Another Trinity thriller: Southlake Carroll 56, Euless Trinity 48

Angelo Renda hands the ball to four-star running back Riley Wormley.

A grim, smashmouth struggle

BEDFORD – History tells us that any time Euless Trinity and Southlake Carroll meet, it frequently results in high school gridiron gold, and last night’s District 4-6A clash at venerable Pennington Stadium was no exception.

The Trojans gave their Dragon neighbors – the two schools are located only 10 miles apart – almost more than they could handle as the two squads waged a grim, smashmouth back-and-forth struggle in the second half of last night’s contest.

Led by dual-threat quarterback TJ Tupou, the Trojans put on an offensive fireworks display that had the Dragons gasping for breath as they hung desperately to a single-score lead until the final buzzer.

If the Dragons weren’t loaded with an equally explosive offensive arsenal themselves, and if they hadn’t managed to carve out a beefy 35-14 halftime lead, the evening might have ended badly for the Southlake heroes.

As it was, Trojan runners scoured the porous Carroll offense – undersized as always – and Trojan receivers brushed aside the Dragon secondary to keep Trinity not only competitive, but within grasp of victory until the last seconds of the game.

In the end, it came down to a single play as the clock ticked inexorably to zero. But plenty of drama preceded it.

Cutting the lead

The Trojans quickly took charge in the second half. They ended a 62-yard drive with Michael Saafi’s 10-yard TD run that cut the Dragon lead to 35-20 (they missed the PAT).

After forcing Carroll to punt on the next drive, Trinity then launched an 84-yard drive that featured Lukas Sanchez’s 47-yard reception of a Tupou pass and culminated in Tupou’s 1-yard TD sprint. That cut the Dragon lead to 35-27.

Then both teams staged a dramatic, high-stakes series of tit-for-tat scoring drives that kept Dragonheads glued to their seats instead of making their usual exodus after halftime.

Four-star Dragon running back Riley Wormley caught an Angelo Renda pass and darted 35 yards to widen the Dragon lead to 42-27. The Trojans quickly responded when running JT Harris finished a 58-yard Trinity drive with a 9-yard dash that made it 42-34.

Next up, Renda (28-36, 376 yards) tossed a short pass to Luc Jaquemard, who crossed the field diagonally on his way to a 46-yard TD. Score: 49-34. Seven plays later, Trinity made it 49-41 when Tupou darted 2 yards to paydirt.

Renda, who completed TD passes to five separate receivers, then engineered an 80-yard drive that culminated in a 5-yard spiral that hit sophomore receiver Blake Gunter in the right corner of the endzone. That handed Carroll a 56-41 lead with less than 5 minutes on the clock. Tupou then went into action and led his Trojans 75 yards to the Dragon 3. From there, Harris took in his second TD of the night and brought the Trojans to 56-48, with 3 minutes until the end.

Onside kick

At that point, Trinity tried an onside kick – emulating perhaps the three onside kicks the Dragons staged in the first half, two of which they recovered. Carroll foiled Trojan plans by falling on the ball at the Dragon 48, but the Trojan defense stopped Renda and company cold.

A Dragon punt set Trinity up at its 30, and it quickly drove to the Dragon 41. Now facing 4^th-and-3, Tupou dropped back to pass.

For the entire half, Trinity had been able to make short yardage when necessary. Moreover, Tupou had been scary accurate, completing 87 percent of his passes. The inevitability of a first down had Trojan fans on their feet, cheering wildly.

With plenty of time, Tupou zipped the ball to a receiver moving through the wide-open Dragon backfield. His ball sank low and hit the turf, well short of his target. And with a shocking suddenness, the moment of truth had come -- and gone.

With less than a minute and a half left, Renda took a knee twice, and it was finally, mercifully over.

You could almost hear the sigh of relief exhaled by a Dragon crowd worn out by the seesaw battle that had raged in front of them for half the game.

One thing is clear from last night’s matchup. The Dragon D needs work. True, it was facing one of the area’s top offensive teams, but if Carroll has any ambitions in the playoffs – and it does, oh, yes, indeed it does – it must shore up its defenses.

Trinity was averaging just under 300 total yards a game before last night. It rolled to 558 against Southlake. As noted above, Tupou was extremely accurate in the air, even though he couldn’t match Renda’s output in yardage or points. He was particularly adept at mining sideline routes.

Riley Wormley scored twice on the ground and caught a TD pass to boot.

On the ground, the Trojans outpaced the Dragons, 291 yards to 204. Tupou scored three times, ending long drives with short bursts across the line. Harris was the Trojans’ leading scorer, rushing 15 times for 113 yards and two scores. Tupou rolled to 64 yards on 10 carries, and Saafi had 6 for 45. Trinity’s star running back Josh Bell could manage only 41 yards in 11 tries.

Shining brightest

As for Southlake, Wormley, once again, shined brightest in the Carroll constellation. He also was the night’s leading rusher, rolling to 181 yards and two TDs on 15 attempts.

He scored the Dragons’ first TD on its initial drive, but the real crowd-pleaser came later, early in the 2^nd quarter. Following Wormley’s TD run and a second by his running partner, Davis Penn, Trinity’s Tupou responded with a 51-yard drive that finally got the Trojans on the scoreboard.

A few seconds later, after taking the handoff on the first play of the Dragons’ next series, Wormley burst untouched through the Trinity line and sprinted 75 yards to the endzone, sending the football parents I was seated near into paroxysms of delight.

And as if that weren’t enough, Wormley also scored in the air, giving Dragonheads a few tense moments in the process.

