According to plan: Southlake Carroll 42, Keller 10

 

Under tight control

The Southlake Carroll Dragons’ march through District 4-6A continued as expected last night – no fuss, no muss and with little drama as they handily dispatched the Keller Indians.

As the final score indicates, the powerful Carroll offense – led by quarterback superstar Quinn Ewers, who passed for 300 yards and 4 touchdowns, and sophomore running back Owen Allen, who rushed for 95 yards and 2 TDs – reigned supreme all night.

As for Carroll’s defense, it held the Indians to a lonely field goal until the final moments of the game, when Keller managed to post a lonely touchdown against the Dragons’ attack squad. But the hapless Indians had their chances, falling prey instead to a series of missteps that helped the Carroll D keep things under tight control.

Trouble for the Indians started early, when they fought their way into Carroll’s red zone on the first series of the night, only to cough up the ball at the 17.

That set the table for Ewers to engineer a lengthy 13-play march downfield before Allen punched it over from the 22.

On the next Carroll possession, Ewers connected with RJ Maryland – a dynamo on both sides of the ball who ended the night with a pair of passing TDs – to ease the Dragons into a lead they never came close to surrendering.

The Indians threatened again in the second quarter when they drove to the Carroll 8 before a personal foul stalled the drive and forced Keller kicker Conner Lisenbee to drill a 41-yard field goal.

The Dragons then staged two consecutive scoring drives that put the game out of reach for Keller. The second half was a basically a yawn, brightened considerably by Allen in its opening minutes when he caught a screen pass from Ewers and raced 63 yards to the end zone.

Ewers, who completed 75 percent of his passes, ended Dragon scoring a 17-yard toss to Maryland, who caught 6 passes for 74 yards. The leading receiver was Landon Samson, 4 for 102 and 1 TD.

By the way, Ewers made headlines this week by decommitting from UT. I wonder if the rumors circulating in Austin that Longhorn head coach Tom Herman may not last the season had anything to do with young Ewers’ decision. No need to worry about the lad. He’s got offers from most of the blue-ribbon programs in the country. That’s what a 5-star rating will do for you.

On a personal note, I didn’t attend the Keller contest, which was the first Dragon home game I’ve missed in 14 years. My excuse? My daughter got married yesterday, and my wife and I hosted a small reception at our house last night.

And I will hotly deny any suggestion that I might have slipped out a couple of times to catch snippets of the game. What father would do such a thing? Why, it’s despicable. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

 Next up for the Dragons, 2-0 in district play, will be the Keller Central Chargers. I’m going to try to score tickets to this one, not because I think it will be a particularly entertaining game or because I’m fond of the ramshackle stadium in which the Keller schools play.

But it’s fall in Texas, and I’m in need of a fix of high school football. Even with the safety restrictions in place and with COVID-19 running rampart nationwide, I feel the seductive pull of Friday Night Lights.

Stay safe, everyone, and go Dragons!

 

Jerry Jeff Walker, Texas troubadour

 

A loss to all of us

Jerry Jeff Walker was a singer, guitar picker, songwriter, rogue and genial ne-er-do-well. He also was a Texas legend and one of the original cosmic cowboys, a pioneer and gifted practitioner of so-called outlaw country.

He died Friday at 78 after a long battle with cancer. And we all are the lesser for it.

I first saw him in 1973 at the legendary Luckenbach World’s Fair in the miniscule burg 13 miles outside of Fredericksburg, Texas, that Jerry Jeff made famous with his peerless 1973 album “Viva Terlingua,” which was recorded live in the venerable Luckenbach Dancehall.

The World’s Fair was the brainchild of the co-owner of Luckenbach, a bearded, white-haired rapscallion named Hondo Crouch – master storyteller, flamboyant “character” and instintive marketing genius.

What started as a local gag to drum up business for the Dancehall, the music venue located next door to Hondo’s general store (bar), instead drew hundreds (thousands?) of music fans, college students and Hill Country folk just looking for a way to pass a summer afternoon.

