A very different outcome
Whoever said
revenge is a dish best served cold got it wrong. And that’s a fact, Jack.
Revenge is a
dish to be enjoyed hot or cold: Cold – as the satisfying result of patience,
meticulous planning, pinpoint timing and steady nerves. Or hot – as in the heat
of battle, with everything riding on the outcome and no path open except
straight ahead until morning.
Or a
combination of the two, which was the direction taken by the Southlake Carroll
Dragons last night in their fourth-round playoff destruction of the Bryon
Nelson Bobcats.
On Oct. 27,
the Bobcats, waving their undefeated record like a battle flag, breezed past Carroll
34-17, ending the Dragons’ 38-game district winning streak and their 35-game
regular-season streak, and denying them a third straight District 4-6A title.
It marked the first time Byron Nelson had ever defeated Southlake.
Like an
undercooked Thanksgiving turkey, that butt-kicking didn’t go down well with the
Dragons, who have been looking forward to – and preparing feverishly for – a
shot at redemption ever since.
And last
night, with the haughty Bobcats standing in Carroll’s way of making the state
semi-finals for the third time in four years, the Dragons evened the score. And
then some.
Not about revenge
Carroll head
coach Riley Dodge said after the game it wasn’t about revenge – it was about
staying in the hunt for a ninth state championship.
“It was
about some way, somehow – whatever it looks like – getting back on the bus and
getting back home with a victory,” he told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s
Charles Baggarly and Darren Lauber.
But he
acknowledged that avenging the Oct. 27 loss made last night’s win all the
sweeter.
As did the
way the Dragons avenged it.
A Carroll
defense that has been gaining confidence and credibility all season long,
reigned supreme in Arlington’s Choctaw Stadium.
It harassed
hotshot Bobcat quarterback Tom Von Grote unmercifully, intercepting him three
times and his backup once and limiting Bobcat runners to only 45 rushing yards
all night.
And if that
wasn’t humiliating enough, it held Byron Nelson scoreless until the last third
of the 3rd quarter, when Von Grote managed to slip into the end
zone, thanks in large part to a 57-yard reception by leading receiver Landon
Farco.
Among an
outstanding defensive cast, defensive back Trey Ferri stood out. He intercepted
two Von Grote passes and, along with his secondary brethren, completely
disrupted, dismantled and discombobulated Byron Nelson’s passing attack.
Rushing machine
Meanwhile,
Carroll’s O-line elbowed aside Bobcat defenders, clearing running lanes for the
Dragons’ double-headed rushing machine.
Sophomore
running back Davis Penn (20 carries for 113 yards) scored four TDs, and his
junior running partner, Riley Wormsley (6 for 61) added another two.
Meanwhile,
Dragon quarterback Graham Knowles kept the offense humming. He completed 13 of
16 passes for 224 yards, tossing a 28-yard TD missile to tight end Jack Van
Dorselaer and a perfect 24-yard arch to leading receiver Clayton Wayland (7-123)
in the corner of the end zone.
Carroll
scored on six of its first seven possessions. When Wayland’s TD catch put the Dragons ahead
21-0 early in the 2nd quarter, the matter essentially had been
decided.
The Bobcats
entered the contest confident they would take up where the October game left
off – by dispersing the Carroll D and smothering the offense. The opening
kickoff only seemed to confirm it.
Fielding the
ball at his own 5, Bobcat receiver Jonathan Kabeya sprinted 58 yards to the
Dragon 37. Instead of reeling in shock, Carroll abruptly stuffed the drive,
then sacked Von Grote (9-19, 130 yards)on 4th down to take
possession.
Not this time
It was
Carroll’s way of signaling to the Bobcats, “Not this time, fellas. Not. This.
Time.”
From the 33,
Wormsley promptly reeled off a 42-yard run to the BN 24, and Wayland caught two
short passes to push the Dragons to the 1. From there, Wormsley darted across
the line and opened the scoring floodgates.
