The Allen-DeSoto playoff showdowns in words and pictures

For the fourth straight year, Allen and DeSoto are meeting in the playoffs. The game is scheduled to kick off at 9 p.m. Friday at AT&T Stadium. (Fingers crossed, it won't be delayed by South Grand Prairie vs. Denton Ryan game before it.)

Allen is 11-0 and has won 54 straight games. DeSoto is 6-5, but it has played the toughest schedule in the state. (Here's more on that, and some other reasons this game could be really good.)

Here's the rundown from the last three Allen-DeSoto matchups, which all packed some punch.

2012: Allen 51, DeSoto 36

What I remember most about the game in 2012 was how beat up DeSoto was entering the game. DeSoto was 14-0 and No. 1 in a couple of national rankings, but it didn't have the depth that Allen had, and the long season wore down DeSoto. Star running back Dontre Wilson had a sprained ankle that slowed him considerably. Allen also had an emerging star in quarterback Kyler Murray, but the sophomore wasn't the key to the game. Allen dominated up front and rushed 62 times for 392 yards. (Here's the column on the game).

2013: Allen 42, DeSoto 35

Below is my column from the game. A huge Allen comeback.

MESQUITE -- With less than nine minutes left Saturday, Desmon White dashed into the end zone to put DeSoto up by two touchdowns. On Allen's side of Memorial Stadium, a trickle of red and blue started heading for the exits.

But Allen quarterback Kyler Murray turned the fans around when he dropped a rainbow pass into the arms of Jalen Guyton. After the 68-yard touchdown, Allen could once again see the pot of gold it has worked for all season.

"We hit that big play," coach Tom Westerberg said after Allen's 42-35 victory, "and it sparked everything."

It ignited a dramatic turn of emotion that ended with Allen (15-0) one win from a second straight 5A Division I championship. Allen will play for its third title since 2008 when it meets Pearland at 4 p.m. Saturday at AT&T Stadium.

"We just have some players on this team who refuse to lose," said Allen senior defensive back Mayomi Olootu.

Midway through the fourth quarter, it didn't look like those Allen players would have a choice.

DeSoto (14-1), facing Allen in the semifinals for the second straight year, took a 35-20 lead on White's 5-yard run with 8:35 left. At that point, DeSoto had doubled up Allen in offensive yards and first downs. White had been phenomenal, running inside and outside and converting third downs with highlight reel scrambles. The senior finished with 29 carries for 189 yards and four touchdowns, and he also completed 14 of 25 passes for 134 yards and a score.

But on the first play after DeSoto extended its lead to 35-20, the momentum turned on Murray's long pass to Guyton, who finished with six catches for 153 yards and two touchdowns.

"After DeSoto got that touchdown, Kyler came up to me and said, 'Yo, it's you and me," Guyton said. "We've been working on that since the summer, and we've got that connection."

The connection cut DeSoto's lead to 35-27 with 8:23 left, and Allen's defense returned to the field rejuvenated. After a chop block put DeSoto in a first-and-25 at its own 16, Allen's defense dropped runners for losses on back-to-back plays. DeSoto ended up punting, giving Allen the ball back near midfield.

Murray ran for 32 yards on the first play and then threw to Will Rossy at the 2-yard line. Rossy fumbled the ball, but it went into the hands of Josh Pettijohn, who got into the end zone before the ball fell out of his hands. Allen tied the game on a two-point conversion in which Murray was chased backward and toward the right sideline before throwing back to the left, where Guyton was standing alone in the end zone.

DeSoto punted on its next possession and when Allen punted it back, it looked like DeSoto could do no worse than go to overtime.

But Allen's punt was short and bounced into a DeSoto player blocking for the return. Allen pounced on the ball at its 40-yard line with 1:15 left.

"You have to get some breaks in there, and we got some breaks," Westerberg said. "Sometimes you make your own breaks."

And if you're a champion, you take advantage.

Allen drove to the DeSoto 24 and called a timeout with 18 seconds left. On the next play, as Allen was trying to get closer for a field goal into the wind, Murray broke free on the left side for a touchdown.

"They really did a good job of stopping me running the ball in the first half," said Murray, who had 30 yards rushing before halftime and finished with 20 carries for 159 yards. "In the second half, I just did what I can [do]."

What Murray can do is pretty impressive. And what Allen can do with one more win will be pretty special. Allen can complete its first perfect season, which is what senior linebacker Christian Sam and his teammates have talked about all year.

"It will be history," Sam said.

2014: Allen 25, DeSoto 22

Here's the column from last year's game. The first of four straight Allen comeback wins in the playoffs.

ARLINGTON -- Allen quarterback Kyler Murray completed less than a third of his passes Saturday, lost a fumble, was intercepted once and didn't throw a touchdown pass for the first time in two years.

But in a 25-22 victory over DeSoto at AT&T Stadium, the senior once again showed why it's no coincidence that Allen's 39-game winning streak began when he took over as starting quarterback.

Playing against a talented and inspired DeSoto defense, Murray ran for 194 yards and three touchdowns and set up Sawyer Williams' 25-yard field goal on the final play of the Class 6A Division I area-round game.

"It wasn't as smooth as we wanted it to be," said Murray, whose team will next face Arlington Martin at 1 p.m. Friday at Apogee Stadium in Denton. "Late in the game, just like last year, we had to pull it out."

Allen (12-0) didn't need a comeback like last year, when it trailed DeSoto by 15 points in the fourth quarter. But the two-time defending state champions were certainly in a dire situation when they trailed 22-14 with nine minutes left.

At that point, DeSoto (10-2) had shut down Allen's offense for two quarters. Allen took a 14-0 lead early in the second on a Murray touchdown run, but DeSoto's defense forced punts on five of Allen's next seven possessions - stretching into the fourth quarter. The two Allen possessions that didn't end with a punt were killed by a Murray fumble and interception. As Allen's offense struggled, its defense kept it in the game by slowing down DeSoto's high-scoring offense.

But DeSoto was still potent enough to grab a 22-14 lead on quarterback Tristen Wallace's 22-yard touchdown run with 7:57 left in the third.

Wallace rushed 31 times for 109 yards, and running back Larry Nixon carried 26 times for 97 yards as DeSoto dominated time of possession.

But when it was winning time, Murray was the star in front of an estimated crowd of 30,000. With 8:02 left, Murray took the snap, ran to his right and broke down the sideline for a 46-yard touchdown.

It was one of the rare times when he wasn't cut down before he could get more than a few yards downfield. He passed to Jalen Guyton for the tying two-point conversion.

Allen's defense then made two big stops, getting an interception and forcing a punt to give Allen the ball with 2:27 left and a chance to avoid overtime.

"One drive with Kyler at the helm," Allen coach Tom Westerberg said, "and we're always feeling pretty good."

Allen was feeling really good when Murray's long pass, after being deflected by two colliding DeSoto defenders, was grabbed by Guyton for a 38-yard gain to the DeSoto23.

After Murray scrambled to the 9, an illegal substitution penalty on DeSoto moved the ball just inside the 5.

Murray was dropped for a 3-yard loss on the next play, and with the clock winding down, Westerberg decided not to have Murray spike the ball to stop the clock.

The field goal unit raced on to the field, just as it does at practice every Thursday, and set up.

"I had no time to think, so that really helped," Williams said. "Nothing got in my head."

And nothing got in the way of his kick. The ball was snapped with two seconds left and Williams sent the kick through the uprights - and Allen on to the next round.

Twitter: @mattwixon