Region I Final: Waco Midway 42, Southlake Carroll 28

I didn’t travel to Baylor’s McLane Stadium yesterday to watch the fourth-round matchup between Southlake Carroll and Waco Midway, wary of a late-night return on traffic-choked Interstate 35. I’m not as young or as adventurous as I used to be.

Shame on me, though, because I missed a real barnburner, one that revealed what a special group of young men this year’s version of the Dragons truly is. Character is revealed both in victory – and in defeat. And the young Dragons now leave the playoffs as winners, heads held high, despite the heartbreaking results displayed above.

In considering this game beforehand – and in contemplating the likely subject matter this report would involve – I thought about Dylan Thomas’ immortal poem – his best – “Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night.”

I figured, I hoped, the Dragons would give a good accounting of themselves, that they would “rage, rage against the dying of the light,” in a contest no one believed they could win.

After all, the Panthers were just too strong, too talented, too intensely focused on winning the first state championship in their excellent program’s history. The Dragons, on the other hand, were – in the words of a friend of mine – “playing on house money.” They already had exceeded expectations, performing well beyond the level of their ability just by making the fourth round of the playoffs. Besides, their best player, rusher T.J. McDaniel, was sidelined with a broken collarbone.

In the beginning, things went pretty much as predicted. If you relied on the eye test – or in my particular case the ear test since I was listening to the radio broadcast of the game – you weren’t in much doubt as to who was the better team as the confident Midway sprang to a 21-0 lead over the struggling Dragons.

The Panthers won the contest sure enough. But it wasn’t an easy victory, by any means, and the proud Dragons have nothing to be ashamed of. They fought to the end, and their dramatic 3^rd quarter comeback was a marvelous thing to behold for Dragon fans. They evened a three-TD deficit, and when Midway struck back quickly, they kept the score close until the very end.

The heralded Midway offense, led by quarterback Tanner Mordecai, arrived as advertised at McLane Stadium. Mordecai, who came into the game with 1,000 yards rushing and 3,600 yards passing, is a beast. He’ll do well at the next level, which in his case is Oklahoma.

He and running back James Fulbright (28 carries for 157 yards and 1 TD), performed behind a stout and talented O-line, riddling Dragon defenses for most of the night. Mordecai was equally effective in the air, connecting with receivers Demarcus Degrate (5 for 193, 1 TD) and C.J. Williams (8 for 62) all over the field.

Mordecai, described by his coach as the next Baker Mayfield, “only bigger” – ran for two touchdowns and passed for a third in three of Midway’s first four possessions of the first half. He ended the night with four rushing TDs, completing 18 of 30 passes for 191 yards and rushing for 122.

While the Panthers ripped through the defense, the Dragon offense initially sputtered, going 3-and-out on its first series and watching morosely as Midway surged to a two-score lead. When Carroll finally muscled its way into the Panther red zone late in the first quarter, its drive stalled at the 13. Kicker Neal Koskay then added to Dragon miseries when he muffed a 23-yard field goal.

Carroll managed to hold the Panthers to a 3-and-out on the subsequent series, but despite excellent field position near midfield, it was unable to convert on 4^th down at the Midway 33, setting up the Panthers’ third score.

The radio guys couldn’t remember the last time the Dragons had slipped behind three touchdowns without drawing blood themselves, and neither can I. With 8 long minutes left in the 2^nd period, it looked like a dark, bleak evening stretched before the Dragon Nation – and an even longer drive home.

But instead of surrendering to despair, the young Dragons dug deep and came out swinging. Junior quarterback Will Bowers, who had an excellent night despite the loss, engineered a 10-play, 70-yard scoring drive that demonstrated the Dragons had plenty of fight left.

The drive culminated in a bit of Dragon trickery at the Midway 30, when they lined up in the wildcat formation with sophomore  R.J. Mickens behind center. The sophomore then pitched the ball to Bowers (20 of 30 for 288, 3 TDs, 1 INT), who sailed a high arching pass to Bell in the end zone.

On the next Panther drive, the Dragon defense joined the fray, slowing down Mordecai and blanketing his receivers as Midway neared the goal line yet again.

With 27 seconds left in the half, Mordecai tried three times from the Dragon 11 to hit receivers in the end zone, but his passes were batted away each time. Defensive end Jacob Dodderidge capped the defensive stand, leaping up and blocking Midway’s field goal attempt, and the Dragons cruised into halftime with some momentum to ease the pain of a two-score deficit.

The Dragons scored on their first two drives after halftime, both on Bowers passes to Mickens (4 for 69, 2 TDs), a defensive standout who also plays offense and special teams. In between, Carroll’s beleaguered defense disrupted a Mordecai-led march to TD, forcing a 4^th -and-long at the Dragon 27 that failed when he couldn’t connect with a receiver.

