Clinching the playoffs: Southlake Carroll 35, Keller Central 7

Running away with it

It wasn’t pretty. Soggy, rain-plagued football often isn’t. But in drowning the Keller Central Chargers last night, the Southlake Carroll Dragons proved two things:

No. 1, the Dragons, already the prohibitive favorites to repeat as District 5-6A champions, are going to the playoffs, clinching a spot thanks in part to Denton Guyer’s demolishment last night of Northwest Eaton.

No. 2, their freshman running back, who just celebrated his 15^th birthday, isn’t just good, he’s scary good. And if the gods are kind, he just might turn out to be the state’s best, once his voice changes. (T.J. who?)

 Faced with a slick field and a persistent mist that lasted until the final buzzer, the Dragons handed the game plan to young Owen Allen. And he ran away with it. Literally.

Four touchdowns

Allen rushed for four touchdowns, carrying 40 times for 213 yards. My primitive math skills, aided mightily by The Dallas Morning News, indicate that averages more than 5 yards a carry. And on a wet field to boot.

By the half, he had accounted for two scores and already shattered the 100-yard mark. His final pair of TDs came in the decisive 4^th quarter when Carroll shoved an error-plagued 3^rd period behind them and finally put the Chargers out of their misery.

The Dragons can thank their outstanding defense for not allowing things to get out of hand. Charger quarterback Gavyn White only managed to stage a single scoring drive all night. That came on Central’s first possession, which the Dragons generously aided with a short punt that set the Chargers up at the Dragon 49.

White efficiently marched the Chargers in 8 plays to the 1 before sending Central into the lead with a keeper through the middle.

After that, the Dragon D snuffed out the numerous opportunities its offense handed the Chargers. It almost appeared as if the Dragons were tired of runaway games against weaker foes and sought to keep things interesting.

Take it, please

And they did. Take the 3^rd quarter, for instance. Take it, please, and don’t ever let me see it again.

Leading 21-7 as the second half opened, the Dragons looked ready to blow the doors off and let the backups handle things. But that’s not what happened.

Their first possession, which started on the Central 48, was hampered by a fumbled snap at the 36. Allen managed to fall on it, but the drive stalled after two incomplete passes, and kicker Joe McFadden punted it away.

Their second possession started on the Charger 27, thanks to a partially blocked punt. Sophomore quarterback Quinn Ewers (14-20 for 194 yards, 1 TD) took the Dragons to the 14, then threw a pass to the end zone that was intercepted by Central defender Mitchell Dearing.

On their final drive of the 3^rd, the Dragons got the ball on the Charger 43 and marched all the way to the 2, where Allen choked up the ball.

Three for naught

Three consecutive drives that started in Central territory thus went for naught. Against a better team – and without a standout defensive effort – that could have proved disastrous.

Except it wasn’t. Carroll took over after its defense denied the Chargers a 4^th and 2 at the Dragon 29. Seven plays later, at the end of a drive powered by Ewers’ arm and Allen’s legs, the freshman sprinted 18 yards to send the Dragons to a 28-7 lead.

And on their next possession, Ewers led his team to the Charger 1 in 9 plays before handing the ball to Allen, who capped his stellar night with a 4^th score.

After the game, head coach Riley Dodge was philosophical. Rather than dwell on his squad’s mistakes – which included a slew of procedural calls, many on 1^st down – he noted the ultimate destination, not the rocky road it took to get there.

“I like the scoreboard: 35-7,” he told Dragon Radio immediately after the game. “And hopefully, we punched our ticket to the playoffs tonight.

“There were too many turnovers, too many pre-snap errors. We were starting out with too many 1^st and 15s. It was hard to get in rhythm. We have to get to work on that. But our defense played great. They only allowed one scoring drive, and we put them in a bad situation on that one.”

Weather dictates

He said the weather dictated the Dragon game plan, which has featured Ewers’ arm and his talented receiving corps to make yardage and score points.

“When the ball’s wet, you need to establish a ground game,” he said. “And tonight, we were able to do that.”

Indeed, they were, and the Dragon offensive line – which is the strongest and most talented in years – is a powerful reason for that.

Offensive lineman Addison Penn was asked after the game if he thought he and his teammates are the best 0-line in school history. He was quick to demur.

“We had a lot of operational problems today,” he said. “Too many pre-snap errors. There are things we’ve got to clean up. It’s not characteristic of the type of O-line that we are, and it’s not the type of performance you’d expect if we were the best 0-line in Dragon history.”

True enough. But it was good enough for four rushing touchdowns and for a fifth score through the air, a 15-yard TD reception by Blake Smith (5-62).

 Despite the fact that last night was the Homecoming game, the crowd at Dragon Stadium was the sparsest I can remember. When I arrived at about 6:15, the entire green-seat section of the stadium – reserved for season-ticket holders – was empty.

Endurance

And while the weather was unpleasant, I’ve endured worst. I seem to recall standing a few years ago in a driving downpour for the entire game during a playoff contest against Arlington Martin in SMU’s Ford Stadium. Come on, Dragon Nation, toughen up!

