There’s a new sheriff in Southlake as QB opens season with big win at AT&T Stadium
Any question on whether Southlake Carroll junior quarterback Kaden Anderson would be ready to play on the biggest stage can be put to bed.
The team’s new starting QB completed his first seven pass attempts on Thursday in the season opener against fellow state powerhouse Highland Park at AT&T Stadium.
However, when the game was scheduled earlier in the year, on ESPNU no less, everyone across the country was ready to watch 5-star Carroll quarterback Quinn Ewers, the top-ranked player in the nation.
Instead, Ewers made the decision to forgo his senior year and graduated early.
He’s now a freshman quarterback at Ohio State.
But that didn’t phase Anderson.
“It didn’t, but it was a great opportunity,” said Anderson, who played four games last season, “I wasn’t going to take it for granted. Some things to work on, but played lights out and it was a great game.”
The 6-foot-4 QB was brilliant in the first half, throwing for 217 yards on 12 of 17 passing and three touchdowns and helped Carroll to a 45-21 decision over the Scots.
“Resilient kid and resilient football team,” Carroll coach Riley Dodge said. “It was a bump in the road, but we flipped the script, it was time to move on. We couldn’t dwell on things that are no longer here so I’m proud of the way the program moved on and believed in our quarterback room as a whole. Says what they think about Kaden when they vote him a team captain.”
A far better half for the Dragons (1-0) than their previous half, also at AT&T Stadium, when they lost to Austin Westlake in the Class 6A Division 1 state championship game in January.
“It’s a great start,” Dodge said. “Good to get a win in the same place our season ended.”
It took just three plays and 55 seconds to get Carroll on the scoreboard when Anderson connected on a 71-yard touchdown to Landon Samson (South Carolina commit), who made two defenders miss down the Carroll sideline.
“It’s great to be back here especially coming off the loss last year,” said Samson, who made five receptions for 127 yards. “Everything has been answered and we had all the confidence in the world. We came out and beat a historic team, Highland Park who has the most wins in the state of Texas. Proud of this first win.”
The new duo in Southlake found the end zone on a 41-yard pass and catch to extend the lead to 21-7 with 7:42 left in the second quarter. Anderson rolled out of pressure and threw off one foot perfectly to Samson, who caught 15 TDs a season ago.
“Kaden and I have been practicing really hard. We’ve been building that confidence and hitting all the dots,” Samson said. “We really connected tonight, the chemistry was there and its’ going to be a great season.”
Anderson threw his third TD pass of the first half just before the break when sophomore James Lehman made a one-handed grab in the end zone. Carroll led 28-7.
Anderson also added a 1-yard TD run late in the third following an interception from Allan Kleiman. He finished the game with 253 yards on 14 of 21 passing and four total TDs, three passing.
Junior star running back Owen Allen, the Star-Telegram preseason all-area offensive MVP, scored on touchdown runs of 11 (first half) and 25 (second half). His second score pushed the margin to 35-14 midway through the third.
Allen rushed 23 times for 217 yards, his 19th career 100-yard rushing performance in 26 games. Allen rushed for 218 yards in last season’s opening win over Rockwall-Heath.
Defensively, the Dragons had two takeaways with its second on a fumble recovery at the end of the third quarter from Cade Parks that led to the Anderson scoring run.
The Dragons gained 517 yards of total offense.
It’s still early, but Anderson and Dodge hope to end the season exactly where they started, only this time hoisting the championship trophy in December.
This story was originally published August 26, 2021 at 10:55 PM.
