The Knocking Bird

I first heard the noise early Sunday morning as I drifted, cozy and warm under my comforter, in that pleasant, hazy nether-world between sleep and wakefulness.

Later, my mind would process the sound as similar to a baseball hitting the side of the house. But at first, it simply registered as a rapping noise, solid and definite – once, twice, three times in two- or three-second intervals.

I ignored it and drifted gently back into slumber. Only to be awakened by the same insistent sound – once, twice, now four times, clearly audible above the soft buzz of the furnace.

“What the hell is that?” I asked myself, now fully awake and attentive. And as I lay there, I heard it again and again and still once more. It was then that I remembered where I had heard such a noise before.

It sounded like the knocking bird.

Aerial assaults

For years, the Legend of the Knocking Bird has entertained the Gunnels household.

It all started when the kids were still youngsters. One morning as my wife worked in the kitchen, she heard the sound of something striking one of the panes of the bay window in our breakfast nook. Turning around, she observed a small bird launching itself at the window, slamming into it and fluttering downward.

Regaining altitude, the bird flew again into the window – and again and again – while Marice watched dumbfounded.

After a half-dozen tries, the bird perched on the crape myrtle that grew next to the window, gathered what bird-brained wits it had, and flew away. Over the course of several months, it would return periodically, always at the same time of morning, and launch itself at the same pane of glass.

Initially, I was skeptical. But when both of my children saw the bird's antics, I was forced to conclude that indeed something strange was afoot. Finally, I witnessed the aerial assaults myself on two separate occasions. They remain two of the strangest sights I’ve ever seen.

What did it want?

Over the years, Marice and I have shared the knocking bird story with friends and family. The most popular theories are that the bird was acting under the influence of some form of hallucinogenic berry or that it was trying to reach the colorful fruit that decorated our kitchen wallpaper.

I preferred a more fanciful explanation. Something along the lines of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds.” When the knocking bird finally ceased its futile ramming, I was a little disappointed. But also strangely relieved. The second time I had viewed its frenzied efforts, I had felt a vague sense of foreboding. What in the world did it want?

It’s been almost 20 years since the knocking bird’s last visit, but its memory – and the mystery of its actions – haven’t faded. So as I lay in bed Sunday morning contemplating the strange rapping sound downstairs, I immediately thought of our feathered battering ram.

I threw on a robe and slowly walked downstairs, listening closely for the sound I somehow knew would repeat itself.

As I reached the foot of the stairs, I heard the knocking sound, now clearly coming from the sitting room at the front of our house. Walking swiftly into the room, I determined it originated outside, near the southeast window.

I approached the window. Looking up, I saw a small bird – smaller than a sparrow – come to rest on the top branch of the crape myrtle growing in front of the window. It seemed to look my way, then flitted off, carried along by a stiff northern breeze.

Weird affairs

I made a pot of coffee and sat at the kitchen table, contemplating the morning’s events. Had the noise that awakened me been the small bird slamming itself against the sitting room window? It seemed highly unlikely. Ridiculous, really. And yet?

When Marice got up sometime later, I told her about the sound I had heard earlier.

“Oh, my God! Was it the knocking bird?” she asked immediately.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I mean, no, of course not. But it was weird.”

“Yes, and this is weird, too,” she said. The day before, she and my daughter had been preparing to leave on a shopping trip when they noticed two small birds perched on the sill of the large arched window over my front door.

“They had blue heads and were just cute as could be,” she said. “They were just sitting there, looking through the window at us. I’ve never seen a bird do that. Have you?”

“No,” I said thoughtfully. “I never have.”

Ignominious exit: Duncanville 51, Southlake Carroll 7

A crushing defense

FRISCO – It wasn’t a victory, it was a slaughter. It wasn’t success, it was a rout. It wasn’t a loss, it was complete humiliation.

The supremely confident and infinitely talented Duncanville Panthers dismissively ejected Southlake Carroll from the playoffs yesterday, bringing to an abrupt end the Dragons’ magical season with a historically domineering performance in The Ford Center at the Star.

It was the worst Dragon playoff defeat in school history. And yes, it was every bit as bad as that sounds.

Five turnovers

The crushing Panther defense ruled the day, forcing five turnovers by the Dragons, sacking QB Will Bowers six times, eventually knocking him out of the game, and rolling up 13 tackles for loss.

Duncanville players told The Dallas Morning News after the game that they have “one of the best defenses in the state.” That’s not hyperbole, either. In fact, they may be understating the power of the Panther defense.

As good as the defense was, and it was breathtakingly good, the Panther offense matched it in athleticism and effectiveness. Dual-threat quarterback Ja’Quinden Jackson, JJ to his teammates, roamed the field at will, charging through gaping holes ripped in the Dragon front by his surging O-line and peppering the flats with short, rifle-aimed passes.