The 8-0 Dragons sit at No. 6 in Dave Campbell’s Texas Football rankings. I suspect they’ll remain there, despite the raggedness of last night’s victory.

Next Friday is Senior Night at Carroll. Every senior on and off the field will be recognized – football players, band members, Emerald Belles, Crew members, cheerleaders, as will their parents. Marice and I were a part of Senior Night for each of our kids -- Rachel in the band and Ethan in the Crew. I remember those nights with tender affection.

The 4-4 V.R. Eaton Eagles of Northwest ISD will be the Dragons’ next victim. They fell hard last night before Guyer in a 56-20 bloodbath and can expect no easier time against the Dragons. You can be assured that Dodge and his staff will work hard all week to dispel any hint of complacency from their high-flying (and fire-breathing) charges.

 Go Dragons!

Slicing through district: Southlake Carroll 62, Keller Fossil Ridge 7

Nightmare for the Panthers

KELLER – The Keller Fossil Ridge Panthers must have known they were in for a rough evening when the undefeated Southlake Carroll Dragons came to call.

But only in their worst nightmares could the 1-6 Panthers have imagined the brutal, soul-draining beat down they suffered last night at KISD Athletic Complex.

The Dragons, who led 34-0 at the end of the 1^st quarter, sped to their first touchdown 27 seconds into the game, went on to score on the next six consecutive drives and began substitutions 5 minutes before the half.

Sophomore quarterback Quinn Ewers was in top form, executing the Dragon game plan with calm efficiency and moving his team with ease both in the air and on the ground.

Ewers, who is drawing intense collegiate interest, scored the Dragons’ initial touchdown, shooting passes to Wills Meyer (3-65, 1 TD) and Brady Boyd (3-51) before sprinting the last 25 yards to the end zone on the third play of the game.

Gaining in confidence

He seems to gain in confidence game by game. Last night, his powers were on full display. He played only half of the game, yet completed 14 of 18 passes for 205 yards, a success rate of 73 percent. They included TD throws of 5 and 21 yards to Blake Smith (3-57) and 20 yards to Wills Meyer (3-65).  

In yet another remarkable performance, freshman running back Owen Allen, who is only 14 years old, for chrissakes, ran for 3 touchdowns, carrying 13 times for 98 yards. I’ll do the math for you: That’s a 7.5-yard average per carry.

But he wasn’t the Dragons’ leading rusher. That honor went to Cade Wood, who carried 17 times for 103 yards and a touchdown in the 4^th quarter that came long after the starters had departed.

The Carroll defense, meanwhile, strangled the Ridge offense, limiting it to only two first downs in the first half and holding it to a single lonely score 3 minutes before the half when Panther quarterback Austin Stohlman (8- 25, 135) completed six straight passes to carry his team 77 yards to paydirt.

That brief flurry amounted to little more than a straw in a hurricane, however. On the following drive, when Ridge seemed poised to take advantage of a Carroll fumble to score again, Dragon defensive back Jonah Doddridge snagged a Stohlman pass in the end zone to snuff out the threat.

In the limelight

The Panthers would not score again despite wholesale substitutions by the Dragons on their defensive front line. The subs took advantage of their time in the limelight, ending the first three Panther drives of the 2^nd half with 4^th-down stands, one at the Carroll 16.

On the other side of the ball, senior back-up quarterback Davis Clapp played the entire second half and scored the final Carroll touchdown with a 4-yard TD plunge.

Before last night’s game, the Dragons were ranked No. 6 in the state by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football and No. 5 by MaxPreps.

Dodge, whose teams have never lost a regular-season game since he became head coach last year, noted with satisfaction that Carroll’s domination last night allowed him to clear the benches in the second half to give members of the attack squad, who help prepare the starting lineup each week, a rare chance to play for real.

“I loved the play of the attack players,” he said in a post-game radio interview. “They did great, and I’m proud of them. I knew we couldn’t let up on the intensity in the second half, and we didn’t.”

Wood, who compiled most of his yards in the second half, praised his front line.

“It’s great playing behind these guys,” he told Dragon Radio. “They make it easy. They almost make it too easy.”

Nothing earned yet

Doddridge, responsible for one of two Dragon interceptions of Stohlman passes (James Miscoll grabbed the other), said Dodge and the coaching staff have drilled into Carroll players that they must maintain focus even when playing lackluster opponents like the Panthers.

“Coach Dodge has told us that we haven’t earned anything yet,” he said. “We have to come out and do our jobs. It’s as simple as that.”

Meanwhile, Doddridge said, the Dragons are having a good time.

“It’s fun to play with these guys,” he said of his teammates. “We’re just flying around and making plays.”

 Next up for the Dragons are the Keller Central Chargers, who travel to a Dragon Stadium awash in mums for Carroll homecoming on Oct. 25. They could prove to be a sturdier opponent than the uphappy Ridge, which likely will miss the playoffs this year for the first time in more than a half-dozen years.

