Clinching district: Southlake Carroll 45, Keller Timber Creek 16

 

Coming to the end of a crazy regular season

Nothing is normal this year

This will be short and sweet. Nothing is normal in this year of COVID, and that goes for my devotion to the Southlake Carroll Dragons.

For the first time in 16 years, I neither attended nor listened to a Dragon game. With COVID basically out of control across the nation, I didn’t feel comfortable attending today’s game against the Keller Timber Creek Falcons in Keller ISD ramshackle stadium.

And I got so busy with my post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas to-do list, I just couldn’t sit down and listen to a 1:30 p.m. kickoff.

COVID has played havoc with virtually every aspect of our lives, and high school sports is no exception. The regular football season for 6A schools was delayed for several weeks, and yesterday’s game was pushed to the day after Thanksgiving by COVID-related problems in Keller.

So I missed the game, which the Dragon won easily, clinching the district title in 4-6A and assuring themselves a relatively easy first-round matchup, probably against the Haltom Buffaloes.

It was another stellar performance by the Dragon offense, still led by backup quarterback Hunter Holden, who was 7 of 14 for 134 yards and 3 TDs. He connected with Landon Samson (4-92, 2 TDs) for a 60-yard TD, and with Brady Boyd (2-42, 1 TD) for a 37-yard scoring scamper. His final TD came on a reception by RJ Maryland (2-20, 1 TD).

Holden, who stepped in for the injured Quinn Ewers, also tossed a couple of interceptions, including on Carroll’s opening drive. But he’ll be forgiven, particularly in light of the 17 unanswered points the Dragons scored in the decisive 2^nd quarter that gave them control of the game.

Sophomore running back Owen Allen was outstanding, rushing 28 times for 279 yards and 2 TDs. He’s a beast and getting better every game.

Dragon fans also got a glimpse of the future today, when sophomore quarterback Kaden Anderson, who has been raising eyebrows on JV, subbed out for Holden. He didn't disappoint and delighted Dragon nation with a 20-yard toss to Samson in the end zone in the 3rd quarter.

The steadily improving Dragon defense, led by defensive back Avyonne Jones, had a solid game, too, limiting the Falcons’ main offensive weapon, running back Kaden Bess, to 84 yards on 24 carries and a single TD. If the Dragons have any hopes of making a deep plunge into the playoffs in this weird, mucked-up season -- and that's not a typo! -- their defense will have to step up in a big way. Duh.

Carroll ends its regular season next Friday in Dragon Stadium. Its Senior Night opponent is Keller Fossil Ridge, which is winless in district play. The Dragons likely will be able to empty the benches and give plenty of  senior backups time under the bright lights.

But nothing is certain in the age of COVID, and student athletes will continue to be impacted along with everyone else.

There are those who question whether high school sports should be taking place at all, given the dangers of COVID. Our priorities should be elsewhere, they argue. After all, it’s only football. Or soccer. Or volleyball, etc.

I can see their point, and I admit I sometimes feel a certain amount of ambiguity about the subject.

But so much has been taken away from these youngsters, their lives turned upside down in so many ways, I would like to see this group of Dragons be granted some degree of normalcy and stability in these crazy times.

For that reason, and not just because I love high school football, I hope Senior Night can go ahead as planned and that the six-game playoffs can proceed uninterrupted. Go Dragons!

Thanksgiving in the time of COVID

 

I have struggled to come up with the appropriate Thanksgiving message to share with my friends and family.

The challenges surrounding this year’s holiday are unique and troubling. A national pandemic rages, dividing families, isolating loved ones and destroying lives – both economic and physical. Many of us have lost faith in our country and in our fellow countrymen. We yearn to rediscover that faith and to be reunited in spirit and action.

Many of you will be dining without the comforting presence of family and friends today. I wish you peace and safety in these perilous times. Many of you are hurting, economically, emotionally and physically. May time and circumstance rescue you from those troubles and grant you better and brighter days ahead.

