The dream spoiled
JUSTIN – The Byron Nelson Bobcats nourished a dream of
bringing a District 4-6A championship home to Trophy Club – a fitting tribute
to beloved head coach Travis Pride, who died unexpectedly during the
off-season.
No disrespect intended, but the Southlake Carroll
Dragons quashed that dream flat in the district opener last night, dismantling the
overmatched Bobcats with a dizzying aerial attack and a suffocating defense.
The Dragons -- behind the arm of quarterback Angelo
Renda, who completed 79 percent of his passes (22 of 28) for 288 yards and
three touchdowns, and the rugged rushing of Brooks Biggers (12 carries for 56
yards and 2 scores) and Davis Penn (9 for 25 and 1 TD) -- turned the Bobcats into
little more than mewing kittens.
Carroll, after a sluggish start, gained 491 total
yards compared to a meager 189 by the Cats. Byron Nelson could manage only 21
rushing yards for the night, and quarterbacks Parker Almanza and Charlie
Medrano combined to complete only 9 and 22 passes for 178 yards.
Unanswered scoring spree
After a desultory first quarter in which the two
programs exchanged field goals – a 27-yarder each by Dragon kicker Gavin
Strange and Bobcat Oliver Bell – the Dragons caught fire and went on a 49-point
unanswered scoring spree.
It’s interesting how the momentum in a game can change
in a single play.
For the Dragons, it came at the end of the first
quarter, a period in which their offense seemed flat and uninspired and their
defense slightly off-balance.
After two incomplete Renda passes, the Dragons
languished on their 31-yard line facing a bleak 3-10. Renda then dropped back and
zipped a ball along the right sideline to Brock Boyd (7-93, 2 TDs). He once again
failed to connect.
At that point, the sideline judge threw a
pass-interference flag against the Bobcat defender, giving the Dragons a new
lease on life at their 46. Three bruising runs by Biggers carried Carroll to
the Bobcat 34, where Renda connected with Brody Knowles (6-92) at the 25 as the
quarter expired.
On the first play of the decisive 2nd
period, Blake Gunter (5-65) finished the drive by snatching a pass and breezing
into the end zone.
The Dragons never looked back.
Still healing
In addition to Gunter’s opening TD, the 2nd
quarter saw a rushing score by Penn, who still appears to be healing from his
ACL injury last season. He cruised into the end zone standing up from the 3.
Less than 2 minutes later, the Dragon D sacked Almanza,
the Bobcat quarterback, who promptly coughed up the ball. Carroll quickly
recovered it on the Nelson 42. On the next play, Renda hoisted a perfect spiral to Boyd in the end zone, leaving Dragonheads breathlessly elated.
The Dragons weren’t through, however. They continued
to shred the Nelson D and added two more TDs before the half-time bell.
A Carroll drive powered by Renda throws to Boyd and
Knowles carried Southlake to the Nelson 16, where Harrison Phillips bullied up
the middle to the Bobcat 3. He capped the series by muscling across the
goal line on the next play.
Biggers wrapped up 2nd-quarter scoring with
a 3-yard dash to paydirt. The Dragons carried a 38-3 lead into the halftime,
while the hapless Bobcats nursed aches and pains and mourned dashed hopes.
The 3rd quarter offered more of the same.
It was highlighted by Boyd’s 7-yard TD catch, his second of the night, and by a
dramatic TD plunge by Biggers, who had his best game of the young season
against Bryon Nelson.
Fielding a low snap
The Dragons were poised on the 3-yard line,
threatening to make their 7th trip of the night into the endzone
when Renda had trouble fielding a low snap. After a couple of swipes, he
finally seized the ball and flipped it to a waiting Biggers. The junior then
leaped forward, deftly sidestepped a Nelson defender and scored.
It was all neatly done and brought scoring to a totally
satisfactory conclusion.
Coach Riley Dodge pulled his starters with a couple of
minutes left in the 3rd, and the backups did well, moving the ball, controlling the clock and keeping the now-exhausted Bobcats off the
scoreboard.
After the game, he was so pleased with his team’s
performance that he gave his jubilant players today off – a rare reward indeed
but one he felt they deserved.
‘That’s a big thing’
“I’m very, very pleased each and every week and just
so impressed by the way our guys prepare,” Dodge told the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram’s Charles Baggarly after the game. “Man, we’re playing
together. I think that’s a big thing. I think it’s things you didn’t see a ton
of last year. But our first three ball games and two scrimmages — we’re really
connected. And when our defense communicates really well and understands
people’s jobs, we’ll be hard to move the football against.”
Dodge told Dallas Morning News sportswriter
Emma Moon that his team has something to prove this year – after last season’s
defeat at the hands of Austin Vandergriff in the Division II state title game.
“I think this is a group that has a sour taste in
their mouth about how last year ended,” Dodge said to Moon. “That’s in the
past. But the way they’re working right now and the urgency level, it’s really
cool.”
He was particularly pleased with Renda’s performance,
and he related to Moon a comment he made to his quarterback during the game.
“I said, ‘You’re a bad dude,’” Dodge recalled. “When
you just take what the defense gives you, you trust the guys around you, and he
just keep us on schedule. Doing the little things.”
Back to the grind
After their well-earned day off, it will be back to
the grind for the high-flying Dragons. Next week, they host the undefeated
Euless Trinity Trojans in what could be the contest that decides the District
4-6A championship.
The Trojans won’t make things easy for the Dragons.
They always bring their best against Carroll, as Dodge knows only too well –
both as a player and as a coach.
Dodge was Southlake’s quarterback in 2006, when the
two programs – both reigning state champions in different divisions – met in
the second round of the playoffs. That game – which Carroll narrowly won thanks
to late-game heroics by Dodge – set an unofficial attendance record at old
Texas Stadium for a non-Dallas Cowboys contest.
It also was the best high school football game I’ve
ever watched, for what that’s worth.
Dodge told the DMN’s Moon that Trinity is an “unbelievable
opponent.”
“It’s a great
rivalry. Gosh, I respect the crap out of them. I love (Trinity coach) Aaron
Lineweaver, who’s one of my dear friends in this profession and in life. We’re
going to have to go back to work and put the work in if we want to get the W.”
Go, Dragons!
Receiver Brody Knowles snags an Angelo Renda pass despite the gaggle of Bobcats surrounding him.
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