Game Day: Southlake Carroll 38, Coppell 37 (2OT!)

When Southlake Carroll head coach Hal Wasson decided, on the Dragons’ last drive of regular play last night, with his team trailing the Coppell Cowboys 24-21, to go for the tie and not the win, my gut told me it would all come to nothing.

Carroll’s gutsy comeback from a 17-point deficit, its offense’s dramatic turnaround from a sluggish and uninspired first half, its young defense’s stubborn, never-give-up perseverance in the face of a talented, disciplined and determined Coppell squad would be wasted. And Southlake players and fans would have to creep out of hated Buddy Echols Field with our tails between our legs.

So much for my gut.

The Dragons, bless ’em, skipped out of Coppell last night with a win, but not until after they broke a hated opponent’s collective heart in double overtime and firmly established their reputation as down-to-the-wire heroes.

Coppell folks probably consider the Dragons as little more than thieves, stealing a victory they didn’t deserve, and those folks ain’t all wrong. Carroll’s undistinguished first half – where it committed three turnovers, all resulting in Cowboy scores – foreshadowed a different outcome. A casual observer at Echols Field last night saw a Coppell squad marching the field with authority and an off-tempo Southlake team sputtering and stumbling to little effect.

Of course, Coppell had more than a little to do with the Dragons’ lackluster effort.

Coppell’s talented quarterback, Brady McBride, son of former head coach Joe McBride, now athletic director, and the potent running duo of Joe Fex (32 carries for 156 yards) and Brandon Rice (20/119), coming off a broken-leg injury, smashed repeatedly through the middle of Carroll’s undersized D-line, rumbling for a combined four TDs.

Meanwhile, junior Dragon quarterback Mason Holmes chose the Coppell game to have a letdown in the stellar command he’s displayed at the helm of Carroll’s impressive offensive array in the last three games. The Cowboys contributed to his distress. Their talented linebackers harassed him all night, and their secondary blanketed his receiving corps.

He ended the evening with 318 yards passing and four TDs. But a more telling statistic was his passing percentage against Coppell, a relatively paltry 48 percent, compared to his usual 60+. Much of his output came during the crucial fourth quarter and the two OT periods.

Coppell also effectively countered offensive star Lil’ Jordan Humphrey most of the night, holding him to 78 yards rushing and 34 yards passing and a single TD, although it was the decisive one in the second OT.

When the Cowboys tacked on a 25-yard field goal with three minutes left in the third quarter to extend their lead to 17, things looked particularly bleak. As I watched the Coppell players celebrate, I started thinking about making an early exit to escape the post-game traffic jam in Echol’s atrocious parking lot.

I'm glad I stayed. At that point, the dormant Dragon offense stirred to life. The composed Holmes engineered two critical scoring drives, the first of which got the Dragons back in the game and the second of which brought them within 3 of the reeling Cowboys. Offensive standout of the night WR Zach Farrar was the hero on both drives, catching passes of 76 and 34 yards, respectively.

He also was responsible for the Dragons’ only bright spot in the dismal first half, catching a Holmes pass with a Cowboy defender draped across him, then wrestling free and darting 57 yards to the end zone.

Farrar, who is having a terrific year, ended the night with eight catches and 222 yards and the three aforementioned TDs.

When Southlake took its final possession of the ball with 2:34 in regulation and two timeouts left, it was perfectly positioned to go for the win. Moving decisively into Coppell territory, it muscled into the red zone and set up shop. But at that point, Dragon coaches let 30 seconds tick off the clock without calling a timeout, and it was clear the conservative Wasson had decided to settle for a tie game and gamble his kids could out shoot the Cowboys in OT.

Many of us wondered if that was a smart gamble. Coppell, playing at home in front of a boisterous home crowd (its student section is renowned for its shenanigans), had demonstrated its ability to carve big gains on the ground. By contrast, the Dragons’ rushing game had been bottled up, with the Cowboys effectively game-planning the explosive Humphrey and his sturdy teammate, Shemar Coleman. The vertical effectiveness of its passing game, meanwhile, was limited by the short field in OT, where both teams start 25 yards from the end zone.

Coppell easily scored first in OT. For Southlake, however, nothing came easy last night. Facing a do-or-die fourth down at the 7-yard line, Holmes found a falling Kam Duhon in the end zone and sent the affair into a second OT, 31-31.

That’s when Humphrey scored his first and only TD of the night, twisting and tweaking for 11 yards to paydirt. Taking over next, Coppell moved swiftly inside the 10, where Fex surged five yards to bring the score to 38-37.

Instead of relying on yet another OT, Coppell head coach Mike DeWitt put the game in the hands of his quarterback, McBride (7 of 16 passes for 108 and 1 TD; 14 carries for 91), and his RB juggernauts, Rice and Fex. Considering their success all evening, it seemed perfectly logical. You could hear a pin drop in the Carroll section as we waited breathlessly for the snap.

McBride took the ball on an option read, surged to the left behind a pair of blockers and headed for glory. But Dragon safety Robert Barnes, who had a monster night, sliced through the line and spoiled the party, nailing McBride well short of the end zone.

Cue the Carroll alma mater and the post-game celebration in front of the Dragon Marching Band.

Homecoming is next Friday and signals a welcome return to the hospitable confines of Dragon Stadium. Southlake hosts the Richland Rebels, who hopefully will pose a bit of a homecoming breather for the road-weary Dragons.

The respite, if such it is, will be short-lived, however. On Oct. 16, the Dragons take a short jaunt down SH121 to Pennington Field in Bedford to play the Euless Trinity Trojans in a contest that could well determine the winner of District 7-6A.

Anyone who loves high school football looks forward to matchups between the Dragons and the Trojans. They always produce football magic.

But first up, the Rebels. Time to bring on the mega-mums, it’s HOMECOMING! Go Dragons!