The Gunnels Manse still is quiet on this Thanksgiving morning. Likely, it will remain as such for most of the day. In the stillness, my mind imagines holidays of old – the laughter of children, the noisy chatter of family and friends, the clinking of glasses and rattle of silverware. Sounds of joy and love and comradeship. Such days will return. Faith in that will sustain us in these dark, terrible days.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

De facto district champs: Southlake Carroll 45, Haslet Eaton 30

 

Owen Allen scores,  one of three for the night.

Slugging it out

Remove the first 6 minutes of last night’s contest between the Southlake Carroll Dragons and Haslet Eaton Eagles, and you’ve got a very different ballgame.

Lucky for the Dragons that such a violation of time and space is impossible, because without those 360 seconds of game time, they might not be de facto champions of District 4-6A.

Everyone anticipated that this would be a high-scoring, hard-fought affair. The Eagles were enjoying their best season ever and were 4-0 in district play. The Dragons, meanwhile, were 3-0 in pursuit of their third straight district title despite the loss to injury of their superstar quarterback, the amazing Quinn Ewers.

The game was all it was cracked up to be, a thriller that saw two high-powered offenses slug it out. Carroll put up 436 yards in total offense, Eaton 376. But it didn’t start out that way. It started as a near rout.

It took Carroll only 3 minutes to score on the first possession of the game, a 3-yard keeper by backup quarterback Hunter Holden, who is standing in while Ewers recuperates.

First of 3

A little over 2 minutes later, after holding the Eagles to a 3-and-out, sophomore running back Owen Allen burst over the goal line from the 1, the first of his 3 touchdowns for the night.

On the first play of the Eagles’ next possession, Dragon linebacker Barrett Baker nailed Eagle quarterback Braden St. Ama as he scrambled in his own end zone, forcing a fumble that Carroll lineman Cade Parks immediately fell on.

Boom. The Dragons led 21-0 while the miserable Eagles had run only 4 plays.

But give the boys from Haslet credit. They didn’t panic and they didn’t give up. St. Ama put the fumble behind him and engineered an 8-play, 75-yard march that ended with a 21-yard TD pass to Royal Evans (3-36).

Hoping to capitalize on that score, the Eagles tried an onside kick, but Carroll covered it at its own 49, then staged a 7-play march fueled by an Owens burst through the middle for 20 yards and a reverse by Brady Boyd to the 1.

Allen (27 for 158) finished scoring for the quarter with a leap into the end zone for his second TD, the 7^th game in a row that he has scored at least twice. The Dragons ended the quarter with a record-setting 28 points.

Scoring heroics

The Dragons added another score before the half, notable because it involved some heroics by Boyd, Carroll’s leading receiver who returned to the lineup after being sidelined with a broken wrist in the season opener against Rockwall Heath.

Holden (11 of 17 for 180 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT) led the Dragons to their 27. He flipped a pass to Boyd to the 19, then lofted a ball to him as he stood on the goal line. Boyd grabbed it, when struggled with two defenders trying desperately from preventing him from failing into the end zone. They failed.

Despite a disastrous first half, Eaton wasn’t finished yet and signaled its intention to fight on by surging  to the Dragon 33 as the clock drained before settling for a 50-yard field goal by Colby Sessums. That left the score at the break 35-7.

The Eagles came charging out of the locker room with fire in their eyes and revenge in their hearts. St. Ama lived up to his reputation as a lethal double-threat QB, forging two scoring drives that narrowed the Dragon lead to 11, 35-24.

The first was an 11-play, clock-eating drive that ended in an 8-yard pass to Jahbez Hawkins (12 catches for 52 yards). The second came after the Eagle defense forced the Dragons into a 3-and-out. It featured an electrifying 42-yard dash by Isaac Jones (5 rushes for 58) to the 6, where Dragon linebacker Cinque Williams ran him down to prevent the TD. Three plays later, St. Ama connected with Charles Whitebear (5 for 31) in the end zone.

The 4^th quarter was a desultory affair, with both teams trading scores. Eaton’s final TD came after it had failed to convert on a 4^th down at the Dragon 3. Allen lost yardage on consecutive plays, then bobbled and lost the ball during a bad exchange with Holden. Eaton recovered in the end zone to bring the score to 42-30 with 4:21 left.