How will they fare?

The Chargers (5-1, 2-1 in District 5-6A) have only lost to Denton Guyer.  But in a district as weak as 5-6A, that doesn’t reveal much. It’ll be interesting to see how they fare against Carroll’s ferocious offense and stubborn defense in front of a Dragon crowd swelled with alumni.

While I don’t predict a bloodbath like last night, I doubt the Chargers can stand up to the combined power of Dragon home-field advantage, Mum Magic and the disciplined menace of Dodgeball 2.0.

A chill is in the evening air, and my green seat awaits. And do you hear it? It’s the faint syncopated whisper of the Dragon Marching Band’s traditional playoff halftime show “Lids.” All aboard the Carroll express as it roars toward the post-season.

Go Dragons!

The origins of Halloween

Embrace the season

Halloween approaches – even though our brutal Texas summer has shrugged aside the arrival of fall like a schoolyard bully dismisses the pleas of his bespectacled, knock-kneed victims.

Despite the weather, the wife and I have embraced the season, bedecking Gunnels Manse with all manner of spooky, macabre and spine-chilling accoutrements of horror.

A skeleton has made himself comfortable in our front parlor. An ominous raven perches menacingly on our fireplace mantle, and a gigantic pumpkin chimera filled with orange lights dominates our front lawn.

We have extra incentive this year to lay on the ghost-and-goblin décor. Marice came up with the brilliant idea of combining a Halloween shindig with the celebration of our daughter Rachel’s wedding engagement.

I was immediately skeptical, which affected my wife’s party planning not one iota. I still wonder how such disparate events will meld together, but I suppose anything is possible if you have enough booze to oil the squeaky spots.

Whither, Halloween

All of which got me thinking about the origins of Halloween.

I was delighted to discover, after a bit of Internet research, that Halloween and many of its traditions started as the pagan festival of Samhain, by which the Celts marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter.

While some of our most cherished Christmas traditions come from the dark forests of Germany – the Christmas tree, the yule log – Halloween is Celtic heart and soul. As a wanna-be Scot, and with a given name like Kerry, that makes me happy.

Samhaim (pronounced sow-win), observed from the sunset of Oct. 31 to the sunset of Nov. 1, was one of two major Celtic religious celebrations. The other was Bealtaine, which occurred around May 1 about midway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice.

According to Irish mythology, Bealtaine represented a summer festival for the living while Samhain was viewed essentially as a festival of the dead.

The dates for Bealtaine and Samhain were significant for the pastoral Celts of what is now Ireland and Scotland. In early summer, they drove their cattle to upland pastures, bringing them down again at the beginning of winter.

Thus, Samhaim celebrated the return of the cattle and the slaughter of livestock for the winter. Like Bealtaine, it was considered a time when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld could be crossed more easily.

Souls of the dead took advantage of this “open border” to seek hospitality in their old homes and in the community. To appease them and to seek the blessings of the Aos Si – spirits from the Otherworld – people set out offerings of food and wine.

As part of the festival, people dressed in costumes or in disguise, hiding their identity from the visiting Aos Si or perhaps imitating them, to go house-to-house reciting poetry or performing short plays in exchange for refreshments.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see how these ancient rituals eventually morphed into our modern customs of children in costumes ringing the doorbell and demanding “trick or treats.”

Fun fact, Jack

Jack-o’-lanterns, a Halloween staple if ever there was one, were brought to America by Irish immigrants. And they originally were made with … turnips!

As the legend goes, a ne’er-do-well named Stingy Jack, banned from heaven and hell for his shenanigans, is doomed to walk the earth with only a burning coal in a hollowed-out turnip to light his way.

In Ireland and Scotland, folks began making their own versions of Jack’s lantern by cutting scary faces into carved-out turnips, lighting them with a candle stub to ward off evil spirits.

 Newly arrived immigrants soon discovered the native American pumpkin made much better jack-o’-lanterns, and so a tradition was born.

 Somber history

Another staple of Halloween – witches on brooms zooming across the night sky – has a more sobering history.

Its origins lie in European folklore surrounding the concept of “the hag” – a wizened old woman with magical powers and capable both of benevolence or malevolence. That myth fueled the persecution – orchestrated and encouraged by the early church – of women healers wise in the ways of herbal medicine and natural remedies, who often served as midwives in an age when knowledge of and availability to medical treatment were nonexistent.

These vulnerable women, without a tangible support network, became easy scapegoats when things went wrong in a primitive age of ignorance and brutality. A mysterious death, a miscarriage, a stillborn – all could be easily blamed on the female midwife or herbal healer. Accused of being in league with the devil, they were tortured, hanged and burned.

Over the decades, this horrific history has been sanitized, minimalized and trivialized. Through folktale and modern storytelling, it has been transformed into the innocent and only vaguely threatening image of the Halloween witch – hooked nose, wart on cheek, peaked hat and, of course, wooden broom.

Undaunted by that dismal knowledge, I still set out several witches each year for Halloween. One is more than 20 years old. Occasionally, I’ll stop and gaze at them, pondering the sad lessons of history and feeling once again a small twinge of guilt.

