Dragon junior running back Lil' Jordan Humphrey salutes the crowd at AT & T Stadium after scoring one of his three rushing touchdowns in a 58-42 win over Denton Guyer. Photo by K. Campos
by EJ Holland
When the playoffs roll around, it's never smart to doubtbrSouthlake Carroll.
The Dragons have eight state titles under their belts andbralways seem to find a way to get it done. Last weekend, Southlake Carroll had abrperfect game plan for explosive Denton Guyer in an eye-opening 58-42 victory.
It was perhaps the best game Southlake Carroll has playedbrall year, and head coach Hal Wasson hopes his team can build off of thebrmomentous win as they head into the regional semifinals.
“We are really proud of our football team right now. We knewbrGuyer was a high-powered football team, and we knew our offense was going tobrhave to match them score for score,” Wasson said. “I feel like Ryan Agnew wasbron point and the offensive line really improved. The defense played well untilbrwe got a little fatigued.”
“We just have to keep improving now that we are moving on tobrthe next round. This is the time of year where you improve or go home.”
Southlake Carroll will look to do just that against arguablybrthe best 6A school out in West Texas this season in San Angelo Central (11-1).brThe Bobcats ran the table in 3-6A DI and finished the regular season 9-1, withbrtheir only loss coming to EP Franklin by ten.
San Angelo Central has a dangerous offense that scored morebrthan 50 points in its playoff wins over Arlington Bowie and Lubbock Monterrey.brThe focal point of the Bobcats' attack is dual-threat quarterback BradenbrHucks. The talented senior was primarily a running back last season but he hasbrnot let the lack of starting QB experience slow him down. This year as thebrstarting quarterback Hucks has passed for 2,178 yards, rushed for 1,044 yards whilebrscoring a combined 43 touchdowns.
Hucks has a couple of nice weapons surrounding him,brincluding explosive wide receiver Landon Sawyer and Cody Fielder.
“It's that time of year where you play tough teams everybrweek. San Angelo Central is coming out of West Texas as the frontrunner,”brWasson said. “Our defense is going to have its hands full if we don't play ourbrbest. We know they have a really good quarterback, so we are going to have tobrbe really aggressive and stay disciplined.”
And that means Southlake Carroll needs pressure up frontbrfrom King Newton and big plays in the defense backfield from Andy Chelf, KevinbrCramer and Obi Eboh.
Offensively, Ryan Agnew — if he plays like he did againstbrGuyer — and Lil' Jordan Humphrey should be able to take advantage of anbrinconsistent San Angelo Central defense giving up 22 points per game.
“I have noticed that defensively they play really hard.brThey're well coached. Teams do score on them a little bit,” Wasson said. “Thosebrpoints usually come early, and then they step up in the second half. So we havebrto score early and leave no doubt.”
As Hal Wasson's ball club has now completed its second goal of the year; practicing on Thanksgiving the Dragons look to continue its postseason success Saturday when they face San Angelo Central (11-1) in the regional round of the Division II playoffs. Kickoff begins at 1pm at Baylor’s McLane stadium in Waco.
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