Miami Herald Stories on Southlake Carroll

[Gobbler Fan]

http://www.miamiherald.com/620/story/234519.html

High schools taking spotlight
Football once was about local rivalries and bragging rights. But rankings have taken it national.
Posted on Wed, Sep. 12, 2007Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
By MANNY NAVARRO
mnavarro@MiamiHerald.com

SOUTHLAKE, Texas -- Southlake Carroll's football team has grown accustomed to being one of the most hated and envied programs in Texas.

Not only has Carroll tied a Texas large-school state record with 49 consecutive victories and has won 80 of its past 81 games, including four state titles, in the past five years, it also has been recognized nationally.

The Dragons have been named national champions by at least one national high school football poll in each of the past three seasons. And for it, Carroll has only made more enemies. At 7 p.m. Saturday at SMU's Ford Stadium, Miami Northwestern (2-0) will be the second out-of-state opponent to take a shot at defeating Carroll on national TV.

Last year, the Dragons crushed Louisiana's Evangel Christian 43-16.

''Being No. 1 definitely puts a bull's-eye on your back,'' said quarterback Riley Dodge, who recently posed for a local magazine cover photo shoot with the school's head cheerleader to his right and the student body president to his left under a headline that read: Why You Should Hate Southlake.

`THE HUNTED'

''You become the hunted. People from everywhere want to beat you,'' he said.

But after winning their season-opener 42-10 on Friday night, their first game under new coach Hal Wasson, the Dragons encountered something different during their postgame handshake with Lake Highland. They were getting support.

'It didn't really hit us [what this game means for Texas] until we were shaking hands with other teams, and they were like `You all are the best in Texas. Represent us,' '' running back Tré Newton said. ``That's when it hit home. It's more than just us vs. them. Because we usually just think about ourselves and making ourselves better.''

High school football used to be just about local rivalries, being the best in your area and quite possibly your state, longtime high school analyst Doug Huff said.

But when the Bulls step on the field Saturday night against the Dragons, it will be more than just the best team in Texas playing the best in Florida on ESPNU, which is not available on Comcast.

Huff said it will be another step in the further evolution of high school football in the United States.

Before the Kirk Herbstreit Classic in Ohio and before games began pitting teams from Texas and Pennsylvania or California and Louisiana, Huff said national polls were compiled on local dominance, winning streaks and reputation.

The first poll, according to Huff, was done by Minneapolis reporter Art Jaust in the late 1940s.

Huff said Jaust would collect newspaper clippings from around the country and go to nearby universities to watch film on recruits and high school teams.

The selection process has grown a bit since. Now, Huff said he goes to big national showdowns and spends hours watching video recruiting clips and games on Rivals.com.

Then he sits and starts a pecking order by states and regions before making his way up to No. 1.

Chris Lawlor, who does the ESPN/USA Today national poll, said he does his poll the same way.

It's not a perfect science, Huff said, but games like Saturday's help clear up the national picture.

''When I first got into this, you didn't have these type of big matchups on national television,'' said Huff, 64, a former local sports editor from Wheeling, WVa., who first started ranking teams nationally as a hobby for National Football Records in 1965.

``There was no Internet, no magazines or big demand to know who the best high school team in the country was. Newspapers would run it as fun thing to generate discussion. I did it on my own for my own local interest, and it just sort of mushroomed into what it is today. Now, everyone seems to be coming out of the woodwork with a poll. And that's fine -- that's more promotion for high school sports.''

NATION'S TOP TEAM

Following Saturday's big game, the three major national publications -- ESPN/USA Today, the National Prep Poll/Rise Magazine, and Rivals.com/Student Sports Magazine -- are expected to rank the Northwestern-Carroll winner as the nation's No. 1 high school team, giving that school an opportunity if it runs the table to be considered the national champion.

Carroll has enjoyed being in the nation's top spot.

In 2004, MTV wanted the school to be the star of its hit show Two-A-Days before the school turned the cable network down. MTV picked Alabama's Hoover High instead.

In March 2006, Carroll signed a deal with Under Armour to outfit its football team.

Dragon Stadium, the school's $15 million off-campus football home, is covered in advertisements. Radio play-by-play voice Chuck Kelly said Dragons broadcasts (yes, Carroll has its own radio station) has more than 35 advertisers and sponsors.

40 YEARS AGO

The last time a Miami team finished No. 1 in the nation was in 1968, when Coral Gables claimed its third mythical national title under Nick Kotys. Miami High (1965) is the only other local school to claim a national title.

