It was a tale of two halves for the Eagles, who were held to just 10 points in the first half before erupting for 41 points in the second half to pull away from Midway 51-7. The Panthers played it close early, but their inability to finish off drives left the door open for the Eagles to run away with it.
The rain stalled both offenses and it became apparent early this would be a defensive- heavy first half. The high-octane Eagles’ offense was forced to turn to the run game, and without lead rusher Andrew Henry, QB Grant Tisdale had to carry the burden themselves.
After being forced to punt on their first drive, the Eagles’ forced a punt of their own and the offense woke up, trudging through the elements for an 81-yard touchdown drive, capitalized by a seven-yard Tisdale score on the ground to put Allen up 7-0 with 4:05 left in the first quarter.
The Panthers got a drive of their own going, marching all the way down to the Allen 15 until an interception gave Allen the ball back at the end of the first quarter.
Allen did it again, this time from 79-yards out as a drive that started from their own five- yard line ended in a field goal from the Panther 16 to put the Eagles up 10-0 midway through the second quarter.
The Panthers’ had no answer for the Eagles offense, now running on all cylinders, until they got a lucky break in an Eagles missed a field goal with 4:09 left in the half. However, the Panthers offense continued to falter as a long drive ended in yet another interception, this time at their own three-yard line with just under two minutes left in the half. The Eagles couldn’t capitalize off the turnover and went into halftime up 10-0, with a lot of points left on the field.
Nothing was going the Panthers’ way even after the half as Midway fumbled the opening kickoff that the Eagles recovered. Allen quickly capitalized on the turnover as Tisdale punched in his second rushing touchdown of the night to put the Eagles up 17-0 with 10:44 left in the third quarter.
With momentum on their side, the Eagles defense came up with a huge fourth down stop. The offense capitalized with an impressive drive, finished off with Tisdale’s first passing touchdown of the night to Theo Weaseto put Allen up 23-0.
Finally after coming close all game, Midway put together a scoring drive, as Demarcus DeDegrate beat the Eagles’ secondary deep for a 24-yard touchdown to bring the Panthers within 16, 23-7.
Allen wasn’t backing down any time soon as the Tisdale-Wease connection struck again, this time from 24 yards out to put Allen back up by 23 points.
Special teams continued to hurt the Panthers and after a quick three-and-out a shanked punt and impressive return gave the Eagles the ball at the Midway 24 with three minutes left in the third quarter. Within seconds, Allen struck again as Ja’Juan Mason took an end- around 24 yards to put Allen up 37-7 with 2:49 left in the third.
After an impressive showing, the Eagles defense got in on the scoring as Cornelius Williams returned an interception 85-yards to put Allen up 44-7 at the end of the third quarter.
Heading into the fourth, Allen pulled their starters and backup QB Raylen Sharpe got his chance to shine. With 5:33 left in the game, Sharpe punched it in from 19-yards out to put the Eagles up 51-7 and knock Midway out of the playoffs.
Allen now advances to play the winner of Duncanville/Southlake Carroll at AT&T Stadium and are now just one round away from another state championship.
