Not much of a challenge
KELLER – The slaughter started early. It took the
Southlake Carroll Dragons less than 2 minutes to score their first touchdown
against the lowly Keller Central Chargers. And it took them only one play to do
it.
No one expected the Chargers to pose much of a challenge
to the unbeaten Dragons. And they weren’t. But in effortlessly dispatching Central,
Carroll lacked a little of its usual disciplined swagger and displayed a
sometimes distracted air to the proceedings.
But what the night lacked in crisp execution and flawless
devotion to the game plan, it made up for in an entertaining mishmash of weirdness
that had fans on both sides of the stadium shaking their heads in wonderment.
Perhaps it was the lingering effects of Halloween.
As usual, the stars of the Dragon offense led the
blood-letting.
Quarterback Angelo Renda completed 75 percent of his
passes, compiling 249 passing yards and TD throws to Brock Boyd (3-112, 2 TDs)
and Brody Knowles (2-34, 1 TD). On the ground, he rolled to 2 more TDs, both on
short-yardage hops inside the 5.
Boyd was his favorite receiver. They connected early –
on the first Dragon play of the game in fact. Following a quick 3-and-out and a
botched Charger punt, Renda lobbed a perfect 61-yard arc to Boyd as the
receiver raced toward the endzone.
Errant punt
The sluggish Chargers’ second drive ended with another
errant punt that started Carroll’s next possession at its 43. Six plays later,
running back extraordinaire Davis Penn surged 2 yards to send the Dragons a
14-0 lead. He ended the night with 16 carries for 120 yards.
Meanwhile, the Dragon D had no trouble with the Charger
offense led by quarterback Landon Smith. Smith managed only 38 yards in the air
and was held to 6 rushing yards in the 13 times he attempted to run the ball. He
is credited with the 4-yard dash that culminated the Chargers only sustained
drive of the night.
Charger running backs Spencer Martin (20-90) and
Jordan Brown (3-68) enjoyed a little
better running room, but they were never factors in the contest.
The third Central drive was typical. Carroll D lineman
Zac Hays sacked Smith on his own 25 as he struggled to convert on 4th
down. This time, the Charger punter managed to get the ball to the Dragon 39,
but Carroll’s ensuing possession was plagued by procedural penalties.
Despite some hard running by Penn, the drive ran
aground when Penn was stopped for no gain at the Charger 26. Dragonheads then
experienced a few minutes of acute concern when Penn got up limping and hobbled
off the field.
The junior, a Baylor commit, walked off his discomfort
on the sideline and soon returned to play with no further apparent difficulty.
But the prospect of losing him – after a knee injury ended Riley Wormley’s
season earlier in the year – was bitter, indeed.
The bad mojo created by the scare doomed the Dragon
drive, and Carroll had to settle for a 43-yard field goal by Gavin Strange.
Agonies continue
But Central’s agonies would continue. The next Charger
drive ended when Carroll D-back Taevin Kunz snagged an interception – his
second straight week to do so – and set up a bizarre sequence of plays that transfixed
us all.
The Dragons kicked off their drive with a double pass
– Renda to Boyd to Brody Knowles – that looked snazzy but didn’t work. But
while Dragonheads still were musing about
the failed trick play, Carroll returned to basics and sent Penn plunging through
the line and rumbling 65 yards to the end zone.
His labors went unrewarded when a penalty wiped out
the score. To add insult to injury, Christian Glenn fumbled the ball on the
next play, and Braydon Nichols of the Charger D returned it 77 yards for
Central’s first score.
But the craziness didn’t end there. Central’s PAT was
blocked by Luke Bussman, who then snatched up the ball and sped 88 yards to the
Charger endzone. That denied Central the extra point, added 2 to Carroll’s
total and put the score at 19-6.
Renda would add another rushing TD before the end of
the half, and the Chargers would claw their way close enough to complete a 27-yard
field goal with 28 seconds left in the half.
The fireworks weren’t over, yet. After a kickoff we
all thought was perfunctory, Glenn fielded the ball and raced 95 electrifying
yards across the Charger goal line.
But once again, Dragon labors went for naught. Glenn’s
heroics were erased by penalty, and Carroll – with time running out – lined up
for a 49-yard Strange field goal. Befittingly, it failed.
Not what we expected
A 26-6 halftime lead emphatically was NOT what many of
us expected to see against Central, a team that has won only one game all
season and is winless in 4-6A play.
The third quarter reassured most Dragonheads that the
stars were properly aligned and the music of the spheres restored.
Renda got things started with a 6-play, 62-yard drive
that he ended with a 5-yard bolt across the line. Things then veered off course
again.
On the PAT, the snap went awry, and Dragon holder Zac
Hays scrambled to recover it. Barely eluding a pack of Chargers, he completed a
desperate side-arm pass as he fell to the turf. Don’t ask me how, but Jacob Bobrowski
caught it in the endzone.
Carroll forced a 3-and-out on Smith and company, and
two plays later, Renda zipped the ball 17 yards to Knowles, who brought the
score to 41-9.
Smith managed to engineer the Chargers only sustained
drive of the night, then punctuated it with a 4-yard TD dash.
Scoring for the night ended on the very next Carroll
drive in an appropriately upbeat note and with a perfectly predictable cast.
Renda began work on his own 39 (Carroll enjoyed
excellent field position all night). He took the snap, looked downfield for Boyd
and lofted a 61-yard pass that fell into the junior’s hands.
So ends Carroll’s regular season – its unbeaten season
unsullied, its District 4-6A championship secure and with the welcome prospects
of a bye week to prepare for the playoffs.
I’m not going to delve into the complicated playoff
picture in this post. There’ll be time enough for that next week and the next.
For now, it’s time for the Dragons to recoup, regroup and enjoy their
accomplishment.
Go, Dragons!
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