Never coming close
SOUTHLAKE – You could make the argument that the
Crowley Eagles, who carried a dismal 3-7 record into last night’s first-round playoff
matchup with the Southlake Carroll Dragons, didn’t belong in the post-season
tournament in the first place.
Without going into unnecessary details – which to be
honest I’m not even sure I understand, anyway – the Eagles sneaked into the UIL
playoffs by winning a point advantage in a District 3-6A tie-breaker.
It’s enough to persuade me that the playoff rules for
who gets in and who stays out need to be overhauled. But I’ll save that little Gordian
knot for another time and place.
However illegitimate the Eagles’ claim to a playoff
spot might be, there they were last night – striding into Dragon Stadium trying
to look menacing in their black uniforms for the few dozen Eagle fans who
trekked from the western side of the Metroplex to watch the bloodshed.
In truth, they never came close to threatening the
Dragon mission to bring home another state championship. It took Carroll less
than 1½ minutes to march 51 yards in three plays before Dragon quarterback Angelo
Renda (16-27, 212 yards, 2 TDs) flipped a 5-yard TD pass to junior Blake Gunter
(3-55) to seize a lead it never relinquished.
Adding two more
The Dragons would add two more touchdowns in the
decisive second quarter. Junior RB Brooks Biggers dived 1 yard across the goal
line to cap a 71-yard drive set up by a forced turnover on downs.
And as the first half drew to a close, Carroll
capitalized on another Crowley turnover on downs after Renda peppered receivers
Gunter and Brock Boyd (9-101, 1 TD) with passes to move the Dragons to the
Eagle 13. From there, he tossed the rock to Boyd in the end zone, giving the
Dragons a 21-0 halftime lead.
A friend of mine, whose grandson plays for the
Dragons, has dubbed Renda the “Dragon Master,” a moniker I rather like. And he
has labeled Renda’s three top receivers, Boyd, Gunter and junior Brody Knowles
(2-12), as the “Three-Headed Dragon.” I’d say that’s pretty apt, too.
Chuckle if you will – it’s all in good fun, after all
– but these four young men, along with comrade-in-arms Davis Penn, are the formidable
core of a Dragon offense single-minded and deadly earnest in its pursuit of
another state title for Southlake. (And
in case I forgot to mention it, they’re great kids, too.)
But back to the game. The Dragon defense once again performed
superbly, holding the Eagles scoreless while staging a dramatic goal line stand
in the closing seconds of the game, repeatedly forcing Crowley to turn over the
ball after failed 4th-down attempts, recovering a fumble and forcing
two others, and sacking the Crowley QB to end a scoring threat.
Whew! They were a busy bunch last night.
Senseless penalties
Of course, the hapless Eagles helped, committing senseless
penalties that crushed promising drives and negated two Eagle scores – one a
23-yard TD run by quarterback Antwain Griffin (14-21, 166) erased by a holding
call and later Griffith’s 2-yard end-zone dash wiped out by a procedural
penalty.
Without the penalties and the defense’s stalwart
performance, it could have been a very different game.
The Dragons seemed slightly off-kilter – their usual
crisp and efficient execution overshadowed at times by a curious lack of focus.
Timing often seemed out of sync, an overthrown pass in the end zone, promising
drives sputtering and skidding to a halt, turning the ball over after two
failed 4th-down attempts.
This malaise was reflected in the particularly frustrating
night endured by star running back Davis Penn. The Crowley defense swarmed him
repeatedly, never giving him much room to roam. His rushing total for the night
was a meager 43 yards on 15 carries.
The malady – if it deserves such a moniker in a game
the Dragons still dominated – also affected Gavin Strange, Carroll’s normally
flawless kicker/defensive back. Strange whiffed two field goals in the third
quarter – one for 31 yards and another for 33 – after the Dragon offense
stalled on subsequent drives.
Both attempts were well within the talented Strange’s
range. Missing both once would have seemed as unlikely as seeing a saber-tooth
tiger in Town Square.
Much-needed boost
But it was that kind of night – and that kind of game.
The Dragons, though, received a much-needed boost
after Strange’s failure to add points. After Crowley was forced to punt, Carroll
moved quickly to the Eagle 32, where Renda dropped back to pass, saw a wide
swatch of turf open up the middle and headed for the end zone. Inside the 5, he
juked to the left, sidestepped a defender and squeezed across the left corner
of the end zone.
The final Dragon score came after a Crowley drive –
which started at its own 11 after a Carroll punt – ground to a halt after only
4 yards. Boyd fielded the punt at the 45 and raced untouched for goal line.
As the last minutes dwindled, the Eagles took
advantage of Carroll substitutions to drive the ball inside the Dragon 4. But
the first-team D-line was called back into service to deny Griffin and the
Eagles a face-saving TD. Game over.
In his story for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
sportswriter Charles Baggerly said head coach Riley Dodge told his players
after the game to remember that the most important thing is “keeping the family
together” for another week.
In the win-or-go-home environment of the playoffs,
that’s the goal of all squads left still standing. For many players, it’s their
chief motivation.
Dodge told Baggerly that he “had a ton of respect for
what Crowley did.”
“We knew it was
going to be a dogfight early with what they do defensively,” he said. “But
gosh, we found a way at certain points. Tonight wasn’t the prettiest, but
defensively, I thought we played lights out. We got off the field when we
needed to.”
Making plays
Renda, the game’s leading rusher (6 carries, 64
yards), told Baggerly that “Crowley is a great team despite their record.”
“I mean, they
have some dudes on the outside, and they’re making plays,” he said. “But I feel
like we came out here, we knew we’re going to get a man free, and we took some
shots early. We connected on a couple, but we still have some things to work on.
And we’ll be back in the film room tomorrow.”
Next up for the Dragons will San Angelo Central, once
a powerhouse in Texas high school football. These days, however, not so much.
The 8-3 Bobcats qualified for the second round by defeating El Paso Pebble
Beach 24-14. I suspect the Dragons won’t have much trouble with them. But you
know my feelings about that. These are the playoffs, folks, and, let’s say it
together now, anything can happen.
The Carroll-Central game is scheduled for next
Thursday and probably will be held in Abilene’s venerable Shotwell Stadium,
which offers a venue pretty close to midway between the two schools.
It’ll be a long trip to The Big Empty, where the landscape
is bleak, the weather often forbidding and the people friendly but wary.
I know it only too well. As a West Texas boy, I’ve
traveled that road many times. Too many. The Dragons may have to take care of
the ’Cats without me.
They certainly can. And I have no doubt they will.
Go, Dragons!
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