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.