Look: Owen Allen leads Southlake Carroll over Trophy Club Byron Nelson, 38-23

Behind five touchdowns from Allen, the Dragons rallied from a 13-point deficit

By Cody Thorn | Photos by Brian McLean 

SOUTHLAKE, Texas - In a top-10 battle in Class 6A Texas high school football, No. 6-ranked Trophy Club Byron Nelson started quickly and built a two-touchdown lead.

Then, No. 3 Southlake Carroll and Owen Allen took over and picked up a 38-23 win at Dragon Stadium on Friday.

Allen, a senior, ran for five touchdowns and had 216 of the Dragons’ 307 yards on the ground.

• TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL SCORES

“It is awesome for us as an o-line, we take a huge amount of pride in that,” said Carroll senior Jake Hall, an all-state pick last year who has eight Division I offers. “How (Allen) runs the ball reflects on us and he always gives us great shoutouts.

"We give him the holes and he knows how to hit them.”

The win locked up a fifth straight district title for the Dragons (9-0, 6-0 4-6A) and was the 32nd straight district victory, dating back to 2017.

Last year, the Dragons hammered the Bobcats, 68-7, but this year, the visitors scored twice in the opening quarter.

Byron Nelson (8-1, 5-1) went up 13-0 thanks to two touchdown passes between Jake Wilson and Gavin McCurley, who finished with eight catches for 112 yards. The first came a minute-and-a-half into the game and then another with 3:01 left in the opening quarter.

The Dragons got on the board with 12 seconds remaining in the first quarter on Allen’s first score, from 3 yards away. He converted on a fourth-down run earlier in the drive, while quarterback Graham Knowles connected with Clayton Wayland for a 25-yard pass to get to the 7-yard line.

Byron Nelson moved to the Dragons’ 25-yard line on its first drive of the second quarter, but a turnover on downs gave Carroll the ball with 8:50 left.

Allen had runs of 22 and 18 yards to move into Bobcats’ territory, and with 4:52 left, his 8-yard touchdown run made it 14-13, Dragons.

“They started out hot,” Hall said. “We knew we had to settle in. We knew our defense would make a play. We got our stop and we got our touchdown.

"We got it to 14-13 and we took off, and they really couldn’t catch up.”

Allen scored his third touchdown with 19 seconds left in the second quarter. This one was on a 1-yard run which was set up by his 42-yard run.

Sophomore Jack Van Dorselear returned the opening kickoff into Byron Nelson territory, and that led to a 39-yard field goal by Tyler White for the Dragons.

The scoring streak reached 31 in a row when Allen punched in from 3 yards out. The big plays on that drive were by James Lehman.

The junior running back had a 42-yard run and then had a 14-yard run that was aided by a face mask penalty. That capped what was a 94-yard drive.

“It’s just one step at a time,” Van Dorselear said. “And, you know, we never blinked. We just go 100 percent all the time.

"There's four quarters in a game. It's not just one play that defines us.”

Byron Nelson got a 50-yard run by Aaron Darden - who had 131 on the ground - that set up a 38-yard field goal by Pierce Dahlin late in the third to make it 31-16.

Still down by two possessions, the Bobcats forced a fumble on the kickoff. A chance to cut further into the deficit, though, was turned away by Carroll’s defense on its 15-yard line.

Allen capped off his five-touchdown day with a score on the ensuing drive, which ate nearly six minutes off the clock. His final touchdown was from 2 yards away.

Wilson, who was 24-for-33 passing for 250 yards, led the Bobcats on a scoring drive in the final two minutes. Landon Farco’s 1-yard run with 1:30 remaining capped the scoring for the night.

Byron Nelson hosts Haslet Eaton, while Carroll is at Keller Fossil Ridge next week. Both Haslet Eaton and Fossil Ridge are battling for a playoff berth.