Southlake Carroll rallies in second half to knock off upset-minded McKinney
Maybe it was all that turkey from Thursday’s Thanksgiving meal that made an impact on Southlake Carroll as the Dragons had a sluggish first half, but coach Riley Dodge’s squad rebounded after intermission.
The Dragons scored on their first five drives of the second half.
Star running back Owen Allen rushed for 200 yards for the 10th time in his illustrious career and scored four touchdowns as his final one with under a minute left helped win the game over McKinney 42-35 in a Class 6A D2 regional semifinal on Friday at Choctaw Stadium.
Carroll (13-0) reaches the fourth round for the sixth straight season and will face the winner of Saturday’s game between Byron Nelson and Denton Guyer, which kicked off at 2 p.m. at the Ford Center in Frisco.
McKinney ends the season at 8-5 with its deepest playoff run since 1993.
The Lions went for the home run to end the first half when quarterback Keldric Luster threw a perfect ball in stride and in double coverage to Khali Best for a 53-yard touchdown and 14-7 lead at the half.
Then McKinney opened the second half with a 4-play 75-yard drive as Bryan Jackson scored on a 17-yard run. The Lions upped the lead to 21-7 with 10:20 left on the clock.
It took three plays for Carroll to score as Graham Knowles hit Jacob Jordan for a 72-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 21-14 less than 30 seconds later.
But McKinney responded with a 15-play 6-minute drive and went up 28-14 following a 1-yard run by D’Kedrion P-Nutt Abrams with 3:55 left in the quarter.
After McKinney was tagged with a pass interference in the end zone, the ball was placed at the 2 and Allen bulldozed his way for a touchdown to make it 28-21 with 1:12 to go in the third.
Then things went downhill for the Lions.
Aaron Scherp picked up a sack on third down for the Dragons to force a punt. A 63-yard drive was capped off with an 8-yard TD run from Allen that tied it at 28 with 8:39 left in the fourth.
On McKinney’s next play from scrimmage, Luster tried to cut it outside, but Logan Lewandowski jarred the ball loose and Dustan Mark jumped on it for Carroll at the McKinney 20.
Three plays later and Carroll took its first lead 35-28 on Knowles’ 9-yard pass to Clayton Wayland with 7:41 to play.
McKinney managed to tie it at 35 on the ensuing drive when Luster hit tight end Tyler Stanley from 11 yards out with 3:53 left. Luster picked up 22 on a fourth down and McKinney got three straight first downs before the score.
Carroll’s game-winning drive started at the 9. Allen got a 27-yard run to the McKinney 31 and Knowles hit Jordan for 13 to the McKinney 13. On the next play, Allen scored to give the Dragons the 42-35 lead.
Allen rushed for 217 yards on 34 carries.
Knowles threw for 355 yards on 25 of 40 passes and two touchdowns. Jordan had 210 yards on seven catches and Caden Jackson added 87 yards on 11 catches. Wayland finished with 53 yards and six catches.
Knowles had thrown for 1,100 yards and 13 TDs to one interception in his last four games. He took over for the injured Kaden Anderson midway through the season.
The Dragons were hit with five false start penalties on the game’s opening drive.
Despite the hiccups, Carroll managed to run nine plays and go from its own 30 to the McKinney 19 sparked by a 37-yard pass from Knowles to Jordan. But two false starts pushed the ball back to the 29 for a second-and-20.
The Dragons would eventually come away empty-handed with a 40-yard field goal attempt hit the left upright.
McKinney’s first drive didn’t fare any better with a pair of penalties and an interception that was picked off by Carroll defensive back JD Sparks.
Carroll was able to pick up yards on its second drive as the Dragons reached the red zone, but McKinney linebacker Myles Elam stopped Allen on a fourth-and-2 at the 11 to give the Lions the ball on downs.
Luster started the next drive with runs of 11 and 28 yards before the Lions were faced with a fourth-and-2 near midfield. Luster handed the ball off to Jackson and before he could hit the line of scrimmage, threw a jump pass to Stanley, who was wide open in the middle of the field and raced off for a 42-yard touchdown.
The Lions grabbed the first lead at 7-0 with 11:06 left in the second quarter.
Carroll, again, crossed into McKinney territory before turning the ball over on downs at the 37. However, McKinney couldn’t add to its lead when Luster was sacked for a loss of nine by Cade Parks.
The Dragons finally hit the end zone with a 11-play 92-yard drive. Knowles hit Jordan for 39 yards to the 5 and one play later, Allen scored to even the score at 7 with 28.6 left in the quarter.
This story was originally published November 25, 2022 at 6:52 PM.
