Giving them all they could handle
For a while there … Oh, honestly, who are we trying to
fool? Up until the final seconds of last night’s black-eyed, bloody-nosed contest,
it looked like the Wolfforth Frenship Tigers might finally get their
long-yearned-for revenge and boot the Southlake Carroll Dragons from the Class
6A Division II playoffs.
On the two previous occasions the two teams met in the
post-season, in 2022 and 2023, the Dragons administered no-nonsense
butt-kickings to the proud Tigers.
But this year, at Abilene Christian University’s
Wildcat Stadium, things went a little differently, didn’t they? Indeed, they
did.
Frenship gave the Dragons all they could handle – and
perhaps a little more. The Tigers outgained the Dragons in total yards, 524 to
409, and their hard-slinging quarterback outpaced the Dragons’ Angelo Renda by
completing 33 of 47 passes for 484 yards and five passing TDs.
And it’s not as if Renda had a bad game. Far from it.
He completed 80 percent of his passes (23 of 29) and rolled up 265 yards and
two TDs in the air. That’s a praise-worthy performance in anybody’s book, thank
you very much.
Except maybe in a side-by-side comparison with
Frenship’s Holden Phillips. Lordy, even the most dedicated Dragonhead watched
in open-mouthed awe as Phillips – under considerable duress for a good chunk of
the evening – zipped ball after ball to his sure-handed, hard-charging
receivers, Chase Campbell (12 catches for 206 yards and 1 TD) and Leyton Stone
(8-167 and 4 TDs).
But in the end, it’ll be Renda playing in the Region I
semifinals next week while Phillips gnaws on left-over turkey and reheated
sweet-potato casserole.
That’s thanks to a never-say-die defense that shut the
Tigers down when it mattered most and to a let’s-don’t-panic, stick-to-the-game-plan
offense.
Cool customer
Renda remained a cool customer even after the Tigers
leaped to a 21-7 lead in the second quarter. As good as he was in the air, Renda
may have been even more impactful on the ground, rolling up 72 rushing yards on
9 carries and smashing to three rushing TDs – including the game-winning,
go-ahead score in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.
Dragonheads – smugly confident of victory by the last
two encounters between the Tigers and Dragons – were jolted out of our
complacency when Phillips, on the first play of the game, tossed a short pass
to Campbell, who then raced 82 yards to hand Frenship the early lead.
Then, after a stalled Dragon drive and a failed fake
punt, he drove his Tigers 56 yards in seven plays to the Dragon 6, where
Campbell plunged in for Frenship’s second TD.
Clearly something unpleasant was afoot in Abilene. And
as I struggled with my pay-for-view version of the game – NFHS Network, you know
who you are – I felt a tiny spark of panic ignite in my belly.
My concerns were assuaged somewhat when the steady
Renda guided the Dragons to the Tiger 31. Just as the first quarter ended, he
lofted a perfect TD pass to sophomore receiver Blake Gunter gliding downfield.
The satisfaction didn’t last long. On the next
Frenship drive, Phillips completed six straight passes, the last a 43-yard TD
missile to Stone. Frenship now led by two touchdowns, and Phillips seemed
incapable of missing a target.
That’s when a momentum shift occurred that changed the
tenor of the game. On the ensuing Dragon drive, Carroll faced a 4th-and-5
at the Frenship 30. Renda aimed a pass at WR Luc Jacquemard, thankfully back
from injury, but it was tipped in transit. A quick-thinking Gunter then
snatched it out of the air and darted to
the 11. From there, Renda carried it across the line to narrow the Tiger lead.
Attempting to respond, Phillips was introduced to a
rejuvenated Dragon defense. Dragon defensive back Zac Hays got to the Tiger
quarterback on the next three plays, and Frenship was forced to punt.
Junior Parker Harris fielded the Tiger punt, then
rumbled his way to the endzone to tie things up, 21-21.
After the Dragon kickoff, Hays kept the pressure on
Phillips, who hurried a throw downfield that was promptly intercepted by William
Chen. Two plays later, Renda dashed 9
yards to the endzone through a corridor cleared of Tigers by running back
Christian Glenn.
A leading role
Glenn, who has been getting a lot of playing time
since star RB Riley Wormley went down earlier in the season, assumed the
leading rusher role last night after the sterling Davis Penn had to be helped
off the field in the first quarter.
