Owen Allen does what he does best -- run for daylight.
The Dragon has awakened!
SOUTHLAKE – Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
Southlake Carroll emerged from a spell of rainy-day dreaming
last night and handily captured another district championship – its fifth
straight under coach Riley Dodge.
As it turns out, the much-discussed, highly anticipated showdown
between the Dragons and the unbeaten bully-boys of District 4-6A – the Byron
Nelson Bobcats – turned out to be not so dramatic after all.
Oh, it had its moments of anxiety for sodden Carroll fans
and exultation for the rowdy Byron Nelson crowd that braved rain, thunder and
lightning in hope of watching its heroes dispatch the haughty, undeserving
Dragons.
But alas for the swaggering Bobcats – who were averaging 55
points a game as the state’s No. 1 scoring offense – those moments came early
and lasted only briefly.
At that point, the showdown became a showcase for the
awesome talents of Carroll’s superstar running back, Owen Allen, who rushed for
216 yards and racked up a personal record of five touchdowns.
Eye-popping performance
Allen, whose off-field modesty and genial manner belie his
ferocity on the field, credited his eye-popping performance to his coaches’
gameplan and his offensive line.
“People can say that I took over the game and carried my
team on my back, but that’s never how it really is,” he told Dragon Radio,
which had just characterized the game in such heroic terms. “When I’m doing
well, it’s because things are going well for the big guys up front.”
That’s undoubtedly true – and bless Allen for being smart
enough to realize it.
But it also was his damn-the-torpedoes running style and
never-surrender attitude that shook the Dragons out of their early-game
lethargy. It emphatically ended the stream of vitriol and insult that had wafted
eastward all week from Trophy Club, home to the Bobcats and Southlake’s
next-door neighbor.
Byron Nelson, perhaps inspired by last night’s rain showers,
sprang to a 13-0 lead with lightning speed. Its first score – a 44-yard bomb
from veteran Nelson quarterback Jake Wilson to favorite receiver Gavin McCurley
– came after only a 5-play series kicked into overdrive by speedster Aaron
Darden’s 24-yard dash. A 2-point conversion attempt failed.
Carroll responded feebly to the challenge with a 3-and-out,
and Wilson picked up where he left off. He guided the Bobcats on a 12-play,
82-yard drive that ended with another TD pass to McCurley. Presto! Nelson led
13-0 with 3 minutes left in the first quarter.
“But like in most
fairy tales,” wrote the Fort Worth Star Telegram’s Brian Gosset in his
game story, “you never want to wake up the dragon.”
Particularly when that dragon is named Owen Allen.
Over the course of the next 15 minutes, as described by Dallas
Morning News writer Lia Assimakopoulis, Allen rushed for 138 yards and
scored 3 TDs to put the Dragons in the lead, 21-13, at the half.
Allen-up-the-middle
The first of those scores came on an 8-play drive, 7 of them
runs by Allen straight into the teeth of the Bobcat defense. The only deviation
from Allen-up-the-middle was a 24-yard pass from Carroll quarterback Graham
Knowles to Clayton Wayland.
Allen’s 3-yard smash across the goal line was his 20th
rushing score of the season and the beginning of a 31-point unanswered scoring
spree by the now aroused Dragons.
The second Carroll score also was all Allen and came after
the first of two key first-half stops by the Carroll defense that stalled key
Nelson drives and doused its hopes.
When the Bobcats failed to convert on 4th down at
the Dragon 27, Allen carried the Dragons downfield before scoring from the 8.
On one 19-yard carry, he displayed what makes him so special.
After breaking through the Nelson line at its 37, Allen
emerged into the secondary slightly off-balance. Lurching upright, he was hit
from behind and nearly went down. Wrenching himself free of the Bobcat’s grasp,
he crashed into another defender and bounced sideways, once again almost
toppling. Still churning forward, he finally was brought down by a host of Bobcats
at the 18. He scored two plays later.
The last Dragon score of the first half occurred after Carroll
stalled a Bobcat drive at its 35 and forced a punt. Allen then spearheaded
another drive that included a stunning 41-yard Knowles pass to Jacob Jordan (2-59) that brought the Dragons to the Nelson 6. Allen wrapped things up with a jolt
across the line.