Hard charging, high flying

Kicker supreme Joe McFadden ended scoring for the Dragons with a 30-yard field goal, only his second of the year on this high-flying, hard-charging Carroll offense.

St. Ama was the standout offensive performer for Eagles, completing 15 of 22 passes for 126 yards, 2 TDs and an interception. He also rushed 22 times for 125 yards.

But despite his effectiveness, the Dragon defense kept the Eagles largely at bay. The much-admired “comeback” involved 17 unanswered points, 3 in the closing minutes of the half, with the Dragons leading 35-7, and 14 more in the 3rd. While some of us were shifting uneasily in our seats when Eaton closed the gap to 35-24, the Dragon lead never was seriously threatened.

You can thank the Dragon D for that. Williams, who was moved from cornerback to outside linebacker, has made a real difference. He was everywhere last night, disrupting timing, interrupting pass routes and chasing down runners.

Holden continues to perform admirably for the absent Ewers. While he doesn’t put up the numbers of his more heralded teammate, he gets the job done. He connected in double digits to three receivers, the nimble RJ Maryland (4-74), Landon Samson (2-41) and Boyd (3-37).

The nature of Ewers injury hasn’t been revealed, but the hope of course is for his return by the playoffs. We’ll see soon enough

Head coach Riley Dodge said after the game that both teams understood the significance of the matchup. The winner almost certainly will emerge as District 4-6A champs.

“There was a lot at stake,” he told Dragon Radio. “Both teams understood that. Frankly, I thought we handled it better than they did. We rose to the occasion tonight.”

 Three goals

Carroll’s football program begins each season with three goals: win district, practice on Thanksgiving Day (this translates in normal years to a deep run the playoffs) and, finally, a state championship.

Dodge acknowledged the unique circumstances surrounding this COVID-marked season.

“District champs three years in a row. That’s our first goal,” he said.

But while the Dragons will practice on Thanksgiving Day because of the rescheduled Keller Timber Creek game on Friday, the playoffs don’t begin for two weeks.

“Goal No. 2 has changed this year,” he admitted. “It’s now to make it to the third round.”

The main obstacle to that goal could be the Euless Trinity Trojans, the Dragons’ likely Round Two opponents. The Trojans aren’t the behemoths of old, but they still are plenty potent, particularly in the highly charged atmosphere of the playoffs. A key to Carroll victory could be the progress of its defense, which took a big step forward last night.

But first, the Dragons have to finish out the season by sweeping District 4-6A. That begins next Friday against Timber Creek and the season finale against Keller Fossil Ridge in Dragon Stadium on Dec. 4.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone and stay safe. Go Dragons!

Knocking ’em down: Southlake Carroll 49, Keller Central 20

 

RJ Maryland reels in a pass

Next man up

When word began to circulate in Dragon football circles this week that Southlake Carroll’s five-star quarterback, Quinn Ewers, would be sidelined by an undisclosed injury for the next several games, many of us wondered how that would affect what we had expected would a waltz through District 4-6A.

We got the answer last night when the next man up, senior Hunter Holden, stepped into Ewers’ cleats and took full advantage of his moment in the bright lights of Friday night.

Under Holden’s calm and steady stewardship, the Dragons made short work of the Keller Central Chargers, taking gleeful advantage of Charger missteps and extending their district record to 3-0.

Hand in glove

Holden eased into the quarterback position like a hand into a well-fitted glove, completing 6 of 11 passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns, including a 67-yard scoring strike that hit RJ Maryland in mid-stride and propelled Carroll to a three-TD lead it never surrendered.

In addition to Maryland, Holden sent scoring missiles to receiving leader Landon Samson (3-71) and Jake Whillock.

With Holden controlling the aerial attack, sophomore running back Owen Allen looked after things on the ground, rushing for 156 yards and three TDs, including an electrifying 58-yard romp he made after Dragon defender Avyonne Jones intercepted a pass from Charger quarterback Landon Walker. On the very next play, Allen burst through the Charger line and sprinted untouched to the end zone.