Penn never returned to action, and the nature of his
injury – and its seriousness – are unknown. But suffice it to say, a lot more
responsibility now has landed on the senior’s shoulders. Glenn finished the
night with 12 carries for 71 yards and 1 TD, a 47-yard bolt up the middle that
opened the second half.
The third quarter soon devolved into a tit-for-tat
shootout between the Tigers and the Dragons. Seizing a 42-35 lead at the
beginning of the fourth, the Dragons finally appeared poised to put things away.
When Carroll forced a turnover on downs at the Tiger
45, the resulting drive ended when Renda committed a rare misstep, throwing an
interception that eventually resulted in a tying Frenship touchdown.
With 3:18 left
in the game, Renda capped an 11-play, 70-yard drive with a 1-yard TD smash
through the middle. Resulting score: 49-42.
High drama followed as the clock wound down, and Frenship
moved steadily to the Dragon 40. A bad snap sailed over Phillips’ head, but he
managed to seize it and toss it away before being smothered in Dragons.
Phillips then sent a pass into the endzone, but it
fell incomplete. The drive seemed all but dead, but no. Carroll was
assessed two penalties on the play: pass interference AND roughing the passer.
Relentless scourge
Good grief, what next? Phillips and company now had
the ball on the Dragon 25 with 1:18 left on the clock. The Tiger quarterback
tried to pass. Incomplete. On the next play, he was sacked (you guessed it, it
was that relentless scourge, Zac Hays, bless him!). The ball was knocked loose,
but the refs said Phillips already was down. Drat!
The ball now rested on the Dragon 36, 3rd
down, 21 yards needed and 48 ticks left on the clock. Phillips attempted another
pass. No good. Now 4th-and-21. A Tiger false start then made it 4th-and-26.
Long odds, but not impossible. Phillips dropped back
and who should he encounter but a horde of Carroll D-men with blood in their
eyes. Boom. That finally finished things for the Tigers. The ball went to the Dragons. Renda took a
knee. And Carroll will hold a practice on Thanksgiving Day.
At game’s end, much of the attention was directed at
the defense’s effectiveness in throttling Frenship hopes on that final drive.
One of the night’s defensive stars told the Fort
Worth Star Telegram’s Mike Waters that his defensive teammates knew it all
rested on their shoulders.
“We knew the situation,” senior Jack Van Dorselaer
told Waters. “We needed a stop. It was our turn to make a play and we did. We
came in the game expecting a shootout but also knowing we needed to make some
key plays on defense. Great job by our defense on that final drive, against a
great offensive team.”
Head coach Riley Dodge, who notched his 90th
win as Dragon coach last night, lauded his defense, praising it for “making
some crucial plays at critical moments.”
“We found a way to win,” he told the Star-T.
“That is all that matters. It is all about advancing to the next round, and we
did that.”
If the strength of the Frenship Tigers surprised some
of their fans (ahem), the Dragons themselves said they knew what to expect and
prepared for it.
“We beat a
great team tonight,” Renda told Waters. “We knew it would be a challenge, and
we answered that challenge.”
Junior Brock Boyd, Renda’s favorite target (12 catches
for 109 yards), said the Dragons were ready when the Tigers came out with claws
bared.
“We did a good job of keeping our composure early,” he
said to the Star-T. “We knew coming in this was going to be a
high-scoring game.”
A worthy foe
It was, all in all, a helluva game. Frenship was a
worthy foe and one the Dragons and their fans won’t soon forget. If the injury
to Penn is serious enough to knock him out of the playoffs, the consequences of
this contest may be dire, indeed.
Dodge told Waters that his staff doesn’t know yet how
badly Penn is hurt.
“We will get
him evaluated and go from there,” he said.
Meanwhile, Carroll faces a familiar foe next week. It will
meet Hebron (8-4) at a time and location yet to be determined. You’ll recall the
Dragons dispatched Hebron quite handily early this season, defeating the Hawks
59-16. Hebron whipped Arlington Bowie last night 51-35 to reach the third round.
Sounds like a manageable task for the Dragons. Just
remember, that’s what most of us thought about last night’s matchup, too. It’s
like I always say: This is high school football and (say it along with me,
folks) anything can happen!
Go, Dragons!
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