IRVING – Tucker Carter held the football high and smiled while getting mauled by teammates as the Texas Stadium clocks ticked to all zeroes. He got the job done when others questioned his ability to lead.

Carter, Allen's reserve quarterback, filled in well for injured starter Matt Brown and led Allen to a 28-22 win over Odessa Permian in a 5A Division I Region I semifinal thriller Friday.

The win put Allen (12-1) a win away from the state semifinals. Allen will play Euless Trinity or Arlington next week. Permian finished its season 12-1.

Carter's passing stats were respectable. He completed 10 of 16 for 199 yards and two touchdowns while filling in for Brown, who suited up but didn't play after suffering a collarbone injury last week.

"On this team, we think the backups are just as good as the starters," Carter, a junior, said. "There was nothing I wanted more than to help out my good friend, Matt Brown."

Carter's second touchdown pass of the day, a 40-yarder to Bradlee Waddell, gave Allen a 28-10 lead with 5:12 left in the third quarter. It came immediately after Permian scored its first touchdown 55 seconds earlier.

"He's an awesome kid," Allen coach Tom Westerberg said of Carter. "He's a coach's son, so he's been around football for a long time. He has a lot of confidence, and we have confidence in him."

Along with Carter, Jeremiah Williams was a catalyst for Allen's offense. Williams rushed for 70 yards and a score and also caught Carter's first touchdown pass, a 5-yarder in the first quarter.

Texas A&M-bound receiver Uzoma Nwachukwu also scored for Allen on a 16-yard end-around. Allen finished with 303 total yards.

Permian trailed by 18 in the fourth quarter but used two Sherard Ray touchdown runs to trim the lead.

Ray scored three times in the second half – on runs of 11, 4 and 6 yards – and finished the game with 256 yards on 30 carries.

Permian outgained Allen by 163 yards and recorded seven more first downs.

Allen's bend-but-don't-break defense, however, did just enough to hold off Permian's rally.

On fourth-and-5, Permian's Ryan Rumbaugh caught a short pass from Trevor Adams but was stopped inches short of the first down. Allen took over with 1:31 left to play and ran the clock out with three victory formations.

"We played a really good team," Westerberg said. "When we got it down to fourth-and-5, we knew we had to make one stop if we wanted to go to the next round.

"Sometimes, the inches go for you. Sometimes, against you."