Regional Semi-Final Round: Southland Carroll 28, Arlington 24

FRISCO – It’s been many a moon since the Southlake Carroll Dragons experienced such a gut-busting, nerve-wracking, breath-taking contest as the one last night against the talented and under-rated Arlington Colts.

But Carroll survived – barely – by demonstrating character, adaptability and sheer grit before an amazed Dragon Nation at the Star’s Ford Center.

 It’s a game we won’t long forget, and my stomach is still fluttering this morning after being twisted in knots by the roller-coaster, knuckle-biting nature of the matchup.

The diminished Dragons travel to Waco on Saturday to face lethal Waco Midway (13-0) in Region I finals at Baylor’s McLain Stadium. They do so without the services of their stellar running back, the worthy T.J. McDaniel, who went down in the 2^nd quarter with an injury and likely is out for the season.

The nature of injuries in high school football are not widely discussed, but the Fort Worth Star Telegram said McDaniel, who was pursuing a 2,000-yard season for the Dragons, may have broken his right collarbone. He appeared on the sideline after the half wearing his right arm in a sling so that seems a fair assessment.

McDaniel was 15 for 83 yards and 1 TD last night and finishes the season with 1,846 rushing yards. What the Dragons will be able to accomplish without the junior transfer from Coppell, who bedeviled DeSoto last week in Carroll’s signature round-two win over the Eagles, is anyone’s guess. But they’ll face an uphill battle against Midway, who dismantled Mansfield 48-17 on Friday to keep a perfect record.

The key play of the game, and easily one of the most dramatic in Dragon history, occurred early in the 4^th quarter. Trailing 24-21, the Dragons faced a 4^th down at the Arlington 2.

With McDaniel out of the game, quarterback Will Bowers engineered the drive that brought the Dragons to that decisive moment of the game, slipping easily into the role of Dragon playmaker.

His hard running and 26-yard and 21-yard passes to Cade Bell had moved the Dragons into the Colt red zone, but things got sticky inside the 5. Rather than settle for a tying field goal, Carroll head coach Hal Wasson chose to gamble on a go-ahead touchdown.

Bowers dropped back and drifted right as Colt defenders fought to reach him. He spotted Carson White speeding left across the goal line, pivoted and threw across his body. The ball sailed high, and White fought off two defenders to make a diving catch at the far corner of the end zone. The extra point gave the Dragons the 28-24 margin they carried to the closing bell.

“We knew it was going to come down to the wire, and someone was going to have to make a play,” Wasson told The Dallas Morning News. “But I think the difference for us, when they made plays or made a drive, we responded. That's playoff time. You either respond or you go home.”

So the Dragons will go to Waco, and Arlington goes home. The Carroll defense is a big reason why. It’s operating at maximum effectiveness and kept the Dragons in the game last night as they struggled to adjust to McDaniel’s absence. Moreover, the Dragons rediscovered their passing game, thanks to a magnificent effort by Bowers both in the air and on the ground.

Carroll seemed in full control last night before losing its rushing star. It opened with a seemingly effortless 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive powered by McDaniel, who began with a 26-yard run on the first play of the game and ended with a 2-yard plunge into the end zone.

But when he left the game, you could almost hear the air going out of the Dragon offense. Arlington kept McDaniel’s backup, senior Tavian Gould, entirely in check, and Carroll’s drive toward a second TD stalled at the Colt 25.

An errant snap interrupted the timing of the usually reliable Neal Koskay, and his 41-yard field goal sailed wide.

Taking over on the 25, Colt quarterback D’Montae Davis handed off to RB Kenland McCray, who drove through the Dragon line and sprinted 75 yards to the end zone, leaving gaping Dragon defenders in his wake.

Carroll went 3-and-out on the next series, and the Colts were driving for a go-ahead TD when the Carroll defense stepped up big. A Davis pass was picked off by sophomore defensive back R.J. Mickens and returned 68 yards down the right sideline to give Southlake a 14-7 lead.

But the Colts showed their explosive power when Davis took the snap on the third play of the resulting series and charged 59 yards to even the score with 2:26 left in the half.

Another Carroll 3-and-out set up an energized Arlington at its 27, but Dragon defender Joe DeVincenzo intercepted a Davis pass to a receiver in the red zone, thus ending a disappointing half for Southlake.

Even the halftime show was full of dark omens. During the Emerald Belles routine, a Belle dancer tripped and fell. Recovering quickly, she smoothly rejoined the line, and the dance number continued without further mishap. It was the first time I’ve seen such a thing in 10 years of watching Southlake half-time shows. It’s got to mean something, right?

As the Belles foretold, Colt dominance opened the 2^nd half, with Davis and McCray engineering a 79-yard scoring drive to give Arlington its first lead of the night.

And that’s when the tempo of the game shifted. Bowers (10 of 14 for 179 yards and 1 TD, 87 yards on 18 carries) came out passing, sending a 57-yard bomb to Preston Forney and an 8-yard dart to Cade Bell (5 for 73). From the 10, Gould surged across the goal line, and the game was tied again 21-21.

The Dragons blunted the Colt express train on the next series, limiting Arlington to a 36-yard field goal. A definitive Dragon response was essential.

That response ended in the gutsy call to go for it all from the 2. But as incredibly exciting and immensely satisfying as White’s desperate heroics in the left corner of the end zone were, they only presented the Dragons with a 4-point lead. That seemed pretty flimsy with most of the 4^th quarter looming. I said quietly to myself, “Now we’ve got to stop them. Can we?”

The answer was yes, at least on the next Colt possession. But given a chance to score an insurance touchdown, the Dragons stalled, facing 4-3 at the Colt 33.

Bowers’ pass was batted down, and the Colts took over, needing 67 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 2 minutes left.

Davis (11 of 17 for 129 yards, 15 for 139 yards and 2 TDs) and McCray (19 for 137, 1 TD) clawed their way to midfield. With 1:15 left, Davis faced 4-5 at the Dragon 49, but his wide-open receiver at the Carroll 30 saw the pass fly over his head. The Dragons took over the ball and ran out the clock.

After the game, Wasson praised his team for its determination in overcoming the loss of McDaniel.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these young men,” he said in a radio interview. “At the beginning of this season, I knew there was something unique and different about this team. They only needed to discover that. I think they did that tonight.”

Bell told a radio interviewer that the team adjusted naturally to the bitter loss of its best player.

“This is what we practice every day,” he said. “We’re all trained that any one of us can make those plays and handle those assignments. We’re Dragons. That’s what we do.”

That’s brave talk, and I’m sure young Bell believes every word of it. And why shouldn’t he? It’s one of the keys to the Dragons’ success over the years – training, discipline and believing in yourself. That has won more games than raw athletic talent any day. You can look it up.

When the game was over, the players converged to the sideline in front of the student section of the Ford Center. As they sang the Carroll alma mater, many waved four fingers over their heads, acknowledgment that they understand the significance of moving to the fourth round of the playoffs for the second time in four years.

This is a team for whom nothing has come easy. So why should facing a potent opponent without one of your chief weapons be any different? We’ll see how far grit and guts can carry these guys. Don’t bet against them.

Go Dragons!