High school football: No. 16 Denton Guyer shines under 'Thursday Night Lights' with 49-7 win over Allen

While Thursday Night Football hasn't exactly been setting the NFL world on fire, No. 16 Denton Guyer showed how Texas high school football can do it with a 49-7 win over five-time Lone Star State champion Allen in front of a national television audience on ESPN2.

Five-star Oklahoma commit Jackson Arnold showed why he'll soon be playing on Saturdays, and perhaps Sundays, with his hand in five of Denton Guyer's seven touchdowns. He tossed four TD passes and added a 58-yard scoring run in the third quarter.

Arnold amassed close to 400 yards passing and 75 more on the ground to move the Wildcats to 8-0 on the season.

"(We made a) huge statement," Arnold told the ESPN2 crew after the game. "From what we did tonight, I think we can compete with literally everyone in the nation."

Guyer scored on two of five possessions in the first half and all four offensive touches in the second and four-star Notre Dame commit Peyton Bowen added a 59-yard punt return touchdown. Allen finally got on the board just inside the fourth quarter, but the score had already gotten lopsided.

On its opening possession, Denton Guyer was surgical going 56 yards on seven plays in just over two minutes. The Wildcats' drive was balanced with three runs while Arnold was 4-for-4 for 53 yards on the drive, including the 25-yard touchdown pass to Josiah Martin.

Arnold found Martin, Si Stovall and Landon Sides twice for TD passes of 25 yards, 12 yards, 8 yards and 75 yards, respectively.

But the fireworks weren't just from the Guyer offense as the Wildcats' defense pestered Allen quarterback Mike Hawkins all game as Bowen was flying around in the secondary and Pelumi Olanipekun came up with several sacks on the night.

After Guyer's first score, the Eagles looked to answer on their first possession, but in a different, more deliberate manner. Allen went 16 plays before back-to-back wildcat runs, including a fourth and goal from the 1, failed to get the Eagles into the end zone.

After exchanging three-and-outs, Denton Guyer looked to be stopped just inside the start of the second quarter, but a face mask penalty on the Eagles moved the chains and Arnold made it could. The Wildcats converted a fourth-and-2 with a pass to the team's other four-star Bowen, who usually stars on defense, before Arnold, the Oklahoma commit, found Sides on consecutive receptions. The second was an 8-yard fade route for a score that put Denton Guyer up 14-10 with just over eight minutes before intermission.

On Allen's last possession before halftime, the Eagles lost Kayvion Sibley to an apparent knee injury before missing a 49-yard field goal - it was initially a 44-yarder before a false start moved them back five.

The Wildcats doubled up Allen on offense in the first half, putting up 204 yards (168 passing, 36 rushing) to 99 yards for the Eagles.

Out of intermission, Guyer scored in seven plays, going 74 yards capped with a 12-yard tight end pop pass to Stovall. The lone score not involving Arnold was on the next possession as Calen Austin busted up the gut for a 12 yard score to make it 28-0.

After a three-and-out, Arnold showed off his wheels with a weaving 58-yard scamper for a 35-0 lead near the end of the third quarter. He was 8-for-8 passing in the second half.