Happy Halloween everyone and stay safe!

District mismatch: Southlake Carroll 49, Byron Nelson 0

Seizing control

The Byron Nelson Bobcats may have hoped they could slip into Dragon Stadium last night and catch the Southlake Carroll Dragons still groggy from the emotional high of their impressive win over Denton Guyer last week.

No chance. Instead, the Bobcats, winless in District 5-6A and 0-6 for the season, ran into a buzzsaw. The Dragons seized control of the game on their first drive, scored at will and never allowed Byron Nelson within 30 yards of the goal line – save for a drive that ended at the Dragon 15 to close the half.

It was the Dragons’ first shutout of the season, and head coach Riley Dodge contemplated the result after the game and declared himself satisfied.

“It nice to see a goose-egg on the scoreboard,” said Dodge, who turns an ancient 31 today. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen that.”

Mickens is back

Carroll’s defense saw the return to action of R.J. Mickens, who has been sidelined since the first of the season with a foot injury. Clemson commit Mickens, a double-threat at safety and receiver, also returned kickoffs last night.

And while he didn’t demonstrate the explosiveness of which he’s capable with the ball in hands, his presence had a definitive impact on his defensive teammates.

“It was great to have him back,” said cornerback Dylan Thomas, who had a great night. “He’s a ball hawk, and when he’s around, we’ll all better.”

The Dragons confronted the hapless Bobcats with a balanced offensive attack. They accounted for 537 total yards, roughly double the total for Byron Nelson.

Sophomore quarterback Quinn Ewers continues to excel. He completed 82 percent of his passes (23 of 28), racking up 289 yards in the air and making three TD throws, all to senior Wills Meyer (10 for 197 yards).

Ewers played almost the entire game, despite the lopsided scored, apparently to give him all the experience he can get as the Dragons march inevitably toward the playoffs. (They already have all but guaranteed themselves a consecutive District 5-6A title.) Last night was only Ewers’ sixth varsity game.

Cementing into No. 1

Freshman phenom Owen Allen, another member of the Dragon youth movement, shined bright last night as he continues to cement himself into the role of No. 1 rusher for Carroll. He scored three times, carrying 13 times for 113 yards.

Allen, elevated from the freshman squad when injuries felled RBs Kannon Kadi and Cade Wood, made the most of the opportunity and has impressed his coaches – and Dragon fans – with his hard-running style and effectiveness up the middle.

Wood has returned but now plays a supporting role at rusher. Also giving the hard-working Allen some rest last night were several Dragon receivers, who used their speed to whip around the edges on several plays.

A key to the dynamic success of the Carroll offense is its powerful, hard-charging front line. The O-line Big Guys kept Bobcat defenders reeling backward all night long, opening lanes for Allen and giving Ewers plenty of time to find his receivers.

 His favorite target was Meyer, but four other receivers caught in double digits: John Manero (5-32), Kasen Loveless (2-20); Brady Boyd (2-16) and Jake Baldwin (2-12).

It will be a short week for the Dragons. They travel to Keller on Thursday to meet Keller Fossil Ridge in ramshackle Keller ISD Athletic Complex.

Dismal and dark

That stadium, a dimly lit embarrassment that four Keller teams must share, is my least favorite place to watch a game in the Metroplex. Its visitors’ side is disgraceful, with seats located too far from the field to get a decent view of anything.

And playing on Thursday nights – necessitated by Keller ISD voters’ refusal to greenlight another stadium for their multiplying high schools – well, that just ain’t natural.

The Panthers are 1-5 for the season, falling to Keller Central last night 13-10. Their only win so far has been against hopeless Byron Nelson, so it could be another slaughter of the innocents when the fired-up Dragons show up. Let’s hope so.

Go Dragons!

A defining moment: Southlake Carroll 46, Denton Guyer 34

Looks can be deceiving

DENTON – When the Denton Guyer Wildcats took the field last night for pregame warmups, they looked like a menacing horde hungry for destruction and domination.

Clad in black jerseys, dark gray pants and gleaming silver helmets, the Wildcats strode into the C.H. Collins Athletic Complex like they owned the place. And I guess in a sense, they did.

After all, Collins is their house, and it’s an impressive facility that befits Guyer’s reputation for football excellence and, yes, arrogance.

By contrast, the Southlake Carroll Dragons – attired in what the radio guys insist on describing as their “Star Wars Stormtrooper” traveling whites – looked relatively meek and unimposing.

It was, all in all, bad optics for Dragon fans, and I fought down the wave of foreboding that swept over me as I sat sweltering with the setting sun blasting me in the face.

As often happens, of course, looks can be deceiving. The seemingly meek can inherit the earth – or at least in this case, embark on a clear path to another District 5-6A championship.

As the featured game of the week in Texas high school football, the Guyer-Carroll showdown didn’t disappoint. It was a hard-hitting, high-scoring, back-and-forth affair that had both fan bases gasping and limp with emotional release when it ended.