Huff, who helps compile the national rankings for Rivals.com and Student Sports Magazine, said a Northwestern victory could go a long way in helping Miami-area schools receive more respect from pollsters. Before Booker T. Washington thrashed Summerville, S.C., 36-3 three weeks ago on ESPN, no Miami school had played on national television or made its way out of state since Southridge in 1995.

''Dade County and South Florida in general is such a meat grinder, it's hard to go on the type of runs other teams across the country have been able to put together down there,'' Lawlor said.

``While we all know how talented the area is, those teams haven't been able to climb up the national ladder because they haven't played in too many games like this one. But if Northwestern wins this one, it's only going to elevate the perception of South Florida high school football. And if Northwestern finishes it off, then there's no reason to think they won't be No. 1.''

Said Huff: ``It'll be interesting. I don't think there has been more interest in a high school game in recent memory.''

[Gobbler Fan]

And another one.....

Texas star has 'nothing but respect' for Bulls
In the week leading up to the showdown between the nation's top high school football teams, Southlake Carroll is not taking Northwestern very lightly.
Posted on Tue, Sep. 11, 2007Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
By MANNY NAVARRO
mnavarro@MiamiHerald.com

KHAMPHA BOUAPHANH / FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2007/09/10/23/987-dadeprep0911.embedded.prod_affiliate.56.JPG
Southlake Carroll's Tre Newton has run for 3,472 yards and 34 TDs since his sophomore season.

SOUTHLAKE, Texas -- Inside Southlake Carroll High's $3.4 million indoor football practice facility (a place the Dallas Cowboys used to borrow before they got their own), the leaders of one of the nation's best high school football programs met with reporters after practice Monday to talk about the Northwestern Bulls.

Carroll star quarterback Riley Dodge, whose team will play Northwestern on Saturday night in Dallas in a game pitting the country's top-two ranked teams on ESPNU, begins to take attendance.

Baylor-bound 6-4, 278-pound offensive tackle Jake Jackson? Check.

Oregon-bound receiver Blake Cantu? Check.

Hard-hitting safety Luke Anderson? Check.

Intimidating 6-foot, 205-pound linebacker Derrick Tomlin? You can't miss him.

RUNNING A LITTLE LATE

''Where's Tré?'' Dodge asks Tomlin.

``We can't do this without Tré.''

Tré Newton, star running back of the Dragons' past two state championship teams, is waved over by Dodge.

Newton can stand out for a lot of reasons -- the last being showing up to the team's only news conference this week a bit late.

For starters, Netwon is the son of former Cowboys Pro Bowl offensive lineman Nate Newton, and he has run for a combined 3,472 yards and 34 touchdowns since his sophomore season.

He also wears No. 22 -- the same number Emmitt Smith dawned in Dallas on his way to setting the NFL rushing record.

And he's not only already committed to playing football next season at the University of Texas, he's one of the best students on the team too -- and that's saying something at this school -- with an A average (94 percent) in all of his classes.

Newton also is one of only two black players on the 2007 Dragons' roster.

''It's definitely a unique situation,'' Newton said. ``People talk about it. But when it comes right down to it, it is still football. We have some talented guys. We're smart. But we're not just that. You got to have some athletes to keep winning. And we do.''

WEALTHY POPULATION

Southlake, a city a few miles outside of Dallas, has a 95 percent white population (estimated at 25,000) -- and most, if not all, are wealthy.

Newton, though, fits right in.

He is beloved and an integral part why Carroll's unique, no-huddle, hand-sign commanded spread offense has been virtually unstoppable for opponents since former coach Todd Dodge introduced it in 2002.

Last year, Carroll outscored opponents 709 to 179.

In 2005, the Dragons scored 764 points.

And Newton has been at the center of it all.

''Tré is just an animal. Once he gets past that defensive line and the secondary tries to tackle him, he's just like a machine,'' said Cantu, a 6-foot, 190-pound speedster who caught 79 passes for 1,251 yards and 14 touchdown last season.

``Not one guy can just bring him down. He's a big part of our offense because without him we can't get our passing game going. We compliment each other a lot.''

One guy who loves to compliment Newton is Dodge, who has been ''attached to the hip'' with Newton since he came over to Carroll's independent school district in the seventh grade.

The two played Pee Wee football together, and were supposed to go to college together next year before Dodge changed his mind, deciding to join his father at North Texas.

KEY TO THE OFFENSE

Although Dodge earned The Associated Press Player of the Year award in Texas last season after throwing for 4,118 yards and 54 touchdowns, he says Newton is the key to the Dragons' offense.

