Someone forgot to tell the Dragons
Conventional wisdom – all-powerful and all-knowing –
dictated that the Duncanville Panthers would push easily past the Southlake
Carroll Dragons yesterday to fulfill their destiny of meeting the Galena Park
North Shore Mustangs in the state championship game for the third straight
year.
The Dragons were merely set pieces whose only role was to
fall helplessly before the Panthers on their march to avenge defeats by the
Mustangs in 2018 and 2019. And finally, at long last, to hand their coach, the
venerable Reginald Samples, his first state championship trophy.
Somebody must have forgot to tell the Carroll players, who
carried their own dreams of destiny into Globe Life Park in Arlington yesterday
and then made them a reality.
It didn’t come easy, but the Dragons enjoyed a decent
helping of revenge themselves, stifling Duncanville’s heralded offense and
ripping through its supposedly impenetrable front defensive wall. In so doing,
they swept past the team that has booted them out of the playoffs the past two
years.
Victory didn’t come through the air, as we all expected, but
on the ground, thanks to the exertions of sophomore Owen Allen, who carried 33
times through, around and over the Panther defense on his way to almost 200
yards rushing and 2 touchdowns. He also was the Dragons’ second leading
receiver, catching 4 passes for 53 yards.
In carrying the load for the Carroll offense, which scored
34 points against a defense that averaged only 13.4 points a game, Allen exceeded
2,000 rushing yards for the season.
Meanwhile, the Carroll defense held the potent Duncanville
offense, which had averaged 47 points a game, scoreless in the second half,
forcing two turnovers and disrupting what has been an unstoppable machine all
season.
After the game, Duncanville coaches blamed the loss on mental
mistakes, singling out the turnovers and 62 yards in penalties. “We just came
up short because of too many mistakes,” defensive coordinator Judd Thrash told
The Dallas Morning News.
While true, Duncanville’s coaches left out the most salient
reasons for the final score: Lights-out play by Carroll on both sides of the
ball.
Sophomore Owen Allen carried the offense.
And the Dragons did it without their coach, Riley Dodge, on
the sidelines. Dodge tested positive for the COVID-19 virus late last week and
was still in quarantine during the semi-final game.
As Carroll players soaked in the pleasure of their upset
victory, Dodge called quarterback Quinn Ewers on Face Time to
congratulate his players and join in the celebration.
“He’s fired up. He just wants to be back here,” Ewers told The News’ Greg Riddle. “It hurt him so bad no not be able to be
out here against a great team like Duncanville. Him being able to see this and
us pulling it off, he’s just so excited."
First-time head coach
Defensive coordinator Lee Munn – who has masterfully crafted
his young, under-sized defense into a solid complement to Carroll’s fearsome offense
– took over as interim head coach for the game. It was his first time to serve
as a head coach, and what a debut it was.
“Coach Dodge has done a really good job of being present as
best as he could through Zoom calls,” Munn told Riddle. “The biggest difference
is before a meeting or after practice, all the kids are looking to you, and you
have to be that voice.”
Dodge will be back in time for the state championship game
next Saturday at AT&T Stadium, where he will face his father, legendary
coach Todd Dodge, and the Westlake Chaparrals for the state title.
The hype for this game will be fierce and perhaps that's understandable. The
senior Dodge won four state championships in five years (2002-2006) while Carroll
head coach. Riley played on two of those championship teams, leading the team
as quarterback in 2006.
Since taking over the Carroll head coaching job in 2018,
Riley Dodge has compiled a 38-3 record, taking his team deep into the playoffs
in 2018 and 2019 and now to the Big Show.
The UIL recognized the potential of a father-son coaching
face-off and originally scheduled the so-called Dodge Bowl for the opening week
of the 2020 season. But COVID protocols delayed and eventually cancelled that matchup.
Unexpected victories
But now it’s back on, set up by the unexpected victories of
Southlake against Duncanville and Westlake against reigning District I
champions the Galena Park North Shore Mustangs, who were favored to defend the
title they’ve held since 2018.
Most high school football prognosticators predicted the
Panthers and Mustangs would survive the grueling playoff season for a replay of
their titanic battles for high school football supremacy. Particularly unforgettable
is the 2018 contest in which North Shore won the game with a Hail Mary pass
into the end zone as time expired.
Despite the disruption in the coaching staff, the Dragons devised
a game plan that caught the Panthers by surprise. When Duncanville targeted
Ewers (11 of 25 for 168 yards, 1 TD), the No. 1 junior quarterback in the nation, blanketing his receivers and
pressuring him in the pocket, he turned to Allen, a quick, hard-charging RB
with perfect balance and bruising strength, despite his tender age. He turned
16 this season.
“Sometimes you forget he’s a sophomore, but the credit
really goes to Owen. He’s a tough, physical runner, but the offensive line and
the game plan the coaches came up with ... the credit goes across the board,”
Munn told the DMN.
Allen scored the Dragons’ first touchdown on a 1-yard
plunge, a score set up by Josh Spaeth who forced a fumble on the Panthers’
first possession, then fell on the ball at the Duncanville 32.
