GoTC: The LiveBlog
1:13 ... The haka's been done. Carrol just scored on a rather methodical drive that included a 4th down conversion. XPAT, however, was missed. Why do I think those might be big? Game is definitely on.
1:18 ... Yikes, three and out for the Trojans. Nice to see them come out throwing in order to open up the field a little, just a shame nothing came of it.
1:24 ... We've finally broken into Dragon turf!
1:35 ... End of One & the Dragons lead 6-0. Trojans threatening, though. BTW, the DMN writers are also liveblogging the game.
1:41 ... ouch! 4th & goal, we turn it over on downs inside the 2. Still 6-0 bad guys.
1:45 ... heh, Nate Newton's son, a Carroll RB, just got hammered. The thrill is shortlived, however, as they respond with a long pass down to the Trojan 12. Good guys need to score in the first half to avoid playing catchup all day long.
1:48 ... FG by the Dragons. 9-0 bad guys. Definitely sounding like a hard-fought game. Aside from a few big plays by the Dragons, everything is sounding like a long hard slog. Unfortunately, we'll need that to change a bit for things to look better for us.
2:05 ... 40 yard FG attempt is the only shot at putting points on the board for Trinity & it comes up short. 9-0 Dragons with under a minute till halftime. Radio guy puts it perfectly: The game is going the way the Trojans would have hoped, they're just not taking advantage of the opportunities they've got to score. Sounds about right so far. Hope the halftime peptalk shakes up that situation.
2:47 ... TROJANS SCORE! 2 yrd dive by Robinson on the opening drive of the half. XPAT converted. 9-7 bad guys. All the radio & other media types seem to be in agreement: This game is definitely as good as advertised. Even still, I sure could have gone for a nice 42-0 blowout on our part.
2:54 ... ouch, but in a good way. Sounding like the Trojans defense made some good adjustments. Guys just put a hurtin' on the Dragons for this drive, forcing a punt that ends up with the good guys on the Dragons' 33.
2:58 ... TD pass into double coverage. TROJANS SCORE ... TROJANS LEAD!!!
2:59 ... HOLY FREAKIN SWEET! ... Trojans run a trick play for the two point conversion ... 15-9 Trojans.
3:05 ... From the radio guys (Millenium), the crowd is pushing 50,000 and Trojan fans outnumber Dragon fans. Curious how much of that is actual student/alumni/community versus folks for the second game that just hate Southlake. DMN's Cameron Maun is putting the number at "over 40,000."
3:08 ... End of three, Trojans up 15-9, Dragons knocking on the door. One pass into the end zone was already batted away by the Trojan secondary. A stop here would be a killer for the Dragons
3:11 ... no dice, Dragons score. XPAT is good. Dragons back on top 16-15. 11:52 to go in the game.
3:15 ... HOLY FREAKIN WOW - TAKE TWO!!! Justise Campbell breaks off a 69-yrd TD run! Looks like we're going for two ... time out called.
3:18 ... 2PAT fails ... 11:36 left and we lead 21-16. Not sure about the call for the conversion, but what am I gonna do about it? If the effort succeeded, Lineweaver would have been a genius anyways.
3:19 ... Cameron comes through with the attendance numbers: 46,339. That falls just short of the record of 49,950, but smashes the Trinity-Bell game mark.
3:26 ... first turnover of the game. 8:20 left in the game, our ball on our 16. Time to regret the overdose of caffeine I've already imbibed.
3:30 ... Sounds like nerves are kicking in with the hawgs on the O-line. Holding penalty after holding penalty is going to lead to a punt from about the 7, leaving Carroll with over 6 minutes and great field position to go ahead.
3:35 ... Youri Yenga is my favorite player from this team. Cool name, sure. But he's also put more heat on Dragon QB Riley Dodge than I suspect he's ever felt this season. The fumble was his work and a big sack on this drive puts the play out of FG position.
3:38 ... 3+ minutes, our ball to run the clock out with. Hawg Power!
3:40 ... Ouch! Fake punt ... failed. Dragon ball on the 30-something. Up to the defense to put the stop on Carroll.
3:44 ... TD by Southlake ... less 30-something seconds left. Not good. Two questionable calls by Lineweaver (the 2PAT & fake punt) are now staring the team squarely in the face. 2PAT by Southlake fails ... 22-21 them.
3:53 ... Game Over. 22-21 Southlake over Trinity.
Towards the end, it definitely seemed like the nature of the game was getting to both sides a little. Unfortunately, the way that showed for us was penalties. Hawgs or no, good O-lines always push the envelop with holding and this group is no different in terms of that nature nor their proximity to greatness due to the system run at Trinity.
All in all, it's hard to complain about much other than the score. We played our game. They played theirs. They put one more point on the board and that's what counts. My hat goes off to Coach Dodge and the Southlake players. From this point forward, I'd rather know we lost to the best team in the state rather than a substandard Southlake team. So beat Lufkin and win state while you're at it guys.
Congrats, as well, to those wearing my own school colors. It sounds like they were represented well by this team. The only regret should only be geographic ... that the two best teams in the state were separated by all of ten miles and were forced into an early bracket together. Any other system might have seen an awsome Final Four with Trinity, Southlake Carroll, and Lufkin among the mix. As it stands, though, they're all in the same bracket. We played the best & gave it our best. So congrats team ... ya did well.
CORRECTION: It's still possible to see a Lufkin-Southlake final matchup. Dunno where I was getting the report that the three schools were all in the same bracket. So hope springs eternal for a quality championship game.
ADD-ON: Aggies at least beat the T-sips ... so some good has come of the day. Way to fade T-sips ... way to fade!!!