BY BRIAN GOSSET
X – @gosset41
X – @gmsportsmedia1
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Southlake Carroll head football coach Riley Dodge reached a big milestone after Thursday’s 66-7 win over Eaton – securing his 100th career victory.
The Dragons improved to 7-0 overall and 5-0 in District 4-6A.
Since taking over his alma mater in 2018, Dodge has posted an amazing 100-9 record. This marks his eighth season with the Dragons. He’s looking for his seventh district championship and first state title, however, Carroll did play in the title game twice, in 2020 against Riley’s father and former Carroll coach Todd Dodge when he was with Austin Westlake. The second time coming last season – as the Dragons lost to Austin Vandegrift 24-17.
Carroll closes out the regular season against Justin Northwest, LD Bell and Keller Central. Bell is its only road game left. The Dragons are the top-ranked 6A team in the state, and top-ranked 6A team in the area. They’re also ranked #12 in the nation via MaxPreps.
Against Eaton on Thursday, QB Angelo Renda continued his impressive season with 15 of 17 passing for 305 yards and three touchdowns. During the past two games – last week vs Keller – Renda has 706 yards passing and eight TDs while only missing on seven of 43 attempts. On the season, the Pitt commit has over 2,100 yards in the air, 23 TD passes and a superb 77.5 completion percentage.
The run game vs Eaton finished with 183 yards with 6.5 yards per carry. Davis Penn scored three times while Brooks Biggers found the end zone twice. Ohio State commit Brock Boyd, who recently became the all-time program leader in receiving yards, Brody Knowles and Caden Mackey caught touchdown passes from Renda. Knowles led the way with 134 yards on just four catches.
Carroll’s defense had two takeaways with an Austin Bussmann interception and a fumble recovery from Gavin Strange, who is also the starting kicker. Parker Harris forced the fumble that Strange recovered.
Dodge was hired to lead the Dragons in 2018 after the departure of Hal Wasson, who spent 11 years at the helm and won a title for Carroll in 2011. Wasson was also on Todd Dodge’s staff in the early to mid 2000s when the Dragons won four titles in five years. Carroll won in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006, and lost to Katy in 2003.
During the three-peat from 2004-2006, Dodge was a quarterback. He was an All-American as a senior in 2006 when he led the team to a title over Westlake. The program has eight state championships all-time.
Carroll has reached at least the regional final in all seven previous seasons under Dodge. The team also reached the state semifinals on two other occasions – 2021 losing to Duncanville and 2023 losing to DeSoto. Dodge has only lost two games in the regular season – a 44-42 defeat against Rockwall in 2020 and 34-17 against Byron Nelson in 2023 – which serves as his only district loss. Dodge is 52-1 in district play.