They included a delegation from the University of North Texas that included me and a half-dozen or so of my friends and fellow journalism students on a never-to-be-forgotten odyssey organized by Ken Molberg, a Fredericksburg native and now a state appellate judge..

We came to drink beer, listen to music, drink beer, kick back in the Hill Country sunshine and drink beer. The main draw for the World’s Fair was Willie Nelson, well-known in Nashville, mostly as a songwriter, but not yet the national phenomenon he was soon to become.

Jerry Jeff also was on the bill. I had heard the name, but only because he wrote “Mr. Bojangles,” a national hit by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. (I firmly maintain that no one sings that song better than Jerry Jeff. His version will bring tears to the most jaded of eyes.) However, in 1973, I wasn’t familiar with his other songs, the melancholy ballads and foot-stomping, beer-chugging anthems that would make him – like Nelson – beloved from coast to coast.

Nelson performed first and played a solid two hours without a break. He was then as he is now – simply magnificent. “Shotgun Willie,” the album that made him a national music legend, would be released later that year. It is a matter of great personal pride that I saw Willie Nelson perform on a makeshift stage in the Texas Hill Country before he became famous.

A Texas giant

When it came time for Jerry Jeff to appear, there was a lengthy delay. Word filtered through the crowd -- which was growing restless as the magical glow cast by Nelson faded -- that Jerry Jeff was  too drunk to perform, and desperate attempts were underway to somber him up. True or not, I choose to believe the story. Given Jerry Jeff's prodigious fondness for alcohol, it's not that far-fetched.

 When he finally did appear, he didn’t look particularly worse for wear, even though he did forget the words to the new song he said he was debuting at Luckenbach. It was called “Sangria Wine.” It would appear on “Viva Terlingua” and become a national hit.

Over the years, I’ve seen Jerry Jeff and Willie Nelson several times, but nothing can compare to the memorable performances they gave at the Luckenbach World’s Fair on that hot, sweaty day in 1973.

It’s hard to pick my favorite Jerry Jeff song, although my vote probably would go to “Mr. Bojangles.”  Another keeper is “Hill Country Rain.” I thought of it when I heard the news about Jerry Jeff’s passing, this verse in particular.

‘Cause I got a feeling
Something that I can't explain
It's like dancing naked
In that high Hill Country rain
I ain't worried 'bout tomorrow
I'll get by best I can
Lovin' is my will to live
It makes me laugh
Want to sing and dance
Clap my hands, yeah!

Rest in peace, balladeer. You will be missed.

District opener: Southlake Carroll 57, Trophy Club Byron Nelson 21

No-contest contest

Like almost every corner of our lives in the time of corona, Texas high school football has been impacted greatly by the safety measures enacted to lessen the deadly impact of the virus.

And as cases of COVID-19 spiral upward throughout the country, the effects of the pandemic will only get worse.

Don’t misunderstand. I’m not equating the cancellation of a few high school football games with the rising death toll, the ravaged economy and the massive disruptions that have up-ended our society in so many dreadful ways. The inconveniences and disappointments created by the pandemic on high school athletics are minor by comparison.

There are those out there who don’t understand and get riled at the very ideal of complaining about such minor disruptions in routine when so much more serious tragedies harken around every corner.

I get it. But for those of us who love high school football, and recognize the importance with which it is held in high schools and communities across Texas, it’s worth noting when another one of our diversions, one more of our distractions from life’s chaotic barrage, gets battered and kicked around by COVID.

So far, the Southlake Carroll Dragons have been forced to cancel their two most anticipated regular-season games this year. First, the season opener against Austin Westlake, the so-called Dodge Bowl, was wiped out as school districts and the UIL struggled to figure out whether there was going to be a football season at all.

Then, only last week, the non-district game against hated rival Denton Guyer had to be canceled when cases of COVID were reported on the Dragon squad.

