Dragons have best game of season

Life on the road is becoming a way of life for the Carroll Dragons. But this past Friday in Abilene produced arguably the team’s best performance of the season.

The Dragons (3-1) collected 500 total yards. But it was the way they collected them that had head coach Hal Wasson encouraged. Carroll threw for 296 yards and rushed for 204.

Carroll has long known that the season was going to start with four of the first five games away from Southlake. It’s played in several difficult environments in Tulsa, Austin Westlake and now Abilene.

“We’ve definitely logged our miles,” Wasson said. “It was a great venue to play in. We faced a 4-0 team. They were feeling good. The key thing was that we seized momentum. When a good team like Abilene has their moments, we were able to get ours.”

Senior Lil’Jordan Humphrey accounted for 279 total yards, with 113 rushing and 166 receiving. He also had a receiving and rushing touchdown.

Wasson said the staff was going to split Humphrey out at wide receiver in some situations. That’s what happened. In terms of reception distribution, Humphrey collected four out of the backfield, three slotted out and another three from the inside. Versatility has its privileges.

“It puts stress on a defense because it has to know where he is,” Wasson said. “Our offensive coaches [including offensive coordinator Clayton George] do a great job of getting our playmakers some touches.

With Humphrey, he set the school single-season rushing yardage mark in 2014 with 1,817 yards. He also toted it 289 times, twice the number of carries as the next runner. But given how his versatility has emerged more this year, it could be a case where Carroll will want to keep putting him in different positions.

So far, Humphrey has rushed for 425 yards and caught passes for another 486 yards (911 total) along with nine touchdowns.

“It’s week to week with what we want to do with him and what we’re facing,” Wasson said. “He’s got three spots we can put him in. If you concentrate on him, we feel like another guy like [Zach] Farrar will give us production. And Zach has been playing very well.

For Farrar, he’s at 289 receiving yards and six touchdowns. He still leads all Carroll receivers with 18.9 yards per catch (15 receptions).

Facing the rush

Abilene presented a punishing rushing attack between Immanuel Brown and Abram Smith. The duo combined for 181 yards. But just seeing that style should help the Dragons face big teams like Euless Trinity and Coppell, who really like to run the ball. Joe Fex is pushing 500 yards for the Cowboys this year.

“[Facing the run] exposes things that we’re doing good and not doing good,” Wasson said. “It’s been fun watching this group grow.”

Notable

The Montana Murphy experiment at linebacker is over. Wasson said the staff does not want to risk injury to the senior by playing him at that position. He will only serve as the backup quarterback … offensive lineman Henry Klinge saw his first varsity action of the year against Abilene by seeing a few snaps.

About Coppell

Arguably Carroll’s most bitter rival, the Dragons meet Coppell (3-2, 1-0) in the latest renewal at 7:30 pm Friday at Buddy Echols Field. This is the 47th meeting between the two schools in a series that dates back to 1963. Carroll leads 39-7. It’s also Carroll’s District 7-6A opener. Coppell is led by quarterback Brady McBride, who has thrown for 843 yards and 11 TDs. He has not thrown an interception in his first 117 attempts. The game can be heard on KWRD 100.7 FM with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m.

This story was originally published September 28, 2015 at 3:32 PM with the headline "Dragons have best game of season."