Southlake Carroll absorbs early punch from Allen, rolls past Eagles in state quarters
Mike Hawkins took the first play from scrimmage 75 yards for an Allen touchdown.
It was a punch in the face of the Southlake Carroll defense, which is stringing together one of its best seasons in recent memory. The Dragons came into Saturday’s game allowing 12.4 points per game.
The Allen touchdown must have woken up the beast.
Carroll followed Allen’s score with 34 straight points in a total dominating victory over the Eagles, 47-21, in a Class 6A Division 1 state quarterfinal at UNT’s Apogee Stadium.
“Veteran group that’s played a lot of football together for a long time,” Carroll coach Riley Dodge said of his defense. “I have the best DC in the country that leads them and prepares the staff, and does a heck of a job. The kids trust him and fly around and have fun.”
Carroll (14-0) advances to the state semifinals for the second straight season to play Duncanville at 4 p.m. Saturday at McKinney ISD Stadium.
“Amazing challenge whoever it is and we’re fully aware of that,” Dodge said. “Not really going to think about it too much this evening. Enjoy it and we’ll get back to work.”
The Dragons scored on their second drive which was capped by a Kaden Anderson 18-yard touchdown pass to South Carolina committed receiver Landon Samson.
That tied the game at 7 with 6:18 left in the first quarter.
“Knowing our defense, we see that and we know that’s not them,” Carroll running back Owen Allen said after the first score of the game. “We weren’t shocked, we stayed level headed and calm and responded, and our defense shaped up after that first play and kept them to little or no yards.”
It took less than a minute for Carroll to take its first lead, 14-7 when an Allen pass attempt bounced off a receiver’s hands and into the chest of Carroll defensive back Avyonne Jones (Wisconsin commit).
Jones returned it 34 yards for the touchdown.
“It was a reminder that we have to be assignment sound. Everyone do their job and settle in,” Jones said of Allen’s first touchdown. “We preach getting to the ball. 11 hats to the ball. So I came across and he tips it up and it pops straight in my hands. I catch it and run. It was awesome especially in a game like this. That type of momentum is huge.”
Carroll continued to impose its will on the Eagles (11-3) as Owen Allen scored three rushing touchdowns in the second quarter, all from the 2-yard line.
His first came nine seconds into the second quarter to up the Dragon lead to 21-7.
Carroll got another takeaway on the ensuing Allen drive when the Eagles caught a pass and fumbled. Max Reyes knocked the ball loose and Logan Anderson recovered at the Carroll 48.
The Dragons answered with an 8-play 52-yard drive capped off by Allen’s second rushing touchdown to make it 27-7 with 7:26 left in the first half. The extra point was blocked.
“That’s a proud program, a historic program and you play anyone late in the season, in this division, they’re going to bring their game,” Allen said. “They’re a talented program, but like I said, we stayed level headed and kept pushing and pushing.”
The Eagles punted and Carroll scored again after an 11-play 69-yard drive on Allen’s third score with 2:18 left in the period. The Eagles would end the bleeding right before halftime on a 7-yard TD pass from Hawkins to Jacob Brasher.
Anderson added an 8-yard touchdown run to extend the Carroll lead to 40-14 early in the fourth. Backup running back James Lehman scored late in the period from the 6. Owen Allen finished with 30 carries for 143 yards and three touchdowns. Lehman added 48 on eight rushes.
“Talk about all the stats that gets put under my name, but none of that happens without coach Cade McCrary, coach Chris Smith and all five linemen,” Allen said.
Anderson threw for 156 yards on 12 of 23 passing. Samson caught five passes for 54 yards and a score and Boston College commit RJ Maryland added three grabs for 68 yards.
Hawkins, who added a 4-yard scoring run with 1:10 left in the game, led the Eagles with 300 yards passing and 98 rushing. Jordyn Tyson had six catches for 158 yards.
“We talk about those opportunities and pressing down on it,” Dodge said. “Once we got that pick six, we responded from that touchdown and got it to 27...we weren’t comfortable at all, we know what they’re capable of doing, but we felt good.”
This story was originally published December 4, 2021 at 4:38 PM.
