A defeat, not a beating: Southlake Carroll 38, DeSoto 45

 

Eagle Deondrae "Tiger" Riden ran like a man possessed and couldn't be stopped.

Everything a playoff semifinal should be

Even the most devoted of Dragonheads had to admit that the best team won yesterday’s semi-final playoff matchup between the DeSoto Eagles, defending Class 6A, Division II state champions, and the Southlake Carroll Dragons.

And it’s only right that the Eagles will meet Humble Summer Creek this Saturday in AT&T Stadium to attempt to be the first DFW 6A team to win back-to-back state titles since Allen did it in 2013-14.

Here’s the long and short of it: The Dragons played well, forcing the Eagles into a series of uncharacteristic mistakes and scoring regularly against its storied defense.

But the Eagles played better, overcoming those miscues with grit, determination and patience and stopping the Dragons when it really, really mattered.

For fans, it was everything a contest between two of the best high school teams should be – a hard-hitting, back-and-forth contest in which the lead changed five times and both teams combined for 1,158 yards of total offense.

Winning on the ground

But the battle was won yesterday on the ground, and that’s where DeSoto ruled the roost, outrushing Carroll 442 yards to 218.

DeSoto’s incredible junior running back, Deondrae “Tiger” Riden Jr., strode rampant across Allen stadium, rushing for an eye-popping 254 yards on 34 carries and 2 touchdowns. He averaged 7½ per carry, slicing through Dragon defenders with ease or brushing them effortlessly aside.

Riden, who missed games in regular season because of injury, has been making up for lost time in the playoffs. He ran yesterday like a man possessed. And perhaps he was: Possessed by such a fierce desire to win that nothing – and nobody – could stop him.

If he hadn’t been destroying Carroll’s hopes with every stride, it would have been a pleasure and privilege to watch Riden work. After the game, DeSoto head coach Claude Mathis spoke reverentially about his star.

“We unleashed him today,” Mathis told Dallas Morning News sportswriter Lia Assimakopoulos. “He asked me to. I had to. I had to take the strings off of him. He just took over.”

DJ Bailey led the DeSoto offense, keeping his cool and directing his comrades with confidence and precision. He completed 9 of 12 passes for 189 yards and 2 TDs, a 40-yard missile to his brother, Tristan, and a 50-yard toss to Antonio Pride Jr. That score gave the Eagles a 42-31 cushion they needed to smother a Dragon rally in the last period.

Rushing power

Bailey also was the Eagles’ second leading rusher, rolling to 81 yards on 8 carries. That was only a few yards ahead of Jaden Trawick, who rushed 8 times for 75 yards, including a 54-yard sprint that gave the Eagles their first lead near the end of the 1^st quarter.

While the Dragon D never was able to lasso the redoubtable Riden, it did force the Eagles into committing four turnovers – three fumbles and a Bailey pass intercepted by Eric Garza.

Tiger Riden, who ran for 254 yards and 2 TDs, asked his coach to let him run free. And he did.

Seniors Garza and Zack Engelhardt led Carroll’s defensive effort yesterday, spreading their disruptive influence all over the field. Trouble was, it just wasn’t enough to ground the soaring Eagles.

Carroll, trailing by only 4 points when Garza made his grab, was unable to capitalize on the gift and handed the ball back to the Eagles after a 3-and-out.

Four plays later, Bailey zipped his 50-yarder to Pride.

What hope the Dragons still harbored of overcoming an 11-point DeSoto lead vanished when Knowles threw an interception fielded by DeSoto at the Dragon 14. Two plays later, Riden rumbled across the goal line, but the score was erased by a holding call. Instead, the Eagles extended their lead to 14 by kicking a 25-yard field goal.

With 4 minutes left in the game, Carroll staged a 72-yard drive down the field to score its final TD, a 12-yard strike to Clayton Wayland (6-114), his second TD catch of the night. That narrowed DeSoto’s margin to 7 with 1:17 left on the clock.

Carroll’s only chance, a pitifully slim one at best, was to recover an onside kick and score quickly against DeSoto’s stubborn defense, its confidence bolstered by a dwindling clock and the whiff of Dragon desperation.

