Southlake Carroll denied another title appearance as Duncanville rolls past Dragons
Duncanville and Southlake Carroll have created a bit of a football rivalry with the Panthers and Dragons meeting in the playoffs for the fourth straight season on Saturday and second time in the calendar year.
The Panthers rolled past Carroll 51-7 in the 2018 state quarterfinals and 49-35 in the same round in 2019.
Carroll got one back, 34-27 in last season’s state semifinals, which came in January after COVID-19 pushed the season back.
After two close games, Saturday had more of a 2018 feel as Duncanville scored on the game’s first possession and never wavered, rolling past Carroll 35-9 in the 6A D1 state semifinals at McKinney ISD Stadium.
Carroll ends the season 14-1.
Duncanville (13-1) will play Galena Park North Shore (14-1) for the 6A D1 state championship at 3 p.m. next Saturday Dec. 18 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. North Shore beat Austin Lake Travis 49-21 in the other semifinal.
It will be the third time those two teams meet for the title in the past four years.
North Shore won the previous two times, including in 2018 when the Mustangs won on a Hail Mary as time expired in one of the greatest endings to a Texas high school football state championship.
Carroll had a horrible start to the game. The Dragons ran five plays, one going for negative yards, picked up three penalties and lost a fumble. Carroll got pushed back to a third-and-26 and Duncanville defensive lineman Omari Abor knocked the ball out of Kaden Anderson’s throwing hand and picked it up for a 16-yard touchdown with 8:25 left in the first quarter.
The Dragons faced a third-and-21 on their second drive before punting the ball back to the Panthers, who gashed through the Carroll defense for another touchdown.
Star running back Malachi Medlock carried the ball nine times on the drive and capped it off with a 5-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Solomon James to up the lead to 14-0 with 1:23 to play in the period.
Carroll got some much-needed points on the ensuing drive on a Tyler White 46-yard field goal.
The teams traded punts before Duncanville scored again, going 79 yards on eight plays. Medlock gained 33 yards to the Carroll 29 and four plays later, James hit Lontrell Turner on a 22-yard touchdown during a fourth-and-3 just before intermission.
Abor sacked Anderson on third down during Carroll’s first drive of the third quarter and after a punt, Duncanville went up 28-3 on a 43-yard touchdown run from James midway through the frame.
Carroll would drive to the Duncanville 2 for a first-and-goal, but after a false start pushed the ball back, the Dragons faced a fourth-and-goal and a pass attempt was picked off by Kadavion Dotson-Walker.
Pierre Goree got the Panthers their second defensive interception late in the game.
Carroll forced a punt in the end zone, but the Dragons were flagged for roughing the punter, giving the Panthers a fresh set of downs. Three plays later and James connected with freshman Dakorien Moore on an 83-yard touchdown to make it 35-3 with 48 seconds left on the clock.
The Dragons got into the end zone on the ensuing drive when James Lehman punched it in from the 1. Lehman gave Carroll a first-and-goal two plays before with a 38-yard run. But the score remained 35-9 after Carroll didn’t convert on the two-point attempt.
James led the Panthers with 158 yards on a perfect 13 of 13 passing and three touchdowns. He added 34 yards on three carries and another score. Medlock ran for 143 yards on 24 rushes.
Carroll, which was held to single digits for the first time since that 2018 quarterfinal against Duncanville (51-7), was held to 48 yards rushing and 211 passing. Duncanville limited star back Owen Allen to just 32 yards on 14 carries. South Carolina commit Landon Samson had 109 yards receiving.
Duncanville was flagged 11 times while Carroll was flagged 10.
This story was originally published December 11, 2021 at 7:06 PM.
