Allen survives Tiger scare

Waco - The Stony Point Tigers had just scored the go ahead touchdown on a one yard plunge by Baylor commitment, Glasco Martin. Stony Point players, fans, and sidelines were going crazy as they sensed victory was at hand with the 40 mph winds blowing in their favor. The wind was a factor throughout Saturday's 5A State Semi-final game between the Allen Eagles and Stony Point.

The Allen Eagles lead the game 17-7 after the third quarter but could not stop the Tigers and quarterback Nyk McKissic. McKissic rallied Stony Point with two fourth-quarter touchdown drives that gave the Tigers the 21-17 lead with only 2:33 left on the game clock.

After a favorable kickoff return the Eagles were able to move the ball down the field against a stout Stony Point defense that had held Allen's high powered offense in check most of the afternoon. Allen was helped on the drive by two penalties enforced against the Tigers including a pass interference call that put the Eagles in position for the game's last score. The winning touchdown was a 21-yard pass from the Eagle's Tucker Carter to Dakarai Pecikonis with 37 seconds to play.

"He just threw a great pass, and I don't believe if he puts it in any other location, I make that catch, it was just a perfect ball by Tucker Carter and I just reached out and got it. I'm still in shock that I caught it. This still doesn't even feel real." said Pecikonis of his game winning catch.

Quarterback Tucker had this to say of his senior receiver "I trusted Dakari all week. All year he's made big plays for us. I just put one up that he could go get, he made a play. That was all him."

The Tigers attempted to set up a field goal try but Allen's defense did not allow that to happening shutting down Stony Point the last few seconds.

Tigers Coach Craig Chessher had this to say about the last drive, "We were trying to get a opportunity for a field goal, we felt if we could get the ball to the other side of the 45, that we might have a shot with the wind helping us, but they (Allen's defense) put good pressure on us, they covered very well, and we didn't have very many guys open. Give Allen the credit for that. It was an awesome game. It was two good football teams going after it. Both teams played hard, it's tough someone had to lose"

"Our kids played well enough to win but we just came up short today. There at the end I said, If they (Allen) score they deserve it, and they did. They have good talent and they performed well there at the end." stated Stony Points Head Coach Craig Chessher about his team's play along with giving props to Allen.

There was no scoring in the first quarter by either team, although Stony Point held the ball for nearly 10 minutes before Allen had an offensive play. Finally in the second quarter, Stony Point, with the wind at its back, got on the scoreboard first with Glasco Martin plunging over from one yard out.

After holding Allen on its next possession, Stony Point had the momentum with good field possession looking to add to their lead, when McKissic looking down over the middle for Gerard Shillow, was intercepted by Allen defensive back Steven Terrell. Terrell returned the pick 90 yards for the game tying touchdown with 5:49 left in the first half.

McKissic gave this explanation of the interception, "There was a seem, I tried to slip it in there, he (Terrell) just came over, got in and made a great play."

Allen held Stony Point to force the tigers to give the ball back to the Eagles before half. Allen's Jeremiah Williams broke off a 35 yard run to pay dirt with 1:10 left in the second period allowing Allen to take a 14-7 going in the locker room at halftime.

The third quarter was much like the first with both teams struggling on offense and trading possessions. Allen finally got in field goal range for kicker Cody Philips, who nailed a 37 yarder giving Allen a 17-7 lead.

Stony Point wasn't going to fold just yet. After an 8 play scoring drive, that saw Nyk McKissic taking it in from two yards out, that was all set up by brilliant 47 yard slant route catch and run by Stephen Williams making the score 17-14 with 7:39 left in the game. That setup the dramatic last few minutes of the game.

"I gave everything I had in this game, we just came up short. I am very proud of my teammates, for us coming this far," said Glasco Martin of he and his teams willpower to not give up. "After the touchdown when we went ahead 21-17 I thought we had the game won."

The statistics favored Stony Point, which had almost twice the number of offensive plays and outgained Allen by over 200 yards, but it was the Eagles that came up with the big plays to win the game.

Allen plays in the 5A Division I state championship game against undefeated Fort Bend Hightower, Saturday in Houston's Reliant Stadium. Hightower defeated San Antonio Clark 28-7 in the other semi-final matchup.