Game Day: Southlake Carroll 24, Hurst L.D. Bell 17

The guy three rows in front of me at Dragon Stadium last night turned to a buddy as the 4^th  quarter wound to a sorry close, with Southlake Carroll in safe control of the ball and victory – sweet, precious victory – all but assured.

“This is the worst performance by a Southlake team in – maybe forever,” he opined as his friend nodded in glum agreement.

I can’t attest to the validity of the critique. After all, I’ve only watched every game the Dragons have played – give or take a contest or two – in the last decade. But in that time span, last night’s outing against the cellar-dwelling L.D. Bell Blue Raiders would have to rank high on the “boy, what an ugly game” list.

I sat and stewed for most of the night as the Dragon offense sputtered and stalled and the Dragon secondary leaked like a sieve, in the process making the Blue Raiders look like a playoff team, instead of the pitiable mutts they really are.

What the disappointed critic failed to acknowledge – something of which I continued to remind myself as the Dragons stumbled around the field like a drunken wino on Saturday night – was that they were without the services of their best player – star running back T.J. McDaniel.

You can’t lose players of the caliber of McDaniel without it having an impact on performance and outcome. On the other hand, this is a program that trumpets “the next guy up” philosophy, and that guy performed admirably last night. Besides, McDaniel's absence doesn't explain the Dragon defense's difficulty in grounding the Raider aerial assault.

You also have to give due credit to the Raiders for preparing well for their trip up SH 121 and for coming into the Dragons’ den last night fired up and eager to be a giant-killer. They very nearly were. But for a fumble at the Dragon 24 as they were moving steadily for the tying score, the Blue Raiders might have handed the Dragons the most humiliating of defeats on their cherished home field. And on Senior Night to boot.

It happened this way.

Bell had pulled within 7 midway in the 4^th quarter after kicker Juan Rodriguez booted a 25-yard field goal, bringing the score to 24-17. The Dragons’ subsequent drive went nowhere, ending with a 3^rd-down sack of quarterback Will Bowers (8-14, 118) at the 14. A short punt handed the Raiders, who now had their blood up, excellent field position at the Dragon 39.

Two plays later, Bell lined up at the 27 for the final push into the red zone when disaster struck. RB Beni Kabongo coughed up the ball as he fought for yardage at the 24, and opportunistic Dragon linebacker Matty Werner pounced on it with 2:41 on the clock.

Sighs of relief whooshed through my section of the stands as fans realized Carroll would escape the ordeal with a win, instead of a disgraceful loss.

The celebration – muted as it was by the Dragons’ subpar performance – was dulled even further by the knowledge that this was no way to prepare for next week’s showdown with the Hebron Hawks, 5-1 in District 5-6A play. The Hawks are loaded with talent and eager to soothe the sting of their defeat last week by the Trinity Trojans.

The Trojans, 6-0 in district, already have assured themselves a share of the district title. The winner of Hebron-Carroll could secure a portion of the crown. Both Hebron and Carroll carry 5-1 district tallies into next week’s matchup, the sole blemish on both teams’ records being at the hands of the Haka masters of Trinity.

Of course, in terms of the playoffs, the tilt with the Hawks has little impact.

The Dragons already are assured top seed in Division II, the “small school” unit of the 6A playoffs. That means they will face the second seed in District 6-6A in the first round. More importantly, they’ll play that game in the friendly confines of Dragon Stadium.

Don’t ask me who their bi-district opponent from 6-6A will be. Nothing much has been decided there going into the last regular season game, except that mighty Allen, a Division I lock, is district champ.

6-6A is chock-full of tough nuts to crack – Denton Guyer, McKinney, Plano and McKinney Boyd – so the first round will be no picnic, regardless. As things sort themselves out in 6-6A, the Dragons will have their hands full in readying for the Hawks.

The Bell game was supposed to be a restful sojourn, an opportunity to fine-tune things and let aching muscles and stretched tendons heal a little before confronting Hebron. It was never supposed to be the nail-biter it became.

After all, the Raiders have won only one game this season and were winless in 5-6A going into last night. They’re terrible and have been pushed around by everyone in the district.

But like the meek target of a schoolyard bully who finally decides to strike back, they arrived in Dragon Stadium spoiling for a fight.

What Southlake, hardly a bully but still one of the big dogs in 5-6A, thought would be a harmless  scuffle turned out to be a desperate knife fight.

Blame the coaches. Blame the kids. Heck, blame the alignment of the planets. Regardless, the Dragons misread their opponents, and it nearly cost them dearly.

 A simple statistic tells the tale quite well. The Raiders rolled up 335 total yards, mostly in the air, while the Dragons managed only 282.

Carroll mostly handled Bell’s rushing attack, limiting its leading runner, Zion Hardy, to only 38 yards on 18 carries. But Raider quarterback Mason Ornelas had his way with the Carroll secondary, completing 20 of 31 passes (65 percent) for 240 yards.

He stung the Dragon D with a flurry of passes into the mostly uncovered flats. His receivers played catch while Dragon defenders scurried hither and yon to little effect.

In contrast, Southlake’s offense never fully engaged. Bowers threw two TD passes, a 42-yarder to Carson White and a 19-yarder to Preston Forney. But many of his tosses were off target, and his receivers dropped several catchable throws.

On the ground, senior RB Tavian Gould, tapped to fill in for the missing McDaniel, took full advantage of his Senior Night starting role, carrying 22 times for 115 yards and a TD.

I’ve been hard on the Dragons, and I'm feeling a bit guilty about that. They’re only kids, after all, and much of the responsibility for last night’s dismal showing should be shouldered by head coach Hal Wasson and his assistant coaches, who apparently were looking beyond the modest Bell to the more imposing Hawks of Hebron.

They were lucky. If the Raiders had been even slightly more talented, the Dragons would have been nursing embarrassing lumps on their collective head today.

Next week, we battle crosstown Metroplex traffic to enjoy – I hope – a matchup that promises to be a fitting finale to the regular season.

Go Dragons!