Since both the Westlake and the Guyer games were non-conference, their disappearance from the Dragon schedule won’t have any impact on District 4-6A, for which the Dragons are the prohibitive favorite to emerge as district champs.

But with COVID cases rising, and little prospects of a national, state or local response to confront them, the likelihood of Carroll and its 4-6A brethren being able to finish the district race unmolested by the coronavirus seems doubtful at best.

Carroll opened its pursuit of the 4-6A title last night, when it traveled to Trophy Club Byron Nelson to face the Bobcats. Frankly, it wasn’t much of a contest, with the Dragons spanking Nelson, 57-21. Prior commitments forced me to miss the game.

The outcome was no surprise. Five-star quarterback Quinn Ewers led the offense, passing for 222 yards and 3 touchdowns, two of which went to Landon Samson, who caught 5 passes for 136 yards. He is helping fill the gap in the receiving corps left by the injured Brady Boyd.

On the ground, sophomore phenom Owen Allen continued to look impressive, compiling 156 yards on 25 carries for 2 TDs.

The march through District 4-6A begins. 

The Dragons jumped to a 15-0 lead early in the game and threatened to ice it with a third TD before the young Allen coughed up the ball. The Bobcats capitalized on the error and scored, but they couldn’t sustain any momentum against the hard-charging and high-flying Carroll onslaught.

The Dragons return home next week to confront district opponent Keller in the friendly confines of Dragon Stadium. I’ll miss that one, too, dammit. It’s been THAT kind of year.

Stay safe and go Dragons!

 

So close, so very close: Southlake Carroll 42, Rockwall 44

 

Owen Allen eludes a Rockwall defender.

The elements were in place

For one brief, glorious, incandescent moment, it appeared the Southlake Carroll Dragons might actually pull it off – stage a last-minute come-from-behind, snatch-victory-from-the-jaws-of-defeat win against the rampaging Rockwall Yellow Jackets, thus preserving their perfect regular-season record under head coach Riley Dodge.

 All the elements were in place. Rockwall, which had dominated the game since late in the second quarter, finally had erased an early three-touchdown lead forged by the Dragons in the early going. Kicking a 25-yard field goal early in the 4^th, it had surged ahead 37-35.

The subsequent Dragon drive, led by 5-star quarterback Quinn Ewers and powered by sophomore Owen Allen, ended when Ewers was intercepted at the threshold to the Rockwall red zone.

Jacket quarterback Braedyn Locke, a 3-star player in his own right, then crafted a 10-play, 75-yard march to the Dragon end zone, widening the lead to 44-35 after the PAT with 3 minutes left.

Command of the field

At that point in the second half, Rockwall had run 43 plays to the Dragons’ 17, a dismal tale of the tape that documented the Jacket command of the field under the worthy Locke, who probably would take issue with the widespread notion before the game that Ewers is  the best high school quarterback in the nation.

Locke had been magnificent all evening, completing 70 percent of  his 30 passes for 352 yards and 3 TDs, and running for a fourth.

It looked hopeless for the Dragons. But hope dies hard under Friday Night Lights, even when they’re shining on a Thursday.

On the first play of the next series, Ewers stepped back, scanned the field and fired the ball to tight end RJ Maryland, who raced 75 yards to the endzone, cutting the Rockwall lead to 44-42.

RJ Maryland makes a catch.

The Dragons attempted an onside kick, but Rockwall recovered it at the Jacket 46. Two plays later, Dragon defender Matt Reyes sacked Locke at the 38 on a third-down play with 2:20 left in the game.

A glad trade

The Jackets gladly traded a delay-of-game 5 yards to let the clock run down. Neither team had any timeouts left. Rockwall then booted a punt that got past the Dragons and rolled to their 12. Coming to the line, Ewers and his teammates surveyed the 88 yards in front of them, and concluded, “Why not?”