With Carroll clinging to a 35-27 lead late in the 3^rd quarter, Wormley grabbed a 35-yard aerial from Renda, taking a jarring hit in the process. But he shook off the collision and raced to the endzone, then sank to his knees, his helmeted head on the turf.

Thankfully, he sprang to his feet a few moments later and ran off the field, allowing the visitor’s side of Pennington Stadium to start breathing again.

Renda was superb, guiding an offense that kept the surging Trojans at bay with poise and determination. His leading receiver, junior Brock Boyd, nabbed 11 catches for 135 yards and 1 touchdown.

Boyd, who like every Dragon knows the storied history between Southlake and Euless, said last night’s confrontation should be viewed as a learning experience.

“We know what we’re good at, and tonight pointed out what we struggled at, and it’s ultimately just getting back to the meeting room and just improving on the little things,” Boyd told The Dallas Morning News’ Robert Harrod Jr.

Savoring victory

Southlake traveled to Pennington last night still savoring its decisive 33-21 victory last week against what everyone expected would be their most serious district challenger, the Byron Nelson Bobcats.

But Trinity sought desperately to ruin the grand Dragon parade through 4-6A, and it damned near did it.

Carroll head coach Riley Dodge acknowledged that playing the Trojans is never a walk in the park.

“It was really stressful,” Dodge told the Fort Worth Star Telegram’s Charles Baggarly after the game. “But it was a quality win versus a really good football team. We knew we had a challenge defensively with their offense, and it obviously showed up on the scoreboard. We knew it was gonna possibly be a shootout tonight.”

Angelo Renda tossed TD passes to five separate receivers last night.

To the DMN’s Harrod, he was more blunt.

“It wasn’t pretty, but we found a way to get the win,” Dodge said.

Next week, the Dragons host Keller Timber Creek in the Homecoming game at Dragon Stadium. After the exertions of the last two weeks, Carroll might be expected to feel a bit of a breather is in order. But Dodge dismissed the thought.

“We just played two big games, but we have so much to improve on,” he told Harrod. “There’s so much to improve on and clean up, and we’ve got to continue to get better.”

Go Dragons!

Dragon defensive lineman Austin Davidge latches on to Trojan QB TJ Tupou.

Leaping a district hurdle: Southlake Carroll 33, Byron Nelson 21

 

Head coach Riley Dodge, now executive athletic director for Carroll ISD, celebrates with his players last night after their decisive win over Byron Nelson.

Capitalizing on mistakes

SOUTHLAKE – Wise men have declared that capitalizing on the mistakes of your opponent often is the key to victory – no matter the endeavor.

And so it was last night, when the Southlake Carroll Dragons bested a talented and fired-up Byron Nelson team in a spirited clash that probably decided the District 4-6A championship.

If not for a Bobcat fumble on the first play of the 2^nd quarter, followed by a blocked Byron Nelson punt in its own endzone 2 minutes later, it might have been a very different game – filling Dragonheads with nervous twitches instead of a spreading glow of satisfaction.

As it came to pass, junior Dragon linebacker Marcus Brouse recovered the fumble, and junior quarterback Angelo Renda engineered a 74-yard drive that rushing phenom Riley Wormley capped with a 35-yard TD run.

The blocked punt, which sophomore Blake Gunter knocked down in the Bobcat endzone, garnered Carroll a 2-point safety and forced the Bobcats to free kick from their own 20. Three plays later, Renda lofted a 50-yard pass to receiver Luc Jaquemard (4 receptions for 82 yards), who slipped quickly across the goal line.

With the Dragons now leading 23-7, the night essentially was over for the unfortunate Bobcats. To their credit, they never panicked, and they never gave up.

Lost momentum

But they were never able to regain the momentum shattered by the fumble and the failed punt, even after Bobcat RB Sean Robinson, narrowed Carroll’s lead to 23-14 as the 1^st half wound down.

Of course, even without the miscues, it would have been a rough night for Byron Nelson.

Unlike the Dragons, who roared into the 2024 season by demolishing Midland and Hebron by wide margins, the Bobcats have been living on the edge. They had to stage come-from-behind, last-gasp efforts to slip by Wolfforth Frenship and Lewisville.

Relying on that kind of risky gamesmanship doesn’t work against the Dragons. Not this year, blessed as they are with an aggressive, highly productive offensive machine, headed by Carroll’s dynamic rushing duo of Wormley and junior Davis Penn, and helmed by talented junior Angelo Renda.

Wormley and Penn combined for 224 yards and 3 TDs, two for Wormsley on the ground and one in the air for Penn.

From the outset, both had their way with the Bobcat defense. On his first run of the night, Wormley – who gained 140 yards against Bryon Nelson – sped 16 yards, followed by Penn, whose first run garnered 11 yards. And so it went throughout the night.

Renda, whose confidence grows with every game, was equally brilliant. He completed 72 percent of his passes for 167 yards and two TDs.

His first TD throw was an 8-yard zipline to Penn, which tied the score at 7-7. It capped an 8-play, 75-yard series in response to Bryon Nelson’s opening-drive score, a nifty march downfield that signaled the Bobcats meant business.  

Wide receiver Brock Brady leaps for more yardage after catching an Angelo Renda pass.

Renda’s second score came when he tossed a 50-yard beauty to Jaquemard that essentially sealed Byron Nelson’s fate.

Blunting the offense

Meanwhile, the Dragon D blunted the Bobcats’ heralded offensive array, which before last night was averaging 40 points and 453 total yards per game (stats compiled by The Dallas Morning News). Against the Dragons, Bryon Nelson could manage only 315 total yards and 21 points.