Jackson was rushing leader, running 19 times for 156 yards and three touchdowns. He completed 11 of 15 passes for 124 yards and another score. Running back Trysten Smith (14-91-1TD) also bedeviled Dragon defenders.

But the Duncanville defense will be what Dragon Nation remembers about yesterday’s debacle.

The News said in its game story that the Panthers have scored 10 defensive touchdowns in the last nine games. During that span, they’ve held opponents to only five offensive touchdowns.

Pressure, pressure

“We pressure the quarterback,” Duncanville head coach Reginald Samples told The News' high school columnist Greg Riddle, “so a lot of times he throws in a hurry. And when he is throwing in a hurry, he is not accurate.”

Ask Bowers (12 of 20, 179) about that. Three of his passes were picked off by Panther defensive backs, and two were returned for TDs. Before yesterday, you could count the number of his interceptions all season on one hand and have fingers left over.

Running superstar T.J. McDaniel could do little, rushing 17 times for 91 yards. But that statistic is deceptive since most of those yards came on two lengthy runs, the first a 47-yard burst on Southlake’s second play from scrimmage. That briefly raised Dragon hopes that the day might go differently.

But Carroll would go no further, setting up a 42-yard field goal attempt by kicker Joe McFadden. He flubbed it, the first of two he would miss against the roaring Panthers.

 Two key plays revealed the mettle of the Duncanville squad, its discipline and determination. The first occurred at the end of the first half.

Carroll had just scored its first – and last – touchdown, set up by a 53-yard pass reception by R.J. Mickens, the junior phenom who finished the job two plays later with 16-yard TD catch with 2 minutes left.

 After kicking off to the Panthers, the Dragon defense stiffened, forcing the Panthers to a 3-3 at their own 43. The Dragons, hoping to secure enough time for another shot at the end zone before the break, had called timeouts on the previous two plays.

That’s when the worthy Jackson plunged through the line and darted 30 yards to the Carroll 27. Thanks to the Dragon timeouts, the Panthers had plenty of time. Three plays later, Roderick Daniels Jr. caught a 10-yard Jackson TD pass to send the Panthers into halftime with a 27-7 lead.

A bridge too far

Most of us felt at that moment that a 20-point lead against Duncanville was a bridge too far for the Dragons. That conviction was only strengthened when the Panthers took the second half kickoff and marched authoritatively downfield to extend their lead to 34-7.

To their credit, however, the proud Dragons never gave up. On the next series, Bowers carried his team to its own 45, where the Dragons faced 3-11. He then lofted a ball to Mickens (5-147), who raced for the end zone, closely pursued by Panther defenders.

In the second example of Duncanville resolve, the Panthers caught up with Mickens inside the 5 and knocked the ball loose at the 1. After a scramble in the end zone, Duncanville came up with it, forcing a touchback. From the 20, it swept 80 yards for another TD.

Question: How many teams, with a comfortable 27-point lead and in firm control of the game, would have pursued that particular play to its end?

The rest of the game was academic, and a stream of the Dragon faithful began leaving the Ford Center to make room for Denton Ryan fans arriving to see their team whip Birdville in the third game of the day at Ford.

A thriller

Some of us had arrived early enough to catch the last quarter of the Highland Park-Tyler John
Tyler game, a gut-wrenching, heart-pounding thriller that saw the Scots overcome a 21-point deficit to win 42-35.

We had hoped for some similar heroics by the Southlake stalwarts against the highly touted Panthers. We comforted ourselves with the hopes that the scary statistics compiled by the Duncanville defense all season were a result of the Panthers’ “strength of schedule” and not a reliable indication of their real merit.

Well, gang, we were wrong. Very wrong.

The Panthers are real, and their next opponents, the No. 1 nationally ranked Allen Eagles, had better keep their heads on a swivel or they’ll get them knocked off by the fired-up Panthers.

The News report offered this historical tidbit. Samples, the Panther coach, has taken three teams to the state semi-finals or beyond – Lincoln, Skyline and now Duncanville.

Back in 2014, his Skyline team met Allen in the semi-finals and surged to an 18-point lead. Eagle quarterback Kyler Murray, who won the Heisman Trophy yesterday, then took charge of the game and led his team to a 52-34 comeback win.

Think Samples would like a little payback for that disappointment? Regardless, the Allen-Duncanville game, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. next Saturday at Jerry’s World, promises to be a classic.

The Dragons are done, ending the season 13-1, and it’s a shame that things had to end with the kind of beat down they suffered against the Panthers. But their achievements shouldn’t be forgotten in the charred refuse of defeat. They exceeded every expectation their coaches and their fans harbored for them. And did so with dignity, integrity and respect.

They played like Dragons.

So many questions

Many of their number are graduating: Bowers and McDaniel, much of the receiving corps, Michael Parrish, Henry Mossberg and sizeable numbers of the offensive and defensive lines.