The gray fox saga

But Dragonheads couldn’t help but remember a memorable semifinal playoff game in 2011 against Dallas Skyline in which Carroll, trailing 24-21, recovered an onside kick with time running out and drove the field to win the game.

That drive featured a midfield encounter between Southlake quarterback Kenny Hill and a gray fox that had slipped into SMU’s Ford Stadium and trotted past Hill as he leaped over tacklers on his way to the goal line.

One week later, Carroll won its 8^th state championship, and the tale of the gray fox entered Dragon yore.

Of course, such magical comebacks occur only once in the life of a program, and Carroll’s doomed effort evaporated when the Eagles fell on the onside kick and ran out the clock.

Earlier in the game, another sequence of plays also sparked memories of past playoff matchups, this time a 2012 playoff encounter between the Eagles and the Dragons.

In that contest, also played at SMU, the Eagles ousted the Dragons – at that point defending state champions – from the playoffs by keeping Kenny Hill out of the end zone on three successful plays from the 1 as time expired.

Here’s how it played out yesterday.

In the 3^rd quarter, DeSoto had just recaptured the lead, 35-31, after the pass connection between the Bailey brothers. On the ensuing Carroll drive, Knowles marched his team inside the Eagle 5. From the 1, Knowles tried to sneak across the line on 4^th down but was blockaded – it was close, folks, so very, very close – and DeSoto took over the ball.

Ultimate outcome

If the Dragons had managed to score on that drive and retake the lead, who knows what the ultimate outcome might have been? Momentum shifts are funny things and can have a powerful impact on outcomes. Failing to punch the ball over from the 1 can be ego-deflating and spirit-sagging.

Riley Wormley gets smothered by the Eagle defense, but he still ran for 134 yards and a TD.

My hunch is that a Dragon touchdown then and there would have changed the entire script of yesterday’s game.

Unlike 2012, however, the game didn’t end with the Dragons’ goal-line failure, and they had another shot at salvaging their playoff journey.

Three plays after the Eagles took over at the 1, Bailey fumbled the ball and Garza recovered it at the 13. A holding call sent the Dragons back to the 23, from where Knowles hit Wayland at the 10, and Davis Penn took it to the 4.

The Dragons would get no further, however, and Eagle defender Aundre Wisner blocked kicker Kyle Lemmermann’s field goal. (Lemmermann completed three others – for 50 yards, a season record, 39 yards and 34 yards.)

Did the goal-line debacle and the blocked field goal – considered together – take the air out of Dragon sails at a time the team needed it the most? Seems plausible, doesn’t it?

After all, the Dragons traded punches blow by blow with the Eagles for three quarters. They trailed by only 21-20 at halftime.

Carroll runners, although they didn’t enjoy the carefree capering on display from Riden, had solid games. Junior Riley Wormley ran for 134 yards on 12 carries, including a thrilling 49-yard dash up the middle to give the Dragons a 7-0 lead.

Sophomore David Penn ran 91 yards on 9 carries. Early in the 3^rd quarter, he gave the Dragons their last lead of the game, 31-28, with a 75-yard rumble that perked up sagging Dragon fans.

Knowles played like a champion, completing 19 of 32 for 309 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT. Those are statistics any quarterback would love to own – unless, of course, your team has just been booted from the playoffs.

‘We have a chance’

Mathis, the DeSoto coach, explained to the DMN’s Assimakopoulos how important winning back-to-back championships is to his team.

“We’ve been talking about this all year,” Mathis said. “We have a chance. Until somebody knocks us off, we’re the defending champions. Now we’ve got a chance to win it back-to-back. They’ve been working so hard all year to get back to this point, and we’re back.”

I wish them good luck and God’s speed. Sincerely. DeSoto is a class act, and I’d like to see them win it all – again. Humble Summer Creek? Puh-leeze. Sounds like a summer youth camp.

Dragonheads – denied the distractions of the playoffs – can now concentrate on the joys of the season: Christmas shopping, holiday sweets and relaxing by the fire (glass of whiskey optional).

Still and all, a ninth state championship would have been nice, doncha think? Oh well, it wouldn’t have fit under the tree, anyway. Happy holidays and safe travels, everyone!

Go, Dragons!

The season is over for Brock Brady and Riley Wormley, but they're both back next year.