Allen came out with the victory in the debut of its new stadium.
Photo by Neil Fonville
In the debut of its brand new $60 million stadium,
Allen (Texas) defeated defending state champion
Carroll (Southlake, Texas), 24-0, in front of a reported audience of over 20,000 fans.
Allen scored first and never looked back as it shut out Carroll in its first game of the season.
In front of a sold-out crowd, Allen got the scoring started with five minutes left in the first quarter when
Jeff Harris scored on a 1-yard run.
Carroll looked to respond on the following drive by marching deep into Allen territory, but the Dragons couldn't convert on a 37-yard field goal attempt. They went into the second quarter trailing 7-0.
The two teams fought to a stalemate for nearly all of the second quarter, but Allen came up with a big play just before halftime.
With less than a minute to play in the half, Carroll attempted to punt from its own 10-yard line, only to have it blocked by Allen's
Cameron Hartsfield. Allen took over on the Carroll 3-yard line with 43 seconds left and promptly scored on a 2-yard run by
Oliver Pierce to make it a 14-0 game at the half.
Allen players celebrate on the field following their victory over Carroll.
Photo by Neil Fonville
Halfway through the third quarter Allen faced a big decision when it was fourth-and-one on Southlake Carroll's 9-yard line. The Eagles elected to go for it, but were stuffed by the Carroll defense. Carroll was unable to capitalize, however, fumbling at midfield to give the ball right back to Allen.
Following the fumble, quarterback Kyler Murray, who entered the game after an injury to Pierce, threw a 37-yard pass to
Troy Knudsen to get the Eagles within striking distance. After a pass interference call on third and goal, the Eagles were able to get into the end zone on a 1-yard run by Harris, giving Allen a 21-0 lead.
Allen continued to pile it on as Southlake Carroll was unable to get anything going on offense. Allen picked up its final score of the night on a 24-yard field goal, which produced the final score of 24-0.
According to
TexasHSFootbal.com, it is the first time Southlake Carroll has been shut out since 1997, when it lost 12-0 to Newman Smith (Carrollton, Texas).
Allen goes to 1-0 on the season while Carroll falls to 0-1.
