Area Playoffs: Southlake Carroll 58, Denton Guyer 42

For many high school football programs, just getting to the playoffs is a worthy goal to set at the beginning of any season.

Not so for Southlake Carroll and the rest of the state’s elite football schools. Their mission is not just to make the playoffs, but to make a deep run into the post season and to be in the hunt for the ultimate prize – a state championship.

So playing until after Thanksgiving – or, put another way, making the third round of the six-game playoffs in Texas – is a significant milestone, and one achieved early this morning by the Southlake Carroll Dragons.

And they did it in handy fashion, dominating a solid Denton Guyer squad with high playoff aspirations.

Led by senior quarterback Ryan Agnew, the Dragon offense was a well-oiled machine, scoring on each of its first seven possessions and jumping to a 31-7 lead by the last third of the second quarter.

Agnew, who struggled during the first half of last week’s contest against Mansfield, came roaring out of the gate against Guyer, completing 21 of 24 passes for 241 yards. He passed for one score and rushed for another two.

Stellar running back Lil’ Jordan Humphrey had a monster game, rumbling to 176 yards on 26 carries and scoring three touchdowns. He also proved to be a key Agnew receiver, catching five throws for 50 yards.

Meanwhile, Carroll’s Big Guys stopped Guyer’s high-octane offense when it had to. The Wildcats' sophomore phenom quarterback, Shawn Robinson, was everything he was billed to be, a dazzling pinpoint passer with a rocket arm and a bewitching runner with speed and guile. Robinson had a hand in all six of Guyer’s touchdowns, passing for five and rushing for another.

But while he finished the night with 404 passing yards and 101 rushing, much of that production came in the second half, when the Wildcats were chasing the steady Dragons. Significantly, in the critical first half, when Carroll was building its early – and ultimately insurmountable – lead, Robinson was held to only 137 yards.

The Wildcats, who had easy pickings in District 5-6A and roared past Plano in the first round, responded to their first real challenge of the season with a sloppy, mistake-strewn first half.

On Guyer’s second possession, Dragon safety Kevin Cramer snagged a Robinson pass, setting up a 12-yard throw from Agnew to Ryan McGiboney, who led Carroll receivers with eight catches for 97 yards. Later, the Dragon D stalled a Wildcat drive at mid-field. A high snap sent to ball sailing over the punter’s head, and the Dragons recovered on the Guyer 18. Five plays later, Agnew darted three yards for the score.

The Wildcats were reeling but far from out. They scored on the last play of the first half and on the first play of the second to cut Carroll’s lead to 31-21. But that would be as close as they would get.

The Dragons, who had survived a desperate17-point comeback in the first round against the upstart Mansfield Tigers, were determined to avoid any similar last-minute dramatics. Rushing scores by Agnew and Humphrey in the third quarter tamed the striving Wildcats.

Most forecasters had predicted a Guyer win, believing the Carroll defense would be unable to corral Robinson and the blistering Wildcat offense, which never scored less than 40 points in any game it played, including this, its last one.

But this Dragon squad is a never-say-die bunch that has found a way to win all year, piling up narrow victories against such stalwart opponents as Austin Westlake, Tulsa Union, Coppell and Trinity.

Now, it will travel to Waco on Saturday to meet the San Angelo Central Bobcats in McLane Stadium on the banks of the Brazos. Nothing is easy at this point in the playoffs, but the Dragons should be favorites in that matchup.

Personally, I seek balm on Saturday for bitter high school memories of watching the high-stepping Bobcats smash the Big Spring Steers year after year in the West Texas district known as the Little Southwest Conference.

Particularly vivid is the memory of one Central fan, a huge fellow with barrel chest and beer belly who arrived at Steer Stadium one year with his shaved head painted a bright Bobcat orange. His obscene taunts and antics still stick in my craw all these years later. Funny how some things stay with you, isn’t it?

If the Dragons get past the Bobcats, and they should, they’ll face either Abilene or Cedar Hill in the fourth round, setting up yet another classic confrontation with a familiar foe.

Roasted turkey on Thursday and fricasseed Bobcat on Saturday. Now that would be a Thanksgiving feast, indeed. Go Dragons!