Ewers fired passes to Josh Spaeth (4-27) at the 25 and then to Landon Samson (6-130, 1 TD) at the 37. With a stiff breeze in their face, the young Dragons needed perhaps another 35 yards to put kicker Joe McFadden in range for the game-winning field goal.

Not only was that doable, but with the brilliant Ewers at the helm, a fresh set of downs and more than enough time, it seemed almost inevitable.

As Dragon Nation held its breath, Ewers dropped back and considered his options. He pumped once, then lofted the ball downfield into the arms of … Rockwall defender Dariel Brown. Game over.

Rare misstep

The fatal turnover was a rare misstep for the brilliant Ewers. He had 3 interceptions for the entire 2019 season. Last night, he had 2. It probably made the difference, but I find it hard to attach much blame on Ewers, who played a solid game despite the missteps.

Rockwall's Braedyn Locke riddled the Carroll defense.

Ewers completed 19 of 30 throws for 326 yards and 3 touchdowns. The fact those numbers represent a down night for the junior is an indication of how good he really is.

Riley Dodge had soothing words for his crestfallen team leader.

“There were two good quarterbacks on the field,” he told Randy Jennings of The Dallas Morning News after the game. “I’ll take mine, but Braedyn is very good.”

The Rockwall game was added to the schedule when the much-anticipated contest between Todd Dodge’s Austin Westlake and Riley Dodge’s Southlake Carroll fell through because of COVID-19 safety concerns.

And it proved to be what everyone expected it to be – a shootout between two of the nation’s top-ranked junior quarterbacks. 247 Sports rates Ewers as No. 1 and Locke as No. 5.

No one expected much from the defensive units of either team. And neither distinguished itself to any great degree. To be fair, however, both made stops when they had to – Rockwall in helping keep the Dragons in check during its scoring rampage and Carroll when it helped its offense keep within striking distance up to the very end.

Carroll obviously hoped for a better outcome, but premier programs understand that it is games like this that prepare teams for the rigors they’ll face in the playoffs, which Southlake always has considered to be the real start of its season.

Working on solutions

It was painful to watch the shellacking the young Dragon defense received at the hands of the Yellow Jackets. But now is the time, during largely meaningless pre-district games, to discover shortfalls and work out solutions. Let’s hope that happens.

The night started promisingly enough. Ewers and company jumped to a 21-point lead, scoring on its first four possessions. Rockwall got on the board when sophomore backup quarterback Lake Bennett bulled 4 yards into the end zone.

The Dragons tacked on another TD after a 9-play, 48-yard drive behind the strong running of Allen (22 carries for 142 yards, 2 TDs), who cruised into the end zone untouched from the 13.

But just as Dragon fans began to settle complacently into their seats, the momentum of the game changed dramatically. In the last 5 minutes of the half, Rockwall scored twice more, first on a 44-yard pass and run from Locke to Jax Johnson (5-84) and then on a 23-yard Locke pass to Brenden Bayes (9-94). Both PATs failed, but the score stood 28-19 at the buzzer.

The scramble is on for a rare Ewers fumble. He fell on top of it.

The Jackets onslaught continued in the second half. They scored on their first possession with a 14-yard Lake Bennett pass to Brennan Ray (7-76), followed by a successful 2-point conversion that narrowed the Dragon lead to 28-27.

The teams then traded TDs, Rockwall on a 37-yard Locke TD pass to Goodnews Iwuamadi (great name!) and Southlake with a 9-yard TD run by Ewers that left Carroll with a slender 1-point lead.

A 25-yard Rockwall field goal pushed it into the lead, 37-35. It never trailed again.

The Dragon defense, which had a dismal outing last week against Rockwall Heath, had no answer for Locke and the Jackets’ up-tempo offensive scheme, which rolled up 560 yards in total offense, compared to the Dragons’ 507.

By the 4^th quarter, Carroll defenders were gassed, helpless to prevent Rockwall runners Zach Hernandez (21-108) and Jackson Bennett (8-44) from ripping through the middle of the Dragon line or to deal with Locke’s relentless and deadly accurate aerial attack.

