Gobbling them up
SOUTHLAKE – Homecoming cupcakes were on the menu at
Dragon Stadium last night, and the Southlake Carroll Dragons quickly gobbled
them up, leaving only a few crumbs for the cleanup crew to worry about.
And if that’s an unkind, mean-spirited and
unsportsmanlike way to refer to the embarrassing destruction of the hapless
Northwest Texans at the hands of the Dragons, then so be it.
Sometimes, it’s best not to sugarcoat things.
The plain truth is that the overmatched Texans, still winless
for good reason, didn’t put up much of a struggle. And the Dragons – perhaps inspired
by the most spectacular crop of Homecoming mums I’ve ever seen (and this is
Southlake so I’ve seen some humdingers) – thoroughly trashed them, completely
and definitively.
Carroll piled up 593 total yards, limiting Northwest
to a meager 141. Heck, the Texans could manage only 4 yards rushing all evening
and only avoided a shutout after Carroll’s backups muffed a punt in the final
quarter and handed them great field position.
Until that scoring drive, Northwest had been forced to
punt on every one of its first six possessions, turning the ball over the
Dragons, who promptly capitalized on each opportunity and carried a 41-0 lead
into halftime.
Pretty impressive
The Dragons had the run of the place. Quarterback
Hudson Tomcheck completed 81% of his passes: 17 of 21 for 239 yards and five –
count ’em, five – touchdowns. He would have had more, but head coach Lee Munn
took pity on Texans and sidelined Tomcheck and most of his starters for the second half.
Three of those TDs went to the night’s leading
receiver, Brody Knowles (6 catches for 92 yards), who scored on Tomcheck passing
plays of 29, 39 and 3 yards.
Blake Gunter, the Dragons other stellar receiver,
caught three Tomcheck passes for 74 yards, scoring on a 37-yard toss in the
opening quarter. He also ran 3 yards at the end of the first half to score the
Dragons’ final TD.
Dez Bryant Jr. shined brightly, too. He led the
Dragons in rushing, cruising to 111 yards on eight carries. He also latched
onto one of Tomcheck’s TD tosses, a 12-yard throw that put Carroll up 27-0 at
the beginning of the second period.
When Carroll’s starters departed after securing that
six-TD lead, the mismatch – never much of a barnburner – slowed to a desultory crawl.
Backup quarterback Palmer Pensom took the reins from
Tomcheck and succeeded in getting the Dragons within field goal range at the
beginning of the third period. Kicker Gabe Opel booted a 29-yarder to end scoring
for the Dragons.
Lifeless trudge
At that point, the game dissolved into a lifeless
trudge to the final buzzer, enlivened only by an ever-so-brief offensive spark by
Northwest that ended with a 34-yard scoring strike from Texan quarterback Mark
Hartman to Elijah Hawkins in the final quarter.
After sending the Texans packing, the Dragons now face
their greatest challenge in achieving one of their season goals: To repeat as District
4-6A champions.
Standing in their way are the surging Keller Indians,
who arrive in Dragon Stadium on Friday to challenge Carroll’s district dominance.
The 6-0 Indians are enjoying their best season in almost
60 years. The last time they remained undefeated at this point in the season
was 1967 so you can only imagine the excitement now sweeping the Keller
community.
Like the Dragons, the Indians are undefeated in 4-6A,
thanks to a thrilling, come-from-behind 49-42 victory earlier this week over Trophy
Club Byron Nelson.
The question for Dragonheads is whether Keller storms
into Southlake riding high and mighty on the adrenaline rush of a breathtaking
win. Or will they show up mentally and physically depleted by this week’s gridiron
dramatics?
We’ll find out soon enough, but it promises to be a
donnybrook, doncha think?
Go, Dragons!
