After surviving a rain filled non-district schedule, the Southlake Carroll Dragons will travel to Keller tonight to face off against the Indians in the first district game of the season.
Coming off of a bye-week, Carroll will be well rested and prepared to face the Indians, after having the week to take care of injuries and focus on individual positions in practice.
The Dragons will look to open the district slate with a win, after defeating South Grand Prairie (25-8), Colleyville Heritage (42-17) and Permian Odessa (24-20) in non-district play.
The Indians also went 3-0 against non-district opponents thanks to a high scoring offense and a potent defense. Keller defeated Cooper (41-15) and Berner (43-7), and shut out the Grand Prairie Gophers (43-0). This is Keller's first season in District 5-6A.
Keller returns senior quarterback Sloan Henry under center, who had a total of 1,829 passing yards and 20 touchdowns last season. Henry has just under a 65 percent completion rate so far this season, and 655 passing yards.
Henry will be looking for Damon Smith and Colton Nelson in the passing game, as well as Enoch Ntchobo at running back. Smith already has almost 300 receiving yards on the season, and averages about 19 yards per reception. Ntchobo is a quick threat this season with 360 rushing yards and five touchdowns in the first three games of the season.
Defensively, Keller has only allowed seven points per game on the season. Their main threats on the defensive line are linebackers Kayden Steen and Sean Payne, who both have 26 tackles each in non-district games.
The Dragon offense will be ready to face the Indian defense with the running and passing capabilities of quarterback Will Bowers, as well as the speed and distance of running back TJ McDaniel. So far this season, McDaniel has just under 400 rushing yards, while Bowers has 345 passing yards and a 63.9 percent completion rate.
The Dragon defense, led by Preston Forney with 26 tackles and one interception, and Connor Patterson with 29 tackles, will be a difficult match up for the Indians as well, having forced four turnovers so far this season. The Dragon defense is amongst one of the top scoring defenses in North Texas this season.