Rockwall coach Trey Brooks, in his first year at Rockwall, expressed satisfaction in a good night’s work.

“It took us a while to get into our rhythm, but once we did, we were solid,” Brooks told the DMN’s Jennings.

Up next is the Denton Guyer Wildcats, who are wicked good and will test the Dragons even more. It’s true that Guyer lost to Denton Ryan last week, but it smashed Mansfield Lake Ridge 56-20 last night.

Carroll will have its hands full with the Wildcats, who would dearly love to the only team ever to have beaten the Dragons twice on their home field. And with Eli Stowers, who also is a nationally ranked quarterback, calling signals for Guyer, you can expect another wild scoring ride.

ESPN knows a good thing when it sees it. It’ll televise the game nationally on ESPN 2.

Stay safe everyone and wear those masks! Go Dragons!

A Rockwall defender breaks up a pass to Landon Samson.

Wild opening night: Southlake Carroll 72, Rockwall Heath 57

 

It’s going to be weird out there

Considering the context of our times, we knew to expect the unexpected when the Southlake Carroll Dragons took the field last night to face the worthy Rockwall Heath Hawks in the first game of what is likely to be a totally weird season of high school football.

And, brother, we weren’t wrong.

First, the good news. The Dragons’ much-anticipated offensive power was in full, glorious bloom.

Quinn Ewers, the Dragons’ five-star quarterback, had a dazzling debut to his junior season. The UT commit, the nation’s No. 1 recruiting prospect for 2022, threw for five touchdowns, completing almost 78 percent of his passes. His 387 passing yards marked his fifth straight game to exceed 300 yards in the air.

Sophomore Owen Allen, all of 15 years old in his second year on the varsity, ran for 218 yards and scored four times. He said after the game that it was “a lot of fun.”

“We’re playing every game like it could be our last,” Allen told Dragon Radio after the contest.

Boyd out

The Dragons’ No. 1 receiver, senior Brady Boyd, pulled in nine Ewers passes for 211 yards and 3 TDs, his best performance ever. Sadly, he also broke his wrist, making his availability uncertain for the rest of the way.

Quinn Ewers looks at a rosy future.

Now, does that sound like a team that was forced to keep its starters in the game until the bitter end, despite putting more than 70 points on the board?

Or a team whose 624 yards in total offense was eclipsed by its vanquished foe’s 691?

The explanation is simple and stark. As superb as the Carroll offense was – and it was everything we had hoped it would be – its young and untested defense, in a word, wasn’t.

The defense is a work in progress, as we all knew it would be. Significantly, it returned no starters this season, and its members – who it must be said played their hearts out last night – are new to their positions and new to working with each other. They’ll get better.

Until then, the Dragons will have to rely on their offensive stars to keep the wolves at bay, and they’re perfectly capable of doing so.

Carroll’s Big Guys would have had their hands full last night regardless of experience or talent. Heath has scored 129 points in its last two games. That’s not too shabby, is it?

Outpacing Ewers

Hawk quarterback Josh Hoover was excellent, throwing for 391 yards and 3 TDs, managing to barely outpace the brilliant Ewers in passing yardage. Between his arm and running backs Preston Landis (24 carries for 134 yards) and Zach Evans (17 for 141), Heath remained relevant until the very end,

Brady Boyd was in fine form last night.

In compiling 300 rushing yards, compared to the Dragons’ 237, Heath runners shredded the D-line at will, rolling up the middle through huge gaps and cruising easily around the corner on either side. The Carroll secondary played better – particularly cornerbacks Avyonne Jones and Cinque Williams, who also returned kickoffs.

Keep your eye on Williams, a transfer from Mansfield Legacy who was forced to sit out last season by the UIL. He’s going to be special.

“It was a blessing to get out there and show everyone what I can do,” he said in a radio interview after the game. “Sitting on the sidelines last year was difficult, but I just concentrated on getting ready to play.”

