I’ve seen my fair share of football games, but nothing could have prepared me for entering the cathedral that is Eagle Stadium.

While in Dallas, I attended Allen High School‘s semi-final playoff game against nearby Hebron High School on Nov. 17.

Friday night lights deep in the heart of Texas is truly unlike anything else. Where else do you find Coca-Cola sponsored jumbotrons, thousands of cheering fans decked out in jerseys of their favorite players and banners touting national championships in a high school? Yes, you read that correctly — high school. 

The stadium was packed with navy adorned spectators, as if the entire county was in attendance. Eagle Stadium, Allen’s home field, holds 18,000 and cost $60 million to construct. You know it’s pretty important when a football field has its own Wikipedia page.

The hour on the game clock was like stepping into another world. A world where getting a first down was life or death. A world where Tim Riggins, Buddy Garrity and Coach Eric Taylor of “Friday Night Lights” would’ve fit right in.

Generations of families anxiously watched their sons, brothers and grandsons squeeze through gaps and run for the end zone. They breathed football.

I sat behind a father and his four-year-old son, as he coached the little boy through each play that the Allen Eagles ran. The snap, the handoff, the blocks, the run.

Above us boosters in balcony level reserved seats nervously tapped their feet, hoping that the Eagles would remain undefeated.

It was strange to think that the boys on the field were my age and many even younger. They seemed to carry the weight of the world and the expectations of the entire community.

Many middle-aged men in attendance still wore their own high school championship rings — slightly dulled with age but still golden and glittering.

I met another four-year-old boy, who told me his sister was a cheerleader. He and his parents came to the game each week. They all had custom bedazzled shirts with the beloved cheerleader’s name in big letters. When asked if he wanted to play football too, the little boy just giggled and nodded. Of course he did; it’s Allen, Texas, after all.

Even the bands were bigger. At halftime, all 780 members of Allen’s marching band rushed the field and carried out meticulously choreographed routines. The green turf turned into a sea of black feathers and blue jackets. Fans cheered almost as wildly as they did for the players when the band got into its ending formation: the letters E, A, G, L, E, S covering all 100 yards of the pristine field.

But soon enough, the show was over, and it was back to football.

The teams’ return to the field rivaled the NFL, complete with 60-foot-tall inflatable tunnels and smoke machines.

The game itself was intense. The players could have held their own against many Division I college teams, and each play was brutal and hard fought. A few players went down over the course of the game, and each time an injury occurred, silence filled the otherwise raging stadium. It was a moment of calm and fear in the midst of celebration. Everyone on the field took a knee and medical staff rushed to the injured boy.

Soon enough, the eerie stillness was broken by the band bursting into the fight song, “All I Do is Win” or “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” The boy hobbled off the field, and attention was back to moving the chains.

Elderly spectators in wheelchairs and attached to oxygen tanks cheered for their team each time the number on the scoreboard rose.

What surprised me most though was quarterback Clayton Tune on the Hebron side. It wasn’t his field, he endured heavily biased refs and his team was down — but he never gave up. He ran, he threw and he took a few sacks — but his relentless efforts didn’t go unnoticed. At times the rest of his team crumbled, but he was there to pick up the pieces until the final whistle blew.

48-17 Allen, the final score read.

The players exchanged handshakes — some good natured, others not so much. And the last thing I saw before leaving the stadium were the Eagles huddled, praying.

Allen proceeded deeper into the state championship playoff, playing against South Grand Prairie in the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium playoff. Allen won 28-14, extended their winning streak and playoff run.

I’m sure many Eagles dream about playing for Cowboys themselves, but for most, the season is the end of a chapter. It is their last moments in a navy jersey, last time scoring a touchdown and last glimpse of high school greatness.

Correction (Nov. 30, 5:40): The original version of this article state that Allen won the state championship. That mistake has been corrected to state that the Eagles defeated South Grand Prairie to extend their playoff run. Next, the team will face Martin in the regional level of the playoff.