Southlake Carroll fires on all cylinders in drubbing of Haslet Eaton to remain unbeaten

The Haslet Eaton football team was playing for its playoff life against Southlake Carroll on Thursday night at Northwest ISD Stadium.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, Carroll, No. 1 in the Star-Telegram Class 6A rankings, was playing at the top of its game.

The Dragons fumbled the ball away on their first possession, but scored touchdowns on their next nine possessions in a 70-28 drubbing of Eaton in a District 4-6A game.

“The score probably reflects that, but we’re always searching to be better and we certainly have a couple of things to improve on,” said Carroll quarterback Graham Knowles, when asked if this was the best the Dragons have played that he can remember. “We’ll go to the film room and get it right.”

Carroll (8-0 overall, 5-0 in district) moved the ball at will behind Knowles, ranked No. 14 in the Star-Telegram’s Top 50 players and a Georgia Tech commit.

Knowles’ night was done at the 2:43 mark of the second quarter, but the senior finished with 307 yards passing, completing 13 of 16 throws, and added another 30 yards on the ground on four carries.

Knowles hit passes of 11 and 51 yards down to the Eaton 13 on Carroll’s first drive before the Dragons coughed up the ball and Fred Moore recovered for the Eagles at the 18.

Eaton went three and out on its first possession before the onslaught began.

Drives of three, four and two plays gave the Dragons a 21-0 lead in a 3:11 span. Knowles hit passes of 18 and 20 yards on the first of the three to set up a 30-yard scoring run by Davis Penn.

Penn led the Dragons with 128 rushing yards on nine carries with four TDs and added 26 yards on two receptions.

The Dragons’ defense played well as well. Carter High’s interception off a tipped ball by Zack Engelhardt gave Carroll the ball at the Eagles’ 37. A 33-yard pass from Knowles to Clayton Wayland down to the Eaton four yard line set up a one-yard TD run by Riley Wormley, three plays later, to make it 14-0.

Following another punt by the Eagles, Penn went untouched off left tackle from 49 yards out to make it 21-0 with 5:49 left in the opening frame.

“Everyone talks about our receiver weapons and all of that, but going back to Owen Allen last year, we’ve always been a smash mouth team at heart,” said Knowles, who led a balanced Carroll attack that saw the Dragons pick up 303 yards on the ground and 325 through the air. “Today was a good chance to remind people that we haven’t lost that identity and Davis and Riley, we’re going to get those boys some work.”

Knowles had scoring runs of five and one yard to give Carroll a 35-0 lead before Eaton finally broke through. Eagles’ quarterback Noah Lugo was a bright spot for Eaton with a 56-yard scoring run to get on the board.

Lugo, who rushed for 174 yards on seven carries, added a 71-yard TD run just before halftime.

The Dragons answered Lugo’s first score with a Knowles to Wayland 33-yard scoring pass before adding three TDs in a 30 second span.

Mitchell Paulsen picked off an Eaton pass at the Eagles’ 16 yard line and on the play Eaton starting running back Chris Duharte (7 carries, 27 yards) was called for targeting and ejected from the game.

Penn’s four-yard scoring run made it 49-7 with 3:13 left before the intermission. Eaton then fumbled the next two kickoffs and both were recovered by Carroll to set up touchdown runs on the following plays.

Austin Bussmann’s recovery of the first fumble, set up a 21-yard TD run by Penn. Christian Glenn’s recovery of the second led to a three-yard scoring run by Wormley that made it 63-7 with 2:43 left in the second quarter.

“We have a special offensive line,” said Knowles. “They work harder than anyone I’ve ever met, especially for o-linemen. They’re super cerebral, very smart players, and I think that’s what sets them apart.

“They can handle a lot of different blocking schemes. They’re very capable when defenses give us different looks they can pick it up on the fly and it certainly makes it a lot easier when we face the blitz and stuff like that just being able to pick up new looks.”

Eaton had already suffered losses to Keller and Keller Timber Creek, so the loss all but eliminated the Eagles from playoff contention, unless they can pull out a win against Trophy Club Nelson in the final week and take care of business against Haltom next week.

The Dragons have now won 38 district games in a row, which is every district game in Riley Dodge’s coaching career at Carroll.

The Dragons lost their last district game in 2017 while Hal Wasson was at the helm. Dodge took over in 2018.

It is also Carroll’s 35th consecutive win in the regular season dating back to 2020. In the six years with Dodge, Carroll is 56-1 in the regular season with its lone loss being to Rockwall, 44-42, on Oct. 8, 2020.

“We treat every team the same with our preparation,” said Knowles. “We don’t overlook anybody and we’re not scared to play anybody.

“This year, I think, is going to be a special year for us and this is our first major step to winning the district championship. Coach Dodge has never not won the district championship and we’re trying to keep that record going and put our names on the wall.”

This story was originally published October 20, 2023 at 1:58 AM.