He acknowledged, “We have a lot to work on.”

Head coach Riley Dodge agreed.

“This is not our standard for defense,” he told Dragon radio of last night’s performance. “We’ve got some things to clean up. We’ll get to work doing that.”

The Dragons jumped off to a nifty start last night, and it looked for a while like a blowout was developing. They scored on their first two possessions and held Heath to a 3-and-out. Then on the Hawks’ second possession, the Dragons’ Jones intercepted a Hoover pass at the Heath 35. Ewers sent a scoring strike to Boyd on the next play, and the Dragons led 20-0 after only 6 minutes of play.

Needed cushion

That provided Carroll with the cushion it would need when the unintimidated Hawk offense began to assert itself against the Dragon D-line.

Brady Boyd brings in another one.

After forcing a Carroll punt near the end of the first quarter, Hoover marched his team to his own 48, then tossed a 46-yard pass to the Dragon 6. Two plays later, Heath was on the board.

At that point, the game became a shooting match, with each team trading punch for punch. At halftime, the score stood at 37-20, a healthy enough lead, that’s true. But the Hawks’ ability to move the ball and to get into the end zone indicated the second half was going to be a heart racer.

During the first Dragon possession of the second half, Ewers, operating from his own 26 after a Hawk punt, connected with the ubiquitous Boyd for a 74-yard catch and run to the end zone. That secured the Dragons with their largest lead of the night, 44-20.

But Heath answered, and the two teams traded scores for most of the third quarter. Then with less than 2 minutes left – the Dragons leading by 51-35 – Ewers dropped back from his 47 and was sacked 20 yards behind the line.

Narrowing the lead

After a Carroll punt, Hoover called a running play and then lofted a 68-yard TD strike to Jordan Nabors (5 for 118). A successful 2-point conversion narrowed the Dragon lead to a nerve-wracking 8 points.

As Dragon Nation shifted nervously in our socially distanced seats, Carroll set up shop on its own 13 following a 15-yard penalty on kickoff. Ewers took the snap, shoved the ball into Allen’s gut and watched as the youngster staged the most electrifying run of the night, sprinting 87 yards to the end zone. We all sighed in relief as the moment of danger passed.

Boyd ended Dragon scoring for the night with a 17-yard grab, the play where he presumably received his injury. I hope the sweet strains of “Hey, Baby” by the Dragon Band – the signal that Dragon victory is nigh – provided some meager comfort.

All that was left was a final act of defiance by Heath, who tagged on another touchdown with 3 minutes left, finally, mercifully, bringing down the curtain on a 72-56 melee..

So the Dragons kick off the third season under Riley Dodge with a messy win. But who’ll remember that at season’s end?

That is, if we are able to have a season in this plague-cloaked year. There are no guarantees, as the young Dragons and their fans know only too well.

I’m particularly disappointed for Boyd, injured on the night of his greatest game with his future as a Dragon now in doubt. If this is his last game as a Dragon, he can comfort himself with the knowledge that he went out on top. He caught a total of 8 TD passes all last year. Last night, he caught three. Here's hoping he has a complete and speedy recovery.

After the game, he tweeted, “Gonna get an estimation on the recovery tomorrow. Appreciate all the well wishes and prayers. But I (know) my boys got me while I’m gone.”

Picking up the slack

And so they will. While Boyd led the receiving corps in TDs and receptions, Landon Samson (4-58), 1 TD), RJ Maryland (3-86, 1 TD) and Josh Spaeth (4-24) also performed well.

The Dragons face a couple of tough opponents before they enter the District 4-6A fray.

Next week, they’ll travel to Rockwall, which pounded Dallas Jesuit last night 60-38. The defense needs to get better fast before they face these guys. Then on Oct. 16, they’ll host Denton Guyer, who fell 23-20 to Denton Ryan. Guyer almost certainly will show up with a chip on its shoulder. It always does.