Even that stat is a bit misleading. The Bobcats’ final score – a dazzling 57-yard pass from QB Grant Bizjack to WR Ezra Malamura, who seized it despite being surrounded by Dragons in the endzone – came with only 49 seconds on the clock. That was long after the Dragons had surged to an insurmountable 33-14 lead, and the Dragon Marching Band had launched into “Hey, Baby,” the traditional signal that a Carroll victory is assured.

Dragon defenders sacked Bizjack six times and limited leading rusher Tucker James to only 84 yards and a single score, a 6-yard bolt that opened Bobcat scoring. Despite the harassment, the worthy Bizjack completed an amazing 89 percent of his passes for 199 yards, but – tellingly – only 1 TD.

Defensive standouts included junior backs Luke Bussman and William Chen, who sacked Bizjack twice during the Bobcats’ final offensive series.

Senior defensive back Jack Van Dorselaer, the Dragons’ highly regarded tight end, demonstrated the wisdom of his switch from offense to defensive back, a move intended to bolster weaknesses in the Dragon secondary. He’ll play on offense at the next level, but for the time being, he’s quickly becoming a linchpin to the Dragon D.

Van Dorselaer told the DMN’s Greg Riddle that he and his colleagues learned a few things against Bizjack and the Bobcats.

‘Who we are’

“I think we found out who we are, and we’re a tough team,” Van Dorselaer said. “Defense, we chose violence, that was the biggest thing this week. Playing offense for three years, it’s a little bit different than defense. Defense is a lot more violent.”

The pace of the game slowed considerably in the 2^nd half. Both defenses tightened, and the sole score in the 3^rd period was a 30-yard field goal by Carroll’s Clark Lemmermann, a junior. He later missed a 48-yarder by a whisker.

Early in the 4^th, the Dragons – justifiably wary of the explosive potential of Bizjack and the Bobcats – hung grimly to a not-entirely-comfortable 26-14 lead. At that point, Wormley and Penn took matters in hand, headlining a grinding, 67-yard scoring drive.

Wormley, a USC commit, got the series started with a 27-yard bolt, and Penn, who’s headed to Baylor, carried the Dragons to the Bobcat 2, where Wormley plowed into the endzone. It was his second TD and ended Carroll scoring.

Jack Van Dorselaer, 88, congratulates Riley Wormley, 1, after a touchdown run.

As noted previously, in defeating Byron Nelson in their first district game of the 2024 season, the Dragons become odds-on favorites to seize the District 4-6A crown.

Of course, they still must play the rest of the 4-6A field. But realistically, Byron Nelson posed the most serious – OK, let’s face it, the only serious – challenge to Carroll 4-6A dominance this year.

The chief thing they must guard against is complacency. Although District 4-6A is not a powerhouse district, it contains programs that on any given night – and if they can catch Carroll napping – could upend the Dragon bulldozer rumbling toward them.

Friday was a red-letter day for Southlake athletics for another reason, too. Head coach Riley Dodge was elevated to executive director of athletics for Carroll ISD, which puts him in charge of the district’s entire athletic program. It’s a big job, but Dodge has demonstrated he can handle the pressure and the expectations that come with it.

Football royalty

Dodge, son of the legendary Todd Dodge, who took Carroll to four state championships in a five-year span, is football royalty in Southlake – and in the entire state, for that matter.

He has refocused, reinvigorated and renewed enthusiasm for Carroll’s storied football program since being named head coach in 2018. Since then, he has compiled an extraordinary 81-8 record and led the Dragons deep into the playoffs every year, including a trip to the championship game in 2021.

His elevation runs counter to the current trend in high school athletics. Once it was common for the head of football operations to guide the entire athletic program. But in recent years, administrators have separated the two jobs, guided by the reasonable conviction that both positions are full-time posts that no one person can handle effectively.

The move may have been to provide incentive for Dodge to remain in Southlake. Lord knows his success here makes him highly recruitable. His elevation to the college coaching ranks probably is inevitable.

If any person can keep all the balls in the air, Dodge may be that person. A telling indication of his success, charisma and inspirational presence was on display last night during pre-game activities at Dragon Stadium.

It was Dragon Youth Football night, and all the kids in Southlake’s version of peewee football ran through the huge inflatable dragon’s head to the cheers and applause of the crowd.

There were hundreds of youngsters, almost double the number of kids who participated in the program before Dodge arrived. They bear vivid evidence of the impact of the philosophy of inclusion and recognition he pursues as head coach, a point of view pursued by his father and that now once again imbues Dragon athletics.

The DMN’s Riddle described the scene as Dodge stood before his team after the game and demonstrated one of his strongest traits – the ability to focus young minds on what’s ahead, not what’s in front of them. To keep them directed on future objectives, not current accomplishments.

“This,” he said, “isn’t going to be the highlight of our season.”

No, indeed. Go, Dragons!

Dragon linebacker William Leins gives Bobcat Anthony Sexton something to think about in last night's destruction of Byron Nelson.

No contest: Southlake Carroll 59, Hebron 16

 

The Southlake Carroll Dragons came roaring out of pre-district play last night, signaling their readiness for the march to a District 4-6A championship.

If at first you don’t succeed …

Angelo Renda demonstrated last night the diamond-bright truth of the old adage that it matters little how you begin an effort. It all comes down to how you finish.

Renda, a junior still getting used to the role of field general for the Southlake Carroll Dragons, fumbled his first snap from center in the Dragons’ non-district clash with the Hebron Hawks.