With only an 8-point lead at halftime, the Dragons could ill afford to rest on their laurels. And they didn’t. Kicker Tyler White booted a 39-yard field goal to open the second half for the Dragons, and Allen would add a couple of more TDs.
A comeback crushed
The Carroll defense, which had held its opponents to an
average of 9 points a game before meeting the Bobcats, couldn’t completely
stifle the talented Wilson (24 of 33, 250 yards, 2 TDs). But he was pressured
all night and saw his 3rd-period comeback effort crushed before it
ever had a chance to develop.
In the closing seconds of the 3rd, the Bobcats
kicked a 37-yard field goal by Pierce Dahlin to narrow the gap to 31-16. Then,
just when it looked like Allen and company were poised to ice the game, Carroll
fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Nelson recovered on its 46.
With rising hope, Wilson quickly took his team to the Dragon
15 despite constant harassment by Carroll defenders. He was sacked twice, the
second time by the worthy Cade Parks, a play that snuffed out the Bobcats’ last
flicker of hope. Two plays later, they turned the ball over on downs.
Another rushing series later, Allen whipped across the goal
line to end Dragon scoring. Nelson would add a meaningless TD by Landon Farco
with less than 2 minutes left, and then it was over.
Before the game, Dodge had freely admitted that Allen was
the key to the Dragon offense, and not just because the rainy conditions – the
game was delayed by lightning for 80 minutes – supposedly favored the ground
game.
Allen has been the fierce heart of the Dragon offense all
year, but especially after injury sidelined quarterback Kaden Anderson for the year.
With the untested Knowles now at the helm, the focus turned
increasingly on Allen and his running mate, junior James Lehman (10 for 91). They haven’t
disappointed.
After the game, his coach gave Allen – who has now rushed
for over 6,500 yards and 105 TDs in his 4-year Dragon career – his due.
“He’s the best running back in the state of Texas for a
reason,” he told the DMN. “Look at the stats. You don’t have to go too
far to figure that out.”
Cinderella story
As radio commentators pointed out, it’s not often that you
see two undefeated teams face each other this late in the season. For that
reason alone, a lot of attention was directed at the matchup. Another
reason for all the hoopla, of course, is that the public loves a Cinderella
story.
And Byron Nelson fits that bill nicely. Only last year, it
fell to Carroll 68-7 – a soul-draining, ego-destroying affair that could have
demolished many programs. Instead, the Bobcats went on to make the playoffs, an
astounding comeback that was only reinforced by their domination of opponents
this year.
We’ll see if Bryon Nelson can sustain the progress it’s
made. Winning traditions aren’t forged out of a single season. Certainly, its
fan base has a lot to learn about handling success gracefully. The hateful
chatter directed at the Dragons in recent weeks went beyond the normally
good-natured trash talk that accompanies most games.
Haters gotta hate, I guess. It served one good purpose,
though. Carroll coaches used the provocative dribble – and the media’s total focus
on Byron Nelson’s storybook season while largely ignoring the Dragons’ equally
impressive credentials – as a motivational tool.
Southlake, of course, is used to being the bad guy everyone
roots against. It’s an attitude fueled by Carroll’s phenomenal success over the
years and the public perception (largely accurate) that it’s a haven for the
rich and privileged.
Dodge, who grew up in Southlake and is a product of the
Dragon program, said his players consider it a point of pride that every team they
play consider a victory against Carroll as a season-making event.
“It’s a group
that’s had a target on their back from day one coming off a semifinal run in
the playoffs last year, and these guys continue to answer the bell,” he told
the DMN.
No easy route
The Dragons, de facto district champs, end their regular season next Thursday against Keller Fossil Ridge. Next week’s final games will determine whether the Dragons play in Division I or Division II.
Neither route to the state championship will
be a cakewalk. In fact, Division II, the so-called small-school division of 6A, may prove the tougher path this year. Carroll most often qualifies for Division I.
But the manner in
which the Dragons rose to smite the ascendant Bobcats bodes well for a deep playoff
plunge. In their first real challenge of the season, the Dragons passed the
test, bless ’em. Watch out, Fossil Ridge, the Dragon has awakened!
Go Dragons!
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