Martin would not go away though. Otoviano hit Brayden Willis from 24 yards out to pull back to within 12 at a score of 35-23 at the end of the third.
Shana Willeford/TexasHSFootball
Sturges opened the fourth quarter with a 69-yard touchdown run on third and inches to extend Allen’s lead to 42-23. They would force Martin to punt again before putting it in the end zone one more time on a 9-yard keeper from backup quarterback Ian Davis.
However, the extra point was blocked and taken back for two points and the game ended with a score of 48-25.
“I want to go into next week doing the same exact thing,” Sturges said. “We’re going to get everyone’s best shot being the Allen Eagles but we’re blessed to be in the position we’re in and we’re happy to get everybody’s best shot. We have to come out ready and expecting to win.”
Sturges finished with over 200 yards on the ground with 2 touchdowns in the win.
The loss ends Arlington Martin’s season at 11-2, while Allen improves to 13-0 and moves on to face the winner of Euless Trinity vs. Midland Lee next week.
Brought To You By
