by SOUTHLAKE, TX – Friday night was a tale of two games spun into one as the Allen Eagles continue to be dominant as they take on yet another top ten ranked opponent in the state of Texas. This time it was the eight-time state campion Southlake Carroll Dragons who put the Eagles on the ropes early before falling behind quickly.
The Rundown
The Dragons came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders taking their first drive all the way to the endzone when Hudson Tomcheck connected with Blake Gunter for a nearly 60-yard touchdown pass. The designed screen play was quickly blown up by the Eagles giving Gunter the opportunity to slip right through the middle from the slot position and give the Dragons an early lead. Allen would get going on the ground running a majority of their first drive eventually getting all the way down to the Southlake 19-yard line before a big tackle for loss led to a turnover on downs. The Dragons would continue their offensive explosions going the distance yet again with the drive ending in an 18-yard touchdown pass from Tomcheck to tight end Cole Cunningham. The Eagles would respond and swing the momentum quickly scoring on their next drive on a 4-yard rushing touchdown by Jrue Simmons and then again what felt like seconds later on a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown after a Southlake three and out.
That would close the scoring in the first quarter, so far, both teams going on their own separate 14-0 runs to keep the game even at 14-14. The Eagles would extend the run to 21-0 when Simmons broke to the outside and took off for an 83-yd touchdown run. Southlake would finally respond with 7 minutes to go in the half on a designed 17-yard quarterback run for Tomcheck to even the game at 21-21. However, Allen’s run game could not be stopped as they continued to pound the ground retaking the lead on a 3-yard touchdown run by Lyndon Spriggs with 2 minutes to go in the half. The Eagles quarterback, Ty Snell would finally get in on the action with just 2 seconds left in the half lifting a 40-yard pass down the field to the open Zach Williams for a touchdown extending the lead to 35-21 going into the halftime.
Allen continued to outscore the Dragons with another connection by Snell and Williams leading to a 22-yard touchdown and the Eagles outscoring the Dragons 42-7 after falling behind by 14 early. The Dragons continued to fight converting a 4th and 10 on a 20-yard touchdown pass with 2 minutes to go in the third, but Allen doing what they did all day immediately responded with a 70-yard completion to Josyah Johnson to make it 49-28 heading into the fourth and final quarter.
Both teams would score once more in the fourth, Southlake on a Dane Wilson rushing touchdown and Allen on another by Snell with just minutes to go. This would close out the offensive explosion of a game for the Eagles as they amassed a total of over 700 offensive yards overcoming a slow start and surviving their non-district gauntlet of a schedule 3-0 which featured Duncanville, Southlake, and defending state champion DeSoto.
What’s Next
It is finally district time in the state of Texas, the Eagles (3-0) will take on Prosper (3-0) Thursday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. in the 6A region I-6 district opener. Prosper went undefeated in non-district play averaging 50 points a game.
Southlake (1-2) will open up against Keller Central (3-0) on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. in the 6A region I-4 district opener after suffering back-to-back losses to close out non-district competition. Keller Central will head in to the bout undefeated allowing on average 16 points in non-district while scoring an average of 42 points a game.