That misstep led to Hebron’s second field goal of the night and left Carroll in the rare and uncomfortable role of trailing 6-0 halfway through the first quarter.

But Renda quickly shook the cobwebs out of his helmet and led Carroll on a seven-touchdown scoring spree that overwhelmed and humiliated a sturdy, but outmatched Hebron squad.

The junior quarterback completed 13 of 19 passes for 237 yards and touchdown passes to sophomore Brody Knowles (3 receptions, 91 yards) and junior Brock Boyd (6-87).

Daring duo

On the ground, the Dragons’ daring duo – senior Riley Wormsley and junior Davis Penn shattered the Hebron defense, racking up five TDs between them. Wormsley, a USC commit, ran 63 yards on 11 carries and scored three times. Baylor commit Penn ran six times for 69 yards and two scores.

A 25-yard field goal by junior Gavin Strange, and a 9-yard TD run from backup QB Preston Perazzo completed Dragon scoring.

Renda readily took responsibility for his first-snap bobble, but he kept the big picture front and center.

“I have to take ownership of that fumble,” he told The Dallas Morning News’ Rick Kretzschmar. “I didn’t like that because one of our team goals every game is no turnovers. Another team goal is how we handle adversity, and I’m proud of the way we fought back.”

That’s the kind of maturity and stay-focused mentality that head coach Riley Dodge instills in his players. And it's why Southlake stands near the top of most state rankings.

Family commitments, centering around the recent birth of my first grandchild, kept me from traveling to the Hebron blowout. That necessarily means this game account will be short and sweet.

Hosting the Bobcats

Next week, the Dragons begin District 4-6A play by hosting the Byron Nelson Bobcats at Dragon Stadium in a contest that could very well determine who will be district champions.

The Bobcats, as Dragonheads remember bitterly, shocked the Dragons 34-17 in last year’s regular-season matchup, seizing the 4-6A crown that Carroll already had dusted off space for in its trophy case.

The Dragons sought and received vindication later in the year by obliterating the Bobcats 56-7 in the regional finals, sounding taps on Byron Nelson’s best season in program history. That helped ease a bit the sting of the initial insult, which ended a 38-game district winning streak by the Dragons.

But the seeds of a neighborly feud were sown.

Bobcat coach Travis Pride acknowledged to the Fort Worth Star Telegram’s Mike Waters the challenge his team faces in its clash with Dragons.

“Southlake has a great team every year,” Pride said. “Their program is the type program we are trying to build here. It will be a big game. And our guys are looking forward to it. I am sure Southlake Carroll will be ready and so will we. Gotta clean up a few things, but we will be prepared.”

Pride knows that when Byron Nelson comes gunning for the Dragons next week, it will have to have its weapons oiled and loaded. Because by all appearances, Carroll is a dreadnought readying to blast its way through the 4-6A battleline.

Go Dragons! 

The Bryon Nelson Bobcats will seek to be Dragon killers once again this season, but they'll have their hands full in the attempt.

Balanced attack: Southlake Carroll 48, Midland 24

 

And so begins the drive for a ninth state championship. Are you ready? These guys are!

A stunning debut

SOUTHLAKE – So noodle this, why don’t you?

During their season opener last night at Dragon Stadium, the Southlake Carroll Dragons, who have trumpeted far and wide the dazzling potential of their dynamic rushing duo of Riley Wormley and Davis Penn – were outgained on the ground by the Midland Bulldogs, 368 yards to 253.

Don’t be misled, however. The Bulldogs were briskly dispatched and sent slinking back to the wind-stroked plains of West Texas. The final issue was never in doubt, thanks to a balanced offensive scheme and the crisp execution of junior Angelo Renda, the Dragons’ new man under center.

Dragonheads noted with satisfaction – but not much surprise – that Renda, who showed repeated flashes of brilliance last season in his role as Graham Knowles’ backup, ruled supreme last night, passing for 196 yards and 3 touchdowns, and rushing for another 48 and 2 more TDs.

Minor heartburn

Still and all, Midland’s early success on the ground – it matched the Dragons score for score during the first quarter – almost upstaged the Wormley and Penn show and caused me minor heartburn in my Section D green seat. (Then again, maybe that was just blowback from the Feedstore brisket I enjoyed before kickoff.)

It looked for a while there, watching the bruising power of RB Elijah McCoy and the slick dodgery of quarterback Stroman Bridges shred the Carroll defensive line, that we might be facing a shootout. A shootout that Renda and company were almost certain to win, but still – against Midland?

The Bulldogs’ reluctance to behave as docile, unassuming guests of their Metroplex betters shouldn’t have been that big a surprise. After all, they went 9-3 last year before falling in the area round of the playoffs, displaying a gritty, smashmouth brand of football invented and perfected decades ago by the sturdy sons of oilfield roughnecks.

Those days have faded into the yellowing pages of history, however, and West Texas teams routinely are humbled when they venture east to face the state’s premier programs. Take, for instance, Midland Legacy, which drove the same Interstate 20 route to the Metroplex as its sister school, only to fall ignominiously before Allen, 61-0. Oh, how the once mighty have fallen.

Eventually, the Bulldogs’ brief glimpse of glory blinked out last night. And the rising hopes of the hardy handful of Midland fans who endured the 300+-mile drive from the Permian Basin, alas, were crushed by a resurgent Dragon defense.

Unhindered dash

That moment came early in the 2^nd period, after Renda excited the Carroll crowd with a 20-yard unhindered dash up the middle to give the Dragons a 21-14 lead. It was his 2^nd rushing TD, his first coming less than 2 minutes into the game with a 4-yard dart to paydirt.

