Allen knocks off Arlington Martin in state-ranked battle, Eagles hand Warriors first loss
In a match-up between two state-ranked opponents, it was the Allen Eagles that had just a little more juice than the Arlington Martin Warriors.
Four-star Allen quarterback Mike Hawkins threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Messiah Washington on third down with four minutes left in the game and the Eagles squashed any Martin rally in the fourth quarter, 27-16, on Friday night at Choctaw Stadium.
The two teams could meet again the playoffs.
It was the first meeting between Allen and Martin since the 2017 postseason when the Eagles won 48-25.
On Friday, Martin never had the lead, but the Warriors (2-1) made a push in the second half. Trailing 17-7 after a 24-yard field goal by Allen’s Jake Morgan, Martin’s Konye Frazier returned the kick deep in the end zone 60 yards. On the next play, Zaire Barrow rushed 43 yards to the Allen 2.
Then Gage Wager hit Sergio Snider on a 2-yard touchdown pass. The two-point try was no good and Martin trailed 17-13 midway through the third quarter.
Martin, No. 9 in the Class 6A state rankings and No. 2 in the area rankings, pulled within a point, 17-16, on a 42-yard field goal by Mark Williamson with 10:40 left in the fourth.
The Warriors, who were looking to go to 3-0 for the first time since 2017, got into Allen territory two more times with under three minutes to play, but was forced to punt and later turned it over on downs following a sack. Martin has defeated Austin Lake Travis and Cedar Hill this season.
Barrow, a Star-Telegram Top 100 player, led the Martin offense with 108 yards on 20 carries. QB Tristan Bittle had 94 yards passing. Overall, Martin had 230 yards of total offense.
Meanwhile, Allen (2-1), No. 23 in the 6A state rankings, finished with 290 yards.
Kayvion Sibley led the way with 142 yards on 27 carries and one touchdown.
Martin went for the onside attempt to start the contest and Josiah Charles came up with the ball to give the Warriors excellent field position at the Allen 38
However, the Allen defense forced a three-and-out and Martin punt.
The Eagles marched down field on the ensuing drive, going from their own 20 to the Martin 19. But a bad snap resulted in 14-yard loss and Allen had to punt on fourth-and-22. The return was muffed and ball bounced into the end zone. Several Allen Eagles were around the ball, but no one could secure it until it went out of bounds for a Martin touch back.
But Allen would benefit from another Martin mistake two plays later when it recovered a fumble off a bad snap and Sibley scored on the next play, a 17-yard run to give Allen a 7-0 lead with 4:35 to play in the opening quarter.
The Allen lead didn’t last long, only 29 seconds, as Bittle hit a wide-open Jeremiah Charles in stride down the left sideline to tie the game at 7.
Both teams would punt on their next drive and Allen later missed a 24-yard field goal.
After another Martin punt, Allen went 72 yards on eight plays as Michael Crowder scored on an 11-yard touchdown run to give the Eagles a 14-7 lead with 3:47 left in the second quarter.
The big play came on a third-and-5 when Hawkins hit tight end Davon Mitchell down the middle for 31 yards to the Martin 18. Hawkins finished with 117 yards passing. He holds nine offers and is projected to pick Oklahoma, according to 247Sports.
Martin’s defense was highlighted by 5-star cornerback Javien Toviano, who is the top-ranked area player and projected to commit to Texas, according to 247Sports. He holds more than 30 offers and is the seventh-ranked Class of 2023 player in the state.
Crowder took a hand off at the Martin 14 and gained eight yards before Toviano, who has more than 12,000 followers on Instagram, stopped him from scoring a touchdown in the first half. Toviano also made a nice play on an intended pass to Washington in the first quarter and later tackled Washington after a 5-yard catch.
This story was originally published September 9, 2022 at 9:51 PM.
