Game Day: Southlake Carroll 52, Midland Lee 14

There are some who would say that when you have a 45-7 lead midway in the fourth quarter – with your opponent on the ropes and gasping for breath – it’s bad form to go for a touchdown on fourth down inside the five-yard line.

But the Southlake Carroll Dragons did just that last night in their pre-district contest against the woeful Midland Lee Rebels. And I think it was the right thing to do.

Last night’s game, an example of total domination by the Dragons, ended any lingering doubt about who Carroll’s starting quarterback is and provided the latest showcase for the heavily recruited talents of one Lil’ Jordan Humphrey.

But before we get into the particulars, let’s revisit the decision facing the Dragons in the fourth quarter, fourth down on the 2-yard line, 6 minutes on the clock. By that time, Carroll’s offensive starters were long gone, and backups were in the game, including seniors Montana Murphy at quarterback and Alex Simpson at running back.

Montana had marched the Dragons smartly down field, showing with his feet and his arm why he competed so strongly with junior QB Mason Holmes for the starting job. Most of us, I think, expected head coach Hal Wasson, a conservative guy with conventional instincts, to call in his kicker, junior Kole Rampage (ably standing in for senior Jake Oldroyd), for the chip-shot field goal.

Instead, Murphy stayed behind center and handed off to Simpson, who bullied the ball over the goal line, extending Carroll’s lead over the hapless Rebels to 52-7 after Rampage’s PAT.

An example of bad sportsmanship – running up the score on a prostrate foe long after the final result had been determined?

Nope, says I, for three reasons, one serious and two more subjective and personal.

First and foremost, Southlake had pulled most of its starters by the fourth quarter, giving its backups the opportunity they yearn for most – to play the game they love before their parents and friends.

Hamstringing these youngsters – who largely work in the shadows of their more accomplished teammates, but whose contributions to the program’s success are essential – with conservative play-calling and deliberate attempts to keep the score down seem churlish and unfair.

On a more practical note, it also hampers their development, should the time come when they are called upon to step into the glare of Friday night lights when a starter goes down.

So when Murphy and his teammates entered the game, they had every right, despite the lopsided score, to expect they would be allowed to play to the full extent of their talent and abilities. Thankfully, they were.

The fact that Midland Lee’s winded starters couldn’t stop them from extending the Dragon lead is something for the Rebels to worry about, not the Southlake sideline.

Secondly, and this is where we leave the realm of Xs and Os, any school named after the commanding general of Confederate forces during the Civil War, whose team is named the Rebels and whose fight song is, so help me God, “Dixie,” well, it gets what it deserves.

It’s 2015, folks, even in the dusty wilds of West Texas, time to enter the 21^st century and way past time to abandon such reminders of the painful legacy of slavery and its enduring scar on our nation’s psyche.

And lastly, as I have relayed here before, I have history with Midland Lee and none of it is good. Back in the day, Lee was a stalwart member of the West Texas district known then as the Little Southwest Conference. It competed yearly for district with such schools as Abilene High, Abilene Cooper, San Angelo Central and Odessa Permian, which was at least a decade away from its heyday at the apex of Texas high school football.

My school, lowly Big Spring High, was the weak sister of the district, and the Steers were regularly kicked around by the Big Boys on the Block. And none of them did so with more distain, arrogance and gusto than the despised Rebels.

So when Southlake Carroll gives Lee a serious ass-whupping, which it does with some regularity these days, it does my aging heart good. I consider it long-overdue payback.

All of which made last night’s game all the more enjoyable. I stayed in my seat until the closing second, me and the players’ moms and dads relishing every moment of the crushing win.

Holmes, in only his second varsity game, performed masterfully, throwing for five touchdowns and completing 20 of 30 passes for 285 yards.

He set the tone for the game during the Dragons’ first two possessions, going 6-for-6 and engineering clockwork drives that both ended in touchdowns, one a 10-yard toss to Humphrey and the second a 16-yard throw to senior Zach Farrah.

In light of his performance in the last two games – including his role in the Dragons’ dramatic come-from-behind victory against Tulsa Union last week – Wasson told the Star Telegram after the game, “Mason is our guy.”

The other undisputed star of the game was Humphrey, who caught eight passes for 133 yards and three touchdowns and led in rushing with 156 yards and another TD. The out-matched Rebels had no answer for Humphrey, whether he was slipping through defenders for major yardage or bedeviling their secondary with key receptions.

Carroll’s undersized D-line, call them the Not-So-Big-Guys, had trouble stopping the Rebels running game. Lee RB Ashton Akbar rolled to 137 yards and one TD, and quarterback Sema’J Davis tacked on another 67.

But it stopped the Rebels when it counted, sacking Davis in key situations and keeping Akbar out of the end zone, mostly. The exception came in the first quarter, when Akbar skittered through the front line, zipped past befuddled Dragon linebackers and sprinted 78 yards for the Rebels’ only touchdown against Carroll starters. Their second TD came during trash time late in the fourth quarter.

The Dragons are idle next week. Then it’s a road trip west to face the Abilene Eagles in fabled Shotwell Stadium. The Eagles are another blast from my past, a storied West Texas program that is disciplined and well coached. They knocked the Dragons out of the playoffs in 2007, ending Carroll’s famed Run of three straight state championships.

They always play rough and tough, particularly at home, but the tested Dragons are well positioned to give them a run for their money. Needless to say, a win in Abilene would provide welcome momentum as Carroll prepares for District 7-6A play, facing Coppell on Oct. 2 and Euless Trinity on Oct. 16. Go Dragons!