by Justin Thomas
On Friday atbrDragon Stadium, the Dragons open the playoffs when they take onbrMcKinney in a Class 6A Division II bi-district contest.
It is thebr18th straight season the Dragons have competed in the tournament with Carrollbrlast missing the postseason in 1999.
Carroll welcomes back their leading rusher in TJ McDaniel. The junior running back has rushed for 1,332 yards and 16 touchdowns on the season. Photo by S.Johnson SnappedDragons.com
Carroll welcomes back their leading rusher in TJ McDaniel. The junior running back has rushed for 1,332 yards and 16 touchdowns on the season. Photo by S.Johnson SnappedDragons.com
The Dragonsbrenter this foray having faced some of the area's toughest running backs duringbrthe regular season in Marcus' Justin Dinka and Euless Trinity's Courage Keihnbras well as a non-district contest against a power rushing attack at BrokenbrArrow.
But onbrFriday, the squad will see its stiffest test yet as Matt Gadek and the Lionsbrcome to town.
Gadekbrfinished as the area's leading rusher (2,207 yards, 8.3 per carry, 17brtouchdowns) and finished nearly 500 yards better than his closest 6Abrcompetitor.
Gadek'sbrstatistics were buoyed by the best single-game rushing performance in Texasbrhistory when he racked up 599 yards on 49 carries in a 63-50 win over PlanobrEast.
That was onebrof four wins in District 6-6A for the Lions, who finished the season at 7-3broverall and third in the district.
But afterbropening the season at 4-0, McKinney has gone just 3-3 since with its wins overbrPlano Senior and Wylie by a combined five points.
As noted,brGadek has turned heads on the ground this season, but that doesn't make thebrLions a one-trick pony.
QuarterbcakbrDamon Witmer has thrown for 1,360 yards with 16 touchdowns against just fourbrinterceptions while Cordrick Dunn has supplemented the rushing attack with 598bryards on 75 carries and five scores. Receivers Troydell Griffin and QuintonbrQuirrenbach have 28 and 22 receptions for 584 and 348 yards, respectively, withbr15 combined touchdowns.
Defensively,brMcKinney has surrendered 29 points per game (the Dragons allow just 24) and 373bryards per game, including allowing at least 30 points in four of its last fivebrgames.
The Lionsbrhave been attacked in a variety of ways, allowing two 300-yard passers andbrthree 100-yard rushers, including a quarterback, during the stretch.
That shouldbrhave Hal Wasson and the Carroll offense excited. Behind quarterback Will Bowersbrand a powerful offensive line, the Dragons have shown the ability to move thebrball in a variety of ways throughout the 2017 campaign. Bowers has shown a propensitybrto hit multiple receivers throwing for 1,711 yards and 22 touchdowns. Mostbrimportantly, the Dragons welcome back TJ McDaniel who missed several games duebrto injury. The star running back has rushed for 1,332 yards and 16 touchdownsbrthrough district play.
When itbrcomes to postseason experience Carroll holds a definitive advantage.
As noted,brthe Dragons are in the playoffs for the 18th straight season, while McKinney isbrin the postseason for the first time since 2009 and hasn't won a game since 1994.