But Mickens is back, as are Brandon Howell and Preston Forney, Blake Smith and Wills Meyer, Graham Faloona and Quinten Bunten.

There will be questions about their young coach, who enjoyed an historic beginning to his head coaching career. For example, does the dreaded “sophomore slump” apply to coaches, as well as athletes?

Riley Dodge has built a solid foundation in the short time he’s been here. He’s reinvigorated a dispirited program and infused the Southlake community with new enthusiasm for its young Dragons.

The future is a mystery, no doubt. But I can honestly say that for the first time in a while, I contemplate the future with a spirit of optimism and excitement, rather than a nagging dread that the best days of this heralded program are behind it.

Happy holidays, everyone. And go Dragons!

Regional semi-final cruise: Southlake Carroll 35, Euless Trinity 7

A gesture of respect

DENTON – A rather remarkable thing happened after last night’s rain-sogged playoff game between Northeast Tarrant County rivals Southlake Carroll and Euless Trinity.

Carroll head coach Riley Dodge was conducting a radio interview about the Dragons’ decisive – and never really in doubt – defeat of the proud Trojans when Trinity quarterback Laki Ellis walked up with outstretched hand.

“Good game, Coach,” Ellis said quietly. “Good game.”

“Yes, good game, good game,” Dodge replied, shaking his hand.

Ellis then turned and rejoined his crestfallen teammates, who only moments before had performed the traditional Haka for the last time this season.

That simple gesture of respect by a high school athlete, made while the sting of defeat was still fresh and raw, is as vivid an example as you’re likely to find of the unique and unusual relationship between Carroll and Trinity. It’s a relationship based on fierce competition, intense emotions and athletic excellence imbued by respect, admiration and, yes, affection.

No trash talk

And it’s always been that way. Back in 2006, when the two teams clashed for the first time in a playoff battle that those of us who watched it still talk about with awe, Justin Padron, now a color commentator for Dragon Radio, was a standout defensive player for the Dragons.

Thinking back on that game, a hard-fought, desperately close contest that Carroll won when Riley Dodge scored the winning touchdown in the closing seconds, Padron reflected on how two of the state’s premier high school football programs interacted with each other on the field.

“It was an amazing night, or rather afternoon,” Padron said before yesterday’s game. “There was absolutely no trash-talking by either side. We just lined up against each other and played smash-mouth football on every play.”

After that game, Dragon players, instead of celebrating with their fans who flooded the field after the final whistle, stood quietly as the stunned Trinity team performed the traditional Haka. Our kids then embraced the devastated Trojans at midfield.

Hollywood would be hard-pressed to come up with a better storyline.

Yesterday was the eighth time the two programs have met. The Dragons now hold a 5-3 edge in that series, which is noteworthy both for the physicality of the games and the usually slim margins of victory.

Not even close

Such was not the case this year, however. The Dragons shut down the heralded Trojan offense, limiting it to a single touchdown in the first quarter and shutting it out for the rest of the evening. And they stopped Trinity from converting on several critical 4^th down attempts.

All this, despite losing one of their best defensive weapons, right tackle Henry Mossberg, who left with an injured knee.

Meanwhile, the Dragon offense, helmed by quarterback Will Bowers and powered by runner extraordinaire T.J. McDaniel, scored on Carroll’s first three possessions and never looked back.

Bowers, 18 of 23 for 244 yards, was cool, calm and collected in the pocket, passing for two touchdowns and getting another on the ground.

His rushing touchdown, a 12-yard sprint that broke a Dragon scoring drought in the second half, put the Dragons up by three TDs and sealed the Trojans’ fate.

The second half of the game was delayed more than 1 ½ hours by lightning, driving rain and a tornado warning in the Denton area. It was the third time this year that a Carroll game has been delayed by weather.

When play resumed, Trinity came out swinging. Running back Brandon Theus (23 carries for 98 yards), who earlier scored Trinity’s sole TD of the night, powered an impressive drive to the Dragon 5. A worried murmur ruffled through the Dragon side of UNT's Apogee Stadium.

Then the wheels fell off. A series of penalties, including three on consecutive plays, propelled the Trojans out of the red zone. Dragon defenders took advantage of the miscues and dug in, forcing Trinity to turn over the ball on downs.

Couldn’t capitalize

That drive, which took almost 7 minutes off the clock and gained Trinity no points, proved decisive. The Trojans forced 3-and-outs on the next two Carroll possessions but couldn’t capitalize on either opportunity.

The Carroll game plan, aided by some special plays that have characterized Dodge’s brief tenure as head coach, worked to perfection. Bowers was superb, completing almost 80 percent of his passes and managing the game flawlessly.

One play deserves special attention.