Dragon head coach Hal Wasson told The Dallas Morning News that no one should be surprised at the Dragon comeback.

“It’s in our DNA,” Wasson said. “These guys don’t know how to surrender. It comes from great leadership from our seniors.”

Mordecai said his team expected the Dragon rally.

“They have probably the best tradition in the state so we knew it was not over,” he told The News. “Our thought when they tied it was, okay, we’re starting over fresh.”

And indeed, the Dragon celebration was brief.

On the next kickoff, Midway returned the ball to its 43, and Mordecai took less than 2 minutes to stage a 5-play, 57-yard drive that put the Panthers ahead once again, 28-21. That drive ended in dramatic fashion, when Mordecai took the ball from center, burst straight up the middle and sped 45 yards to the end zone.

In many ways, you could capsulize the game in that single play. Wasson summed it up in a post-game radio interview.

“They are a great team, and they’ve got a great triggerman,” he said. “Whenever we got some momentum, they responded. This is the playoffs and that’s what great teams do.”

The killing blow for the Dragons came immediately after Mordecai’s tie-breaking scamper. On the third play from scrimmage, a Bowers pass was intercepted and returned to the Dragon 20. It took the Panthers only three plays to reach the end zone and extend their lead to two touchdowns.

The Dragons responded with a beautiful 6-play, 81-yard scoring drive. It included a 30-yard pass to Cade Bell (8 for 111 yards and 1 TD) and a 26-yard missile to Eli Fergel, only his second reception of the year, ending when Bowers dived desperately for the pylon from the 5.

Carroll would get no closer, however, and Mordecai tacked on an insurance score as the clock drained to zero.

So it ended. Midway plays Longview in the semifinals next week. The Dragons go Christmas shopping.

“You always hate to lose,” Wasson told a radio interviewer. “But we’ve got a great group of young men, and they’ve got a lot of heart. I love this team.”

As well he should. When the Dragons ended the regular season with three losses, no one believed they would progress much beyond the first round of the playoffs.

Instead, they beat an upstart McKinney in the first round, whipped reigning state champion DeSoto in the second and edged past an excellent Arlington High squad in the third.

But without the services of an 1,800-yard running back, the worthy McDaniel, and O-line standout Henry Mossberg, they had little chance of halting Midway’s determined march to state.

The good news – and there's always some good news to soothe an aching heart – is that next year bodes well for Dragon fortunes. This year’s squad was filled with talented juniors and sophomores who will enter 2018 experienced and well-tested.

Bowers really came into his own in the playoffs, becoming the difference-maker that his coaches hoped he would be. He’s poised for a splendid senior season. He and McDaniel, along with receivers Carson White and Wills Meyer, will form an excellent offensive core. Mossberg also will return to anchor an O-line that played lights-out this year.

Mickens will continue his phenomenal career at Carroll. Already a standout on defense, Mickens became the complete player this year, performing well as a go-to receiver and a lethal kickoff return man. Just thinking about how much better he’ll be in only his junior year makes the heart go pitty-pat.

Koskay will be a senior, and freshman Joe McFadden was handed PAT duties last night, an indication that coaches wanted to assess his abilities with an eye to next year. McFadden was flawless.

Defensively, the talented Jake Fex is back, as are Fergal and linebackers Michael Parrish, who  a great game last night, and Preston Forney.

On a sadder note, last night was the final game in Dragon uniform for a number of senior stars, including receivers Bell, Hudson Shrum and Darryl Crockett, defensive backs Hayden Hayes and Joe DeVincenzo, linebackers Ryan Thompson and Matty Werner, and O-lineman Jackson Kimble. And of course, defensive leader Jacob Dodderidge, who also played halfback in key series this year, leaves a huge hole in the lineup for some worthy underclassman to fill.

Wasson praised his departing seniors, calling them the backbone of the Dragons’ winning tradition.

Under their leadership, he said, his team “pushed a great team to the limit. We just didn’t get some of the breaks.”

“I have listened to their hearts,” an emotional Wasson said after the game, “and I know how seriously they took the responsibility of carrying on the great legacy of this program.”

In the bitterness of loss, the young Dragons wept in each other’s arms as they gathered for the last time before the Dragon Marching Band to hear the school alma mater. In years to come, when they are old and gray, as I am now, they will remember this night differently.

The pain of defeat will have long faded, replaced by a faint throb of regret. What still will be powerful and crystal clear will be the memory of when they engaged in a great struggle with their teammates, a time of brotherhood, a time of comradeship, respect and, yes, of love.

Until next season, go Dragons!