Tavian Gould heads upfield as the Dragons faced district rival Hebron. S.Johnson/SnappedDragons.com
by Justin Thomas
Carroll head coach Hal Wasson knew limiting explosivebrplays would be critical in escaping Hebron with a victory in last Friday'sbrregular-season finale.
Instead, the Hawks recorded three touchdowns of more than 50 yards as Hebronbrrallied from a 14-3 first-quarter deficit to defeat the Dragons, 36-31.
The win gave Hebron sole possession of second place inbrDistrict 5-6A behind Euless Trinity with the Dragons settling for third at 4-3.
Carroll is still bound for the playoffs, however, and will host the McKinney Lions in the bi-district round of the Class 6A Division IIbrplayoffs at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
Against Hebron, Carroll was once again without thebrservices of leading rusher TJ McDaniel, but it don't slow the Dragons' groundbrgame as the squad racked up 261 rushing yards, including 111 on 18 carries frombrTavian Gould and 102 on 13 attempts from quarterback Will Bowers.
Bowers also chipped in 141 passing yards and two scoresbrwith Cade Bell leading all receivers with 54 yards on five catches. The defense lead by Dragon Pride Player of the Week RJ Mickens had their moments.. but fell just short as the clock expired.
As noted, the Dragons' started strong, scoring a pair ofbrfirst-quarter touchdowns on a 4-yard run by Gould and a 17-yard pass frombrBowers to Preston Forney for a 14-3 lead.
Hebron answered back in the second quarter, however,brgetting to within a score on a touchdown run by quarterback Clayton Tune andbrtaking a 15-14 advantage when Oklahoma commit Trejan Bridges picked up abrrolling punt and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown.
But the Dragons would still head to the break with thebrlead after Neal Koskay banged through a 39-yard field goal.
Hebron shut out Carroll in the third quarter and surgedbrin front on a 55-yard touchdown run by Jatyn Taylor.
The first of two fourth-quarter touchdown receptions bybrBYU commit Jaren Mitchell gave Hebron its largest lead of the night but thebrDragons remained resilient.
After Hudson Shrum and Mitchell traded receivingbrtouchdowns for the Dragons and Hawks, respectively, Gould found the end zonebrfor the second time on the night to bring Carroll within a score late at 36-31brwith 2:12 remaining, but Hebron recovered the subsequent onside kick tobrpreserve the win.