After
another 3-and-out, Knowles engineered a 69-yard scoring drive that ended with
Van Dorselaer’s TD reception.
At that
point, at the beginning of its third possession, the mighty BN offense that had
played bully boy to opponents all season, had compiled exactly 4 yards.
Things were
not to get much better. On the third play of the drive, Trey Ferri picked up
his first of two interceptions, setting up the Dragons on the BN 39. While the
Dragons were unable to capitalize on the misstep, the Bobcats never regained their
footing.
That’s
because Von Grote’s receivers were draped in Dragon defensive backs, and the
D-line held leading Bobcat rusher Tucker James to only 35 yards on 13 carries.
Meanwhile,
the Dragon offense scored four times in the decisive second period.
Knowles
completed a 24-yard pass to Wayland, and Penn zipped 1-yard untouched into the
end zone. Then Wormsley smashed through end zone defenders from the 6, getting
shaken up sufficiently to sit out the rest of the game, and Penn finished his
first-half hat trip with a 5-yard run to pay dirt.
The Dragon
strolled into halftime with a 42-0 lead.
Demonstrated dominance
As the half drew to a close, a sequence of
plays demonstrated both Dragon dominance and Bobcat disintegration.
With Carroll
leading 28-0, BN managed to put together a drive that took it near the Dragon
red zone. Trey Ferri then snatched his second interception of the night and ran
the ball back into Bobcat territory. Three plays later, Wormsley ran it in from
the 6.
On the
second play after the ensuing kickoff, Von Grote tried to complete a pass
downfield, but defensive back Carter High grabbed it instead. It took the
Dragons only five plays before Penn found the end zone from the 5.
Perhaps the
wildest play of the night came in the 3rd period. After BN had
scored its only TD of the night, the Bobcats tried an unsuccessful onside kick,
which the Dragons recovered near midfield. Three plays later, Knowles connected
with sophomore Brock Boyd as he sped toward the end zone. But the usually
surehanded Boyd lost control of the ball at the 30. And Penn, running just
behind him, scooped up the ball in midstride and crossed the goal line, leaving
the impression that was the plan all along.
Byron Nelson
head coach Travis Pride was refreshingly candid about his team’s performance.
“I think we
made some early mistakes,” Pride told the Star-T. “I don’t think we played very
physical. I think that sometimes the big game can get you. The kids have come a
long way, and our program has come a long way, but it was a big game for them
tonight, and I think we played like it was too big.”
Dragonheads
were as surprised as anyone at the total deconstruction of the Bobcats at the
hands of the Southlake stalwarts.
Most of us expected
a knock-down-drag-out street brawl, with the outcome teetering back and forth
all night. And some of us – including me, guilty as charged – feared that
perhaps, just perhaps, this was Bryon Nelson’s year. That the football gods had
already decreed the outcome, leaving us in the grip of a force over which we
had no control.
Karma alert
And it turns
out, such fears can probably be blamed on indigestion brought on by holiday
over-indulgence. But one thing’s for sure. Karma rules the universe, and it’s
bad karma to crow too loudly about Byron Nelson’s disgrace.
After all,
the next Carroll opponents are the redoubtable DeSoto Eagles, reigning Class
6A, Division II state champions. They are always formidable – well-coached,
well-prepared and athletically talented.
The current incarnation of the Eagles are
dead-eyed, cold-blooded assassins, and the Dragons will need every bit of
discipline, dedication and grit to get past them.
But they’re
not invincible. The Dragons have whipped the Eagles in the past, and they can
do so again. Particularly if they play the kind of game they did against Bryon
Nelson.
For the time
being, though, let’s just enjoy a heaping dish of revenge, courtesy of the
Bobcats. Served hot or cold. Diner’s choice.
Go, Dragons!
Quarterback Graham Knowles prepares to hand the ball to Davis Penn.
No comments:
Post a Comment