Midland, which had responded briskly to Carroll’s first two scores, once again moved quickly to midfield. There, McCoy – the night’s top rusher with 182 yards on 26 carries and 2 TDs – met unaccustomed resistance. Facing a 4-2 at his own 47-yard line, he was stopped cold, and the Dragons took charge.

Three plays later – after Renda connected with sophomore WR Blake Gunter at the 1 – Wormley sealed the deal, handing the Dragons a 28-14 lead. A third unanswered TD later in the quarter – on a 17-yard pass to leading Dragon receiver Brock Boyd – rewarded Carroll with an unassailable 35-14 halftime lead.

Renda, in a postgame interview with The Dallas Morning News’ Jim McCurdy, was generous – perhaps overly so – in handing credit to his defense for slowing down the Bulldog offense.

“The defense set the tone for the offense,” Renda told McCurdy. “Them getting a stop on 4th-and-2 was massive. They worked so hard. They did their job, and at the end of the day, they got it done.”

All true, of course. But Bridges and McCoy still had banner nights in the trenches. Bridges rushed 18 times for 87 yards and 2 TDs. In addition to the redoubtable McCoy, Bulldog runners Steven Garcia and Cutter Lange also gained double-digit yardage.

A balanced Dragon attack and excellent execution overwhelmed the Bulldogs.

Defense is always problematic in Dragon land, especially this early in the season. Under-sized players and a shallow bench frequently pose a challenge. Head coach Riley Dodge acknowledged in postgame interviews the D remains troublesome.

Settling in

“We made some adjustments defensively,” he told the Fort Worth Star Telegram’s Mike Waters. “We have such inexperience on defense, and it also took us a while to settle in and get a feel of what Midland was doing.”

To address gaps in the defense, Dodge told Waters he has moved one of the Dragons’ best offensive weapons – highly regarded tight end Jack Van Dorselaer – to defensive end.

Van Dorselaer – a hard-charging blocker and sure-handed receiver – showed great promise last season and had been expected to play a key role in Carroll’s offensive plans.

Dodge praised Van Dorselaer, a Tennessee commit, for putting team ahead of self and promised Dragonheads that he plans to work the senior back into the offensive lineup later this season.

Let’s hope so. Van Dorselaer is a good kid, with his head screwed on right and his priorities in order. And – did I mention it? – he’s a ton of fun to watch as he knocks defenders on their butts and snares yardage in tight situations.

As I mentioned, Angelo Renda ruled the night, directing the Dragon attack with grace and poise.

He may need to work some on his long ball – of the only two long passes he launched last night, one was intercepted and the other wildly off-target. But on his first night in control of Dragon fortunes, he more than lived up to the promise he revealed late in games last season.

His coach heaped praise on his new offensive leader, with whom Dodge – a former state champion Dragon quarterback – has worked closely to get him ready.

Dodge told Waters of the Star-T that Renda’s performance against Midland was no surprise. To the contrary.

 “We had expected that from Angelo,” Dodge said. “He had a tremendous summer, and we have high expectations for our offense.”

Spreading the love

In typical Dragon fashion, Renda swiftly spread the love -- and credit.

“Our offensive line did a great job,” he told the Star-T. “No nervousness at all with me. I have confidence in our team and in myself. The backs were incredible, and our receivers did a fantastic job of getting open. I thought we played well offensively. Something definitely to build on going forward.”

That confidence is based on the comforting knowledge that he’s blessed with a truly impressive arsenal, both in the air and on the ground.

As Dodge promised before the game, Wormley and Penn shared running chores evenly. Both were impressive in their own ways. The slippery Wormley showed quickly why he has D1 college offers from everyone, although he publicly has settled on USC. He gained 126 yards on only 7 carries against Midland. That’s a stunning 18 yards per carry if you’re into higher mathematics.

A screenwriter couldn’t have scripted it better. On the second play of the game, he crashed through the line and galloped 60 yards to the Bulldog 10, setting up the Dragons’ first score.

Nothing would top that. But Wormley was electric every time he touched the ball, and Midland had no answer for him.

Penn, a Baylor commit, was less showy, but his bruising, go-for-broke running style had Dragonheads around me humming a merry tune. He rushed 12 times for 56 yards and a TD.

Renda also showed discipline and patience in the passing attack. While he connected with seven different receivers, Boyd was his favored target. The junior caught 6 passes for 76 yards, half of them for touchdowns – of 13, 17 and 27 yards. I’d call that an acceptable percentage, wouldn’t you?

Both Renda and Boyd commented after the game about the chemistry they’ve worked hard to develop between them.

“We’ve been playing together a whole lot, so we really have a great connection,” Renda told the DMN. “I can trust him to make a play with a ball in his hands, so that’s what I did. I threw him the ball, and he scored touchdowns.”

“We have been playing football together for about six years,” Boyd told the Star-T, referring to Renda. “So the chemistry is there. It was a lot of fun out there.”

Familiar foes

Carroll is playing in a reconstituted District 4-6A this season, but all its district opponents are familiar ones. The Keller 6A schools are there – Keller, Keller Central and Timber Creek. Northwest ISD’s Byron Nelson and Eaton have been joined by Northwest High. All but Northwest have been Dragon district mates the past two years. Joining the party are Trinity and L.D. Bell – also well-known Dragon foes from years past.

With eight district opponents, Carroll faces only the non-district Hebron Hawks next week on the road before it plunges into the 4-6A race.

The district opener – against Byron Nelson on Sept. 13 – will be a doozy. The Bobcats handed the Dragons their only regular-season defeat last year, denying them the district championship they coveted.