For Carroll fans, the performance of their Dragons – behind the inspired field leadership of sophomore Quinn Ewers, was glorious to behold. Simply glorious.

Ewers was, well, magnificent. The youngster, playing in only his fifth varsity game, accounted for six touchdowns, four in the air and two on the ground. His wild 70-yard romp down the left sideline with about 2 minutes remaining stunned the surging Wildcats and slammed the door on their hopes for a last-minute miracle.

Rushing leader

Ewers completed 21 of 34 passes (62 percent) for 331 yards. He also was the Dragons’ rushing leader, running 9 times for 119 yards.

The Dragon defense, meanwhile, couldn’t completely nullify the powerful Wildcat offense, but it made the stops it had to, forcing four turnovers and a couple of key 4^th-down stops that stymied Guyer drives.

After the Wildcats surged to a 14-0 lead in the opening period, the Dragon D kept Guyer’s heralded double-threat quarterback, Eli Stowers, in check during the decisive 2^nd and 3^rd periods. That allowed its offensive brethren, after shaking off a rocky start, to outscore the Wildcats 46-20 for the rest of the game.

Thirteen of those Guyer points came in a wild scoring spree late in the 4^th after Carroll had lengthened its lead to 39-21 and most of us had settled back in our seats to savor a hard-fought victory almost none of us dared predict.

 But the Wildcats enjoy the reputation of being a quick-scoring offense for a reason. In only 2 plays, Stowers marched his team into Dragon territory and tossed a 36-yard TD strike to Deuce Harman.

The following Dragon drive ended in an Ewers fumble – his third of the night. (Keep in mind, he's a soph. Besides, he fell on one). Two plays later, Stowers (19-28, 274 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT) scampered 41 yards to the end zone. His attempt to make a 2-point conversion failed, but in less than 2 minutes, he had reduced the Carroll lead to an uncomfortable 39-34 with 3:11 remaining.

That set up Ewers’ last heroics of the night. On the second play after kickoff, he whipped around the left end and outran Guyer defenders 70 yards for the game’s final score.

Prognosticators had predicted the Dragon-Wildcat clash would be a dogfight. Both teams expected it to be. Two undefeated district rivals, both ranked in MaxPreps’s Texas Top 10, playing for the de facto district title -- it had all the making of a classic.

Guyer, on the strength of Stowers and its stellar running back, Kaedric Cobb, was widely favored. The Wildcats, on consecutive weeks, had bested 5A state champion Aledo in a wild shootout and whipped always tough Cedar Hill. The Dragons, meanwhile, had faced a relatively unimpressive pre-district schedule.

Battle tested?

It was, so the story line went, the battle tested against the untested. So much for story lines.

While Ewers was dazzling, his spectacular receiving corps deserves much of the credit. Two of them scored multiple TDs last night.

John Manero led in receiving yardage, 5 catches for 104 yards. Wills Meyer followed, with 5 for 78, including scoring strikes of 15 yards (the Dragons’ first score) and 31 yards. Blake Smith (4-49) also scored twice, and Brady Boyd was a key target, nabbing 6 passes for 77 yards.

The combined play of Manero and Smith last night must be particularly galling for Guyer. Those two were the key elements in the trick double-pass play that sealed Carroll’s last-gasp 33-29 victory against the Wildcats last year.  With 6 ticks left on the clock and the score tied at 27-27, then quarterback Will Bowers pitched the ball to Manero, who then lofted it 23 yards to Smith in the end zone. Carroll bungled the 2-point PAT, and Guyer ran it back for an exciting but meaningless 2 more points. 

This year, Smith's first TD catch, a 9-yard toss with – get this – 6 seconds left in the half, sent the Dragons into the lead for the first time. They would never trail again. The A&M commit also made the first Carroll score of the 2nd half, an 18-yard TD catch set up by a successful 4^th-down stand by the Dragon D.

Worth mentioning, while credit is being doled out, is the play of freshman running back Owen Allen, who carried 15 times for 44 yards. Allen handled the rushing load for the Dragons with Kannon Kadi out for the year and Cade Wood still tender. Wood played a few downs last night, but still doesn’t appear to be back at full strength.

He’s a baller

Allen, however, is a baller, and it’s worth noting with delicious anticipation the Dragons’ baby-faced backfield with a sophomore under center and a freshman at running back.

A final word about the defense. It’s chockful of seniors and has been playing lights out all season. But last night was its moment of truth, and it passed the test.

It may seem strange to heap extravagant praise on a squad that allowed 34 points, but as noted before, Dragon defenders made key stops against Guyer's rampaging offense that gave their reeling offense time to regain its equilibrium.

Consider Cobb’s numbers, for instance. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, he was limited to 84 yards on 21 rushes, mostly in the first half. He did score once in the second, but he wasn’t a factor in the Wildcats’ desperate closing flourishes.

Dragon linebacker Preston Forney, who made it into the Wildcat backfield so quickly on one play that he intercepted a ball Stowers was trying to pitch to his running back, said Carroll defenders worked hard to get ready for Guyer.

