Southlake Carroll is keeping it in perspective

11:32 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 30, 2008

A month into the season, some football teams have played five games and most have played at least four. But Southlake Carroll is 3-0 with two games canceled in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

Well, at least the Dragons aren't getting worn down.

"We're going to use it as a positive," coach Hal Wasson said.

Wasson has the right perspective. The scheduling woes Carroll has faced are nothing compared to what Houston-area schools have dealt with since Ike made landfall Sept. 13. Bellaire, which Carroll was to play on Sept. 12, and Galena Park North Shore, which Carroll had expected to play last Friday, didn't reopen until Monday.

"A football game isn't even a pebble of sand compared to what's happened to them," Wasson said.

Still, it's been a strange few weeks for the Carroll staff. In addition to preparing plans for two games that were never played, coaches were on the phone trying to find a team to play. That's how Carroll set up this Friday's home game against Katy Cinco Ranch, a Houston-area school that also had two games canceled.

MIKE STONE / Special to DMN
Southlake Carroll's Robert Miller (left) and Lincoln Schick converge on Mesquite's Darien McNealy on Sept. 19, the last time Carroll played a game.
View largerMore photos Photo store It's been frustrating, Wasson said, and not just since Ike's arrival. In February, the UIL's realignment moved Carroll from an eight-team district to the six-team 6-5A. Each of the teams in 6-5A had previously been in an eight-team district, so they needed two more nondistrict games than expected.

Most of those games were set up in the first hour after alignments were revealed in a room crowded with area coaches. Lewisville coach Steve Gaddis, whose team moved into District 6-5A, said it felt like he was on the stock market floor after the realignment was unveiled.

"When it came across the screen that our district had gone to six teams, it took a few seconds to register that 'I've got to have two more games,'" Gaddis said. "Then the scramble was on."

Many of the teams in 6-5A were able to schedule nondistrict games with the six-team 11-5A, which includes Mesquite schools and DeSoto. But it was still very difficult, said Coppell coach Bob Shipley. And he wasn't surprised that district rival Carroll had the most difficult time.

"When you're Southlake, you have trouble finding anyone to play you anyway," Shipley said, "and to have to find two more games, they were probably panicking."

Wasson wasn't panicking, but he spent a lot of time on the phones. He called schools in Oklahoma and Louisiana, but they didn't have schedules that matched up. Fortunately, some Houston-area schools had openings, and unfortunately, Hurricane Ike wreaked havoc.

"It's kind of wild to be trying to schedule games during your season," Wasson said. "But it's just an inconvenience for us, and the people down south are the ones who have the real issues, and our hearts and prayers are with them."

Katy Cinco Ranch (4-0) at Southlake Carroll (3-0), 7 p.m. Friday (KKGM-AM 1630)

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