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Ticket to title game up for grabs: The Woodlands Highlanders vs. Allen Eagles

By: Jim East, Woodlands Online Sports
| Published 12/07/2016

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THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- The Woodlands Highlanders. The Allen Eagles. Two extraordinary football teams, and one only can advance to play for a Texas state championship.

These two teams will bring their 14-0 records into DKR Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin at 1 p.m., Saturday. You can watch all 48 minutes of this clash of the titans as it happens on our livestream broadcast.

This is a game that pits a team with a championship resume against an opponent that has overcome adversity to play better and better football every time they step on the field.

Allen has the resume. The Eagles have advanced to the state semifinals in each of the last five years. They won state in 2008, 2012, 2013 and 2014, so a good chunk of this year’s roster is hungry to finish with another championship.

Woodlands has the indomitable spirit. Since the playoffs began, they lost their leading rusher to a knee sprain and one of their best defensive players to a traumatic injury. They have unified in the face of these challenges, and new players have stepped up to help lead the team.

Highlander quarterback Eric Schmid has generated more than 4,000 yards of total offense, 3,000 of it through the air to a wide range of targets. This is a passing attack unlike anything Allen has faced all year. And when defenses over-commit against the pass, Schmid and Carlos Ramos get the job done with a potent rushing game.

Defensively, The Woodlands are coming off what could be called their signature game. They short-circuited a vaunted Round Rock offense with unrelenting pressure. Michael Purcell, Zach La Canfora, Zach Loane and Cole Sichley all sacked the quarterback in their quarterfinal blowout.

The Eagles also are capable of great things defensively. Six times this year they held an opponent to 10 or fewer points. In their toughest playoff test, a road game at San Angelo Central, the Eagles allowed 21 points to a team that had averaged 54. The defense is led by Cole Maxwell and Jayden Jernigan, both of whom have more than 10 tackles for losses this season.

The Woodlands have gone up against great running backs all year, and they’ve got to contend with another 1-2 punch on Saturday. Brock Sturges has more than 1,000 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns. Kirby Bennett is knocking on the door of an 800-yard season and has scored six times.

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