Southlake Carroll Crushes West Texas' 6A Football Season With 42-7 Defeat of Midland Legacy

ARLINGTON, TX — The second round of the UIL Texas High School Football Playoffs came to a close tonight, Nov. 20, as the Midland Legacy Rebels (10-1) traveled to Arlington and took on the Southlake Carroll Dragons (11-0) at Globe Life Field at 8 p.m. RB Mikhilyn Young never quite got going on the ground, and the rest of the Rebels’ offense fell flat for much of the game. Southlake Carroll won handily tonight, 42-7.

Midland Legacy received the first half kickoff and began their first drive at the Rebels’ 25-yard line. D1 Prospect Makhilyn Young, who crossed the 2,000 rushing yard mark the previous week, had little room to run on the first two plays of the drive. QB1 Davila did not evade the pressure on 3rd down, and the defense sacked him. Faced with a 4th and long, the Rebels went 3-and-out and had to punt.

Southlake Carroll began their first drive on Legacy’s side of the field at the 46-yard line. Legacy initially made some good plays on defense and forced a 4th down on their first series. However, Legacy went for the 1st on 4th down and converted a 4-yard run to the 33-yard line. In the next play, QB Anderson split the defense up the middle for a 33-yard touchdown run. The Dragons struck first, 7-0.

Offensive woes for the Rebels continued as they went 3-and-out for the second time in a row. Following the punt, the Dragons took over at the Southlake 43-yard line. Two short gains to midfield led to a 51-yard touchdown pass by Southlakes’ QB Anderson. The Dragons took a two-touchdown advantage early, 14-0.

A third three and out by the Rebels gave the ball back to Southlake Carroll at the Dragons’ 20-yard line. Midland’s defense finally flexed their muscles as they forced a three and out on the Dragons. However, this stop led to nothing on the offensive side of the ball, as the Rebels went three-and-out for the 4th time and finished the first quarter with 4 yards of offense. Southlake Carroll took over at the Rebels 44-yard line and went to work.

Southlake Carroll kicked off the second quarter ending their drive with another touchdown run by Anderson. Six straight running plays from the 44-yard line moved the ball into the endzone. The extra point left the Rebels with an ever-growing deficit of 21-0.

A 5th 3-and-out in a row by the Rebels’ to open the game led to yet another quick Dragons touchdown. The game threatened to get out of hand midway through the 2nd quarter as the Rebels fell behind 28-0.

With 8:00 to go before halftime, Midland Legacy finally gained their first first down of the contest. Young started off with a strong 5-yard carry to the Rebels’ 30-yard line. QB Marcos Davila then connected with WR Brazzell on a 15-yard pitch and catch to the 45-yard line. The production stopped there, however, and after another three plays for little to no gain, the Rebels punted the ball away again.

The Rebels’ special teams unit did a great job and pinned the Dragons at the 1-yard line, but it did not really matter. The Dragons quickly got out of the shadow of their goal line through a series of quick wide receiver screens. These short passes moved the Dragons out to midfield. Legacy’s defensive front then managed to stop the Dragons in their tracks after that. The defensive line bullied their way through the offensive line to tackle the running back on a 4th down attempt at the Dragons’ 46-yard line.

The Rebels had to capitalize off of the defensive stop. With 2:18 remaining in the half, the Rebels took over with their best field position of the day at the Dragons’ 46-yard line. An efficient mixture of running from Young and passes from Davila to WR Brazzell, Suttle, and Akbar steadily pushed the ball down the field. With less than 20 seconds to go in the half, Davila threw a quick out to Akbar, who juked out one defender and then bullied his way over two more defenders into the end zone for a 12-yard score. Legacy headed back to the locker room down by three scores, 28-7.

The Dragons received the second-half kickoff and narrowly avoided a costly fumble at the 16-yard line. The Midland Legacy coaches must have made some solid adjustments because the Legacy defense came out strong. The defensive line pinned their ears back and smothered both the running back and the quarterback as Southlake tried to push the ball down the field. A Rebels sack on 3rd down forced the Dragons to punt the ball away.

Starting their first drive of the half at the Rebels’ 32-yard line, Davila and the rest of the offense came out onto the field hoping to get back into the game. Davilia connected with Akbar on a quick pass to the 40-yard line, and the Rebels looked like they carried the momentum from the first half. Young had the ball stripped away from him on the 43-yard line, and the Dragons recovered. Southlake effectively destroyed any momentum that the Rebels had built from the 1st half.

Following the turnover, Midland Legacy forced another 4th down at the 36-yard line. On 4th down, Legacy crashed the middle of the offensive line on a blitz, but Southlake Carroll caught them with an outside run. With no one left in the secondary and the outside man blocked, RB Allen sprinted 36-yards to the end zone. Southlake Carroll increased their lead with 7:13 to go in the 3rd, 35-7.

If Legacy had any hopes of a comeback, it had to happen on their next drive. Unfortunately, this did not happen for the Rebels as on first down, Davilia lost the ball on a quarterback sack. The Rebels recovered, but Davila looked rattled. Two plays later, Davila threw an interception as he scrambled away from immediate pressure in the pocket. Southlake Carroll took over at the Rebels 41-yard line.

Legacy’s defense continued to play extremely hard as time wound down in the 3rd quarter. Southlake Carroll got a few first downs following the interception but ultimately stalled near the 20-yard line. The dragons doinked a 38-yard field goal attempt off the uprights, and the Legacy offense took over. Legacy drove the ball back to midfield but failed to convert on a 4th and one at the Southlake 46-yard line. Southlake Carroll took over on downs and went to work. The production all came on the ground on this drive, spearheaded by a 26-yard run by RB Allen; the Dragons moved the ball down the field quickly. Allen capped off the drive with a 3-yard touchdown, and with just over nine minutes to play, Southlake extended their lead, 42-7.

Refusing to go down quietly, Legacy’s Donny Bishop took the ensuing kickoff more than 60 yards to the Dragons’ 22-yard line. Davilia connected again with Bishop from 14 yards out to the 4-yard line. Southlake Carroll’s defense stepped up inside the 5-yard line and stuffed the Rebels on four straight plays. Midland Legacy turned the ball over on downs at the 3-yard line.

Southlake Carroll drove the length of the field, 91 yards, on three plays, but Legacy stopped them at the 6-yard line. The Dragons sent in their backups and failed to get into end zone. With less than 4:00 to go in the game, the Rebels never gave up the fight but never threatened the end zone again. Southlake Carroll wins the second round of the playoffs in dominating fashion as injuries just piled much too high for the Rebels, 42-7.

With the defeat of Midland Legacy, no west Texas 6A teams remain in the playoffs.