Season opener: Southlake Carroll 35, South Grand Prairie 20

A lot to like

I’ll say this about last night’s season opener for the Southlake Carroll Football Dragons.

As unsatisfying as it was to watch the Dragons struggle against a less-talented South Grand Prairie squad, the game most definitely wasn’t the rolling train wreck that last year’s Week 1 contest against the Warriors was. Thank heavens!

In my account here of that game, I described the first half as the worst high school football I’d seen in more than a decade. I wasn’t exaggerating.

Last night was better. Much better. In fact, there was a lot to like about it.

Riley Dodge, beginning his second year as a head coach, wasn’t doing hand springs over his team’s sluggish start, but he was philosophical about it.

“It was a typical first game,” he told Dragon radio. “We have some things we have to clean up, and we will. But we’re in a better position now than we were at this point in the season last year. That’s for sure.”

Here’s what I liked about it.

Full of promise

First of all, sophomore quarterback Quinn Ewers is brimming full of potential. Yes, he’s a sophomore, so occasionally he makes a rookie mistake. But he’s got a powerful arm and the kind of accuracy that makes my mouth water at the prospects of him at the helm of the Dragon offense for the next three years. The kid’s good and the needle is pointing straight up.

His stats last night, while not eye-popping, are impressive considering his tender age and lack of varsity experience. He completed 16 of 26 passes (61.5 percent completion rate) for 1 touchdown.

And he’s got legs. (Who knew?) He carried the ball 6 times for 69 yards and another TD.

Most of those rushing yards came in the third quarter. With the Dragons in Warrior territory, Ewers faked the handoff and plunged through the South Grand Prairie line, sprinting 43 yards untouched for the score.

Dodge had measured praise for his young quarterback’s first outing with the varsity.

“He played a really clean football game,” he said. “We’ll have to look at film tonight, but I think he’s in a good place.”

To compensate a bit for his inexperience, Ewers has a talented, soft-handed receiving corps, led by John Manero (5 catches for 71 yards), Blake Smith (3 for 35, 1 TD) and Wills Meyer (5 for 48). Carroll appears poised to return to the aerial strategy that it employed before the arrival of one T.J. McDaniel, running back extraordinaire.

Take it to heart

Meyer spoke as much in a radio interview after the game.

“Last year, we had T.J. and, well, you know, with T.J., passing wasn’t as, well, important,” he said. "This year, Coach has told us that winning is going to depend on the passing game, and we’ve taken that to heart.”

Speaking of running backs, junior Kannon Kadi, who gained 101 yards on 21 carries, was an unexpected pleasure to watch, displaying a gritty determination to fight up the middle and doing so with good effect. Averaging almost 5 yards per carry, he toted most of the rushing load last night and appeared to establish himself as the primary Dragon running back.

Meanwhile, the Dragon defense, frequently a worry for Carroll fans, showed early promise last night despite some troubling injuries in its secondary. Once superstar R.J. Mickens, out with a foot injury, returns as safety, the Dragon D could be a force to reckon with. It’s instructive to remember than most, if not all, of Carroll’s state championship teams have fielded talented and disciplined defensive units.

As expected, linebackers Graham Faloona and Preston Forney were disruptive all evening, tracking down Warrior runners all over the field. Quinten Bunten ruled the interior Dragon line and Brandon Howell was secondary king.

Don’t be misled by the 35-20 spread against the Warriors. South Grand Prairie’s last 13 points came in the fourth quarter, when the Dragons took their foot off the pedal and began limited rotations. With the end result still in doubt, Dragon defenders stood tall and kicked butt.

In fact, without a pass interference call against the Dragons, the drive that resulted in the Warriors’ first score, a 16-yard pass from Drake Logan to Kelan Robinson midway through the third quarter, would have died near midfield.

Stumbling around

Carroll spent most of the first quarter stumbling over its own feet. After missing a 42-yard field goal earlier in the period, Joe McFadden broke the scoring drought by booting a 40 yarder in the closing minutes.

A few minutes later, Ewers capped an 8-play, 54-yard drive with a 14-yard TD pass to Smith, handing Carroll a 10-0 lead.

After the Warriors turned over the ball on downs during the following series, Ewers marched the Dragons 76 yards in 7 plays before Kadi barreled across the goal line from the 2.

McFadden added a 30-yard field goal to end scoring for the half at 20-0.

The third period proved decisive. South Grand Prairie opened the second half with a 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive aided by Dragon miscues.

