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Top sports stories of the year: No. 3
Football: DeSoto stops Carroll inches short in playoff thriller
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
UNIVERSITY PARK — Southlake Carroll’s football team racked up 532 yards of total offense Saturday in its UIL Class 5A Division I quarterfinal against DeSoto at Ford Stadium on the campus of SMU.
Quarterback Kenny Hill was stuffed at the 1-yard line on three consecutive plays, the last as time expired in the fourth quarter and the Dragons came up short against the Eagles in a thrilling contest, 49-45.
“At the end of the day, there wasn’t a dry stitch on me,” Wasson said. “It was just the ultimate game from start to finish.”
Carroll claimed an early 24-6 advantage before settling for a 24-21 lead at the break. A third quarter that featured 21 points on each side set the stage for a fourth quarter full of momentum swings.
In the end, DeSoto quarterback Desmon White and running back Dontre Wilson had the answers.
Wilson kicked it in high gear in the second half, scoring on a 28-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter to pull DeSoto within three at 38-35.
Later, an interception by Carroll’s Tanner Jacobson set up Hill’s fifth touchdown run of the game (6 yards) to put the Dragons back up by 10. However, Wilson responded on the ensuing play from scrimmage hauling in a 76-yard touchdown reception.
DeSoto then forced a punt and White followed with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Rickey Daniels gave DeSoto its first lead since the 9:17 mark of the first quarter.
“Athletically, they’re the most prolific assemblage of talent I’ve seen since Miami Northwest (which Carroll came up short against in a game televised on ESPN in 2007),” Wasson said.
Carroll immediately began driving but a fumble gave the Eagles possession at their 28-yard line. DeSoto then needed just a single yard to seal the game, but the Dragon defense rose to occasion, making the tackle and earning a measurement that was deemed short.
On third-and-14 of Carroll’s final drive, Hill found Luke Timian for 14 on the button to keep the chains moving. Moments later, Hill converted a fourth-and-1 to earn a new set of downs and the Dragons were in business with 18 seconds left when Hill again connected with Timian for 22 yards setting up first-and-goal at the DeSoto 3-yard line.
Armed with a pair of timeouts, Hill — who led Carroll with 99 yards on the ground but needed 40 carries to get there — picked up 2 yards but fell just short of the goal line. Another keeper saw the Texas A&M signee stuffed just shy setting up a third-and-goal from inches away with three seconds left. But again the DeSoto defense didn’t budge.
“We wanted to run the clock to the final seconds and score and not give DeSoto any time on the clock,” Wasson said. “That was our plan and strategy and it worked to perfection until the very end. We ran our best offensive player three times. What else are you going to do? It has worked 100 percent of the time for three years, so we were going to play those odds.”
Hill’s final high school game saw him throw for 339 yards, while Ryan Weigel recorded a team-high seven catches and 127 yards. Mike Gardiner also had 73 receiving yards, including an acrobatic 30-yard catch in the end zone while he was draped by a defender to put the Dragons up, 38-28.
“The greatest compliment you can give a player is that he is a great teammate,” Wasson said. “That’s what Kenny is. The bigger the stage, the higher the level he plays at. The more we need him, the more he responds.”
The Eagles did most of their work in the second quarter without the services of Wilson, who was previously injured while breaking up a pass in the end zone from Hill to Mike Gardiner. The Dragons still ended up capitalizing on the drive, though, as a 16-yard completion on a toss-reverse-pass to Ryan Agnew — who was belted while making the catch — on third-and-17 set up a fourth-and-one, which Carroll converted and later punched in the end zone with runs on six of the next seven plays.
Agnew had a key play on Carroll’s opening scoring drive as well, rushing for 32 yards on third-and-14 to the 2-yard line setting up the first of Hill’s three first-half touchdown runs.
But while Hill had three rushing scores in the half, the DeSoto defense managed to limit the Dragons to 73 yards on 25 carries, including just 30 yards on 19 attempts for Hill.
While the run defense was up to par for both squads, receivers were running rampant. Hill threw for 194 yards, while White totaled 188 yards in the half.
“After the game, we focused on the great things we did in the season and the great things we did in that game, as tough as it was,” Wasson said. “I told the guys it’s OK to be disappointed and it’s OK to be frustrated. Those are natural emotions. But how you handle those situations is critical and I thought we responded like Dragons.”
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