I have never commented about high school football in Texas but I was able to stream the Southlake Carroll/Duncanville game (here in Mexico) that just ended. What an oddity that the son, Riley, will be playing the father, Todd of Westlake, next week for the state championship.
My calculation: The Dodges are linked to Texas. Word was that he always wanted to go to Texas. Herman alienated him. Herman’s gone. Sark is thought to be an excellent QB coach. I don’t think this is over.
That little sophomore RB for Southlake Carroll is one helluva player. Ewers had a crappy game and a 15 year old (Alan Owen ???) took Carroll on his back and carried them to the win. Almost 200 yards rushing and nearly a 7 yard per carry avg. He looks like he's about 5'6", but when the game was on the line, he refused to be knocked backwards. In fact, I don't think Duncanville knocked him backwards all day.
Duncanville stuffed him a couple of times, but when Southlake need yards he came through. Ewers looked lost for most of the game. It will be interesting to see how Westlake handles him.
Westlake took down North Shore and Carroll took out Duncanville. WOW. I am just now reading about this but I know neither of those teams were favored.
More, from a close friend (big Buckeye fan BTW) who is connected to the SLC program, knows Ewers folks, etc: “Interesting story line. Todd Dodge was our coach in the early/mid 2000’s and went 79/1 over 5 years. In 2006, he coached his son Riley in the state championship game and southlake beat Westlake for the Championship. Todd’s father-in-law was the AD at Westlake and former HC there. Riley won the Gatorade Player of the year that year. Fast forward, Todd went to be an unsuccessful HC at D1 level. He came back to HS and is the coach of Austin Westlake and won the state championship last year. Our coach is his son Riley, who went 13-1 in his first 2 years. Now in his 3rd year, we are playing against his father’s team to win it all. Father/son battle. We are close to Todd and his wife, Elizabeth, because our middle daughter and their daughter were best friends in HS. Plus Riley and (daughter) are the same age and were close in HS. Oh, one other thing. In the state championship game that Southlake beat Westlake (2006 season), our QB was Riley Dodge. Westlake’s was.....Nick Foles. Riley wins Texas player of the year and Gatorade National player of the year, but Foles goes on and wins a Super Bowl. Go figure!“
Westlake is very tough. I am fairly sure they are the better team, and this “Dodge” part of it only helps, and the fame of SLC, because Westlake will not overlook the opponent in any sense, which could have been a risk after taking North Shore down. I predict Westake 42-21.
Northshore disappointed me. I saw them completely dominate LT last year but this year they had trouble both giving their QB time and opening up running lanes. Their DL also didn't get as much pressure as I expected. That being said, Duncanville lost too. It's real hard in 6A to dominate every year. Theres too much competition and Westlake did just enough to get it done. I have no clue who wins the title other than the winning team will be coached by a Dodge. PS I wonder how Katy would fair against either team. They have also steamrolled everyone they've played and if they win the D2 title they will have a claim to best in Texas too.
Yeah, it’s hard to correlate results when different teams all blow out everyone but play different schedules. Until giving up 21 to North Shore, WL had averaged only giving up about 4 points a game this year, while putting up 55+ a game. So, it’s the defense that is the distinguishing point. Their worst game was two weeks ago against Cibolo Steele, having 3 turnovers and a missed short FG in the first half. Nevertheless, they won 34-0. That’s what made me think they would likely win it all—a shut out against a good team even when the offense uncharacteristically kept giving Steele the ball over and over. SLC has given up 20 or more points 9 times this year—the 21 North Shore got was the first time anyone scored that many on WL, and NS had averaged 50+ per game, even in the playoffs. So, they all have offense, but I think defense is the difference.
For sure. Westlake and Lake Travis still are seen as having easier schedules overall compared to Houston and DFW so its hard to tell just how good they are but obviously they were good enough to keep NS in check and then get the play of the game late to put themselves in scoring position and then hold on to finish it. They beat an incredible team.
Speaking of Lake Travis, Baker Mayfield is ripping up the Steelers. Or, rather, he and Big Ben together are doing that.