“It all comes down to tons of preparation,” he told Dragon Radio after the game. “Tons of preparation and tons of film work. We were going into the film room four or five times a day. It paid off.”

Head coach Riley Dodge, now in his second year as a head coach, told Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News that he recognized the importance of the win.

“We’ve got a long journey, but this was a huge step,” said Dodge, whose team has yet to lose a regular season game under his leadership. “We’re going to be everybody’s best shot each week, and we love that. We love being the target.”

The Carroll victory is particularly satisfying to Dragon Nation because it occurred in the glare of the national spotlight.

What it means

USA Today sportswriter Cam Smith said the game revealed three things:

n  Ewers’ stellar performance is going to attract a lot more attention to the youth, who already has fielded offers from 10 colleges.

“Ewers was too tough for a talented Guyer defense all night,” Smith wrote, “which underscores how bright his future may be, both at Carroll and eventually at the next level.”

n  Guyer accomplished its stated goal before the game – to get off to a quick start against the Dragons. But ultimately, the Carroll defense ruled.

n  Riley Dodge must be viewed in a different light after the victory over Guyer.

“It was the kind of win upon which legacies are sometimes made, or in Dodge’s case, remade,” Smith said.

Next up is winless Byron Nelson, which travels to Dragon Stadium next Friday. Despite their dismal record, the Bobcats have played some very close games this year so the Dragons would be well advised to keep on their toes. This could be a classic trap game.

But for today at least, they deserve to relish their achievement.

“I’m going to remember tonight and what we did here for the rest of my life,” Forney told a radio interviewer. “I’ll remember it until I’m 40, 50, 60 years old.”

Go Dragons!

District opener: Southlake Carroll 56, Keller 14

We need not have worried

At first, I thought the heartburn I felt during the early going of last night’s matchup between the Southlake Carroll Dragons and the Keller Indians might be caused by the Feedstore barbecue sandwich I wolfed down prior to kickoff.

A silly thought since Feedstore fare has never prompted anything more from me than a contented burp. So that must mean the burning sensation in my chest was caused by the stumble-bum performance the Dragons displayed during most of the first half of their district opener against Keller.

No one expected the Indians to give the high-flying Dragons much trouble. But Keller, which hasn’t beaten Southlake in two decades, proved surprisingly stubborn. And when it tied the game 14-14 with less than 5 minutes to play in the first half, an uneasy quiet had settled over the green seats in Dragon Stadium.

Never looked back

We need not have worried, however. The Indians’ second touchdown, a 7-yard dash by Keller quarterback Hayden Anderson, shocked the Dragons from their lethargy, and they quickly scored twice – a 40-yard Quinn Ewers pass to Wills Meyer and a 11-yard toss to John Manero, his second of the night.

Carrying a 28-14 lead into halftime, the Dragons never looked back, crushing the overwhelmed Indians with a dazzling ground and passing game and a smothering defense that kept standout Keller runner Enoch Ntchobo in check.

The first play of the second half set the tone for the rest of the contest. Carroll defender Dylan Thomas intercepted an Anderson pass, setting the Dragons up at the Keller 12.

Three plays later, running back Cade Wood crashed into the end zone from the 2. At that point, the Dragons had scored 3 TDs in less than 4 minutes of game time. By the end, they would score 42 unanswered points against the reeling Indians.

The worthy Wood, stepping in for the injured Kannon Kadi and Jack Abram, played well, rushing for 62 yards on 14 plays and 2 touchdowns.

But he wasn’t the Dragons’ scoring leader. That honor goes to freshman running back Owen Allen, who ran for 90 yards on 14 carries and 1 TD.

That’s right, Allen is a freshman, undoubtedly called up from the freshman squad because of the rash of injuries at RB. What’s this kid gonna be like when he grows up?

Hard charging

Despite his youth, he’s a fearless, hard-charging beast. His 40-yard TD sprint in the 4^th period closed out Dragon scoring for the night and was a delightful reward for those of us who stuck around for an otherwise desultory 4^th quarter.

Carroll missteps contributed significantly to the early Keller success. The sophomore Ewers fumbled on Southlake’s first two possessions, the last of which led to Keller’s first touchdown. That gave the Indians the lead and represented the first time this season that the Dragons have trailed an opponent.

But Ewers shook off the mistakes and eventually redeemed himself – and more. He completed 25 of 39 passes, a 64 percent completion rate, for 251 yards and 5 – count ’em, 5 – TDs. At one point, he completed 15 straight passes.

Carroll’s talented receiving corps controlled the field. Manero, a senior who is considered the leader of Carroll’s receivers, made 8 catches for 71 yards and 3 TDs, his best outing ever. Wills Meyer (5-88) also scored, as did Blake Smith (2-19). Brady Boyd (4-35) and Casey Loveless (3-21) registered in double digits, too.

Ntchobo, a leading rusher in District 5-6A, was supposed to be the biggest worry for the Dragons. But the Carroll defense shut him down all night, limiting him to only 22 yards on 12 carries.

