Home-field advantage
SOUTHLAKE – If the North Crowley Panthers expected a
welcoming pat on the back on their first visit to Dragon Stadium, they were
given a smack in the face, instead.
The Panthers, led by talented dual-threat quarterback
Quinton Jackson, watched helplessly as the 10-0 Dragons leaped to a 21-0 lead,
anointed a brand-new all-time rushing leader for the program, and demonstrated
once again what the meaning of home-field advantage truly means.
You see, only a
handful of teams have succeeded in coming away with a victory at Dragon Stadium
since it opened in 2001. When Dragon fans mutter darkly about “protecting the
tradition,” part of what they mean is maintaining the inviolability of their
home turf.
And Carroll did just that last night with a stifling defense
that limited Jackson’s ability to control the field and with a crushing offense
led by rushing star Owen Allen, who scored three times, and quarterback Kaden
Anderson, who threw for another three.
Allen was the toast of the evening. His 12-yard plunge
across the goal line with 2 minutes in the 1st quarter gave the
Dragons their third unanswered TD and – drumroll, please – handed him the
all-time rushing record for the Dragons, an honor previously held by legendary
Tre Newton.
Rushing giants
Allen ended the night with 129 yards, which extended his
career total to 4,924 yards. In a postgame interview, Allen said he was honored
to be included among the rushing giants of the Dragon past – Newton, Lil’
Jordan Humphrey and TJ McDaniel.
“I wouldn’t want to play for any other team,” Allen said to
Dragon Radio. “And to break the record here at Dragon Stadium, that makes this
all very special.”
In addition to his record-setting TD run, Allen also scored
on 2- and 7-yard dashes, both in the 2nd quarter. Mission
accomplished, he left the game late in the 3rd.
The junior still hasn’t attracted the attention of any
collegiate scouts, but he’s a gamer and eventually will – unless they are blind
and dumb.
Anderson once again had to do without the services of
leading receiver Landon Samson, forcing R.J. Maryland to carry the load. While Maryland
and Anderson had trouble connecting for much of the night, both eventually
turned in solid performances.
Anderson completed 13
of 26 for 214 yards and 3 TDs. Maryland finished the night with 5 catches for
89 yards and a 25-yard TD grab that opened Dragon scoring. Anderson’s other
pair of TDs came on a 19-yard toss to Jacob Jordan and a 15-yard pass to Corbin
Duwe that ended scoring and gave senior backup his first TD of the year.
Bottled up
Defensively, Carroll was able to bottle up the Panther’s
Jackson, limiting him to 71 yards passing and 62 yards rushing, much below his
game averages. Runners Tristan White and DeJuan Lacy didn’t fair much better.
The exception came after the Dragons jumped to a 3-score lead in the waning minutes of the 1st quarter. The desperate
Panthers then staged a 75-yard TD drive, mostly powered by White’s crushing 52-yard
sprint. A few plays later, Lacy finally got the Panthers on the scoreboard with
a 3-yard dash.
But that bit of heroics aside, the Panthers couldn’t crack Carroll’s
starting D-line. Only in the final period, with the Dragons leading 42-7 and
Carroll backups at every position, did North Crowley manage a pair of scores within
a minute of each other, the later set up by a Dragon fumble at its own 27.
Meanwhile, D-lineman Calder Bray was a disruptive force all
night, as was corner Avyonne Jones, who pounced on a Jackson fumble before
Dragon starters left the game.
The North Crowley massacre wasn’t the Dragons best game. But
it wasn’t their worst, either. Good teams have a way of playing up to their
competition, and the Panther-dragon matchup was bit of mismatch.
That said, the Carroll passing game, hampered by the absence
of the worthy Samson, needs to get sharper. And Allen’s raw power on the ground
would be enhanced by the return of speedster James Lehman, still on the injury
list.
Next up
Southlake next meets Midland Legacy, the school formerly
known as Midland Lee, in the area round at Globe Life Park in Arlington at 7:30
p.m. next Saturday. It’s part of a day-long series of playoff games at a
facility that gets high marks as a baseball venue, but scattered praise as a
football facility. We’ll see how that all works out.
Legacy, which no longer may be named after a confederate
general but is still known as the Rebels, whipped El Paso’s Pebble Hill last
night 43-22, a score remarkably similar to the Carroll-North Crowley affair. I
know nothing about the strengths or weaknesses of Pebble Hill, so any comparisons
probably are risky.
But Southlake in the past has had little trouble with the
best teams West Texas has to offer these days. Legacy stands at 10-1 for the
season, it’s only loss at the hands of Arlington Martin, a team Carroll faced –
and defeated 31-7 – in the preseason.
It’s win-or-go-home time, folks! Second round – here we
come.
Go Dragons!
Next up: second-round opponents Midland Legacy Rebels!
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