Newton certainly proved valuable in last year's 5A state championship game. With the score tied at 22 in the third quarter, Newton broke nine tackles on his way to a 74-yard touchdown run that gave the Dragons momentum in their win over Westlake. It is the kind of run, Dodge says, the Dragons hope to get out of Newton again Saturday against the Bulls.

''I watched film on them this morning and they're real good,'' Newton said of the Bulls. ``I've got nothing but respect for them. We know we're going to have our work cut out for us. They fly to the ball. They make plays happen. We're just going to have to man up. It's going to be a battle for 48 minutes. We're looking forward to it. We like a good challenge.''

[Gobbler Fan]

Texas Titanic: Northwestern's Bumpy Ride to Dallas
One of country's most talented teams hopes to take down Carroll and cast bright national light.

http://www.maxpreps.com/FanPages/Images/Photos/8f2f895a-dc31-4bc3-9ece-586f39dc2a3d.jpg
Senior linebacker Sean Spence, Northwestern's leading tackler a year ago, is one of five Bulls already committed to the University of Miami. (Photo by Andres Bastidas) By Mitch Stephens


It’s a nondescript plane ride from Miami to Dallas. There’s several each day, dozens per month, hundreds each year.



But to members of the Northwestern-Miami (Fla.) football team, Thursday’s scheduled flight might as well be a NASA rocket ship launched for Jupiter.



“Ever been to Texas?” Northwestern star linebacker Shane Spence chuckled. “No, but I’ve been to New Jersey once for a football camp.”



Said stud defensive lineman Marcus Forston: “I don’t think many of the guys have ever been outside of Miami. I doubt most have ever been on a plane.”



What makes this trip worth taking is what awaits at the destination.



On Saturday, the Bulls, the defending Florida state 6A champions, take on three-time defending Texas state 5A champion Southlake Carroll at Southern Methodist University before a projected capacity crowd (32,000) and a national television audience (ESPNU).



In one of the most anticipated high school football games ever played, not only is a possible mythical national championship at stake – Carroll is ranked No. 1 in most of the national polls and Northwestern is top-ranked by ESPN.com – but so are complete and utter bragging rights for arguably the nation’s top two football states.



“We definitely want to show everyone how we play football in Florida,” Forston said. “Frankly though, we’re just looking forward to playing some football period.”



Indeed, this showdown between annual national powers almost was grounded in the summer.



That’s when Northwestern’s principal, head football coach and five members of his staff was dismissed for allegedly covering up a sex scandal that involved a star player on last year’s team.



The principal was indicted by a grand jury in June on two counts of official misconduct for not reporting consensual but unlawful sex between the player and a 14-year-old student in a campus bathroom.



The alleged act occurred on Sept. 16, 2006 but the player continued to play including in the December state title game.



In July, Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Rudy Crew considered canceling Northwestern’s 2007 season but ruled at a packed school board meeting to let the state champions play.



All players, however, were required to sign a “code of conduct” contract.



“That contract will be about your ability to carry yourself as gentlemen,” Crew said at the meeting. “And should you violate the terms of the contract, you will give me the go-ahead to suspend you without question.”



No such suspensions have been issued and with a new coaching staff in place including head coach Billy Rolle, the Bulls bring a 2-0 record to Texas.



They hope to leave the Lone Star State not only with an unblemished record, Spence said, but a shiny new national aura.



“We’re going down there to represent Northwestern, the city of Miami and the state of Florida,” Spence said. “More important, we’re going down there to play with class and dignity and show the whole world that we’re not who they think we are.”



According to most, this is one of the most talented high school teams ever.



Period.



Ten of the Bulls have verbally committed to Division I-A programs, half of them to Miami. Those include Forston, a 6-foot-2, 286-pounder considered the top defensive tackle in the country, Spence, a speedy 6-foot, 186-pound linebacker, offensive lineman Brandon Washington (6-4, 315), dual-threat quarterback Jacory Harris (6-4, 169) and his top receiving threat Aldarius Johnson (6-2, 200).



Harris completed 69 percent of his passes last year for 2,929 yards and 37 touchdowns, 19 of them to Johnson, who had 72 catches for 1,361 yards. The team’s other top receiver Tommy Streeter (55 catches, 802 yards, 13 TDs) also returns.



“There’s no doubt that it’s the most talented team in the country,” CSTV recruiting expert Tom Lemming said. “They have players everywhere. It’s pretty amazing for a high school team.”



