The Allen Mustangs high school football team will kick off its 101st season Friday at home against the Tishomingo Indians.

The Mustangs finished 6-6 overall and 3-7 in district play last year, made the playoffs, and won in the first round, before losing to Gore in the second round.

Tishomingo was winless in the 2020-21 season.

The Mustangs have scrimmaged three times in the pre-season, and new Head Coach Matt McCreary said the scrimmages went well, having some success, no players suffering and major injuries, and getting good looks at any deficiencies.

McCreary said sophomore Brayden Tatum will probably get the nod to start at quarterback in Friday’s game.

“We’re trying to build a system where we can plug people into the system and make it work,” McCreary said. “We’re not too dependent on one guy being able to throw the ball forever or throw the ball great distances or something like that, so we’re trying to get a decent system in place.”

Tatum did play some at the quarterback position last year.

Although this year’s team might be considered young, with only seven seniors, many of the returning Mustangs gained valuable playing experience last year.

“I’m hoping to really enjoy that experience because that means they played a lot last year, and they’ll play a lot this year, and I’ll probably have a lot of them for one more year,” McCreary said.

Shawn Husband returns for his senior season to play running back and linebacker.

In one game last year, Husband broke two school records — total yards and number of carries — when he rushed for 310 yards on 37 carries.

The previous rushing yardage 11-man school record was held by Allen standout Bryan Rockey, who turned in a 305-yard performance in 1991 against Weleetka.

Then, two weeks later against Porter in the first round of the playoffs, Husband smoked his new carries record by rushing the ball for an astounding 48 times, gaining 292 yards in the process.

“He’s going to carry the ball for us again this year,” McCreary said. “We’ve got a couple of older guys that were here last year that had a lot to do with their success. I’ve got several offensive linemen who are seniors, that’s going to help us out a lot, and, hopefully clear the way for (Husband) to set some more records, or just help him contribute to the overall success of the team.”

McCreary said when the Mustangs take the field, don’t expect to see a bunch of flashiness.

“I think we’ll be a bunch of hard-nosed, hard fighting kids,” he said. “There’s not going to be much flash out here. We’re going to punch somebody in the mouth and we’re going to take some punches in the mouth and we’re going to see who’s still standing up,” he said. “We’re not going to be fancy.”

District A-7

1. Okemah (7-2)

2. Wewoka (10-1)

3. Konawa (8-3)

4. Allen (6-6)

5. Stroud (1-8)

6. Mounds (3-7)

T-7. Liberty (2-6)

T-7. Savanna (2-7)