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Allen corrals OK finish at Shootout: Eagles surge on Day 2 after rough start
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com
A 4-5 record at a 7-on-7 tournament would normally be considered a disappointment for Allen.
However, because of the structure of the Arkansas-based Shootout of the South event, the Eagles were able to bounce back from a poor first day of pool play Friday and reel off three straight wins Saturday en route to the semifinals of the 19-team event.
"Day 1, we were not ready to play," said Jeff Fleener, Allen offensive coordinator. "I don't know if we lost a little bit from traveling the day before, but we did not play Allen football and we had a team meeting after that first day to fix things up."
"Our guys love going up to Little Rock and the kids who have been there before really get the newer players fired up about going," Fleener said. "We really like that Texas versus Arkansas dynamic, even though most of the fans are openly cheering against us regardless of who we play."
The fans had plenty to cheer about Friday as Allen went 1-4 in pool play.
The Eagles defeated Afton (24-21) and lost to Nashville (30-16), Little Rock Central (29-23), Lake Hamilton (28-21) and Pulaski Academy (39-8). Allen had played Pulaski in the past two tournament finals with the host team wining both.
"We were looking forward to that game," Fleener said. "But by that point, the mood and atmosphere around our team was not good."
The Shootout of the South allows all teams to advance to bracket play. So while Allen, which won the 7-on-7 event at the NIKE Football Festival a week prior, would have some work to do on Saturday, it still had a chance to replicate its feat in McKinney.
The Eagles wasted no time getting to work in the elimination rounds.
"We just flipped a switch," Fleener said, "and became the team we usually send up to Arkansas and the one that we sent to the NIKE event."
Allen opened with a 53-7 win over Norman in which its opponent didn't get a first down until it scored a touchdown with 30 seconds remaining.
The Eagles defense was strong all day with solid play in the backfield from Mayomi Olootu, Michael Jacob, Chad Adams and Cameron Hartsfield as well as up front from Nick Cobb, Ryan Johnson, Zach Bishop and Christian Sam. Allen followed its win over Norman with a 39-9 victory against Heritage Hall to capture its sectional tournament. The Eagles then bested Central, 36-0, in the tournament quarterfinals. Four interceptions allowed Allen to turn the tables on Central less than 24 hours after their first meeting.
"It really didn't have anything to do with Central as much as we were finally playing up to our level," Fleener said.
That includes the offense as Oliver Pierce paced a plethora of scoring drives. When Pierce wasn't quarterbacking, he was again catching passes out of the slot from Connor Greenberg.
"Oliver and Connor both played well and got the offense going," Fleener said.
Pierce and Greenberg frequently found Troy Knudsen, who Fleener noted as a potential team leader, and Grant Finney for touchdown strikes with Will Rossy and Nick Hinkley also appearing as though they will be able to make varsity contributions come fall.
Allen's win over Central put the team into the semifinals against Watson Chapel.
The Eagles would fall short of a third straight meeting against eventual champions Pulaski though as Watson Chapel was victorious, 18-16.
"We had a couple breaks go against us," Fleener said, "but that's just how it goes and none of our guys were whining or complaining about how the game went."
That could also serve as an appropriate description of Allen's tournament run.
"I was surprised that we did not play well on Friday, but the guys refocused and I was extremely proud of how they played Saturday," Fleener said. "This was our last 7-on-7 for the summer, so I think that second day left a good taste in our mouth going forward."
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