Larry Blustein said it’s more than amazing. The national recruiting analyst for MSLSports.net told the Miami Herald that Northwestern’s talent base is “freakish.”



“Long Beach Poly (California) had about 15 guys sign a few years ago,” Blustein said. “Usually teams only have about eight to 10. … But what this team has is unheard of. It’s one of those things you may never see again. I think by season’s end, all 22 starters could have some sort of college football offers.”



That would seem to spell doom for Southlake, but not so says history and Jamie DeMoney, publisher of PrepNation.com and a recruiting analyst for Forbes Recruiting Evaluaton.



That same Poly team Blustein referred to was defeated handily in back-to-back years (2001 and 2002) by De La Salle-Concord, a team with similar traits as Carroll.



DeMoney actually has Northwestern ranked third nationally behind No. 1 St. Xavier (Cincinnati) and second-ranked Carroll.



“We’re not evaluating how many kids are going to college or which team has the most potential NFL players,” DeMoney said. “That’s a completely different argument. It doesn’t mean they are the best team.”



DeMoney said he might not have hesitated ranking Northwestern No. 1 for not for the scandal and losing its coaching staff so late.



Rolle is indeed a proven winner, who led Northwestern to a state title in 1998 before leaving and helping Killian to a 6A championship in 2004.



“He’s an excellent coach and I’m sure his assistants are first rate also,” DeMoney said. “But they all came in so late. On July 10th Northwestern had a completely different staff. That has to be a distraction. And every hour or two Northwestern wasn’t focused during that time you can bet Carroll was. Will that make a difference? Missed assignments?



“There’s the travel aspect too. They won’t be waking up in their own beds like Carroll players. It’s a difficult environment to come into.



“With that said, Northwestern certainly doesn’t lack confidence. It won’t be intimidated.”



That’s for sure, said Spence, who helped the Bulls (15-0) record an amazing seven straight shutouts in 2006 when they outscored opponents 650-108.



He sees this as a great opportunity in all aspects.



“I’m looking forward to seeing how the other side of life lives,” said Spence, who led the Bulls with 151 tackles last year. “I’m curious about their culture, how they dress all the little things. But we know what’s at stake. We know when to get ready for the game. We’ll be ready.”



Forston, who led the team with 13 sacks last season, said his approach will be very serious.



“I’m looking at this not as business not pleasure," he said. “This is a business trip.”

[thewyliefan]

i sure hope texas rooooooolllllleeeessss in this one

[olddawggreen]

Posted on Thu, Sep. 13, 2007
Showdown opponents not two of a kind
By MANNY NAVARRO
Four and a half hours before kickoff, Greg Jones, his wife and two boys are among a collection of people already tailgating outside Dragon Stadium.
The early crowds that arrived in their Hummers or Mercedes-Benzes are here to see Carroll, the nation's top-ranked high school football team, which will open its season at 7:30 p.m. and make a run toward a fifth state title in six seasons.

Jones, a 40-something-year-old attorney and City Council member, would have been out here anyway. After all, he, like everyone else in Southlake, is a green-and-white Dragon. But he's arrived a little early on this Friday because he's got to make the long line to buy tickets (his wife made a ''boo-boo'' and forgot to renew their season tickets when the deadline passed a few weeks ago).

Jones, like most of the crowd that will grow to 11,500, doesn't have any of his seven children playing football or a musical instrument in the game. But like everyone that lives among the million-dollar estates in Southlake, the tradition around here is to be at no other place on a Friday night.

''I've lived in a lot of places, but there's no place like Southlake,'' Jones said. 'I know I sound like Dorothy saying, `There's no place like home.' But it's true. Everyone around here is a Dragon.''

Saturday night at 7, viewers on ESPNU and more than 20,000 expected fans in attendance -- mostly Dragons -- will watch one of the most highly anticipated high school football games at Gerald Ford Stadium on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Miami Northwestern, considered the most talented team ever assembled in talent-rich South Florida, will play Carroll, the best team in Texas and in the country, according to at least one national poll each of the last three seasons.

On the football field, it's a Hollywood-scripted showdown for ESPNU (which is not available on Comcast).

Florida vs. Texas.

Speed vs. Toughness.

Two high-octane spread offenses led by two of the nation's best high school quarterbacks in Carroll's Riley Dodge (who will play for his father at North Texas next year) and Northwestern's Jacory Harris (who is committed to the University of Miami).

