[email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\nPlano East knew coming into Thursday\u2019s season finale, it would be a difficult task to end on an up note. Allen, one of few undefeated and top-ranked teams in the state, took the game, 45-6 to end the Panthers\u2019 season.<\/p>\n
But Plano East didn\u2019t go down as easily as the score might reflect. In fact, throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Allen likely contributed to score\u2019s margin.<\/p>\n
It was evident from the coin toss forward, as Plano East \u2013 going against conventional strategy to get the ball at the start of the second half \u2013 won the flip and elected to go on offense first. Then, on the first series, implemented the first of two fake punts, deep in their own territory. The gambles didn\u2019t pay off, but it was indicative of spirit of a team that finished 2-8.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were trying to find some early momentum and get first downs and expand the game as long as we could and none of that happened,\u201d said Panthers head coach Tony Benedetto. \u201cThey were able to score quickly and we had 3-and-outs. They were able to show us why they are one of the best teams in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two big pass plays by Jackson Howard to Treyce Seldon (39-yard reception) and Gabe Berliner (35-yard reception) set up Plano East in Allen territory with scoring chances but twice came away empty.<\/p>\n
Howard would end up on the other side of the passing game, catching a 50-yard score from MJ Haggan in the final quarter for the only Panthers score. And the luck of the Panthers would follow on a 2-point try but that try came up short.<\/p>\n
For more on this story, see the Nov. 13, 2025, print or digital edition of the\u00a0Murphy Monitor. Subscribe<\/a>\u00a0today and support local journalism in your community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plano East senior Gabe Berliner runs for yardage during a District 6-6A football game against Allen on Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,161],"class_list":{"0":"post-39873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-plano","8":"tag-plano","9":"tag-plano-headlines","10":"tag-plano-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}