A baleful, merciless glare
FORT WORTH – This time, there was no dramatic,
breathtaking comeback. No stunning reversal of fortune. No overcoming fearsome
odds to seize sweet victory from the jaws of defeat.
This time, the Southlake Carroll Dragons – facing the
baleful, merciless glare of the North Crowley Panthers – got their butts beat.
Badly.
Not only that, but they went to the slaughter Friday
night meek as lambs – and just about as threatening.
The Panthers wielded a potent defense and a wicked
offense to deflame the Dragons. They offered Carroll no opportunity for the
come-from-behind heroics it employed last week in erasing a 27-0 deficit and
eking out a 34-33 win over the Jenks (Okla.) Trojans.
It’s been a while since the Dragons have fallen so hard. You have to look back to 2018 to find a similar drubbing. In the playoffs that year, a juggernaut Duncanville team humiliated Carroll 51-7. (It later lost the state title to Galena Park North Shore.)
That was a bad one. So was this.
North Crowley, hosting the Dragons in its showy south
Fort Worth stadium, wasted no time in establishing its dominance.
On the third play of the game, Panther quarterback
Jacob Torres lofted a 63-yard ball to receiver Kade Smith, who cruised smoothly
into the end zone. Only a missed PAT spoiled the precision and workman-like
quality of the drive.
The Carroll defense initially responded to the Panther
challenge, stymying Torres and company for much of the first quarter. Then the
Dragons managed a drive that ended in a 32-yard TD toss from quarterback Hudson
Tomcheck to WR Easton Nied, rewarding Carroll with a brief and tenuous 7-6
lead.
Tomcheck completed 10 of 20 passes for 185 yards. But
he was bedeviled by the swarming North defense, as were his star receivers,
Blake Gunter (6-36) and Brody Knowles (3-44).
A coach favorite
Sophomore cornerback Brayley Cunningham was a big
reason why. He had a stellar night, intercepting two errant Carroll passes, one
from Tomcheck, playing in only his second varsity game, and one from Palmer
Pensom, brought in late to witness the tragedy’s finale.
Cunningham is obviously a coach favorite. Here’s what North
head coach DeMarcus Harris told The Dallas Morning News’ Ismael Johnson after
the game.
“Man, he has superpowers, I'm telling you,” Harris
said. “He knows routes before they happen. If you guys ever go back and watch
him at camps, I'm always wondering, did they tell him the route? He jumps
stuff, he feels it and he plays every receiver different.”
The Carroll lead evaporated quickly after the Panthers
blew open the doors in the second period, capitalizing on a series of Carroll
mistakes that doomed any attempt to keep up with take-no-prisoners North
Crowley.
The cavalcade of disaster started when Carroll was
forced to punt. The snap sailed over the kicker’s head, and North defenders
recovered it at the Dragon 18.
Stellar running back G’Yrell Smith (11 carries for 96
yards) promptly took the ball into the end zone for the first of his four TD
runs of the night.
North struck again 2 minutes later when Pryce Demerson
snagged a 28-yard TD toss from Jehzeel Mccradic, who shared signal-calling
duties with Torres.
Now with a comfortable 20-7 lead, all the Panthers had
to do was sit back and watch Carroll trip over its own feet.
On the next series, Carroll running back Brooks
Biggers fumbled twice, recovering one loose ball but losing the second. Six
plays later, Smith sprinted 35 yards and racked up his second TD, leaving North
with a 27-7 lead.
With 5 minutes left in the half, the Dragons knew they
had to score before the bell if they had any hope of staying in the game. They
moved the ball steadily downfield, helped immeasurably by a roughing-the-passer
call and a 21-yard reception by Knowles, ending up 1st and 10 at the
5-yard-line.
But the North defense stood tall and denied the
Dragons the end zone on four straight plays. It was a goal-line stand that
sealed the Dragons’ fate. Harris said he told his squad it was a play for which
they would long be remembered.
The second half started in the same way the first half
had ended: In a series of costly, embarrassing missteps.
Costly mistakes
It began with two more Carroll fumbles, on successive
plays, and provided evidence of the fierce struggle taking place in the
trenches. The second turnover was the most costly.
Tomcheck, aided by a pass interference call, had moved
his team to the North 27. Keeping the ball, he darted up the middle and headed
for the end zone. Inside the 5, a Panther defender ripped the ball out of his
arms and fell on it at the 4.
Mccradic then presided over a methodical march
downfield to the Carroll 26. From there, Smith notched TD No. 3, leaving the
Dragons 34-7 in the hole.
That sparked a Southlake exodus for the parking lots.
Smith added No. 4 to his record shortly before the end
of the third period. Carroll booted a who-cares 47-yard field goal in the
fourth, and then – thank you, Jesus – it was over.
Carroll head coach Lee Munn, now 1-1 as a head coach, gave
credit where credit was due.
“They are such a momentum team,” Munn told Charles
Baggarly of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “Part of the reason we turned
the ball over was they just took it away, right? Defensively, they are very
aggressive and very physical. The punt that went over our punter’s head was on
us. But with some, it was them just actively pursuing the football and punching
it out. Props to them.”
In other words, the best team won. No argument there –
even from the most diehard Dragonhead.
But Munn, bless ’im, didn’t shy away from the obvious.
“We had way too many mistakes,” he told Baggarly. “We
played very undisciplined and very uncharacteristic football. There were a lot
of opportunities for us to stay in the game and play the kind of the style of
game we wanted, and it got away from us with the turnovers.”
The Panthers and Dragons could well face each other again
later this season. If both schools end up in Division II of Class 6A, they
could meet in the playoffs. If that happens, lordy, let’s hope it’s a different
Carroll team that takes the field. Amen.
North Crowley, based on the splendid performances it
has recorded so far this season, can rightly claim to be one of the best of the
best in Texas high school football this year. Trouble is, it may not be the
best.
Next up: The Eagles!
That team could very well be the Dragons’ next
opponent – the high-flying Allen Eagles, who obliterated the DeSoto Eagles Friday night, 50-6. They're currently ranked No. 4 in the state, but they're dangerously talented and hungry for a state championship.
The Eagles – old and bitter foes whose matchups with
Carroll always provide smashmouth, take-no-prisoners football – will arrive at
Dragon Stadium next Friday with blood in their eyes and mayhem and murder
(figuratively, of course) in their hearts.
Mama mia!
The saints preserve us!
If memory serves – and it’s often an unreliable source
– Allen is one of only a handful of visiting teams to emerge from Dragon
Stadium with a win. You can bet the family farm it would love to humble Southlake on its home turf.
I wouldn’t miss it. But why is there a knot already
forming in the pit of my stomach?
Go Dragons!