Carroll sought revenge in the playoffs and got it. But the festering rivalry with Byron Nelson has all the ingredients for a slam-bam, thank-you-ma’am collision that could very well determine the outcome of the District 4-6A championship – just as it did last year.

First, however, come the Hebron Hawks, tough nuts to crack in past encounters, but perhaps not the threat they once were. But as life and high school football teach us, those are the opponents you have to look out for.

Go Dragons!

Superstitious? The next home game is the district opener against Byron Nelson on Friday, Sept.13!

A defeat, not a beating: Southlake Carroll 38, DeSoto 45

 

Eagle Deondrae "Tiger" Riden ran like a man possessed and couldn't be stopped.

Everything a playoff semifinal should be

Even the most devoted of Dragonheads had to admit that the best team won yesterday’s semi-final playoff matchup between the DeSoto Eagles, defending Class 6A, Division II state champions, and the Southlake Carroll Dragons.

And it’s only right that the Eagles will meet Humble Summer Creek this Saturday in AT&T Stadium to attempt to be the first DFW 6A team to win back-to-back state titles since Allen did it in 2013-14.

Here’s the long and short of it: The Dragons played well, forcing the Eagles into a series of uncharacteristic mistakes and scoring regularly against its storied defense.

But the Eagles played better, overcoming those miscues with grit, determination and patience and stopping the Dragons when it really, really mattered.

For fans, it was everything a contest between two of the best high school teams should be – a hard-hitting, back-and-forth contest in which the lead changed five times and both teams combined for 1,158 yards of total offense.

Winning on the ground

But the battle was won yesterday on the ground, and that’s where DeSoto ruled the roost, outrushing Carroll 442 yards to 218.

DeSoto’s incredible junior running back, Deondrae “Tiger” Riden Jr., strode rampant across Allen stadium, rushing for an eye-popping 254 yards on 34 carries and 2 touchdowns. He averaged 7½ per carry, slicing through Dragon defenders with ease or brushing them effortlessly aside.

Riden, who missed games in regular season because of injury, has been making up for lost time in the playoffs. He ran yesterday like a man possessed. And perhaps he was: Possessed by such a fierce desire to win that nothing – and nobody – could stop him.

If he hadn’t been destroying Carroll’s hopes with every stride, it would have been a pleasure and privilege to watch Riden work. After the game, DeSoto head coach Claude Mathis spoke reverentially about his star.

“We unleashed him today,” Mathis told Dallas Morning News sportswriter Lia Assimakopoulos. “He asked me to. I had to. I had to take the strings off of him. He just took over.”

DJ Bailey led the DeSoto offense, keeping his cool and directing his comrades with confidence and precision. He completed 9 of 12 passes for 189 yards and 2 TDs, a 40-yard missile to his brother, Tristan, and a 50-yard toss to Antonio Pride Jr. That score gave the Eagles a 42-31 cushion they needed to smother a Dragon rally in the last period.

Rushing power

Bailey also was the Eagles’ second leading rusher, rolling to 81 yards on 8 carries. That was only a few yards ahead of Jaden Trawick, who rushed 8 times for 75 yards, including a 54-yard sprint that gave the Eagles their first lead near the end of the 1^st quarter.

While the Dragon D never was able to lasso the redoubtable Riden, it did force the Eagles into committing four turnovers – three fumbles and a Bailey pass intercepted by Eric Garza.

Tiger Riden, who ran for 254 yards and 2 TDs, asked his coach to let him run free. And he did.

Seniors Garza and Zack Engelhardt led Carroll’s defensive effort yesterday, spreading their disruptive influence all over the field. Trouble was, it just wasn’t enough to ground the soaring Eagles.

Carroll, trailing by only 4 points when Garza made his grab, was unable to capitalize on the gift and handed the ball back to the Eagles after a 3-and-out.

Four plays later, Bailey zipped his 50-yarder to Pride.

What hope the Dragons still harbored of overcoming an 11-point DeSoto lead vanished when Knowles threw an interception fielded by DeSoto at the Dragon 14. Two plays later, Riden rumbled across the goal line, but the score was erased by a holding call. Instead, the Eagles extended their lead to 14 by kicking a 25-yard field goal.

With 4 minutes left in the game, Carroll staged a 72-yard drive down the field to score its final TD, a 12-yard strike to Clayton Wayland (6-114), his second TD catch of the night. That narrowed DeSoto’s margin to 7 with 1:17 left on the clock.

Carroll’s only chance, a pitifully slim one at best, was to recover an onside kick and score quickly against DeSoto’s stubborn defense, its confidence bolstered by a dwindling clock and the whiff of Dragon desperation.

The gray fox saga

But Dragonheads couldn’t help but remember a memorable semifinal playoff game in 2011 against Dallas Skyline in which Carroll, trailing 24-21, recovered an onside kick with time running out and drove the field to win the game.

That drive featured a midfield encounter between Southlake quarterback Kenny Hill and a gray fox that had slipped into SMU’s Ford Stadium and trotted past Hill as he leaped over tacklers on his way to the goal line.

One week later, Carroll won its 8^th state championship, and the tale of the gray fox entered Dragon yore.

Of course, such magical comebacks occur only once in the life of a program, and Carroll’s doomed effort evaporated when the Eagles fell on the onside kick and ran out the clock.

Earlier in the game, another sequence of plays also sparked memories of past playoff matchups, this time a 2012 playoff encounter between the Eagles and the Dragons.