On a non-football note, I was dismayed to see many, many unmasked faces on the Carroll side of Dragon Stadium last night. After the events earlier in the day, it seems particularly dumb to me to resist the advice of all medical experts.

And if you don’t give a damn about your own health and safety, it seems to me you should have a little consideration for the people around you. That’s the idea behind the mask, after all. It protects them as much or more as it protects you.

Just wear the damned mask and go Dragons! 

Signs of the times.

The Dragon season opens: What happens now?

 

Nothing normal about this

The Southlake Carroll Dragons, against high odds, open their much-delayed football season against the Rockwall Heath Hawks on Friday. At least we hope they do.

Nothing is certain this year. COVID-19 already has delayed the Dragons’ season for more than a month and robbed us of the most anticipated matchup in many a year: the planned season opener between Todd Dodge’s Austin Westlake Chapparals and Riley Dodge’s Carroll Dragons, a father-son battle that had Texas high school football fans salivating.

All it would take for the entire season to be shelved is a widespread breakout of the corona virus among the young Dragons. Isolated cases have been reported around the district.

So it is with bated breath that we await the opening of the Dragons’ nine-game season. While the rest of 6A schools began their season last weekend, Carroll decided to postpone its startup for another week, sacrificing a game in the process.

Salty lineup

Along with the Westlake game, Carroll also had to drop Prosper and Arlington Martin from its pre-district schedule. Rockwall Heath remains, joined by replacements Rockwall and Denton Guyer. That’s a pretty salty opening lineup.

The Guyer game will be much anticipated. District mates for the past two years, Guyer and Carroll have a flowering rivalry that is becoming more testy all the time. The Dragons whipped the Wildcats in district play the past two years. But Guyer had the immense satisfaction of making it all the way to the state championship game last year before falling to Papa Dodge’s Westlake Chaps. It would dearly love to humble the Dragons on their home field on Oct. 16, and Guyer knows how since it's one of the few teams to have done so.

But the Wildcats will have their hands full. That’s because the anticipation surrounding this season for Dragon fans extended beyond the delicious prospect of seeing father and son battle for football supremacy within the Dodge family.

Best of the best?

It also centers around junior Quinn Ewers, who stands a good chance of becoming the best quarterback in Carroll history – not a meager goal in its own right – and one of the best in Texas high school history.

Quinn Ewers is one cool customer.

As a sophomore, Ewers fielded offers from a score of the nation's collegiate bluebloods before committing to UT. He's considered the No. 1 quarterback recruiting prospect in the nation.

Last year, Dallas Morning News sportswriter Greg Riddle, the DMN’s high school football expert, compared Ewers to Highland Park’s Matthew Stafford and Allen’s Kyler Murray, both No. 1 overall picks in the NFL draft, and other Texas-spawned greats. His judgment?

“Quinn Ewers could end up being better than all of them,” he wrote.

Consider this. Last year as a sophomore, Ewers completed 72.4 percent of his passes, threw for 4,003 yards and 45 touchdowns, with only three interceptions, during Carroll’s 13-1 season that ended in the regional finals. Along the way, he also ran for 569 yards and nine TDs.

According to Riddle, that puts Ewers on pace to throw for 12,009 yards and 135 TDs in his three years of varsity ball.

Murray, now playing for the Arizona Cardinals and AP’s 2019 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, passed for 10,386 and 117 TDs during his high school career. Stafford, who ranks in the top 20 in NFL history for career passing yards and career TD passes, threw for 8,711 yards and 92 TDs in his last three years of high school.

Who knows if all these numbers mean anything. But they do strongly suggest that young Ewers is very special and stands poised to do great things. If the gods allow.

And that’s a mighty big IF. Unfortunately, almost anything that happens during this strange season is going to have an asterisk attached. Nothing’s normal.

The “it” factor

That said, there’s no doubt about it. Ewers has the “it” factor. Anyone watching him during his first year on varsity last year sensed it immediately. A certain electricity swept through the stadium when he came on the field. During the playoff game against Duncanville, the Carroll side of the stadium was going bonkers during a 4^th quarter comeback that ultimately fell short. On the field, however, Ewers was cool as a cucumber.

