ARLINGTON - During its four-season, 56-game winning streak, Allen has survived a lot of shootouts. One of those was last year's third-round game against Arlington Martin, a playoff matchup that was repeated Friday at AT&T Stadium.
But in this year's Class 6A Division I matchup, Allen didn't need to survive in its 36-11 win. The Eagles simply thrived, thanks to the best weapon on the field: their defense.
"Last year, man, they really did embarrass us," Allen defensive back Jaylon Jones said. "This game was personal for the defense. They had almost 600 yards of offense last year, and we wanted to send a statement that it wasn't going to happen again."
Allen (13-0) will next play Sat., Dec. 5, at 2 p.m. at AT&T Stadium. The Eagles will face the winner of Denton Ryan and Amarillo Tascosa, who are scheduled to play Saturday but might play Monday because of weather conditions.
Playing conditions were perfect inside AT&T Stadium on Friday, but for Martin (10-3), moving the ball felt like running against the wind. The Warriors, who lost to Allen 69-54 last year in the same round, had 35 rushes for a net loss of 1 yard. A lot of sacks of quarterback Eric Walker factored into that, but the biggest part of the equation was Allen's dominant defensive front.
The Eagles controlled the line of scrimmage, and the result was pretty dramatic. Martin was dropped for a loss on 17 plays.
"The defense played lights out. They have all year long," Allen coach Tom Westerberg said. "It's the same group of kids we had last year, and they're a year older, and they've played great all year."
Allen held Martin to only 43 total yards in the first half, including 16 rushes for a total of eight yards. Allen, which averages 50 points per game, moved the ball more but only produced a field goal offensively in the first two quarters.
Allen's other nine points of the first half came on a safety, which the Eagles produced by dropping Martin runners for losses on back-to-back plays, and the free kick that followed. Allen's Jaylon Jones caught the kick at the 16-yard line, broke through a big hole on the right side and raced to the end zone to give Allen a 12-0 halftime lead.
"We've got each other's backs," Jones said. "If the offense isn't going good, we've got to get stops until they do. That's what this team is about."
Allen's offense got going midway through the third quarter, when the Eagles drove 67 yards in five plays to take a 22-3 lead. Quarterback Mitchell Jonke, who played the majority of the snaps but alternated with Seth Green, finished off the drive with a 12-yard run.
Trailing 29-3 midway through the fourth quarter, Martin scored its only touchdown on one of several gadget plays it attempted against Allen's suffocating defense. Eric Walker threw a backwards pass to Kristian Levy, who then threw to Brayden Willis for a 49-yard scoring play.
But Allen's offense was in gear at that point, and Jonke connected with Kirby Bennett for a 32-yard touchdown that ensured Martin wouldn't give Allen a scare.
"Once the offense got into a little more of a rhythm, we did better," Westerberg said. "We made a few adjustments at halftime, settled down a bit and made some plays."
Twitter: @mattwixon