Katy Tigers vs Southlake Carroll Dragons

The Southlake Carroll Dragons are an awesome football team. For the past two years they have been considered the top high school football team in the nation. The execution of their offense rivals the best college or professional teams. They have won 62 games in a row. Katy was the last team to defeat the Dragons. Tomorrow, at high noon, the Katy Tigers will take on the Dragons with the intent of winning the 5A D-II State Championship.

Katy must play their "A" game with absolutely no mistakes to win. Southlake needs to get rattled by the hard hitting Tigers. One of the keys to winning will be the coverage of our defensive backs. We have got to make their receivers hear footsteps and fear getting hit very hard if they catch the ball. Also, our quarterback must be near perfect. Andy is a great quarterback and has the potential to have a 400 + yard game.

We will be leaving for Dallas today to go to the game tomorrow. The gates will open at 10:00. Their will a sea of red on one side of the field, and a lake of green on the other. It will look like Christmas!

Regardless if we win our lose, this has been a great season. Go Tigers!

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Article from the Dallas Morning News:

Dynasty? Not yet, claims SL Carroll
Team says previous state titles, accolades won't help it beat Katy

01:02 AM CST on Friday, December 16, 2005
By TIM MacMAHON / The Dallas Morning News

SOUTHLAKE – Southlake Carroll can cement its status as one of the top high school football dynasties in state history Saturday.

Carroll can win its third state title in four seasons with a victory over Katy in the Class 5A Division II final. Carroll would also clinch its second consecutive mythical national championship.

A win would avenge Carroll's only loss since 2001. But Carroll's players, proud as they are of the program's tradition, aren't thinking about the past. Or the heartbreaking, one-point loss to Katy in the 2003 final. Or the wins in the other 62 games as a 5A program.
"We want to go out there and win our state championship," said quarterback Greg McElroy, a senior in his only season as a starter.

Carroll would join a couple of elite clubs by doing so.

Carroll, which won 3A titles in 1988, 1992 and 1993, would become the eighth program with at least six UIL state championships.

Plano and Brownwood are the only programs with seven state titles, although Celina can join that group with a win in Saturday's 2A Division II final against Omaha Paul Pewitt.

Only 13 11-man teams have won three UIL titles in a four-year window. Converse Judson and Midland Lee are the only two programs to accomplish the feat as 5A teams.

This is no time, however, for Carroll players and coaches to ponder the historical significance of their remarkable run. Katy, ranked No. 10 in the nation, is trying to win its fourth state title since 1997.

"We can't get caught up with all the success that we've had," senior receiver McKay Jacobson said. "It doesn't matter what we did last year or the year before. Katy's a great team, and we've got to play our best game of the year in order to win."

Added coach Todd Dodge: "Five or 10 years from now, we'll get together and say, 'Wow.' But right now, you're so close to it, you can't really appreciate it."

The biggest difference between Carroll and the Judson and Lee dynasties is the style of offense. Carroll has rewritten the 5A passing record book en route to becoming the classification's first program to play four consecutive state finals. Judson and Lee featured All-America tailbacks in old-school, smash-mouth offenses.

McElroy has passed for 52 touchdowns, putting him between ex-Carroll quarterbacks Chase Wasson (54) and Chase Daniel (49) at the top of the list for touchdown passes in a season by a 5A player. Wasson and Daniel won the last three 5A offensive player of the year awards. It'd be surprising if McElroy didn't win it this season after putting up statistics that compare favorably with his predecessors.

Cedric Benson won the honor three consecutive times while carrying Lee during its 1998 to 2000 state-title spree. Lee went 43-3 while Benson rushed for a 5A-record 8,418 yards and scored 127 touchdowns – including 15 in state championship games – before starring at Texas.

Benson broke all the 5A rushing records set by Jerod Douglas, the ex-Baylor tailback who starred on Judson's 1992 and 1993 state champions. Judson won the state title again in 1995 with a more balanced but still run-based offense. Judson's three state-title squads last decade had a combined 41-2-2 record.

Dodge doesn't believe X's and O's have been the biggest factor in his program's remarkable run. He points to his players' ability to ignore the hype – five television stations sent cameras to Tuesday's practice – and focus week after week.

Carroll prepares for its foes' potential each week, not necessarily what it sees on film.

"If we didn't have that attitude around our field house," Dodge said, "we would have got ambushed a long time ago."

Carroll has plenty of confidence, as one would expect from a program that sandwiched its lone loss in 5A between a pair of 31-game winning streaks. But there is no air of invincibility.

"You're not satisfied," Jacobson said. "You don't get the feeling that you've arrived."

Only Katy, a perennial power itself, has kept Carroll from perfection the last four seasons. Carroll gets an opportunity to even the series Saturday.

If that happens, the Dragons will let others debate Carroll's place among the state's best dynasties. They'll be busy celebrating a state championship.