2014 Southlake Carroll Dragons Captains: "Show class, have pride, and display character, if you do winning takes care of itself." Paul "Bear" Bryant. Photo by bludoor studios
by EJ Holland
The next game is always our biggest game.
That's been the mantra for Hal Wasson since he took over asbrhead coach at Southlake Carroll in 2007. After last week's thrilling 28-24 winbrover Coppell, Wasson is tasked with fully implementing that mentality. Afterbrall, district play has only just begun.
“We always try to keep the focus on ourselves,” Wasson said.br“Coppell was a big win for us. It was an exciting game, but no game is biggerbrthan the next. We can't afford to not be focused and not give our best effortbrthis week. Last week is over. It's about the next game now.”
That next game will take place on the road against a hotbrRichland team, which returns 18 starters from last year's squad. The Rebelsbropened 2014 with three losses but have bounced back with three straightbrvictories, including last week's 35-8 demolition of projected playoff team L.D.brBell.
Richland has found its groove offensively, especially on thebrground with dual-threat quarterback Eddie Thomas. The senior signal-called hasbrpassed 776 yards, rushed for 463 yards and scored 13 touchdowns. He along withbrCJ Hicks, who has rushed for 794 yards and six touchdowns, form a potentbrrushing attack.
And that could spell trouble for the Dragons. Last week,brSouthlake Carroll allowed Coppell to rush for 355 yards on 50 attempts — anbraverage of nearly seven yards per carry.
“Richland emphasizes the run, so our focus this week has tobrbe on stopping the run,” Wasson said. “They have a guy at quarterback that canbrmake plays with his arm and his legs and a running back that could give us somebrissues. We have to make sure we can get a strong push up front.”
Added defensive tackle King Newton:
“ We have to come out playing better and faster. I want tobrmake sure that no one can run the ball in between the tackles. That's my turf.”
The key to Richland's turnaround, however, has been stiflingbrdefensive play. During their winning streak, the Rebels are giving up just 15brpoints per game. Safety Hayden Davison, linebacker John Okello and defensivebrlineman Isaiah Johnson all wreak havoc out of Richland's base 3-4 defense.
“We have to be consistent offensively,” Wasson said. “Ibrthink we've shown improvement on the offensive line, but we still have to bebrmore physical up front. We can't have the problems we've had with miscues andbrroute running. It's just about being consistent.”
Southlake Carroll and Richland have met twice in the lastbrfive years with the Dragons coming out on top both times by a combined score ofbr111-16.
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