The bigger problem

As it turns out, Anderson was the bigger problem. A big and bruising runner, he’s hard to bring down and rushed for 70 yards on 11 carries. He accounted for both Keller scores, on the ground and in the air.

When Ewers coughed up the ball for the second time after being blindsided as he looked for a receiver, the Indians set up shop at the Dragon 5. Facing 4^th down at the 1, Anderson zipped a pass to receiver Nick Rocha in the end zone.

Keller’s second and final score came in the second after Carroll had regained the lead 14-7. Anderson and the Indians, hampered by penalties, struggled into the Dragon red zone. At one point, a thrilling 64-yard Anderson TD pass was called back because of an illegal receiver downfield. Eventually, Anderson pushed into the end zone from the 7, sparking a roar of approval from the Keller side of Dragon Stadium.

It would be the last thing Indian fans had to cheer about as Ewers and company took control and engineered the most impressive offensive demonstration of the season.

Dragon head coach Riley Dodge acknowledged after the game that it had been an unusual night for Carroll.

“It was a weird game,” he told Dragon Radio. “We were out of rhythm. There were a lot of penalties. A strange night. But I’m proud of the way we came out of halftime.”

‘A good night’

He praised the work of his stand-in running backs, Wood and Allen.

“Both our young guys had a good night,” he said. “We’ll look at film and see if it was what it looked like.”

The biggest test of the season comes next week in Denton when the Dragons face the Guyer Wildcats on their home field at C.H. Collins Athletic Complex.

Carroll narrowly defeated Guyer last year in a game that relied on some last-second heroics to prevent the Wildcats from becoming the first team to defeat the Dragons at home twice.

If anything, Guyer is stronger this year than last. MaxPreps rates Guyer No. 7 and Southlake No. 8 in the state. Everyone expects next week’s game to decide who will be the eventual District 5-6A champion.

Manero told Dragon Radio that the Dragons know they face a dog fight against the Wildcats.

“This week will be one of the highest preparation weeks that we’ve had,” he said. “But if we go and do our job, the outcome will be what we want it to be.”

Dodge said the Dragons know the stakes involved and the challenge represented by Guyer, singling out the Wildcat offense led by quarterback Eli Stowers, a Texas A&M commit who’s thrown for 942 yards this season and 11 TDs, and running back Kaedric Cobbs, 698 yards and 10 TDs.

“They’re the real deal,” he said.

Final note

A final note about last night that demonstrates once more why I love high school football.

As the lackluster 4^th quarter meandered to an end, a touching moment occurred that probably went unnoticed by most of the scattered Southlake crowd that still lingered in Dragon Stadium.

On one of the last plays of the game, a senior Dragon player was given a brief moment under Friday Night Lights.

Senior wide receiver Jack Crafton has Down syndrome and was sent in for a single play.

When asked about it, Dodge spoke emotionally about his player.

“We all love Jack,” he said. “He comes in every day and gives me a hug. He works hard. He’s here every day. He’s here every game. He’s a member of the team. It’s as simple as that. I’m so excited that he could be on the field tonight.”

No mo’ Mojo: Southlake Carroll 48, Odessa Permian 7

It could have been worse

If the Southlake Carroll Dragons were awed at the prospects of facing the once Mighty Mojo under the original Friday Night Lights of Odessa’s famed Ratliff Stadium, they hid it pretty damned well yesterday.

After enduring a six-hour trek across the barren, arid wastelands of West Texas and then, irony of ironies, sitting through an hour-long lightning delay – all on Friday the 13^th, mind you – the Dragons humbled the now 0-3 Panthers, totally, efficiently, but not without mercy.

Because the thing is, it could have been worse. Without some liberal substitutions beginning in the middle of the 3^rd quarter, the Panthers likely would have been held scoreless – and Lord knows when the last time THAT happened at venerable Ratliff – and the Dragons might have hung 70 or more on the hapless West Texans.

Total domination

As it was, Carroll created considerable havoc before easing its foot off Permian’s neck. As most predicted, the Dragons demonstrated total domination on both sides of the ball. They denied Permian any first downs in the first half, crushing the Panthers’ once tried-and-true power-run offense and unleashing the Dragons’ rapidly developing sophomore quarterback to lay ruin to Permian’s proud football legacy, perhaps forever.

Head Coach Riley Dodge, the 30-year-old wunderkind who has rejuvenated the Carroll program and reintroduced swagger to the Dragon stride, pronounced himself pleased with last night’s outcome.

“I thought we played a four-quarter game,” he told the Odessa American. “We traveled well, and I thought our guys treated it like it was a business trip. They were pretty mature about it. We loved the energy, and we did a good job.”

Speaking of good jobs, Quinn Ewers was superb. And I don’t use that word lightly. But how else do you describe a performance in which the young quarterback completed 30 of 34 passes for 390 yards and four touchdowns? And if that weren’t impressive enough, he rushed 6 times for another 51 yards and two more scores.