Carroll responded quickly with a 7-play, 72-yard effort that ended when Ewers’ scamper to the end zone faked out the entire Warrior defense. But the sophomore wasn’t finished. After the Dragons lined up for a 2-point conversion, Ewers lateraled to Meyer and headed for paydirt. Meyer then lofted the ball to his quarterback as he stood alone in the end zone.

At this point, Faloona sealed the deal for the Dragons. After fielding the ensuing kickoff at the 20, the Warriors lined up for the first play of the drive. As Logan received the ball from center, he fumbled it, and Faloona scooped it up and darted into the end zone.

In a matter of 20 seconds, Carroll had added 15 points to the scoreboard and put the game out of reach for South Grand Prairie. The Warriors’ face-saving 13 points in the final period proved meaningless.

Next week, the Dragons cross Highway 26 to face Northeast Tarrant rival Colleyville Heritage. They’ll close out non-district play with a brutal Friday the 13^th trek to West Texas to face the Odessa Panthers in venerable Ratliff Stadium.

Both of those contests should be manageable for the Dragons, as should most in District 5-6A. The exception, of course, is Denton Guyer, which hosts the Dragons on Oct. 4.

Surviving a shootout

Guyer survived a shootout last night with the Aledo Bearcats, 60-57, and looks to be a real beast this year. The Dragons beat the Wildcats with some last-second heroics last year to secure the 5-6A championship. But only by the skin of their teeth. Can they manage a similar outcome this time around? Mebbe. It’ll take a lot of hard work, seasoned with a little luck. Doesn’t everything that’s really worth having?

But as the coaches always say, you play the opponents before you, and you don’t worry about the ones to come. Easy to say. Who can actually do it?

I was struck last night in listening to player radio interviews with the importance they placed on brotherhood. It was heavy on their minds.

Meyer, in particular, talked a lot about it. He’s been plagued with injuries during his football career, and he knows he probably will not be playing at the next level.

“It’s great to be out here, playing with my brothers,” he said. “I missed that when I was out. It feels great to be here, with them. This is something special, very special. We are brothers. We support each other. We’re here for each other.”

The sense of family is strong in Dragon Nation. Perhaps that’s why I love it so much.

Go Dragons!

Football, drill teams and the magic of Friday Night Lights

The next chapter begins

The last time we saw the Southlake Carroll Football Dragons, they were licking their wounds after a definitive ass-kicking by the Duncanville Panthers in last year’s quarterfinal playoff round.

It was a miserable end to a marvelous season in which the Dragons, under new coach Riley Dodge, exceeded even the most optimistic predictions to make it to the fourth round of the UIL 6A-Division II championship playoffs.

The mighty Panthers manhandled the Dragons 51-7, handing them the worst playoff defeat in school history before falling themselves two rounds later in the championship game before the unstoppable Houston-area North Shore Mustangs.

Despite the humiliating sting of that playoff debacle, last season offered a rejuvenating kick in the pants to Dragon fortunes.

Dodge, son of legendary Carroll coach Todd Dodge and an acclaimed former Dragon quarterback, led his team to a 13-1 record in his inaugural year as a head coach. He thus silenced the boo-birds who argued he was too wet behind the ears to lead a storied program like Southlake Carroll and only got the job because of his old man.

What’s next?

So, Coach Dodge, what have you got in mind for an encore?

“I’m very excited about the group we have coming back,” Dodge told Art Garcia of 76092 magazine. “We lost some veteran talent for sure, but we’ve still got some guys who have played a lot of football. On the offensive side of the ball, we’ve got a couple of guys who are two-year starters that played 14 ballgames last year. We have some youth on the offensive side of the ball, but we’ve still got some veterans at the same time that we can lean on. I’m excited about the youth, as well, because they’ve got a lot of talent.”

As might be expected, expectations are soaring in Dragon Nation as Dodge’s second season beckons. And preseason polls have been kind to the Dragons, despite a less-than-exemplary scrimmage last week against Arlington.

MaxPreps ranks the Dragons No. 5 in the state, while Dave Campbell’s Texas Football puts Carroll at No. 10. (For the first time this year, the Campbell ranking will replace AP’s weekly high school football poll, an “it’s about time” development welcomed by – well, just about everybody.)

The Arlington scrimmage revealed a team still feeling its way, with a sophomore quarterback in the saddle and an injury-riddled secondary. Distressingly, Clemson commit R.J. Mickens, the Dragons’ best player, will begin the season sidelined with a foot injury.

