Published: November 09, 2009 11:12 am      

Allen gets in!

Mustangs cage Fox to earn playoff berth

FOX — Allen entered Friday night’s season finale with a 6-3 record, but those three losses were in District B-2 play to Alex, Caddo and Ryan — losses decided by a total of 10 points — and all were games in which the Mustangs led for most of the way.

Because of those three losses, Friday night’s contest against the Fox Foxes at the Fox Den felt like a playoff game — with the winner making the Class B postseason parade and the loser staying home.

For the Mustangs, the fourth time was a charm as they did not let a close district game slip away, defeating the Foxes 14-6 to claim the fourth and final playoff spot in District B-2.

As a result, the Mustangs (7-3, 5-3 in district play) will get the honor of meeting defending Class B state champion — and the current top-ranked team in the state — Garber at 7:30 p.m. next Friday at Garber’s Boyd Field.

“We’re in,” Allen coach Kenny Deaton said. “This was a huge step for our kids, and we did it. We believed all week that we would get in. We are so happy to go to Garber. They’re the defending state champions. We’re going to their place, and we’re ready to go. We’ll take it. We’re happy to get to go.”

Deaton said that the Mustangs were not going to let a fourth game — and a playoff spot — get away from them on this night.

“We’ve lost some heartbreakers, but our guys kept fighting,” he said. “This was a tight ball game, and we just kept fighting. We reminded them (about losing those three district games) at every dead ball and timeout. We kept telling them we’ve got to finish, and we did it. We finished a game. We finally got over that hump. These guys grew up a lot. We’re a young football team, but we took a huge step (Friday) tonight.

Trailing 6-0 at halftime, the Mustangs scored what would be the game-winning points on their first drive of the third quarter.

After forcing Fox to punt on the first drive of the second half, the Mustangs took over at their own 25 with 9:58 left in the third quarter. They took advantage of several Fox gifts on the drive, including a near interception that Fox defender Dillon Langley dropped, a key offside penalty on the Foxes that kept Allen moving and a big fourth-down conversion by the Mustangs.

Allen marched 75 yards in nine plays and the drive was capped by Brady Caldwell’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Brett Edens with 5:56 left in the period. After Caldwell ran in the two-point conversion, Allen carried an 8-6 lead into the final quarter.

Allen’s defense played well all night, especially in the second half. After Fox amassed 134 yards of offense in the first half — and scored its only TD of the night — Allen held Fox to only 41 yards of offense in the second half.

And that defense needed to shine since Allen missed out on a touchdown late in the third quarter. On back-to-back plays, Caldwell’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Edens and Caldwell’s 27-yard TD run were both nullified due to penalties. Eventually, Fox stopped Allen on downs as a 20-yard, fourth-down pass from Caldwell to Edens fell incomplete at the goal line, giving the Foxes the ball at their 20 with 2:03 left in the quarter.

But once more, the Allen defense forced a punt, and the Mustangs took over at the Fox 46 with 30 seconds left in the period.

On the first play of the final quarter, Caldwell took it in from nine yards out with 11:55 remaining in the game. The two-point conversion pass play failed, keeping the Foxes within one score at 14-6.

The Foxes looked as if they were going to take advantage of the opening Allen gave them by not converting the two-point attempt. The hosts took over on their own 44 with 11:54 to play after Allen failed to recover an onside kick.

Fox drove as deep at the Allen 16 with just less than seven minutes left to play. But as it did all second half long, the Allen defense rose to the occasion as Caldwell picked off Fox quarterback Chris Spigner at the Allen 5 with 6:42 left in the contest. Fox never got another snap off as the Mustangs ran out the remaining time on the clock to end the game and secure a trip to Garber to begin the Class B playoffs next Friday.

“The defense was outstanding,” Deaton said. “I can’t single out one player. It was just a total team effort. Our defense played solid.”

It was one of the few miscues the Mustangs committed which allowed Fox to score its only points of the night. Fox defender Kaleb King recovered an Allen fumble at the Allen 35 with 6:04 left in the first quarter.

Three plays later, Spigner took it in from a yard out with 5:45 left in the opening period. Justin Cornelius was stopped on the two-point run attempt, keeping Fox ahead 6-0.

But Allen had its chances to get points in both quarters of the first half. On the ensuing possession after Fox’s TD, Allen marched as deep as the Fox 7, but a false start penalty and a sack on Caldwell by Cornelius on fourth-and-goal at the Fox 18 with 17 seconds left in the opening quarter kept Allen off the scoreboard.

In the second quarter, Allen got as deep as the Fox 17, but Caldwell was tackled for an 8-yard loss on fourth down at the Fox 25 with 5:51 remaining before halftime.

A pair of picks — one for each team by Caldwell for Allen and Langley for Fox — ended the half, keeping Fox ahead 6-0 at intermission.

Despite the interception, the quarterback sack and the yardage lost on the other fourth-down attempt for Allen, Caldwell shined the rest of the way. He rushed for 154 yards on 35 carries, while passing for 123 yards and a touchdown.

“Brady Caldwell is one of the best quarterbacks in the whole state,” Deaton said. “He did a super job of handling the ball. He’s one of our leaders out there on the field. He kept our offense moving. We only scored 14 points, but we kept moving those chains and we didn’t give the ball back (to Fox at the end of the game).”

The Foxes, who had a shot at being district runner-up with a win, ended the season at 7-3 overall and 5-3 in district play.