With the score knotted 7-7 after the Trojan TD, the Dragons drove to the Trinity 26 in five plays. Bowers dropped back, clearly signaled he was passing to McDaniel in the left flat, where a Trojan crowd was gathering, then lofted the ball to an insanely open John Manero (6-83), who slid untouched into the end zone with nary a Trojan within 10 yards of him.

It’s the kind of play Dodge and his coaching staff have tossed into the offensive mix all season, picking exactly the right moment to do so.

As expected, much of the work against Trinity fell to McDaniel, listed by The Dallas Morning News as the Dallas area’s leading 6A rusher. He brushed past the 2,000-yard season rushing mark last night, rolling up 115 yards on 22 carries and scoring twice. It was the 10^th time this season that McDaniel has rushed for more than 100 yards.

All three phases

R.J. Mickens, brilliant in all three phases, led in receiving for Carroll, catching 7 Bowers passes for 99 yards. He got Dragon scoring started 5 minutes into the game with a 26-yard reception.

Most observers expected the Trojans and Dragons to keep it close. And initially it appeared that might be the case. After Carroll’s first score, Ellis (15-30, 175) methodically carried his offense downfield to even things up.

He was excellent in the first half, completing most of his passes and managing an offense that moved up and down the field until it neared the red zone.

In the second half, Ellis was less effective, stymied by Trojan missteps and by Carroll’s 21-7 halftime lead. That forced the Trojans out of their comfort zone and compelled Ellis to a long game he and his receivers couldn’t sustain.

Meanwhile, the spectacular Dragon defense, a major reason for Carroll’s unblemished 13-0 record this year, kept the pressure on all night. As usual, it was disruptive and fierce, forcing throws and keeping Trinity runners Theus (23-98) and A.J. Barnett (4-19) out of the end zone.

As usual, Dodge put the credit for last night’s win on his kids, a trait he shares with his father, the renowned Todd Dodge.

“These kids are just amazing,” he told Dragon Radio. “No matter what the situation is, no matter what the circumstances are, they’re up for it. They just want to play football.”

Elite 8

So for the second straight year, and for the seventh time in the last 10 years, Carroll reaches the fourth round of the playoffs, one of only eight teams to remain.

It meets the undefeated Duncanville Panthers next Saturday at Ford Center at the Star in Frisco.

No one, not even the most green-blooded Dragon fan, could have predicted Carroll would reach this stage. As a good friend of mine said before last night’s game, “No matter what happens, we’re playing on house money.”

In other words, when you play beyond all reasonable expectations, you can’t really lose.  Duncanville will be a tough nut to crack, no question. It’s a good team. But so are we. Against all odds, against all predictions, So Are We.

The Star is a dazzling development, and the Ford Center is a great venue to watch football. And hey, it’s indoors so no freaking rain delay! I'll see you there.

Go Dragons!

Area rout: Southlake Carroll 41, DeSoto 20

A thorough beatdown

MANSFIELD – The Southlake Carroll Dragons, peaking at precisely the right moment in their storybook season, strode confidently into Vernon Newsom Stadium yesterday and easily dispatched the well-regarded DeSoto Eagles to advance to the third round of the playoffs.

Carroll, 12-0 and playing to perfection on both sides of the ball, gave the hapless Eagles what amounted to a classroom demonstration of the unstoppable force of team discipline, inspirational leadership and clockwork execution.

The shaken Eagles never stirred, succumbing meekly to a relentless Dragon offense and a pitiless Dragon defense.

The triumphant Dragons now face an old foe, the 10-1 Euless Trinity Trojans, in the Division I, Region I semi-finals this Friday in UNT’s Apogee Stadium in Denton. It will be a jim-dandy, for sure.

But first, let’s talk about yesterday.

Third straight

It was the third straight year that the Dragons have faced the Eagles in the second round of the playoffs. They beat DeSoto last year 33-15 in a tough contest that featured the stellar play of T.J. McDaniel, who rushed for 128 yards and a touchdown, and quarterback Will Bowers, who passed for 170 yards and 3 TDs.

In 2016, it was a different story. Shawn Robinson, who now plays for TCU, was the DeSoto quarterback, and he led the hard-nosed Eagles to a 48-30 victory. And if you go all the way back to 2012, there was the 49-45 heartbreaker at SMU’s Ford Stadium, when a determined Eagle defense kept Kenny Hill out of the end zone three times from the 1.

In short, DeSoto is no pushover. It’s a good program, strong in talent and discipline and well coached. Which makes the results of yesterday’s contest all the more remarkable – and noteworthy.

The final score, which reflects a couple of late-game TDs by DeSoto, doesn’t properly communicate the thoroughness of the beatdown or the completeness of the Southlake victory.