On their next series, the Panthers moved the ball
efficiently into the Dragon red zone, but an impressive defensive stand by Carroll
stopped them cold at the 14. That led to an unsuccessful 31-yard field-goal
attempt, which combined with the uncharacteristic turnover on the previous
series, indicated a door of opportunity had been cracked open.
Slamming the door
Only to the slammed shut on the very next play. Allen was
hit hard and coughed up the ball, which Panther Jadarius Thursby jumped on at
the Carroll 12. One play later, Duncanville quarterback Grayson James surged
over the goal line for a touchdown. The extra-point, however, was no good,
revealing a chink in the Panther offensive armor that would prove significant in
the game’s closing minutes.
But at that moment, the Panthers were on a roll. They held
Carroll to a 3-and-out and then proceeded to march downfield behind the
excellent protection of their O-line, which opened lanes for RB Malachi Medlock
(19 for 139, 2 TDs) to push the ball forward as the first quarter neared an
end. He ended the drive with a 2-yard dart into the end zone.
The lead changed hands several times in the 2nd,
but Duncanville was unable to dominate the field as it had in the two teams’
prior playoff encounters.
As halftime neared, the Dragons surged ahead 21-19 after
Ewers connected with Landon Samson (4 for 88), who then raced down the right
sideline 36 yards to score.
But Duncanville quickly answered, returning the kickoff to
midfield. Medlock scored again 6 plays later. A 2-point conversion gave the Panthers a
27-21 lead going into the locker room.
But it would be the last score of the game for the proud
Panthers. The Dragon defense, behind the brilliant play of defensive back
Cinque Williams, would yield no more.
On Duncanville’s first possession of the 2nd
half, it could get no closer than the Dragon 44 before punting it back to
Carroll.
Allen fought for every yard and Ewers threw a couple of key
passes to Samson and Brady Boyd (3 for 27), but the Dragons had to settle for a
31-yard Joe McFadden field goal to narrow the Panther lead to 27-24.
Carroll finally edged ahead for good when Williams jumped
in front of a James pass at the Dragon 38. Two plays later, Ewers handed the
ball to Allen, who barrelled through the center of the Duncanville line,
shrugged off at least four Panther tacklers and charged into the end zone.
Plenty of time
The Dragons would end scoring with a 26-yard field goal by
McFadden with more than 8 minutes on the clock. That left the Panthers
plenty of time to close the 34-27 gap.
On the ensuing series, James engineered a clock-eating drive
that brought his team to the Dragon 25, where it found itself facing a 4-12
decision. Samuels, no doubt mindful that his weak kicking game already had seen
one field-goal attempt and an extra-point try blocked by the Dragons, chose to
go for broke. But the conversion failed when James’ desperation pass sailed over his receiver's head,
and the Dragons took over with 3½ minutes to play.
With timeouts in its pocket, Duncanville might yet steal the
victory if it could force Carroll into a 3-and-out and uncage its explosive
offense for one more shot at glory.
But Allen pounded away at the Panther line, securing two key
first downs that drained the clock, the last one by a massive second effort
that left only inches to spare.
Here’s an interesting sidelight to yesterday’s game: The
last time Duncanville coach Reginald Samples faced the Dragons was in 2011, the
year Carroll won its last state championship. Back then, Samples was coach of
the highly rated Dallas Skyline Raiders, who met the Dragons in the semi-final game at
SMU’s Ford Stadium.
Owen Allen fights his way to a touchdown.
The Dragons trailed the Raiders by two touchdowns with 2 minutes left in the game when the Carroll team, led by quarterback Kenny Hill, staged a thrilling comeback. It culminated with Hill running down the right sideline to the winning touchdown – while a gray fox that lived on the SMU campus and had slipped into the stadium trotted down the field in the opposite direction.
It’s part of Dragon lore and an example of the strange
mystique that sometimes attaches itself to the program. It also shows that
anything can happen in high school football – and often does.
Now comes the contest against Westlake with all the
attention and hoo-ha that will surround it.
Amazing the experts
While not quite the shocker that the Carroll-Duncanville
result was, the 24-21 victory of Westlake over undefeated North Shore, ranked
the No. 2 team in the nation, still amazed the experts. Westlake is no slouch,
of course. The Chaparrals won the District II championship last year but are
competing in District I this year.
But some things are just meant to happen. The football gods who
denied us the pleasure of the Dodge Bowl at the beginning of the season now reward
us with it at the end. After all we’ve suffered through in 2020 (and the first
two weeks of 2021), it only seems fair.
I suspect that Westlake will be the prohibitive favorite for the title game. But if yesterday's games prove anything, it’s that
predictions don’t mean spit (thank God there’s no spellcheck on Word!)
The coaches’ goal will be to shield their squads from the
intensity of the public spotlight that will shine on the contest. It’s not the
Super Bowl, but for high school kids, it’s a pretty big deal.
“The Dodge Bowl, we were excited for that to be the first
game of the year and were sad to see it get canceled,” Allen, the Dragon
running back, told the DMN. “Knowing that it is rescheduled as the
state championship game is exciting, and we’re ready for it.”
Stay safe and go Dragons!
Defensive coordinator Lee Munn stepped in for Riley Dodge.
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