Top-ranked Southlake Carroll rips Keller, continues unbeaten march

SOUTHLAKE

Quarterback Angelo Renda accounted for six touchdowns — five passing and one rushing — as top-ranked Southlake Carroll continued to steamroll through the regular season with a dominating 63-28 victory over Keller on Friday night at Dragon Stadium.

Renda, a Pitt pledge, connected with Ohio State commit Brock Boyd on first-quarter strikes of 13 and 9 yards, the former drive highlighted by a 47-yard completion to Luc Jacquemard for Carroll (6-0, 4-0 District 4-6A).

Renda completed 19 of 24 passes for 369 yards.

“We just have a great connection,” Renda said of Boyd. “We came out hot. We executed offensively.”

Boyd had eight catches for 102 yards.

“We wanted to come out and start fast,” he said Boyd. “We were physical. We just came out tonight and took care of business.”

Sandwiched between the two Boyd TDs, Keller (3-3, 2-2), No. 9 in the Star-Telegram’s 6A area rankings, deadlocked the score at 7-7 on a 9-yard pass from Brock Burkett to Bodie Davis.

The Keller momentum was brief, as Southlake Carroll reeled off 28 points in the second quarter to forge a 42-7 lead at intermission.

The second-quarter Dragons barrage featured contributions from the offense, defense and special teams.

Renda darted in for a 6-yard TD run, keyed by a 42-yard Parker Harris punt return to the Keller 40.

After Carroll forced a three-and-out on the next Keller offensive series, Jacquemard broke through to block an Indians punt that Caden Mackey scooped up for a 12-yard TD.

Blake Gunter hauled in a 28-yard scoring toss from Renda, who completed his first 15 passes, with 1:58 remaining till halftime, to cap a four-play, 80-yard march.

Dragons defensive back Austin Bussmann came up with an interception on the first snap of the ensuing Keller possession, returning it 10 yards to the 15, and Renda immediately took advantage with a 15-yard scoring toss to Brody Knowles.

Carroll scored on its first five offensive possessions, and possibly would have been six, but Renda’s second-and-goal pass was incomplete in the end zone as time expired in the first half.

Harris returned the second-half kickoff 76 yards to the Keller 21-yard line, which set up a Davis Penn 1-yard TD four plays later.

Gunter, with just over two minutes left in the third period, hauled in an 80-yard TD strike from Renda.

“We have a great group of receivers,” Renda said. “Just get the ball to these guys and let them make plays.”

Gunter did just that on his long scoring play.

“I was able to freeze the defender and hit the open field,” he said. “And then head to the end zone.”

Gunter characterizes his game “as a blocker first,” and gives a lot of credit to Boyd and the whole wideout group.

“Brock and I feed off each other’s energy.” said Gunter, who totaled a game-high 170 receiving yards on six grabs. “Brock is such a great leader, and I have learned a lot from him.”

Carroll head coach Riley Dodge said his team wanted to be physical from the outset and that he was proud of how his team performed.

“We challenged the guys going into this game,” he said. “We took what the defense gave us. And Angelo played a tremendous game, something we have come to expect.”

Keller made the outcome more respectable with three second half touchdowns.

Blake Dyniewski caught a 5-yard TD pass from Burkett, and sophomore backup quarterback Matt McCroskey accounted for a pair of Keller fourth-period TDs — a 1-yard plunge and a 28-yard pass to Cash Erdmann with 24 seconds remaining.

Carroll reserve signal-caller Preston Perazzo scored on a 5-yard run in between the two Keller fourth-quarter scores.

Burkett led Keller with 172 passing yards (18 of 31 with one interception) and the two TDs, while McCroskey finished 7 of 11 for 101 yards and one passing TD in addition to his rushing score.

Brock Meek led the Keller receiving corps with 109 yards on nine catches.

The victory leaves Dodge with a sparkling 99-9 record at Southlake, including an incredible 51-1 in district play, with the lone setback a 34-17 loss to Trophy Club Byron Nelson in 2023, which ended a 38-game league win streak. The Dragons avenged that defeat in a 56-7 regional final rout of Byron Nelson that same year.

Carroll is ranked No. 13 nationally by MaxPreps and 15th by USA Today and has scored 44 or more points in five of its six victories this season. The other win, 35-7 over Hebron, was called official with 10:02 left in the third quarter because of bad weather.

Dodge will be seeking his 100th career head coaching win when Carroll battles Haslet Eaton (3-2, 2-1) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Northwest ISD Stadium. Keller next squares off against Byron Nelson at 7 p.m. Thursday at Keller ISD Stadium.