“Who
are these guys?” a bewildered Southlake Carroll fan inquired last night as the end
of the first half against the Richland Rebels neared.
It
had been that kind of half, an uncharacteristically sloppy performance by the
Dragons on both sides of the ball. If the normally high-flying offense hadn’t
been in a coma during most of the first half, Carroll could have hung 50 on the
hapless Rebels.
Instead,
the score read 10-0 at intermission, and it took the high-energy, high kick
routine of the Emerald Belles to bring Dragon fans out of their stupor.
When
the Carroll squad was a few minutes late to the sidelines after halftime, some
of us wondered if the delay had been caused by dressing-room tirades of both
offensive and defensive coordinators aimed at their semi-comatose charges.
This
kind of lackadaisical performance against Euless Trinity next week will be calamitous,
indeed. Get lazy and soft against the Trojans, and they will hand you your head
whilst kicking your butt before stepping over your twitching body to get a sip
of Gatorade.
Of
course, the Dragons know what’s at stake and will be ready for the Trojans, who
come to Dragon Stadium next week for the game that most probably will decide
who wins super district 7-6A. Both teams stand undefeated, and both squads
respect and admire each other.
At
least they did before they were placed in the same district. The extraordinary
playoff rivalry that Trinity and Carroll have enjoyed in three meetings since
2006 has only enhanced the “hale-fellow-well-met” relationship. Yearly battles
for district supremacy may transform the warm and fuzzy jabber into something else
entirely. We’ll see.
But
back to Richland, which had made some noise in district play, entering the
Birdville Fine Arts/Athletic Complex last night with a 2-0 district record. Of
course, those wins were against L.D. Bell and Haltom, both still winless in
district.
But
some of us feared this was a perfect trap game. It was easy to image the
Dragons – coming off the emotional high of a close win over Coppell last week
and with the Trinity showdown looming – could look past the Rebels.
That
might be a problem, particularly since Richland’s top running back, Deandre
Clark, had rolled up 200 yards rushing in each of its last two games. And when
Carroll came out of the gate last night like a drunken OU or UT fan in downtown
Dallas, we all shifted a little nervously in our seats.
But
we needn’t have worried. Richland was overmatched in every category. Here are a
couple of eye-opening statistics from the Carroll radio-broadcasting crew: The
Rebels never managed more than one first down and never gained more than 17
yards on any of their offensive series. For his part, Clark only managed 20
yards, a little less than half of Richland’s total offensive gain: 57 yards.
The
night belonged to the Dragons. RB Lil’ Jordan Humphrey was terrific, running roughshod over the
Rebel D-Line while racking up 224 rushing yards and three TDs. Senior backup Deondre
Wiltshire, Carroll’s speediest RB, came in at half and demonstrated why he
should get more playing time, scoring two rushing TDs against the Rebel
starters.
Quarterback
Ryan Agnew, still wearing a leg brace from an injury in the Abilene game two
weeks ago, showed a return to his pre-injury form in several scampers. Aloft,
he completed 8 of 13 throws for 112 yards.
And
let’s not forget backup quarterback Montana Murphy, who spelled Agnew at the
beginning of the fourth. Murphy, Agnew’s likely successor next year, has a
cannon for an arm, throws the long ball with good accuracy and ain’t a half-bad
scrambler. We’ll be hearing a lot more about this lad, I’ll betcha.
Southlake
fans, who probably outnumbered the Richland faithful in their own stadium,
spent a lot of time last night checking weather radar on their cell phones. A
cool wind kicked up the second half – dispelling the warm, humid air that had
most of us sitting in sweat – but the rains held off until everyone was safely
out of the parking lot and on the way home.
I
choose to consider that a good omen for next week against Trinity. Go Dragons!
No comments:
Post a Comment