Getting to the state semifinals is a momentous achievement.

This is the Allen football team's fourth time to feel that sense of accomplishment since 2003, with the team entering the Final 4 at 13-1 each time.

The first such game was against Southlake Carroll with the Dragons defeating the Eagles, 37-21, in the Class 5A Division II State Semifinals in 2003.

"I thought we matched up well against Southlake going into that game and we were able to do some pretty good things," said Tom Westerberg, Allen head coach, who was the team's offensive coordinator that season in head coach Joe Martin's final year at Allen.

What Allen didn't have was Garrett Hartley, who is now the kicker for the New Orleans Saints.

"That's pretty much what it came down to," Westerberg said. "Every time Southlake got across the 50 they were able to score points and we weren't."

The Eagles finished that season at 13-2, a record they would sport again in 2006 after losing to the Dragons in the Class 5A Division I State Semifinals at Texas Stadium. The similarities, however, end there as Carroll picked up a 38-0 win in a game that was largely dictated by one play.

Allen couldn't have gotten out to a better start.

Senior Cody Gambill intercepted a pass from on the third play of the game and the Eagles quickly moved to the Dragons' 37-yard line. The game turned on the next play as Allen senior quarterback Nathan Dick completed a pass to sophomore Uzoma Nwachukwu, but he was stripped of the ball and Carroll's Derek Tomlin returned it 78 yards for a touchdown and 7-0 lead.

During that return, Dick injured his shoulder attempting to make a tackle and was unable to return.

"That was the turning point in the whole thing," Westerberg said.

Dick was replaced by junior Stephen Payne and then eventually freshman Matt Brown.

"We had battled through injuries that whole season and that was the one that we just couldn't recover from," Westerberg said. "We needed Nathan to make everything roll; we played good defense in that game, we just couldn't get the offense going."

Allen's luck would turn around in the 2008 Class 5A Division I State Semifinals as it defeated Round Rock Stony Point, 23-21.

That reversal of fortune was not due to a lack of injuries.

Brown (now a junior) had been the starter since early in his sophomore season, but suffered a cracked collarbone three weeks prior against Coppell.

"I talked with Matt and his parents during the week," Westerberg said. "And he said if we were losing he wanted to come in and try to run the ball a few times."

Brown did just that.

And though it didn't put any points on the board, it was effective for other reasons.

"I think Matt's presence really settled Tucker (Carter, junior quarterback) down," Westerberg said.

Carter's poise showed in the late stages of the game from the windy Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco. Trailing, 21-17, Carter completed a 21-yard pass to senior Dakarai Pecikonis for a touchdown with 38 seconds left. That gave the Eagles a 23-21 lead and eventual win by the same score.

"It was such a beautiful pass," Pecikonis said after the game. "It was a great spiral and in perfect position; it's like everything was going in slow motion."

With the win, Allen advanced to the state finals for the first time in program history.

"That was a tough game; I think we got outplayed everywhere except the scoreboard," Westerberg said. "But it was an awesome feeling afterward because that meant now we got to go play for it all."

Allen would win it all one week later, finishing its season at 15-1 by defeating Fort Bend Hightower, 21-14, at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

The Eagles will no doubt look to replicate that path Saturday in the Class 5A Division I State Semifinals when they face No. 1 nationally-ranked DeSoto at 6 p.m. from SMU's Ford Stadium.

The winner moves on to the state finals, which are 8 p.m. Dec. 22 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

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