Bi-District Playoffs: Southlake Carroll 38, Mansfield 31

Friends sometimes ask why I’m such a fan of high school football. The answer is complicated.

It has to do with the pageantry of Friday night lights – gridiron action, marching bands, high-stepping drill teams and back-flipping cheerleaders. With memories of watching games in the wind-blown West Texas stadiums of my youth. With a nostalgic affection for the concept of players motivated by school spirit, team loyalty and comradeship rather than fame and money.

And then there are classic contests like last night’s matchup between the Southlake Carroll Dragons and the Mansfield Tigers.

Hollywood scriptwriters couldn’t have written it any better:  Carroll, a highly ranked team with a storied past, winner of eight state championships, is initially humbled in the bi-district round of the playoffs by Mansfield, a second-seed team that proved itself a giant-killer when it knocked off Cedar Hill, last year’s state champions, earlier in the season.

Then the Dragons, trailing 24-7 with 5 minutes left in the third quarter, stage a dramatic, spine-tingling comeback, led by the quarterback who had been intercepted three times earlier in the game. That quarterback throws the winning touchdown pass with 13 seconds left.

See what I mean? How can you NOT love a game that provides week-in, week-out that kind of drama, emotion and nerve-jarring entertainment?

Last night’s contest – or more precisely, the last 17 minutes of it – easily qualifies as one of the Dragons’ best playoff efforts. It takes its rightful place with the double-overtime win against Allen in the second round of the 2009 playoffs, a back-and-forth affair that ended with Carroll cornerback Justin Agnew stopping a game-winning two-point conversion by the Eagles.

By the way, Justin Agnew is the brother of Dragon quarterback Ryan Agnew, who staged the Dragons’ last-gasp comeback last night. I’m telling you, folks, you can’t make this stuff up.

For most of three quarters, the Tigers mauled the Dragons, keeping their offense off-balance and out-of-sync and feasting on the harassed Agnew’s hurried throws. Meanwhile, its swift and crushing running game, led by sophomore Kennedy Brooks, who ended the night with 231 yards on 29 carries and two TDs, shredded their defense. He averaged 8 yards a carry, and the Dragons only managed to slow him in the fourth. They never stopped him.

It’s tempting to say that the Dragons simply were flat during the first half, with the Agnew-led offense out of rhythm and the defense stiff and sluggish.

 But the truth is Mansfield was a beast, a truly talented, well-coached and highly motivated team that wasn’t intimidated in the least by the Dragons’ unbeaten record and bulging trophy case. And why should it be: Only two weeks ago, it soundly defeated district rival Cedar Hill, the defending state champion and another obstacle the Dragons must surpass if they are to win a ninth state championship.

To be honest, when the Tigers pulled 17 points ahead of the Dragons half-way through the third period, I figured the season was over. Mansfield was just too strong on offense and too stingy on defense for Carroll to make up the difference in the time remaining.

I should have had more faith in Agnew and his teammates, who decided they didn’t want their season to end and who set about making sure it didn’t.

Agnew’s dad, who was sitting in front of me and certainly is no stranger to dramatic Dragon finishes, had faith. While I was sitting dejected and depressed in my seat, he was on his feet, urging the Dragons on and appearing – to this observer at least – to be as cool and confident as if he were watching spring practice.

As if flipping on a switch, the Dragon offense came alive. As the third quarter came to a close, Agnew (21-34, 344 yards) completed the first of his four TDs passes for the night, a 36-yard toss to WR Parker Fentiss, who finished with 97 yards and two TDs.

Now trailing 24-14, the Dragons recovered the ensuing on-side kick, but had to settle for a 33-yard field goal by the stalwart Jake Oldroyd to pull within a touchdown.

But Mansfield refused to go down quietly. Starting its next drive on the 14-yard line, Tiger quarterback Aaron Funk shoved the ball into Brooks’ gut, and the soph darted around the right corner and outraced the entire Dragon backfield 86 yards to the end zone.

Brooks’ heroics could have snuffed out any comeback effort, but the Dragons, now behind two TDs with less than seven minutes to play, took the setback in stride. Agnew responded with a 33-yard pass to Fentiss with 5½ minutes to play.

After forcing the Tigers into a 3-and-out, the Dragons mounted a play that probably epitomized the entire game – a desperate, glorious struggle ending in triumph. Starting at his own 24, Agnew was flushed from the pocket and evaded tacklers as he sought an open receiver. Narrowly avoiding a tackle at his own goal line, he found RB Lil’ Jordan Humphrey, who juked and jerked his way 76 yards for the tying score, but not before strong-arming one pursuer at the 10 and bulling past another at the 1 to stretch into paydirt.

The Dragons once again stopped Mansfield, forcing the dazed Tigers to punt with 1:43 left in the game. Carroll marched the field, fighting to the Mansfield 31 before using its last timeout to stop the clock with 19 seconds left.

Time to turn to the dependable Oldroyd to kick the winning field goal, right?

Nope. When the Dragons returned to the field, it was clear they were going to gamble they had time for one more shot before setting up the 3-pointer.

With bated breath – to be honest, I hadn’t drawn an easy lungful of air for most of the last half – the Dragon faithful waited for the snap. And there it was. Agnew dropped back and found WR Tariq Gordon in the end zone. End of game. Dragons win.

So the Dragons advance to the Area Round and face Denton Guyer back in the Death Star next Saturday. They’ve faced Guyer before and have no reason to love the Wildcats. Guyer ended Carroll’s deep playoff run in 2010 and handed the Dragons a rare defeat on their home turf earlier that season.

Perhaps it’s time for some payback. I’d like to think so. But it won’t be easy. These are the Texas high school football playoffs, and the road to any state championship is rough and rocky. Go Dragons!