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DeSoto-Allen Part 4: DeSoto hopes to finally beat its playoff nemesis

For the fourth straight season, Allen and DeSoto are meeting in the playoffs. But it's different this year.

Allen (11-0) has been rolling along, winning by a ridiculous 38 points per game. Every win by Allen has been by at least 30 points except for one -- the 38-28 win over Flower Mound Marcus.

DeSoto (6-5) hasn't been the dominant team we expected. But the Eagles (green-and-gold version) have played the toughest schedule in the state. Those five losses are against Arlington Martin, IMG Academy (Fla.), Cibolo Steele, Mansfield and Cedar Hill.

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Still, if DeSoto knocks off the red-and-blue Eagles, who have a 54-game win streak, it will be one of the most memorable upsets in playoff history.

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It won't, however, be one of the biggest upsets. Allen is Allen, which means dominant, but DeSoto has won four of its last five games, including a victory over the South Grand Prairie team that just beat undefeated Euless Trinity.

Let's see ... South Grand Prairie beat Trinity, which beat Southlake Carroll, which beat Cedar Hill, which beat South Grand Prairie.

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That doesn't make a lot of sense, but it should make people pay attention. Because in high school football, there are few sure things and many reasons to expect the unexpected. It took some pretty wild plays for Allen to pull out a 42-35 win over DeSoto in 2013 and a 25-22 win last year.

They were wild, but I can't say unexpected. When Kyler Murray was Allen's quarterback, it became the expectation.

So back to this year ...

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DeSoto needs something really special to happen. But this is not David and Goliath. If DeSoto wins, I'd be far less surprised than back in 2007, when Rowlett beat an undefeated Allen team in the first round of the playoffs. (If you remember that season, Rowlett got clobbered 49-7 by Skyline in the second round.)

I expect Allen to win Friday night -- or more specifically, Saturday morning, because the game won't kick off before 9 p.m. But DeSoto should be sky high when this game begins, and adrenaline and motivation can do some amazing things. Sometimes good, sometimes bad.

With one victory over a team it nearly beat the last two years, DeSoto's disappointing season would turn glorious.

Twitter: @mattwixon