No. 19 Allen shocks No. 1 DeSoto in Texas playoffs, 51-36

UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas -- The surgical way Allen (Texas) went about taking down the No.1 team in the Xcellent 25 National Football Rankings makes it difficult to call a 51-36 defeat of DeSoto (Texas) an upset.

Allen raced to a 21-0 lead and never trailed in the Class 5A Division I state semifinal Saturday evening at SMU's Gerald J. Ford Stadium. Already home to the top high school stadium in Texas ($60 million Eagle Stadium opened this fall), Allen has a team to match.

In essence, Allen found a way to make its running game go while slowing DeSoto‘s ground attack to no more than a trickle.

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Allen senior running back Marcus Ward rushed 32 times for 228 yards. On the flip side, DeSoto star and Oregon commit Dontre Wilson was limited to 39 yards on 15 carries.

Without the running attack, DeSoto (14-1) became one dimensional, relying of the passing arm of junior quarterback Desmon White.

Allen (14-1), No. 19 nationally, advances to play 15-0 Lamar (Houston) in the title game set for 8 p.m. Saturday at Arlington's Cowboys Stadium.

"The whole thing about this group is they play as a team,'' said a beaming Allen coach Tom Westerberg. "This wasn't a real good team in the spring, but we've gotten better every week. The guys up front did a great job and Marcus Ward ran extremely hard.''

The DeSoto defense seemed to be caught off guard with routine-looking sweeps by Ward, listed at 5-foot-7 and 165 pounds. Many of the runs were to the right side, behind the blocking of 304-pound guard Myles Massei and 230-pound tackle Colton Grantham.

"We were going against some big guys and all the reps in the weight room helped,'' said Grantham. "Our plan was to wear out one side of the line and then go to the other. Our coaching staff got us ready.''

Allen sophomore quarterback Kyler Murray chipped in with 100 rushing yards and two touchdowns. He completed just enough passes to keep the DeSoto defense guessing.

DeSoto's offense, averaging 48 points a game, was stopped on downs five times in Allen territory. The only DeSoto turnover, Tay Evans' interception of a screen, turned into an Allen touchdown.

"When you play a big-play team like DeSoto, the mindset is to make them snap it one more time,'' said Allen senior linebacker Nick Cobb, who stopped two of DeSoto's fourth down plays. "Even if a play goes for 30 yards, just make the tackle and make them snap it one more time. You can't worry about it when they make a big play.''

DeSoto coach Claude Mathis said his team was handicapped by nagging injuries to White and Wilson.

"It's easier to take away our run when we have two banged-up guys out there,'' Mathis said. "They both gave us everything they had. We kept them out of practice this week to try and rest them and I think that had something to do with not being sharp.''

It also could be the brutal DeSoto schedule finally caught up with Mathis' team. Allen is the seventh DeSoto opponent to have 10 or more victories.

"Our schedule was brutal,'' Mathis said. "I thought it did finally get us.''

Down 21-0 midway through the second quarter, DeSoto fought back to make it 21-14 at halftime. Wilson scored both touchdowns, on a screen and a short run, to raise his season total to 48.

But if Allen ended the first half on a down note, it began the second half with a bang. Mayomi Olootu returned the second half kickoff 85 yards down the Allen sideline for the touchdown that made it 28-14.

Murray's 20-yard touchdown run at the 7:29 mark of the third period increased the lead to 34-14.

DeSoto rallied from an 18-point deficit the previous week to win 49-45 over Carroll (Southlake), but comeback hopes started looking remote when Evans picked off the screen and made a tackle-shaking 39-yard return for a 41-14 lead with seven minutes remaining in the third period.

Even for an explosive team like DeSoto, that was too much of a hill to climb. Still, they kept battling and closed to within 15 points, 51-36, on White's 12-yard scoring pass to Rickey Daniels with 6:40 remaining. White threw for 371 yards and three touchdowns.

Allen was able to come up with DeSoto's onside kick and then stop DeSoto one more time to lock up its second state championship game in five years. Allen defeated Fort Bend Hightower (Missouri City) 21-14 to win the Class 5A Division I title in 2008.

"Our seniors were eighth-graders that year and we went to the game,'' said Cobb. "For us to be going is a dream come true.''

Last week, then No. 1-ranked Manatee fell to St. Thomas Aquinas 35-18.