Southlake Carroll cruises past Mansfield Legacy to win bi-district title, advance

Quarterback Angelo Renda and running back Davis Penn -- both juniors -- exploded in the first half as Southlake Carroll cruised to a 69-7 victory over the Mansfield Legacy Broncos in a 6A Division II bi-district playoff matchup on Friday, Nov. 15 at Dragon Stadium.

Renda engineered a four-play 75-yard drive that took just 1:23 on the game’s opening possession, culminating in a 15-yard TD strike to a wide-open Penn, and the Dragons offense never let up.

Renda added a five-yard scoring run in the first quarter, and then the Dragons poured it on with a 35-point second-period outburst.

Penn, a Baylor pledge, had a trio of second-period short scoring runs, covering two, one and two yards, the last one with 10 seconds before intermission.

Sandwiched in between Penn’s TDs, Renda connected with sophomore Blake Gunter with a pair of long-range missiles covering 66 and 28 yards as Southlake Carroll piled up 437 yards total offense heading to the break.

Southlake Carroll, the No. 4 6A state-ranked team and No. 2 in the Star-Telegram’s 6A area poll, tacked on three second-half TDs. Renda tossed a seven-yard TD aerial to Brock Boyd in the third quarter. Preston Perazzo and Jesse Hill had fourth-period scoring runs of one and two yards, respectively, to close out the victory.

The Dragons scored six-pointers on 10 of its 11 offensive possessions and did not punt the entire game, with one series ending in a turnover on downs in the opening half.

The matchup was the first-ever meeting between the two teams on the gridiron.

Southlake Carroll, one of eight 6A state teams unbeaten entering the playoffs, averaged 51.0 points per game during the regular season and surpassed that with their offensive output against Mansfield Legacy.

Renda finished with 346 passing yards -- 302 coming in the first half -- and five total TDs (four passing and one rushing). Renda hit on 23 of 26 passes, and head coach Riley Dodge says his quarterback keeps getting better.

“Angelo did a great job running the offense tonight,” said Dodge. “Made some really good throws.”

Penn totaled 86 rushing yards and three TDs while sitting out the entire second half.

TCU commit Boyd, another junior, had 13 receptions for 156 yards and one TD. Gunter had a career game for Southlake, grabbing five passes for 155 yards and two TDs.

Gavin Strange came up with a pair of turnovers -- a second-quarter end zone interception that led to Penn’s first TD run and a third-period fumble recovery that finished with Renda’s TD pass to Boyd.

Southlake Carroll amassed 599 yards total offense (377 passing and 222 rushing) while holding Mansfield Legacy to 249 total yards.

Coach Dodge liked how his team had good “balance” in the victory.

“We ran the ball well and threw the ball well,” said Dodge. “We had a bye week at the end of the season. We had two good weeks of practice. And we got some guys healthy for the playoffs.”

Mansfield Legacy (3-8), in the playoffs for the first time since 2019, got its lone score on a John Bassett one-yard power run midway through the second quarter.

Southlake Carroll (11-0) advances to the Area round next week where it will face the Wolffork Frenship Tigers (10-1), next Friday night at Abilene Christian with a 7 pm slated kickoff. The contest will be a re-match of last year’s Area round game in which the Dragons claimed a 49-14 victory.

“They throw the ball all over the place,” said Dodge about Frenship. “We will get to work and make preparations for that game.”

This year’s Frenship team has reeled off 10 straight wins after a 48-46 season-opening loss to Trophy Club Byron Nelson. Frenship boasts a prolific aerial offense -- the team averaged 51.8 ppg in the regular season -- led by senior quarterback Holden Phillips who threw for 3,799 yards with 48 TDs and just six interceptions entering the playoffs.