The Allen Mustangs varsity football team will kick off its 100 ^th season with a battle against the Lexington Bulldogs Friday.

The non-district game is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Lexington.

The Mustangs were originally scheduled to open the season at Tishomingo September 4 ^th , but the Indians are under quarantine due to a coach recently testing positive for COVID-19.

Allen players and coaches are looking forward to the upcoming season, while putting the disappointing 2019 season in the rearview mirror. The Mustangs went 3-7 overall last year, and 1-6 in a tough Class A District 7.

Injuries were a big reason why Allen missed the playoffs last year but, as a silver lining, plenty of younger Mustangs got valuable playing experience.

“We have a pretty good nucleus of players coming back that got some good experience last year,” Head Coach Rob Green said. “Throw in what we feel like is a really good freshman class, we’re feeling pretty good about things.”

Green said the Mustangs will be quicker and faster overall as a team.

“I think that’s one area that we really got exposed last year against the faster teams,” he said.

Allen won’t just be quicker and faster as a team, but will have good size as well, on both offense and defense. Linemen will be Trent Fronterhouse (6-5, 330), Brody Wallis (6-4, 245), Kylan Sanders (5-11, 215), Clayton Shackleford (5-11, 230), Rodey Arnold (5-11, 225), Gage Husband (5-9, 190) and Ethan Roniss (6-0, 203).

The Mustangs have had two scrimmages -- against Porter and Wyandotte on August 21 ^st , and Healdton on August 27 ^th .

Green was pleased with the scrimmages, especially the second one.

“The biggest thing that I liked was, we got better from scrimmage one to scrimmage two,” Green said. “And so I felt like we had a little bit better plan of what we’re trying to do, and what we were wanting to do. We had a little bit better composure to us.”

The Mustangs have a slew of seniors on the team, however, freshman Garrett Nix will take the reins at quarterback.

Green was impressed with Nix’s play during the scrimmages.

“He did very well,” Green said. “He got better from week one to week two, as far as the scrimmages went. And, Garrett runs the ball well. Before it’s all said and done, he’ll develop into a very good passer too.”

Green said as is often the case early in a season, the defensive play is a little ahead of the offense.

“I think we’ll get the right people in the right places,” Green said, “and I feel like this last scrimmage they really did well and put us in a good situation to be successful.”

Last year, the Lexington Bulldogs went 6-5 overall and were 5-2 in Class 2A District 7 Football Standings. However, because teams change from year to year, the Mustangs have been studying how the Bulldogs played in this year’s first two scrimmages in preparation for Friday night’s game.

Allen’s official home opener is scheduled for September 11 ^th against Stratford. The Mustangs are scheduled to round out the non-district schedule at home against Canadian September 18 ^th , and district play begins September 25 ^th at Mounds, according to the current schedule.