I may have to ration the adjectives I use to describe this lad, lest I run out of them before his career at Carroll is over. Did I mention that he’s a sophomore?

Another delay

In the beginning, it looked like last night was going to be a repeat of last year’s matchup, which Carroll won 24-20, in more ways than one. Just like last year, last night’s contest was delayed by nearby lightning strikes. And after the hour-long delay, neither team demonstrated much firepower in the first period. Only kicker Joe McFadden managed to get on the scoreboard, booting a 32-yard field goal after a Dragon drive stalled deep in Panther territory.

But the Dragons came alive in the 2^nd quarter, smothering any attempt Permian quarterback Harper Terry made to get Mojo moving while gliding easily up and down the field on a 28-point scoring spree.

That offensive onslaught included a 23-yard TD run by Ewers, a 45-yard TD catch by sophomore Landon Samson (the first of his varsity career), an electrifying 56-yard TD catch-and-run by speedster Brady Boyd and an 18-yard TD catch by Wills Meyer.

With a 31-0 lead at the bell, Carroll spent most of the 2^nd half clearing its benches.

 For much of the game, Ewers operated out of an empty backfield as Southlake sent five receivers to the line. The befuddled Panthers had no answer to the Dragons’ offensive scheme, and Ewers peppered passes to a total of seven separate receivers.

After the game, Ewers told Dragon Radio that he prepared for the Mojo match up by watching a lot of game film.

“You know, being the film room with Coach Dodge and all the guys, it just makes you feel better,” he said, heaping praise on his talented receiving corps and marveling at their commitment to getting better each week.

Feeling better

As for himself, he said he was settling in just fine as the Dragon signal caller.

“It’s feeling better every day,” he said.

Oh, brother, and it’s looking better every day, too. With this kind of trajectory, the sky’s the limit for young Ewers.

For the sturdy Carroll fans who traveled west with the team – full disclosure, I wasn’t among them – the young Ewers strived to make the trip worth it, showering his cadre of experienced receivers with well-timed, well-thrown passes.

John Manero was the leading receiver, with 9 catches for 133 yards and 1 TD. He was followed by Meyer (9-71, 1 TD), Boyd (3-75, 1 TD) and Blake Smith (3-25).

Samson’s TD catch in the second quarter ended a 5-play, 93-yard drive that included a 29-yard run by Jack Abram, who took over rushing duties from the injured Kannon Kadi. Abram, too, was sidelined in the 2^nd half with a shoulder injury, but not before he had rushed 13 times for 110 yards.

Luckily, the Dragons have a bye this week so they’ll have some time to heal before they begin District 5-6A play against the Keller Indians on Sept. 27.

Whatever it takes

Carroll’s beefy offensive line bullied Panther defenders in the trenches, giving Ewers plenty of time to operate. He heaped praise on the Big Guys in a post-game interview.

 “I love these guys,” he told a radio interviewer. “I know they’re going to do whatever it takes to protect me.”

On the other side of the ball, the Dragon defense swatted down the overmatched Panthers, whose first five offensive drives ended in punts. Odessa could manage only 31 yards of total offense in the first half, and only 149 for the entire game, despite playing against substitutes for much of the 2^nd half.

There was a lot of silly hype before the game about the matchup of two of the state’s legendary programs, which together have won14 state championships. But Permian’s best days are a distant memory to the kids who clashed in Ratliff Stadium last night.

Asked before the game whether they were intimidated by the thought of playing the Mojo in Ratliff, made famous by Buzz Bissinger’s best-selling book, Friday Night Lights, the Dragon players dutifully talked about how awesome it all was. But clearly, they had only a faint glimmer about why they should be so impressed with the place.

Still, last night’s contest was not just any other game. It came only two weeks after a gunman killed seven people and injured at least 19 in and around Odessa, shocking that gritty, hardworking oilfield town to its core.

In recognition of the tragedy, Carroll defied Dragon tradition and suited its players in black pants to show solidarity with the Panthers and their city. Black pants are reserved for playoff games only, a rigid dictum that only rarely has never been broken.

Tangible support

Southlake offered even more tangible support at halftime when the Dragon cheerleading squad, which on its own initiative launched a fundraising effort for the families touched by the mass shooting on Aug. 31, presented a check for $21,000 to the Odessa Community Foundation.

The money, which was raised by the sale of “We Are One with Odessa” T-shirts, will help victims’ families pay for funeral and medical expenses.

The Dragons were dealing with a tragedy of their own, deeply personal and close to home. The mother of Dragon backup receiver Gresham Rodie died yesterday, and the entire team was in mourning with their teammate.

Dodge spoke openly to Dragon Radio about the Rodie family’s loss, and the impact on his squad.

“It’s been a rough day,” he admitted. “We’re a family. The guys really love Gresham. He’s an amazing kid. He comes in every day and works hard. He does everything he can to help us get ready.

“When we get home, we’re going to be there for that family.”

Sincere condolences to the Rodie family. May the memories of your loved one give you solace.

Go Dragons!