Finding something positive
SOUTHLAKE – From the Southlake Carroll point of view,
you can say two positive things about the Allen Eagle beatdown in Dragon
Stadium last night without sounding completely ridiculous.
First of all, the outgunned and overmatched Dragons
managed to hang 35 points on a team that had limited its first two season
opponents – mighty Duncanville and DeSoto, last year’s state champion – to a
grand total of 13 points.
Then there’s the undeniable fact that Carroll leaped
to a 14-0 lead in the early going of the contest and played the high-flying
Eagles even-steven football until deep into the first half.
(Not bad, you could argue, for a team most odds-makers
considered 10- to 17-point underdogs. Brother, if only the bookies had been
right!)
Of course, the Eagles eventually woke up to the fact
that the Dragons weren’t going to go quietly into that good night. And they
responded as great teams do: They quickly and efficiently asserted their
superiority, rolling up 700 total yards and scoring on a thunderous procession
of big plays that left Carroll gasping in their dust.
Take comfort where you can, Dragonheads. It’s not
often that our local heroes find themselves 1-2 to start the season.
A sad scenario
It’s useful to remember that Carroll’s rookie head
coach, Lee Munn, set this sad scenario in motion when he decided to schedule one
of Oklahoma’s best teams and two Top 5 Texas titans as his graduation-depleted
squad’s first three 2026 opponents.
He did so knowing the Dragons were replacing every
starter on their defensive unit and were breaking in both an unseasoned quarterback
and a brand-spanking-new head coach.
Nothing wrong with jumping into the deep end of the
swimming pool – provided of course there’s water in it and – oh, yeah – as long
as you know how to swim.
Munn had his reasons, of course. By his accounting, he
got the head job late in the scheduling process and, thus, had a limited array
of opponents from which to choose. And with such a young squad, he said he
wanted a way to assess what he had quickly.
Whatever. He certainly didn’t do his young charges –
or Dragonheads in general – any favors. For a proud program like Carroll, getting
shellacked two weeks in a row doesn’t do much to build confidence or gather
momentum.
Wallowing in misery
The Dragons don’t have the luxury of wallowing in
their misery, however. District 4-6A play begins next Thursday against Keller
Central. The Chargers, of course, don’t pose the threat that the Murderer’s Row
of the first three weeks did for Carroll.
But the Dragons had best put the last couple of weeks in
the rear-view mirror and concentrate on winning district – which they should do
handily – and preparing for another deep dive into the playoffs.
As for last night, it began quite differently than
many of us feared it would.
Pinned by Allen’s opening kickoff on its own 3,
Carroll QB Hudson Tomcheck promptly moved his team to the 31, then lofted a
pass to a wide-open Blake Gunter, who cruised 69 yards to put Southlake in the
lead.
The next Allen drive ended in the Carroll red zone where
the Eagles fumbled the ball, and the Dragons recovered at the19. Tomcheck ended
an 81-yard march downfield with a 17-yard TD pass to Cole Cunningham that gave Carroll
a shocking – but deeply satisfying – two-score lead.
The Eagles answered with a 75-yard drive punctuated by
a 4-yard dash across the line by Jrue Simmons that finally got Allen on the
board with 2 minutes left in the first quarter.
On the next Dragon drive, Allen junior Dominic Butler
blocked a punt, which was snatched up by teammate Raiden Johnson and taken to
the house, knotting the score 14-14.
Early in the second period, Allen forced another
Southlake punt, which the Eagles fielded on their 9. On the second play of that
drive, Simmons (8 carries for 151 yards) sprinted a stunning 83 yards for his
second TD of the night, propelling the Eagles into the lead 21-14.
Rise to the occasion
But the Dragons rose to the occasion again. While Tomcheck
(12-26, 173, 3 TDs) didn’t have a great night, he certainly had his moments. His
25-yard dart to star receiver Blake Gunter (4-104, 1 TD) got this drive going. Dez
Bryant Jr. (9 carries for 69 yards) then charged 13 yards into Allen territory.
That’s where Tomcheck, surging through Allen’s
defensive front, roared 21 yards to the 17, then plunged through again on the
next play to tie things up again 21-21 with 7:37 left in the half.
That sparked a three-score Eagle onslaught that began
with a 3-yard TD bolt by Lyndon Spriggs (13-91) that sent Allen ahead.
Allen quarterback Ty Snell expanded the Eagle margin
with an impressive 73-yard drive in which he completed four straight passes,
culminating in a 40-yard TD throw to receiver Zach Williams (8-130, 2 TDs) with
2 seconds left in the half.
Snell racked up a 72% completion rate, throwing for
three TDs and gaining 305 yards in the air, easily surpassing Tomcheck, who was
harassed and hurried all night by Allen’s beefy defensive line.
Rather than coast on its two-score lead, Allen came
out strong in the second half, with Snell connecting with Williams again for a 22-yard
TD catch that widened the Allen lead to a now unassailable 42-21.
Tomcheck tossed a 28-yard TD to Knowles as the third
half dwindled. But a 70-yard throw from Snell to Josyah Johnson restored the
Eagle lead to three scores and signaled that no comeback would be tolerated.
The last word
The final period featured some admirable running by Dane
Wilson against Allen’s backups. Wilson ended the night as the Dragons’ top
rusher with 11 carries for 111 yards, including a 13-yard TD sprint in the
waning minutes of the game.
Allen, by right of conquest, insisted on having the
last word. On the very next play from scrimmage, Allen backup Devorian Hambrick
sprang through the exhausted Dragon line and dashed 70 yards to the goal line,
nailing a humiliating end to a humbling evening for Carroll.
Allen head coach Lee Wiginton was generous in his
assessment of the game. He told Allen American reporter John Knope that
the Eagles didn’t panic when they fell behind by two scores early on. That’s to
be expected when facing teams like the Dragons.
“You didn’t go down 14-0 in a flukish manner,”
Wiginton told Knope. “You go down 14-0 against one of the best programs in the
state, who you know could make it 50 in no time. To see the way they responded
after that, it makes you feel good moving forward.”
Thus ends the Dragons’ trial by fire. Are they the
better team for it? Time will tell. We’ll see if the old adage is correct:
“What doesn’t kill us, only makes us stronger.”
Go, Dragons!
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