But perhaps this does. When DeSoto received a Dragon kickoff midway in the 2^nd quarter, a holding penalty moved the ball to the Eagle 35. That represented the deepest penetration of DeSoto in the game up to that moment. With Carroll already leading by four scores, 28-0, DeSoto had yet to make a first down.

Eagle quarterback Shun’Darion Ward, harassed all day by an inspired Dragon defense, seized on that rare opportunity and hefted a 50-yard pass that set up DeSoto at the Dragon 15. Two Ward passes later, the Eagles scored their only TD of the first half, then suffered the indignity of seeing linebacker Michael Parrish block the extra point.

Ward, a heralded double-threat quarterback known to favor the long ball, was off target most of the day, thanks to a surging Dragon pass rush and a stiff southern breeze that kept the flags taut. The wind affected both teams, but it had less impact on the short-pass scheme employed by the Dragons' Bowers.

Ward finished the game with 21 of 42 for 220 yards and 1 interception. He ran 5 times for 22.

Lethal on the ground

At the half, the Eagles, trailing 31-6, had 23 total rushing and 103 passing yards. By game’s end, they were able to manage only 68 and 220.

The extraordinary McDaniel performed as expected in the Eagle rout, racking up 163 yards on 23 carries and rolling to two touchdowns.

As lethal as he was on the ground, McDaniel also proved adept in the air, leading the Dragons in receiving with 3 passes for 77 yards. Most of the yards came on a 63-yard pass from Bowers that set up the Dragons’ first score, a 15-yard dash by the senior quarterback.

In transforming McDaniel into a passing threat, the Carroll coaching staff continues to produce tweaks to the offensive game plan that keeps the Dragons unpredictable, dangerous and, and yes, fun.

Bowers was calm and steady in managing the game. As expected, the Dragon ground game dominated the offensive strategy. He completed 6 of 17 passes for 122 yards and ran for 49 yards, scoring the Dragons' initial two touchdowns within the first 5 minutes of the game and then keeping the scoring fires burning bright.

Standout defensive back R.J. Mickens, who also lines up at receiver and fields kickoffs and punts, also performed some heroics on the ground. Fielding a razzle-dazzle reverse from McDaniel, he plunged 17 yards for the Dragons’ third unanswered score.

Receivers lining up as runners, and runners snagging passes. It was a world gone mad yesterday, and the Dragon Nation, which traveled to Mansfield in force to watch their resurgent Dragons cruise past the Eagles, loved it.

Carroll’s offensive front, which has performed magnificently all season, manhandled the Eagles’ highly respected defense, blowing it off the line on play after play. In capping one scoring drive, McDaniel glided untouched through the center of the Eagle line to cross the goal line with ease.

Even the Dragon kicking game got into the act, with the reliable Joe McFadden booting field goals of 43 and 21 yards to gild the lily.

The Dragon defense, which has performed superbly all season, was equally impressive yesterday. Denied room to move on the ground, Ward was forced to the air. He enjoyed some success against the Dragon secondary, but only late in the game – after Carroll had ended its scoring at 41 and the Dragon Marching Band officially declared victory by playing “Hey, Baby.”

Linebacker Parrish played lights out against the Eagles, blocking the PAT and styming a fake punt that gave the Dragons excellent field position at the Eagle 24 and set up one of McFadden’s field goals.

“This was our best defensive performance so far,” he told Dragon Radio after the game. “We took it to them.”

Relentless all night

Head coach Riley Dodge, agreed, telling The Dallas Morning News, “Our defense played a heck of a game. Just relentless all night.”

As for Trinity, Dodge said his team will go through their regular preparations.

“They’ll come in Monday morning with eyes wide open, and we’ll get to work,” he told Dragon radio. “We’ll figure it out.”

The News couldn’t resist drawing comparisons between the upcoming Trinity match with the classic game played by the two teams in 2006. Both were returning state champions who met in the second round of the playoffs in old Texas Stadium.

Southlake came out on top, but just barely. Riley Dodge, then the quarterback playing for his father, the legendary Todd Dodge, won the game 22-21 with a 2-yard TD plunge in the closing seconds.

It still is the best high school football game I’ve ever watched. At the end, as the Trojans performed the haka before their fans, a tradition at Trinity win or lose, I wasn’t the only Dragon supporter with tears in my eyes. I know. I guess you had to be there.

Friendly rivals

Remarkably, Carroll and Trinity are friendly rivals, located only 10 miles apart, with dramatically different fan bases. Euless is gritty and working class. Southlake is upscale and ritzy. But respect and admiration mark the relationship between the two programs.

 Most Dragons fans would agree with me when I say that I always root for the Trojans except when they play the Dragons. No Carroll-Trinity game I’ve ever seen has disappointed, even the ones we lost.

In their first two playoff games this year against worthy opponents, the Dragons have been able to bring in backups in the late stages. Will they be able to accomplish that against the tough-as-nails Trojans? I doubt it.

