Texas High School Football 2007 Preview: Southlake Carroll

The Southlake Carroll Dragons have been unquestionably one of the best programs in high school football for the last five years as they have won three consecutive state championships and four state championships spanning the last five years. This is a team whose dominance has been long standing. The Dragons are an impressive 79-1 since the beginning of the 2002 campaign and enter the 2007 season riding a winning streak of 48 games. Few question the 2007 Dragons capability to add to that already impressive pedigree of winning.

The Southlake Carroll Dragons are no stranger to the spotlight and the lofty expectations that come with it. They have already played nationally televised games, and played in Texas Stadium and drew the biggest crowd in high school football history.

The Southlake Carroll Dragon's success comes largely because of their ability to run a complex offense and keeping opposing defenses on their toes. In the college football game most teams run simple offensive schemes based off of a few key running plays and try to out muscle their opponents. Southlake Carroll is much more cerebral. They incorporate an offense that is more akin to that of colleges like Texas Tech than that of their high school counterparts.

Of course it never hurts to have good old talent to accompany your schemes, and Southlake Carroll has always had a wealth of just that. Their starting tailback is Tre Newton, who is the sun of the famous Dallas Cowboy lineman Nate Newton, and Riley Dodge, one of the nations top high school signal callers and son of former Carroll coach Todd Dodge, returns to lead the offense.

The only point of concern for the Dragons this season is that they will have a new head coach in Hal Wasson. Former head coach Todd Dodge, who posted an impressive 98-11 record with the Dragons, left to take over at North Texas. Any concern that may arise from this coaching change should be calmed by the fact that Wasson is a former staff member at Southlake Carroll and is very familiar with the program. Wasson was the former head coach of the Keller Fossil Ridge program and beat out three other candidates to win the prestigious job.

Hal Wasson will inherit a talented offensive core in Newton, Dodge, and wide receiver Blake Cantu. Since Wasson's system is similar to the spread system that Dodge used to run, don't expect any adjustment period for the Dragons, as they look to continue their winning tradition.