BIG DIFFERENCES

But for two teams considered so even on the football field in terms of talent and skill, the Dragons and Bulls couldn't come from more different worlds.

When fans watch Saturday, skin color will be the first noticeable difference. Southlake, a suburb of Fort Worth with 25,000 residents, is 95 percent white. Carroll, with an enrollment of 2,408 last school year, has only two black players on this year's football team. Liberty City, northwest of downtown Miami, is 70 percent black, according to the 2005 census. At Northwestern, of the 2,627 students enrolled in 2005-06, there were only four white non-Hispanic students, according to school reports. There are no white or Hispanic players on the Bulls football team this season.

Financially, Carroll and Northwestern are on the opposite end of the economic spectrum.

The average home in Southlake costs $400,000, compared with $160,970 in Liberty City, according to 2005 figures. The median household income in Southlake exceeded $185,000 last year, compared with $23,3771 in Liberty City.

Carroll also has its own $15 million stadium, complete with a top-flight press box and $3.4 million indoor practice facility. Northwestern shares a newly renovated Traz Powell Stadium, which is worth nearly $4 million. A $250,000 donation from the Miami Dolphins and the NFL paid for new field turf.

Southlake's coaches, who are not required to teach classes, make a lot more money than their Northwestern counterparts. Dragons first-year coach Hal Wasson is scheduled to make $94,000 this year, according to the school. His assistants will make more than $50,000 each, more based on experience, according to the school. The total athletic budget for Carroll this school year is $2.73 million -- not including teacher salaries. Every school in Miami-Dade county receives $113,000 each year for its athletic budget.

According to Greater Miami Athletic Conference officials, Miami-Dade head football coaches, which are required to teach classes, make a combined $4,749 supplement for coaching in fall and spring (a $139 raise from last season) regardless of years of experience. Their assistants receive a flat $1,700 supplement.

The level of classroom success is vastly different, too. Last year, 97 percent of Southlake's 595 graduates went on to college, and Carroll earned its ninth consecutive exemplary rating from the state's education board. According to the Miami-Dade Schools' website and the Florida Department of Education, only 50.8 percent of the 2001 freshman class that registered at Northwestern graduated in 2005. The school's class of 2006 had scores well below the national average in college entrance exams, and the school has received grades of a D or F in performance the last six years.

Even the few similarities the teams share have distinctions. While both teams have new head coaches this season, their previous leaders went off on different notes.

Carroll's Todd Dodge left for the University of North Texas a hero after leading his team to a fourth state championship in five years. Northwestern's Roland Smith and his assistants were pushed out of coaching by Dade's superintendent for their part in an alleged cover-up involving former star running back Antwain Easterling. Smith is not coaching this season.

RICH HISTORY

Before Carroll became a football superpower, it was nothing more than farmland. In 1952, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built a reservoir in northeast Tarrant County to supply water to the growing region. When Dallas-Fort Worth International airport opened 13 miles up the road in 1974, Southlake began to grow.

But it wasn't until Bob Ledbetter became the coach in 1979 that Carroll began to win on the football field. From 1987 to 1993, with a wishbone offense and a punishing defense, Southlake never lost a regular-season game, going 10-0 every year in Class 4A. They won 72 consecutive regular-season games and state titles in 1988, 1992 and 1993.

Eventually, Ledbetter stepped aside and Dodge, the father of the team's current star quarterback Riley Dodge, implemented a spread offense no one in Texas has been able to stop, regardless of classification.

The program has grown, sponsored by companies like Under Armour and with a booster club that meets all of the school's financial needs through sales of T-shirts, hats, blankets, jackets and trailer hitches. It generates so much money, booster club president Jack Luna said Carroll donated $16 million to the state to help other less fortunate programs around Texas last year.

''People can talk about the money and support our kids receive, but Carroll is successful because of the hard work of these kids,'' said Luna, whose son Aaron Luna, who played for Carroll, is the starting second baseman for Rice's baseball team.

``I had a child graduate 237 out of 575 graduates here and he had a 3.7 GPA. Carroll succeeds because it puts the work in.''





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© 2007 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miamiherald.com

[AAA87]

It says on ESPNU,,but not on comcast...does this mean we will get in on cable??????

[piratebg]

I'll be home watching this one. Should be very good. :)

[maroonpirate04]

Can't wait to watch my favorite team in the state besides Sinton been supporting them along with Calallen and Corpus Christi Carroll for a long time.:)

GO DRAGONS!!
REIGN OF FIRE!!!!

#1 TEAM OF THE DECADE:D :D