Dragons Open Season With Revenge
The Southlake Carroll Dragons revenged their last year’s loss to the Copperas Cove Dawgs by beating them 38 to 31 Friday night at Dragons Stadium. In many ways this was a typical first game of the season for both teams with 21 penalties, some uncontested dropped passes, and missed assignments on defense. But, it was a great game for the fans who endured the Texas heat, to see two high powered offenses go at it.
The pattern set in the first quarter stayed true throughout the game. This was going to be a slugfest between a fast running offense in CC and an accurate passing offense by SL. Early in the first quarter SL quarterback Kenny Hill threw a 46-yard pass to Peyton Williams that put the Dragons ahead by 7. Cove responded 4 minutes later with a 19-yard run by Brandon Hamiliton that tied the game. In the second quarter, CC cranked up their speed in the backfield with Orlando Thomas scoring two touchdowns on a 32-yard and 21-yard run. The SL defense was having trouble stopping them around the corners. SL answered back with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Sabain Holmes and a 44-yard field goal by Drew Brown. At halftime CC led SL by 21 to 17.
In less than one minute of the third quarter Brandon Hamilton of CC ran 77-yards for a touchdown. With the score 28 to 17 it looked like CC could put SL away. But SL responded with a 5-yard run by quarterback Kenny Hill . The quarter ended with Eli Kuhns of CC kicking a 29-yard field goal. Going into the fourth quarter the score was SL 24 and CC 31.
The SL defense came alive when it counted, in the fourth quarter. A combination of the SL defense maturing during the game and the running game slowing down by CC due to fatigue led to a scoreless quarter by CC. SL tied the game with 4:28 left on the clock with a 13-yard pass from Kenny Hill to Sabian Holmes. The SL defense held and with 35 seconds remaining in the game Kenny Hill scored the winning touchdown.
Southlake wins their season opener on the arm of their quarterback Kenny Hill who completed 32 of 44 attempts for 442 total yards passing. Copperas Cove played an excellent game as well and showed the speed of their running game by rushing for 379 yards. Brandon Hamilton and Orlando Thomas were the leading rushers for CC while Peyton Williams and Sabian Holmes were the leading receivers for SL. Both teams can be proud of their performances and look forward to more victories in the future.