In that contest, also played at SMU, the Eagles ousted the Dragons – at that point defending state champions – from the playoffs by keeping Kenny Hill out of the end zone on three successful plays from the 1 as time expired.

Here’s how it played out yesterday.

In the 3^rd quarter, DeSoto had just recaptured the lead, 35-31, after the pass connection between the Bailey brothers. On the ensuing Carroll drive, Knowles marched his team inside the Eagle 5. From the 1, Knowles tried to sneak across the line on 4^th down but was blockaded – it was close, folks, so very, very close – and DeSoto took over the ball.

Ultimate outcome

If the Dragons had managed to score on that drive and retake the lead, who knows what the ultimate outcome might have been? Momentum shifts are funny things and can have a powerful impact on outcomes. Failing to punch the ball over from the 1 can be ego-deflating and spirit-sagging.

Riley Wormley gets smothered by the Eagle defense, but he still ran for 134 yards and a TD.

My hunch is that a Dragon touchdown then and there would have changed the entire script of yesterday’s game.

Unlike 2012, however, the game didn’t end with the Dragons’ goal-line failure, and they had another shot at salvaging their playoff journey.

Three plays after the Eagles took over at the 1, Bailey fumbled the ball and Garza recovered it at the 13. A holding call sent the Dragons back to the 23, from where Knowles hit Wayland at the 10, and Davis Penn took it to the 4.

The Dragons would get no further, however, and Eagle defender Aundre Wisner blocked kicker Kyle Lemmermann’s field goal. (Lemmermann completed three others – for 50 yards, a season record, 39 yards and 34 yards.)

Did the goal-line debacle and the blocked field goal – considered together – take the air out of Dragon sails at a time the team needed it the most? Seems plausible, doesn’t it?

After all, the Dragons traded punches blow by blow with the Eagles for three quarters. They trailed by only 21-20 at halftime.

Carroll runners, although they didn’t enjoy the carefree capering on display from Riden, had solid games. Junior Riley Wormley ran for 134 yards on 12 carries, including a thrilling 49-yard dash up the middle to give the Dragons a 7-0 lead.

Sophomore David Penn ran 91 yards on 9 carries. Early in the 3^rd quarter, he gave the Dragons their last lead of the game, 31-28, with a 75-yard rumble that perked up sagging Dragon fans.

Knowles played like a champion, completing 19 of 32 for 309 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT. Those are statistics any quarterback would love to own – unless, of course, your team has just been booted from the playoffs.

‘We have a chance’

Mathis, the DeSoto coach, explained to the DMN’s Assimakopoulos how important winning back-to-back championships is to his team.

“We’ve been talking about this all year,” Mathis said. “We have a chance. Until somebody knocks us off, we’re the defending champions. Now we’ve got a chance to win it back-to-back. They’ve been working so hard all year to get back to this point, and we’re back.”

I wish them good luck and God’s speed. Sincerely. DeSoto is a class act, and I’d like to see them win it all – again. Humble Summer Creek? Puh-leeze. Sounds like a summer youth camp.

Dragonheads – denied the distractions of the playoffs – can now concentrate on the joys of the season: Christmas shopping, holiday sweets and relaxing by the fire (glass of whiskey optional).

Still and all, a ninth state championship would have been nice, doncha think? Oh well, it wouldn’t have fit under the tree, anyway. Happy holidays and safe travels, everyone!

Go, Dragons!

The season is over for Brock Brady and Riley Wormley, but they're both back next year.

Sweet revenge: Southlake Carroll 56, Trophy Club Byron Nelson 7

Davis Penn roars through the Byron Nelson line on his way to 4 TDs.

A very different outcome

Whoever said revenge is a dish best served cold got it wrong. And that’s a fact, Jack.

Revenge is a dish to be enjoyed hot or cold: Cold – as the satisfying result of patience, meticulous planning, pinpoint timing and steady nerves. Or hot – as in the heat of battle, with everything riding on the outcome and no path open except straight ahead until morning.

Or a combination of the two, which was the direction taken by the Southlake Carroll Dragons last night in their fourth-round playoff destruction of the Bryon Nelson Bobcats.

On Oct. 27, the Bobcats, waving their undefeated record like a battle flag, breezed past Carroll 34-17, ending the Dragons’ 38-game district winning streak and their 35-game regular-season streak, and denying them a third straight District 4-6A title. It marked the first time Byron Nelson had ever defeated Southlake.

Like an undercooked Thanksgiving turkey, that butt-kicking didn’t go down well with the Dragons, who have been looking forward to – and preparing feverishly for – a shot at redemption ever since.

And last night, with the haughty Bobcats standing in Carroll’s way of making the state semi-finals for the third time in four years, the Dragons evened the score. And then some.

Not about revenge

Carroll head coach Riley Dodge said after the game it wasn’t about revenge – it was about staying in the hunt for a ninth state championship.

“It was about some way, somehow – whatever it looks like – getting back on the bus and getting back home with a victory,” he told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Charles Baggarly and Darren Lauber.

But he acknowledged that avenging the Oct. 27 loss made last night’s win all the sweeter.

As did the way the Dragons avenged it.

A Carroll defense that has been gaining confidence and credibility all season long, reigned supreme in Arlington’s Choctaw Stadium.

It harassed hotshot Bobcat quarterback Tom Von Grote unmercifully, intercepting him three times and his backup once and limiting Bobcat runners to only 45 rushing yards all night.

And if that wasn’t humiliating enough, it held Byron Nelson scoreless until the last third of the 3^rd quarter, when Von Grote managed to slip into the end zone, thanks in large part to a 57-yard reception by leading receiver Landon Farco.

