The Southlake Carroll Dragons (5-0) defeated the Denton Guyer Wildcats (3-3) 33-29 in a clutch fourth quarter trick play, following a close game the entire night.
This matchup was the second of the District 5-6A season, and the first meeting between the Dragons and the Wildcats since the area-round of playoffs two years ago, when now-TCU quarterback Shawn Robinson was under center for Denton Guyer.
Dragon quarterback Will Bowers threw for over 100 yards with a 53 percent completion rate and one rushing touchdown, while running back TJ McDaniel ran for 159 rushing yards and three scores on the night. McDaniel's three touchdowns against the Wildcats added to his total of 14 rushing touchdowns for the season.
The Dragons struck first on the night, with McDaniel scoring off a four-play drive with just over 10 and a half minutes left in the first quarter. A missed extra point would put the Dragons up 6-0.
Denton Guyer responded with just over four minutes left in the quarter, with sophomore quarterback Eli Stowers scoring. A second missed extra point of the game evened the score 6-6 going into the second quarter.
Stowers would score again in the second quarter with his second touchdown, this one for 29 yards. This put the Wildcats up 13-6 over the Dragons.
The Dragons answered three minutes later with another touchdown run from McDaniel, also his second of the night, tying the game 13-13.
Carroll and Denton Guyer would go into the half tied.
Carroll broke the tie deep into the third quarter with McDaniel's third rushing touchdown run of the night, 27 yards to lead the Wildcats 20-13 with 17 seconds left in the third quarter.
Guyer's Kaedric Cobbs scored his first touchdown of the night early in the fourth quarter to tie the game for the third time of night, 20-20 with just over eight minutes left in the game. Guyer would not give Carroll and chance to respond and scored again on a 35-yard touchdown run to put the Wildcats up 27-20 to take their second lead of the game.
Despite giving up over 350 yards and 29 points, the Dragon's defense posted big numbers of their own, recording a total of six sacks and one recovered fumble. Connor Patterson accounted for half of the sacks with three, and Ben Furgal stood out with a total of 18 tackles against the Wildcats.
Bowers answered for the Dragons with his first touchdown of the game, tying the score for the fourth time at 27 all with just over four minutes left in the game.
The game came down to the wire as Carroll scored on their last possession of the night with a double-pass trick play. Bowers passed the ball to Dragon Pride Player of the Week John Manero, who then threw the ball to Blake Smith in the end zone to seal the game with a touchdown, 33-29.
Manero felt confident in the gutsy call made with nearly six seconds left in the game.
“We've been working on that all week and it just worked out,” Manero says. “It was definitely a team effort.”
Head coach Riley Dodge was also satisfied with the way the game ended.
“We felt confident in the play,” Dodge says. “We felt like we had the opportunity to score and we went for it.”
The Dragons will travel to Trophy Club to face Byron Nelson in their third district game this coming Friday.