The varsity football team won their playoff game last Friday for the first time in 32 years against Haltom high school. Next up will be Allen High School this Friday at McKinney ISD Stadium.

“This was a great opponent,” head coach Kendrick Holloway said. “So we really appreciate this victory.”

Players said winning the playoff game felt amazing because they got to change the narrative about the football team.

“We’re making history at Richardson High School,” senior linebacker Michael Johnson said.

Holloway said going into the playoff game they decided to lean on their run game but also use some quick passes to their receivers in the space and let them do what they do.

Senior running back Keyshon Polk said throughout the game he stayed focused and didn’t let his first playoff game experience get in his head.

“I’m just glad that I stayed locked in, and I didn’t let that affect me,” he said.

Johnson said despite the team staying disciplined on the field, they could improve their ball security by keeping the ball high and holding onto it. The team will be running ball security drills every day throughout this week to work on it.

Holloway said the team leaned on their key players during the game. He told his coaching staff to give junior offensive player Dameon Crowe the ball and let him do what he does.

“He’s a special talent,” Holloway said. “Explosive [and] really, really fast.”

He also said they used senior running back Kevin Willingham more, and he responded by continuing to work hard.

“I always tell those guys, ‘hey, you’re always one play away from being the guy,'” Holloway said. “‘So prepare yourself.'”

He said during the Haltom game there was some frustration from the players and coaches which came from their passion, and that they had to execute well for the game.

“The kids wanted it so bad, not only for themselves, but for our school and for our community,” Holloway said.

Holloway said in the first half of the game, he had to make adjustments because as head coach, he had to put his players in the best situation to where they can execute.

Polk said the coaches have done a great job preparing them for every situation by making sure anything they see on game day is something they’ve seen in practice.

“When stuff gets hard, we just go back to what we know how to do,” Polk said.

Holloway said to prepare for their next game against Allen high school, the team is going to watch more film, come up with a game plan, see how they can improve, and take care of themselves.

“We’re coming off a great win,” Holloway said. “So we’re going to actually take this momentum that we got tonight, build off of it [and] learn from it.”

Junior defensive line Yusha Alam said everyone’s excited for the game against Allen because it’s a chance to show what they can do and how good they are.

Holloway said from ever since he started his head coaching job, he spent more time with the players and told them that they’re “laying the foundation” for something special here at Richardson.

“They worked hard from day one, and they were hungry to be a winner,” Holloway said.

Players said it was amazing to see the football team turn around and how looking back, the foundation they laid helped Richardson to be great.

“All the younger kids, they’re going to come up and they’re going to do the same thing that we’re doing because they see that it can be done,” Johnson said.