Carroll’s young defense continued to struggle, allowing the Chargers to amass 419 yards in total offense, compared to the Dragons’ 373. Walker  also outpaced Holden, completing 11 of 17 passes for 210 yards and two TDs. But he also threw two interceptions, both of which the Dragons converted into scores.

The march through district continues.

The second Walker misfire came with 6 minutes left in the first half when cornerback Max Reyes enveloped the ball, then gazed at a 61-yard expanse of unguarded turf before darting unmolested to the goal line.

Central would turn the ball over a third time, when Charger Euisol Jung coughed it up and Carroll’s Logan Anderson fell on it. The Dragons went on to score their fifth TD as a result.

A different game

Without the turnovers, it might have been a different game. But you have to credit the beleaguered Dragon defense for being opportunistic – keeping the worthy Walker off balance while giving the offense scoring chances it didn’t waste.

By the time Central could get its offense up and running, the Dragons held a 20-0 lead and were thinking about post-game Mexican food.

Once Carroll’s attack squad began replacing starters, sophomore quarterback Kaden Anderson, 3 for 4 for 39 yards and 1 TD, soon made a late-game appearance. The youngster, who presumably will be Ewers’ backup next year, look comfortable behind center and gained valuable game-time experience.

As for Ewers, Dragon head coach Riley Dodge was tight-lipped about the nature of his star player’s injury or how long he might be benched.

“We want to keep him fresh for the playoffs,” Dodge told The Dallas Morning News. “He may be out for a couple of weeks, but I can't really say.”

Rest and heal

Given the nature of competition in District 4-6A, Ewers’ services probably won’t be needed to keep the Dragons on course for the district championship and a first seed in the playoffs. So it makes sense to let him rest and heal, much as we’ll miss his on-field heroics.

Interestingly, Carroll received word this week that Ewers has been named to the Under Armor Future 50 roster, which is a precursor to the All-America game that honors the top high school football players in the nation. It was another reminder – as if we needed one – that Ewers is something special. Dragon fans, who sometimes have trouble agreeing on the time of day, are united in their hopes and prayers that his recovery is swift and complete.

At the same time, star kicker Joe McFadden was selected to take part in the Army All-American Bowl. Unfortunately, the game has been canceled because of, you guessed it, COVID concerns. But the honor is real – and most deserved.

Prayers that the remainder of the season continues uninterrupted

Fortunately, the Dragons have a bye next week in this strange, COVID-marred season. If all goes as planned, they'll host Trophy Club's V.R. Eaton Eagles the following week. But nothing much has gone as planned this year so who knows what will happen.

Any more cancelled games because of COVID outbreaks on the squads will be hard to make up, and since it’s district games for the rest of the way, how would that impact the district race?

And what about the playoffs? A cancellation during the six-week playoff period could blow up the whole shebang. Tellingly, all this is taking place during a time when COVID cases are exploding in Texas and throughout the country.

The uncertainties are so plentiful that it makes my head hurt just thinking about them. Best to take it one game at a time and hope for the best.

The upcoming game against Eaton – if it happens – could be a tasty one. The Eagles are having the best season in the program’s history. They’re also 3-0 in district play, and the game on Nov. 20 probably will determine the winner of District 4-6A.

The road ahead

Dragon fans already are speculating about the playoffs. Under normal circumstances, we would already be at their threshold. But the UIL delayed the start of the season for 6A schools, and for them, the playoffs won’t begin until mid-December.

As in recent years, Carroll almost certainly will end up in 6A’s Division I, the big-school grouping where competition is most formidable and the road to a championship most rocky.

In the first round, the Dragons will face the Division I second seed in District 3-6A if they emerge as 4-6A champs. And honestly, I have no idea who that is likely to be. But Carroll’s second-round opponent probably will be Euless Trinity, which as expected is dominating 3-6A.

Beyond that, the arcane intricacies of the UIL’s playoff system overwhelm me as I attempt to pierce the mist-shrouded future. But I’ll try to make some sense of it all in a future post – at least as it pertains to the Carroll Dragons.

That is, if I can convince some of the high priests of Texas high school football who possess that byzantine knowledge to share it with mortal men.

Until then, stay safe and go Dragons!