 Mickens, ranked by MaxPreps as the No. 3 safety in Texas, is a major Dragon playmaker on both sides of the ball. He is expected to be a sure-handed target for fresh-faced signal caller Quinn Ewers, who looked a little rough around the edges against Arlington.

Rocket arm

Ewers (6-3, 190), who led Southlake to the 7-on-7 state championship game earlier in the summer, has a rocket for an arm and already is fielding offers from D1 schools. But the youngster threw one interception in the Arlington scrimmage and had two or three other overthrown balls dropped by Eagle defensive backs.

Under Dodge’s steady tutelage, Ewers will settle down, of course. He couldn’t be in better hands. Riley learned the trade at the feet of his father, a state champion quarterback at Port Arthur who continued his success at Texas, and the younger Dodge led the Dragons to a 2006 state championship. Injuries spoiled his college career.

 Let’s see how Ewers does against tonight’s Dragon opponent, South Grand Prairie, which is a classy program in a tough district that includes Cedar Hill, DeSoto and Mansfield.

Ewers can depend on a solid receiving corps, with or without Mickens. And that’s good news since it’s likely the Dragons will ride the skies more frequently this year, given the lamented departure of stellar running back T.J. McDaniel, who now plays for SMU.

McDaniel was the roaring engine of the Dragon offense last year, with his 2,122 rushing yards accounting for a shocking 37 percent of its offensive success.

No program easily replaces a talent like McDaniel, and Carroll is no exception. So far, the Dragon running game remains a big question mark. No one really expects it to become an exclamation point. As of now, it’s an ellipsis … while we wait for what comes next.

WR John Manero, who gained 425 yards and three touchdowns last season, had a good outing against Arlington last week. I expect to hear his name called a lot this season.

Another offensive standout likely will be senior Blake Smith (6-5, 205), a Texas A&M commit who will line up as tight end, but could play a number of roles, including backup quarterback. He’s a complete athlete who was named first-team all-district tight end last year and has the heart of a lion.

 Bright prospects

While both 0- and D-lines lost valued veterans to graduation, prospects are brighter than normal for both squads. Nose guard Quentin Bunten (5-11, 245) may be the key to the Carroll defense. Other defensive players to watch out for will be linebackers LB Preston Forney (6-2, 180) and Graham Faloona (6-2, 200), a Utah commit.

Offensive linemen Andrej Karic (6-5, 245), committed to Texas, and Addison Penn (6-3, 255), committed to Boston College, promise to be standouts on the offensive line.

The Dragons had best get their ducks in a row quickly. District 5-6A isn’t considered a powerhouse district, but Carroll will not have an easy time of repeating as district champion. On Oct. 4, the Dragons travel to Denton to face the Guyer Wildcats, a district rival much hated and greatly respected in Southlake.

Last year, Carroll barely squeaked by Guyer 33-27 in the closing seconds of a tummy-twister.

Guyer is back and stronger than ever. In fact, it sits at No. 8 in Dave Campbell’s Texas Football ranking, two spots ahead of Carroll at No. 10. In MaxPreps’ Top 25, it comes in at No. 16, compared to the Dragons at No. 5.

Hoppin’ and boppin’

But first comes South Grand Prairie. The Dragons would be well advised to approach the disciplined, well-coached Warriors with care. This is just the kind of early-season trap game that can trip up a team still finding its rhythm. Even though tonight is a non-district game with little significance, I expect Dragon Stadium to be hoppin’ and boppin’. 

A community-wide pep rally last weekend drew a huge, noisy crowd, dispelling any fears that the excitement generated by Riley Dodge taking over the family business and by the team’s phenomenal success had ebbed.

Helping feed some of that enthusiasm, no doubt, was the Emerald Belles’ success on America’s Got Talent earlier this summer.

No football player on the Dragon Stadium turf tonight has worked harder in past weeks and months to represent his school and community than the girls on Carroll’s acclaimed drill team. They put in countless hours of rehearsal time to create a series of performances that captivated audiences and most of the judges on the popular TV show – eat dirt, Howie Mandel.

The Belles were eliminated in the quarterfinals, but not before their dedication, determination and disciplined talent served as a welcome antidote – a soothing balm – to the chicanery, stupidity, mendacity and basic evil we see played out daily on the national stage. If you missed any of their performances, check them out on YouTube. You won’t be sorry you did.

It’ll be a special pleasure to greet the Belles tonight. I expect a roar of approval as they take the field with the Carroll Marching Band. Clap extra hard, Dragon Nation. These girls deserve it.

Go Dragons!