I suspect it’ll be a close-run affair, with plenty of drama and lots of smash-mouth football. It’ll be great to watch, and if you love high school football, you’d be a fool to miss it. I’ll see you there.

Go Dragons!

The simple pleasures of Thanksgiving

Following tradition

Thanksgiving Day has dawned bright and gorgeous in Grapevine, the kind of day that inspires joy and a spirit of peace and contentment in venerable Gunnels Manse.

Despite the seismic changes that have occurred around here of late – Marice and I finally have achieved the dreaded empty nest – traditions are being followed.

The applies I peeled and sliced last night have been turned into a delicious pie, despite Marice’s misgivings about the amount of sugar added, also a tradition strictly observed.

The apple pie joined a beautiful pecan pie on the cooling rack. And even though the pecans no longer come from the trees grown by my grandmother in the sandy loam of West Texas, the pie will be wonderful, as always.

Later today, the kids will show up, and we’ll be a united family again for a few hours. Rachel and Ethan top the list of things I’m most thankful for on this day of national thanksgiving. They represent my only real accomplishment of note, and I am exceedingly proud of them.

Like families across this country, we will try to avoid talking about politics today. But I strongly suspect we will fail because things are not normal in this country, and no amount of pretending they are will change that.

Luckily for us, there will be no serious arguments over turkey and cranberries. Marice and I have raised a couple of strong progressives, which is to say, liberals. Lest you think we politically indoctrinated our children, I assure you we did not. But when Marice and I talked about work and the world around us, they listened and drew their own conclusions.

Today, they are people of strong mind, stout heart and sturdy character who conduct themselves with honesty, integrity and compassion. If things ever get better in this country, it will be because of people like them.

So political discourse will have to wait. Today, we’ll concentrate on other things – Rachel’s impending move, Ethan’s new job, Marice’s latest home improvement project, my empty threats to strangle the Westie if she doesn’t stop barking. We will simply enjoy being a family again. The future, with all its problems, complications and disturbances, will come soon enough.

To all of you, family and friends, my wish is that you, too, will spend today enjoying the simple pleasures of being around the people you love. In the end, they are all we have.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bi-District win: Southlake Carroll 54, Coppell 10

Something to prove

Southlake Carroll running back T.J. McDaniel acknowledged he had something to prove Saturday when the Dragons faced their oldest rivals, the Coppell Cowboys, in the first round of the 2018 playoffs.

And prove it he did.

McDaniel, who transferred to Carroll from Coppell for his junior year, led the fire-breathing Dragon offense, both on the ground and – shockingly – in the air, to its 11^th-straight win this year.

The Dragons meet the DeSoto Eagles in the area round next Saturday at Vernon Newsom Stadium in Mansfield.

“I knew there was going to be quite a bit of physical play today,” McDaniel told Dragon Radio after the game. “And there was. I guess they felt they had something to prove to me. And I had something to prove to them, too.”

Head coach Riley Dodge, who now has enjoyed the most successful first season as any Carroll head coach in history, knew Coppell was likely to key on McDaniel, the mainstay of the Dragon offense all season.

In anticipation, he and his staff prepared an offensive scheme for the game with a few distinctive twists, such as using the SMU commit as a receiver in certain situations.

No answer

It worked exceedingly well. McDaniel ran for 313 yards on 29 carries and made four rushing touchdowns. And he caught two Will Bowers passes for 27 yards and another score. The overmatched Cowboys, forced to contend with an elusive, hard-running rusher and a slippery, sure-handed receiver, had no answer.

Dodge said he understood McDaniel’s determination to perform well against his former teammates.

“I think that definitely had something to do with the way he played today,” Dodge said in a post-game radio interview. “His family has roots in Coppell. He played with some of these guys. But I’m proud of the way he prepared. He went about his business and treated it as just another game.”

Meanwhile, the Dragon defense picked the Coppell game to turn in its best performance of the year, both in the eyes of its coach and in my less-experienced but no less enthusiastic opinion.

“They were relentless,” Dodge said simply.

Linebacker Colton Hunter said the key to the D’s success wasn’t mysterious at all.

“The coach emphasizes getting off the ball quickly,” Hunter said. “And we did.”

One statistic tells it all. Coppell’s total rushing yards yesterday? 30 on 31 carries. Carroll’s defensive front, playing without standout nose guard Quentin Bunton, who suffered a knee injury last week, neutralized Cowboy quarterback Drew Cerniglia and corralled running back Ryan Hirt.

Meager impact

Cerniglia fared better in the air, completing 12 of 17 for 160, but with meager impact.

The Dragons held the Cowboys scoreless until the last 2 minutes of the first half after coasting to a comfortable – and as it turned out, unassailable – 24-point lead.

