Duncanville fights off late Southlake Carroll rally to advance to state semifinals
Duncanville beat Southlake Carroll 51-7 in the playoffs last season.
On Saturday, Carroll nearly got its revenge with an epic fourth-quarter comeback.
The Dragons, who were down as much as 21 points, got within 42-35 after two late touchdowns and an onside recovery.
But after Carroll made it a 7-point game, Duncanville running back Trysten Smith scored on a 48-yard TD run for the dagger and the Panthers beat the Dragons, 49-35, in a Class 6A Division I regional final on Saturday at McKinney ISD Stadium.
Duncanville (14-0), the top-ranked 6A team in the state, reaches the state semis for the second year in a row to take on Rockwall (12-2) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at McKinney ISD Stadium. Rockwall defeated Prosper, 59-42.
“We talk about it all the time, teams like that don’t give up and if we’re the team we’re suppose to be, we’ll play through it and we did tonight,” Duncanville coach Reginald Samples said.
Carroll (13-1), No. 6 in 6A, played in the fourth round for the third straight season.
“When you go up against a ball club like that, you have to play clean football and they make you work for everything,” SLC coach Riley Dodge said. “I’m proud of the way they fought all night.”
Duncanville quarterback and 4-star Texas commit Ja’Quinden Jackson accounted for five TDs and was a perfect 8 of 8 for 183 yards. Smith rushed for 174 yards on 19 carries.
The Panthers gained 515 yards of total offense with 332 coming on the ground.
“They never really stopped us all night,” Samples said. “We made some bad calls on third and short, but we made the right call there (on Smith’s TD run). Trysten is a tough player and good running back.”
SLC quarterback and sophomore phenom Quinn Ewers hit Wills Meyer on a 33-yard TD to pull the Dragons within 42-28 with 4:12 left. Then Texas A&M commit Blake Smith recovered the ensuing onside attempt.
The Dragons made it 42-35 with 3:53 left when John Manero caught a 44-yard scoring pass from Ewers, who finished with 388 yards on 32 of 52 passes and three TDs.
“Quinn is an absolute stud and he never blinks. He’s always cool, calm and collective,” Dodge said. “I told him this is where your character shows, especially the quarterback position and he took my words to heart.
“He kept chipping away and took some big hits in the pocket. Proud of his toughness.”
Duncanville landed the first punch with a 5-play, 75-yard drive capped off with a 49-yard TD pass from Jackson to Marquelan Crowell with 8:06 in the opening quarter.
The Panthers defense was stingy to start, forcing Carroll to punt on its first three drives.
Carroll’s third punt came after the Dragons were hit with three penalties on the drive that put them at fourth-and-39 at the 3. A 30-yard punt and short return put Duncanville in great field position at the SLC 25.
Two plays later and 47 seconds into the second quarter, Jackson broke free for a 20-yard TD run and 14-0 lead.
The Dragons sped up its tempo with a no-huddle offense and it worked. Carroll got to the Duncanville 42 when Ewers hit an open Brady Boyd to get the Dragons on the board, 14-7, with 8:35 until the break.
Carroll’s D forced a punt and responded with a 9-play, 65-yard drive to tie the game at 14 with 3:33 left.
Ewers threw a 28-yard pass to Manero, who got to the Duncanville 4 and freshman RB Owen Allen finished it off with a 1-yard scoring run. Allen rushed 26 times for 123 yards and two scores.
But the Panthers marched down on the ensuing drive, first with a 61-yard run by Jackson. He scored his second of the day with a 1-yard run to give Duncanville a 21-14 lead at intermission.
“Duncanville is a great team, but we felt like we had a great offense as well,” Dodge said. “They got theirs and we got ours. We just ran out of time.”
Carroll ran 86 plays for 524 yards. Boyd made 11 catches for 123 yards. Manero added a game-high 136 yards on seven catches and Meyer had 87 yards on eight catches.
This story was originally published December 7, 2019 at 5:43 PM.