Among an outstanding defensive cast, defensive back Trey Ferri stood out. He intercepted two Von Grote passes and, along with his secondary brethren, completely disrupted, dismantled and discombobulated Byron Nelson’s passing attack.

Rushing machine

Meanwhile, Carroll’s O-line elbowed aside Bobcat defenders, clearing running lanes for the Dragons’ double-headed rushing machine.

Sophomore running back Davis Penn (20 carries for 113 yards) scored four TDs, and his junior running partner, Riley Wormsley (6 for 61) added another two.

Meanwhile, Dragon quarterback Graham Knowles kept the offense humming. He completed 13 of 16 passes for 224 yards, tossing a 28-yard TD missile to tight end Jack Van Dorselaer and a perfect 24-yard arch to leading receiver Clayton Wayland (7-123) in the corner of the end zone.

Tight end Jack Van Dorselaer heads for the end zone.

Carroll scored on six of its first seven possessions.  When Wayland’s TD catch put the Dragons ahead 21-0 early in the 2^nd quarter, the matter essentially had been decided.

The Bobcats entered the contest confident they would take up where the October game left off – by dispersing the Carroll D and smothering the offense. The opening kickoff only seemed to confirm it.

Fielding the ball at his own 5, Bobcat receiver Jonathan Kabeya sprinted 58 yards to the Dragon 37. Instead of reeling in shock, Carroll abruptly stuffed the drive, then sacked Von Grote (9-19, 130 yards)on 4^th down to take possession.

Not this time

It was Carroll’s way of signaling to the Bobcats, “Not this time, fellas. Not. This. Time.”

From the 33, Wormsley promptly reeled off a 42-yard run to the BN 24, and Wayland caught two short passes to push the Dragons to the 1. From there, Wormsley darted across the line and opened the scoring floodgates.

After another 3-and-out, Knowles engineered a 69-yard scoring drive that ended with Van Dorselaer’s TD reception.

At that point, at the beginning of its third possession, the mighty BN offense that had played bully boy to opponents all season, had compiled exactly 4 yards.

Things were not to get much better. On the third play of the drive, Trey Ferri picked up his first of two interceptions, setting up the Dragons on the BN 39. While the Dragons were unable to capitalize on the misstep, the Bobcats never regained their footing.

That’s because Von Grote’s receivers were draped in Dragon defensive backs, and the D-line held leading Bobcat rusher Tucker James to only 35 yards on 13 carries.

Meanwhile, the Dragon offense scored four times in the decisive second period.

Knowles completed a 24-yard pass to Wayland, and Penn zipped 1-yard untouched into the end zone. Then Wormsley smashed through end zone defenders from the 6, getting shaken up sufficiently to sit out the rest of the game, and Penn finished his first-half hat trip with a 5-yard run to pay dirt.

The Dragon strolled into halftime with a 42-0 lead.

Demonstrated dominance

 As the half drew to a close, a sequence of plays demonstrated both Dragon dominance and Bobcat disintegration.

With Carroll leading 28-0, BN managed to put together a drive that took it near the Dragon red zone. Trey Ferri then snatched his second interception of the night and ran the ball back into Bobcat territory. Three plays later, Wormsley ran it in from the 6.

On the second play after the ensuing kickoff, Von Grote tried to complete a pass downfield, but defensive back Carter High grabbed it instead. It took the Dragons only five plays before Penn found the end zone from the 5.

Riley Wormsley fights for yardage.

Perhaps the wildest play of the night came in the 3^rd period. After BN had scored its only TD of the night, the Bobcats tried an unsuccessful onside kick, which the Dragons recovered near midfield. Three plays later, Knowles connected with sophomore Brock Boyd as he sped toward the end zone. But the usually surehanded Boyd lost control of the ball at the 30. And Penn, running just behind him, scooped up the ball in midstride and crossed the goal line, leaving the impression that was the plan all along.

Byron Nelson head coach Travis Pride was refreshingly candid about his team’s performance.

“I think we made some early mistakes,” Pride told the Star-T. “I don’t think we played very physical. I think that sometimes the big game can get you. The kids have come a long way, and our program has come a long way, but it was a big game for them tonight, and I think we played like it was too big.”

Dragonheads were as surprised as anyone at the total deconstruction of the Bobcats at the hands of the Southlake stalwarts.

Most of us expected a knock-down-drag-out street brawl, with the outcome teetering back and forth all night. And some of us – including me, guilty as charged – feared that perhaps, just perhaps, this was Bryon Nelson’s year. That the football gods had already decreed the outcome, leaving us in the grip of a force over which we had no control.

 Karma alert

And it turns out, such fears can probably be blamed on indigestion brought on by holiday over-indulgence. But one thing’s for sure. Karma rules the universe, and it’s bad karma to crow too loudly about Byron Nelson’s disgrace.

After all, the next Carroll opponents are the redoubtable DeSoto Eagles, reigning Class 6A, Division II state champions. They are always formidable – well-coached, well-prepared and athletically talented.

 The current incarnation of the Eagles are dead-eyed, cold-blooded assassins, and the Dragons will need every bit of discipline, dedication and grit to get past them.

But they’re not invincible. The Dragons have whipped the Eagles in the past, and they can do so again. Particularly if they play the kind of game they did against Bryon Nelson.

For the time being, though, let’s just enjoy a heaping dish of revenge, courtesy of the Bobcats. Served hot or cold. Diner’s choice.

Go, Dragons!

Quarterback Graham Knowles prepares to hand the ball to Davis Penn.