Only then did Coppell finally put together an effective drive, powered by a pair of Cerniglia passes and a late-hit call against the Dragons. That brought Coppell inside the Dragon red zone, where the drive stalled after the Cowboy quarterback was sacked on a 3^th-and-16 at the 25. Coppell had to settle for a 42-yard field goal from its superb kicker, Caden Davis.

Coppell would not score again until late in the 4^th, long after the Dragon defense, with Carroll holding a 45-3 lead, began thinking about next week’s matchup with DeSoto.

The Cowboys, facing the fury of an inspired Dragon D-line, kept shooting itself in the foot. At least two drives were ruined by bad snaps that led to quarterback sacks.

The bad blood between these two programs, which goes back decades, finally surfaced late in the game after Carroll starters had departed. As McDaniel noted, it had been a hard-hitting game all afternoon, and Coppell’s frustration with the butt-kicking being administrated by the Dragons finally boiled over.

Fielding a Carroll punt at about the Coppell 30, the returner veered to the right sideline where he encountered a cluster of Dragon defenders at the 42. As he fought for more yardage, the Cowboy threw a punch at his tormentors, causing Carroll fans to gasp in shock.

He didn’t connect, but game officials took a dim view of the matter, penalizing Coppell back to its own 7. Another bad snap backed Coppell up another 5 yards. Two plays later, Taj Gregory, Cerniglia’s reliever, bobbled a snap and was pushed out of the back of the end zone for a safety, adding insult to the injury already felt by the suffering Cowboys, who finish the season 7-4.

His first at his last

For the Dragons, some good came from the Coppell fiasco. On the drive following the ensuing free kick, backup quarterback Blake Smith brought his team to the 3, where senior backup RB Matthew Broadway, playing in his last game in Dragon Stadium, made Carroll’s final score – and his first varsity touchdown.

But it was starting QB Will Bowers and McDaniel who powered the Dragons’ domineering performance. Bowers was 14 of 19 for 166 yards and 2 TDs. His leading receiver was the remarkable R.J. Mickens, 3-58, who played brilliantly in all three phases for Carroll. WR John Manero also stood out, snagging five Bowers throws for 45 yards and a touchdown.

And then there was McDaniel, who unleashed the Dragon scoring spree on the third play of the game with a heart-pounding 70-yard TD sprint down the left side. For McDaniel, it was nothing special. In the two previous games, he scored on the first play of the game.

His second TD came near the end of the 1^st quarter, when he sprinted 24 yards, hurtled a Cowboy tackler at the goal line and arrived in the end zone up right and sassy.

All in all, it was a perfect day. Just perfect. The weather was flawless, bright sunshine with a cool southwestern breeze. I actually got a bit of a sunburn. The week before Thanksgiving. That’s Texas for you.

Love the shellacking

As for the game itself, purists will tell you that blowouts don’t qualify as good games. I don’t disagree. But it’s good to see your team perform at a high level at the point in the season when it matters most. Beyond that, I loved the shellacking the Dragons gave the Cowboys. That program deserves it.

Coppell fans and players, by and large, are arrogant, rude and boorish. Not all, I’ll grant you. But many. I vividly remember one home game when Coppell students taunted the Carroll Marching Band and pelted it with soft drinks and other debris as the band kids waited to go on the field. We should have called the dogs on them.

And the thrown punch yesterday? I’ve seen such things at the end of a play, when youthful tempers flare. But to take a swing at an opponent to gain an advantage while the play is developing? That’s all kinds of wrong.

The irony is that the Dragon most responsible for the Coppell angst, the worthy McDaniel, has friends on the Cowboys, including his best friend, wide receiver/defensive back Jonathan McGill, another SMU commit.

“A lot of those guys are going to be my friends forever,” he told radio interviewer Chuck Kelly. “But today, they were my enemies.”

He said he and McGill probably will be roommates next year at SMU. They both knew that this game would end the season for one of them.

“I hate that he’s going home, but that’s the way it is,” McDaniel said. “I know that he’s going to be behind me for the rest of the season. I know that he’s going to be a Dragon fan from here on. I can’t love that guy enough.”

Hollywood moment

One of the topics for conversation between the roommates could be the play in which McDaniel uncharacteristically coughed up the ball inside the red zone as the Dragons were closing in for their fourth score. The Cowboy who recovered it? One Jonathan McGill. (The moment is captured in the photo below.) 

So DeSoto looms next. The Dragons will have their hands full with the 9-2 Eagles. Playoff games against the Eagles are always exciting, hard-fought affairs. Carroll ended DeSoto’s season last year with a 33-15 win.

The Eagles, who slipped past a good but not great Skyline 55-53 on Friday, are not the frightening juggernaut of previous years. But you can bet they’ll play tough and rough next week in Mansfield.  

