PLANO — As impressive as Allen has been this season, Friday night’s showing at John Clark Stadium might have been the team’s best.
Led by Kyler Murray’s seven touchdowns — three rushing and four through the air — Allen amassed 633 yards of offense and cruised to a 77-37 victory over Plano West.
“Our kids are playing awesome right now,” Allen coach Tom Westerberg said. “They were ready to play from the very beginning of the game.”
Murray was nearly flawless in his just over two quarters of play. The dual-threat junior quarterback led Allen (7-0, 2-0 District 10-5A) to scores on each of its seven first-half possessions, building a 49-7 halftime advantage.
“He’s playing lights out right now,” Westerberg said. “It’s just fun to watch.”
Murray’s 48-yard scoring run up the visitors’ sideline set the tone less than a minute into the game on the third play from scrimmage.
The 5-11, 171-pounder added touchdown passes to Cole Carter and Jalen Guyton later in the quarter. Carter, a senior wide receiver, added two more touchdown grabs in the second quarter, finishing with five receptions for 91 yards and four touchdowns.
When Murray wasn’t connecting with his many receiving threats, he was dodging tacklers with his feet and busing loose for touchdown runs of 56 and 24 yards in the second quarter. At halftime, Murray had completed 12 of 15 passes and ran seven times for 146 yards.
Plano West (4-3, 0-2) tried to establish its running game in the first half but had very little success, rushing 29 times for only 85 yards.
Why did Allen, the No. 1-ranked 5A team in the SportsDayHS area rankings, have such success stopping the run?
“I think we played a little harder,” Westerberg said. “Our kids, it was a big challenge, and they like challenges.”
Allen has won 18 in a row dating back to last season.