Rise of the Allen Eagles

When I moved to a small but rapidly growing suburb called Allen in 2001, primarily because of the highly-rated school system, little did I know that I would get to witness the rise of one of the nation’s top football programs, if not THE best.  The high school team played in a 25 year-old stadium and had little or no tradition of winning.  They made a good hire around that time in Joe Martin, who had just won state at Garland.  Martin started laying the ground work, and quickly made it to state in 2003, getting routed by the *)#%@ Dragons, and then decided to call it a career.  A job everyone considered to be a plum surprisingly went to Martin’s assistant and O-coordinator, Tom Westerberg.  I had little appreciation for what was coming.

Westerberg went 19-6 during his first 2 seasons, my daughter was in elementary school, and I paid little attention.  In 2006, the team won district and ran to state again, but again got pounded by the *$^% Dragons.  How could I know that the district was now in a vise-grip by the Eagles and wouldn’t be relinquished?  2007; an undefeated regular season, but a flame-out in the first round of the playoffs.  I still didn’t know what was coming.  The population was growing rapidly, new schools feeding the high school, the engine was running, but not yet up to speed.

The big news in 2008, Allen would take on the nation’s top-rated team, the Euless Trinity Trojans.  Down went the Eagles 30-17, but the loss seemed to make the team figure out they were close.  Playoffs, Eagles run to the 4^th round and Trinity is waiting.  After, the paper said the Eagles “bullied the bullies” on their way to a 34-21 win.  Two weeks later, the 1^st state championship, Tom Westerberg had arrived, the Allen Eagles had arrived.  I saw a couple of playoff games, my daughter was in the 5^th grade, I still didn’t appreciate what was in front of me.

In 2011 the Allen Eagles were ranked #1 in the nation to start the pre-season by MaxPreps and others.  I started to appreciate that everyone in the business of football knew what this was.  A football-crazy county in talent rich DFW, with a rapidly growing population, 1 school, and a coach who knew what he was doing.  However the team was actually overrated and went down in Round 2 of the playoffs.  I could see it coming.  The defense was porous and the offense 1-dimensional.  I couldn’t know that all of the ground work was about to produce the culmination of the program.

I sat in sparkling new Eagle Stadium in September 2012 dreading the game.  The %#*@ Dragons were in town and we had a brand new team to go with the new stadium.  National headlines proclaimed Allen to be a community with a warped sense of order, spending $60mm on a football stadium.  And worse, we had 1 state championship for all the expectations, and we were likely to be embarrassed  on our home field by the defending state champs.  I just couldn’t know that the class of seniors and juniors on the field in front of me were the culmination of all the planning, all the summer workouts, all the tough out of district scheduling, the coaching continuity.  This was the group.  24-0 Eagles.  Dragons slayed.

It is December 2013 and the Allen Eagles are the class of Texas and maybe the entire nation.  Now we say “3 titles in 6 years”!  The classes of 2012 and 2013 were the right mix of talent, confidence, character, and drive.  They were the ones who Tom Westerberg knew were coming.  Westerberg has won district 8 years running and is 100-10 during that time.  He takes on all comers, scheduling Carroll, Cedar Hill, Longview, Coppell, Trinity, etc. in non-district.  He now has the model program with almost 1,200 kids playing football in grades 7-12 and parents (like Kevin Murray) moving into the district so their kids can take part in it.  He is (importantly) not afraid to play youth, like Murray last year and a sophomore CB and right tackle this year.  Talent plays.  He has also finally learned to put some of that talent on the defensive side of the ball.  This year we have 3 3-star players on the defense going to BCS schools.  Next year we have 3 4-star players coming back on offense.  The engine is now starting to feed itself.

My daughter cheered on the field at Cowboy Stadium and took part in a state championship celebration with Governor Rick Perry.  She figures we just go out and win state, ho-hum.  I think I get it now.

S