Dodge says his team will be ready. And I believe him, based on the game story in today’s Dallas Morning News. In it, McDaniel, a senior, talked eloquently about the powerful emotional bond that girds the Carroll squad together and drives the Dragons to keep winning.

“After the season’s over, you don’t see them,” McDaniel told reporter Joe Hoyt, speaking of his teammates. “That’s why we talk about keeping the brotherhood alive because when football is over, these juniors, these sophomores, even the freshmen, they won’t see us anymore.”

Go Dragons!

Stan Lee, the man from Marvel

First Friday joy

When I was a kid, the first Friday of the month was a red-letter day.

That’s when new comic books arrived at the local 7-Eleven, a short bicycle ride down Birdwell Lane from my parent’s house in Big Spring.

And by comic books, I don’t been the anemic, boring and predictable DC staples like Superman or Batman, or the childish and ridiculous Archie.

I mean Marvel – Spider-Man, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four and all the rest of Stan Lee’s ground-breaking superheroes who redefined the comic-book industry.

Marvel heroes were multi-dimensional – full of ego, angst and self-doubt. They spoke in the vernacular of the early 1960s –  clever taunts, witty comebacks and lots of attitude. Unlike the steady, sturdy and dependable Superman or the dull-as-dishwater Batman and the insufferable Robin, Marvel characters were imperfect and rough around the edges. They kept you guessing – and reading.

And behind all of these wonderful characters stood the grinning face of Stan Lee, the man who along with artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko and a few others, transformed a moribund comic-book company into an industry giant that took on and eventually eclipsed market-leading DC Comics. Today, it seems like every fifth movie released from Hollywood is about one of the compelling characters who emerged from Lee’s fertile imagination.

Stan Lee died today at the age of 95, a great man who lived long enough to see and understand his impact on his industry and on the entertainment community.

I mourn his passing because with him a little more of my distant youth slip slides away. But I also celebrate the brilliant creativity – and quirky sense of humor – that helped transport a pimply face kid out of the dusty oblivion of West Texas into the wonder of a wider and more magical world.

On those first Fridays so long ago, my friends and I would wait impatiently for the trip to 7-Eleven to catch up on the adventures of our favorite Marvel characters. I was a Spider-Man devotee. Scott liked Iron Man, and Eugene favored the Fantastic Four (mostly the Human Torch).

We knew from experience that the newly arrived comics wouldn’t be displayed on the racks near the checkout counter until mid-afternoon. Our regular activities were put on hold. The anticipation made it too hard to concentrate on anything else.

We had saved our money for weeks in anticipation of this day. And we knew to the penny what our budgets could bear.

Comics sold for 12 cents a copy. Candy bars were a nickel and cokes (a generic term despite the efforts of Coca-Cola) were 15 cents a bottle. If we were lucky, and if we had managed our limited cash supplies well, we would be able to buy all our favorite comic books and still have enough for a Dr Pepper, a package of peanuts and several candy bars.

When the magic hour finally arrived, we’d leap on our bikes – mine was a stripped-down Hawthorne from Montgomery Wards – and race to the store.

Selection was quick and easy. We didn’t have to look at the covers to make our choices. We simply grabbed our favorites, hit the candy rack and pulled drinks out of the refrigerated case.

Three minutes later, we were back on the bikes and headed home.

Routine was rigid – and strictly followed. First, the peanuts went into the Dr Pepper, then the candy was unwrapped. Only then, refreshments at the ready, did we examine our treasures.

We carefully perused the covers. If Stan Lee was listed as a writer, our hearts leaped. Lee wrote the best stories, his plots were the most imaginative, his dialogue the most fun and idiosyncratic. Our appetites whetted, we carefully opened the magazines and submerged ourselves in the delightful Marvel universe.

Hours later, we would emerge, our souls replenished and our imaginations re-energized. It’s possible, of course, that our soaring spirits were simply sugar highs from the Dr Peppers and candy. Possible. But no. Mostly, it was Stan Lee and Marvel. Of that, I’m sure.

Once our reading marathon was over, I carefully would wrap my comics in cellophane and place them in a drawer in my room where I kept my growing collection.

By the time my comic-reading days were over, that meticulously preserved collection – which included dozens of early-edition Spider-Man books – numbered close to 200. I often wonder what it would be worth today.

I’ll never know. During one of my trips home from college, I discovered to my utter horror that my mother had tossed out the entire collection, convinced that I had put aside such childish things and moved on.

Even now, the memory brings a dull ache. My sweet mother, when she saw the anguished look on my face, was horrified in turn. I tried to reassure her, as best I could through the pain, that it was no big deal. I doubt she believed me.

Here’s the irony. My treasured Spider-Mans were dispatched to the garbage bin. But the Playboy magazines I had hidden for years in the back of my closet – which I’m sure my mother discovered during one of her cleaning binges – remained untouched. I’ve often wondered why, but I was always too embarrassed to ask.