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Despite six touchdowns, Southlake Carroll could not overcome the talents of the Rockwall Yellowjackets on Thursday night, falling to the team in a narrow 44-42 loss. The Dragons fell to 1-1 on the season while Rockwall remains undefeated with a 3-0 record.
As the clock wound down in the fourth quarter, it looked like Southlake Carroll would make it downfield in time to either score a touchdown or kick a field goal. But the Rockwall defense had other plans as a defender intercepted quarterback Quinn Ewers’ pass — his second interception on the night — with less than a minute left in the game.
During the game, the Carroll Dragons led Rockwall through to the middle of the third quarter, with the Dragon offense coming out strong. Junior wide receiver Landon Samson caught six passes for 130 yards and one touchdown. Junior tight end R.J. Maryland — our Dragon Pride Player of the Week, sponsored by Thomas & Sharon Michael | DFW Elite Realty — caught four passes for 106 yards and two touchdowns.
Sophomore Owen Allen also had a good night, rushing for 150 yards and two touchdowns. And though he threw two interceptions — both of which occurred in the fourth quarter — quarterback Quinn Ewers continued to show off his talents, throwing for 327 yards and 3 touchdowns and rushing for 39 yards and one touchdown.
Ewers’ 49% completion rate — his lowest of his young career — might have been in part due to senior wide receiver Brady Boyd out with a broken wrist. However, Samson and Maryland stepped up, along with junior wide receiver Josh Spaeth — who caught four passes for 28 yards — and senior wide receiver and former hockey player Will Hosey — who caught four passes for 69 yards.
Like last week, the Southlake Carroll defense did have several good moments. Senior defensive back Cinque Williams recorded 10 total tackles while junior linebacker Benecio Porras recorded 12 total tackles. However, the successes of a few defensive players for Southlake Carroll was not enough to stop the Rockwall offense.
One of the main issues for the Dragon defense was in trying to stop Rockwall from advancing up and down the field. The Yellowjackets made crucial first-down plays, with long passes from Locke and a solid rushing attack accounting for 200 yards. Rockwall’s quarterback Braedyn Locke also did well, throwing 30 passes for 349 yards, according to MaxPreps.
And despite all the trouble the Dragon defense had on Thursday night, they did manage to keep Rockwall 16 points below their scoring average on the year, according to MaxPreps.
Shaking off this narrow loss, the Dragons must look ahead as next week’s game will be just as tough as Thursday’s. Southlake Carroll is set to take on Denton Guyer High School in a matchup set to air on ESPN2.
Denton Guyer is currently ranked No. 5 in the state and No. 36 in the nation while Southlake Carroll is currently ranked at No. 4 in the state and No. 11 nationally, according to MaxPreps — though Thursday’s loss may affect those numbers.
Like every game so far this season, next week’s game will be another quarterback matchup for Ewers, who faces senior Eli Stowers — a four-star quarterback, according to 247Sports.com. Stowers, an A&M commit, has thrown for 238 yards, two touchdowns and only one interception so far this season, according to MaxPreps.
Next week’s game is currently scheduled for October 16 at Dragon Stadium. Along with attending, fans will also be able to watch the game on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. or tune into a livestream of the game on DragonSportsNetwork.com or through the Southlake Carroll Dragon Athletics App.