“His strength right now is he is so even-keeled,” coach Riley Dodge told 76092 magazine in an article entitled “The Young Gun.” “That’s want you want in a quarterback. He’s cool, calm, collected. He doesn’t get too high with his highs or too low with his lows.

“He’s tough kid,” Dodge continued. “He’s going to stay in the pocket and deliver the football.”

The 6-3, 200-pound Ewers will have plenty of targets for his rocket right arm.

Senior Brady Boyd (6-1, 175 pounds) had a solid year in 2019, snagging 66 passes, eight for TDs. They included a stunning one-handed grab in the playoffs against Midland Lee that ended up on ESPN’s SportsCenter as one of the Top 10 plays of the day. Eleven of those receptions came in the pressure-cooker game against Duncanville.

Brady Boyd and his ESPN moment. 

Young and tested

Boyd will lead a receiving corps that includes juniors Landon Samson and Josh Spaeth. RJ Maryland, son of former Dallas Cowboy Russell Maryland, also will be a Ewers target. He's taking over the tight end/halfback spot handled so ably last year by Blake Smith, now at Texas A&M. 

And let’s don’t forget about sophomore Owen Allen, who turned 15 last year as the Dragons’ starting running back. The youngster rushed for 1,266 yards and 23 TDs in a phenomenal freshman campaign that had Dragon fans gasping in astonishment.

He’ll lead a ground attack that will include several stalwart backups, including senior Kannon Kadi.

Senior Joe McFadden, the latest in a long line of standout kickers produced by the Dragon program, rounds out Carroll’s offensive might. McFadden, ranked No. 3 kicker and No. 11 punter in the country, kicked seven out of 10 field-goal attempts last season and booted 84 of 86 point-after attempts. Combined, he accounted for 105 points, according to 76092 magazine.

They’ll all play behind an offensive front that looked good in last week’s scrimmage against DeSoto. It’s hard to tell much from a scrimmage, of course, but the Dragons should be able to put plenty of points on the scoreboard this year.

Whether they can stop their opponents from doing the same is a question still seeking an answer. Not a single member of last year’s D-line returned this year, and a new crop of linebackers and pass defenders are stepping into the fray. According to reports, they looked pretty ragged during the DeSoto scrimmage.

That’s hardly surprising. DeSoto is no slouch at offense, and the Dragons’ Big Guys still are getting their timing and rhythm down. And truth to tell, it’s a longstanding Carroll tradition for its almost-always undersized defensive squad to struggle in the beginning and get steadily better as the season wears on.

Meanwhile, defensive coordinator Lee Munn told 76092 readers to be on the lookout for cornerbacks Avyonne Jones and Cinque Williams and for linebackers Nate Gall and Travis Keener, a jack of all trades.

Going with the flow

Who knows what’s in store for the Dragons – or, frankly, for any of us – in this very strange, make-it-up-as-you-go-along season. Nothing is normal. I’m not even sure how many away games I’ll be able to attend this year. That’s unsettling because I’ve only missed a handful of Dragon games since I started following the team in 2006, the year my daughter started high school.

Most districts are limiting their stadiums to 50 percent capacity, with ticket priority going to their own fans and families of participants, of course. I plan to attend as many as I can, but as with everything else in this screwy year, it’ll be a weekly adventure.

I’ll be taking precautions, observing social distancing and wearing a mask. I can handle that all right, but the thing I worry about most is spending the evening at Dragon Stadium without fortifying myself with a Feedstore BBQ sandwich, which will be unavailable for the duration of the emergency.

I understand the necessity of the move. After all, I’m in the most COVID-vulnerable cohort. But no Feedstore BBQ? It’s just one more reason to damn COVID to the lowest pits of hell.

Stay safe everyone and go Dragons!