By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
DALLAS, Texas - Marcus Forston looked like a proud papa.
With a throng of Floridians still dancing behind him in a now nearly empty Southern Methodist University stands, the exhausted 6-foot-3, 305-pound Northwestern-Miami (Fla.) High school senior defensive tackle looked to the Texas stars and soaked it all in.
The Texas-sized 29-21 win over nearby Southlake Carroll, the nation's top-ranked team in most polls.
The second half shutout his defense pitched and the five turnovers they forced.
The chopping down of Carroll's 49-game win streak.
Mostly, though, Forston was recollecting to two months earlier, when his old and beloved coaching staff was fired, and when the Bulls were stuck on an inner city island.
"We practiced for a week without a coach," said Forston, a team captain who has committed to the University of Miami. "What team anywhere would practice without a coach?"
Forston then answered his own question.
"I knew then this was a special group," he said. "I could see it in their eyes."
Those among a Texas regular-season record 31,896 fans and a national television audience could see it in Northwestern's arms, legs and speed as well.
The Bulls, who received a superlative 280-yard, four-touchdown passing performance from senior quarterback Jacory Harris, out-executed a team considered less talented but far more polished and precise.
They even stole a play right out of Southlake's playbook to score the go-ahead touchdown, a 75-yard bomb from Harris (21 of 28) to Plaxico Burress lookalike, 6-6, 215-pound senior Tommy Streeter with 5 minutes, 56 seconds left in the third quarter.
It was the third touchdown of the night for Streeter (4 catches, 140 yards), who earlier caught scoring tosses of 32 and 19 yards.
On the go-ahead score, he ran a delayed out and up pattern and was wide open streaking down the right sideline.
Northwestern saw the wheel route in game film and so to help the defense, the offense ran it at practice all week. Normally, the second team offense plays against the first string defense, but coach Billy Rolle decided to run his top two units at each other.
"It worked so well for our offense, we decided to use it in the game," Streeter said. "We even called it Southlake."
Talk about the student beating the teacher.
Northwestern (3-0), ranked second or third on most other national polls, said it was the firing of their former coach Roland Smith and his staff in July that really pushed them on Saturday.
Under Smith, the Bulls were 15-0 and won the state 6A crown.
"The kids really admired Coach Smith and his staff," Rolle said. "They even dedicated today's win for him."
They were let go along with the school's principal for allegedly not reporting a crime by a player off last year's team.
Amid the decision to let the coaches go, the Dade County school board considered cancelling Northwestern's 2007 season but instead made it mandatory that each player sign a character clause.
Those public hearings and stories gave the rest of the Bulls a bad rap, Streeter said.
"We kind of felt put down so tonight we wanted to be put back up," he said.
And boy was that the case Saturday as the Bulls had more first downs (22-16), passing yards (280-265) and total yards (378-305), and most important, less turnovers (5-2).
Harris (21 of 28) outdueled reigning MaxPreps national Player of the Year Riley Dodge (22 of 31, 262 yards, two interceptions). He was even more impressive after the game with humble responses.
He and Rolle gave Northwestern's offensive line great credit for giving him massive amounts of time to throw.
"That's the greatest team we've ever played," Harris said. "They were bigger and quicker than I expected. That's what makes this win so amazing."
Besides the turnovers, Carroll dropped four passes - one for a touchdown - and a bad punt snap led directly to a safety which increased the Bulls lead to 29-21. They also missed a 35-yard field that that hit the cross bar and caromed back toward the field.
"You're not going to beat any teams making five turnovers or doing the things we did," Southlake coach Hal Wasson. "You're definitely not going to beat a team as talented and well-coached as Northwestern. We simply didn't execute or play well. Some of that might very well have been Northwestern's play."
Indeed, the Bulls defense, which recorded seven straight shutouts during one stretch last season, forced a couple of fumble with hard hits from speedy pursuits. Most of the defenses Carroll faces might not have caught up to the play.
Likewise, two of the interceptions came with defensive backs made up a lot of ground with speed, including a beautiful diving pick by junior Tevin McCaskill. Sophomore Khalid Marshall also made a key interception in the end zone.
"Our young DBs really came through," Forston said. "They had some growing pains to go through earlier in the year but they're really coming through now."
The secondary sure had trouble on the game's first drive.
Anyone who hadn't seen Carroll needed just 2 minutes and 30 seconds to get a good taste.
That's how long it took for Dodge, the Doug Flutie-like flinger, to complete six straight passes after starting with an incompletion, finished off with a pretty 35-yard scoring strike to Chris Brainard (eight catches, 116 yards) to give the Dragons a 7-0 lead.
Dodge connected with Brainard four times, including a pretty 28-yard strike down the middle of the field on 3rd-and-8 to give Carroll first down at the Northwestern 43.
After another 8-yard out to Brainard, Dodge pumped faked an out and hit a streaking Brainard down the right side to give Carroll the lead following the 86-yard drive.
"They scored so easy it just fired our offense up," Streeter said. "We knew we were in for a ball game."
Carroll's lead didn't last long.
Harris matched Dodge, going 6-for-6 including a 32-yard touchdown pass to Streeter, making it 7-7 with 4:38 left in the first quarter.
Harris completed passes to four different receivers on the drive.
"He's what makes us go," Streeter said. "We're always in control."
The first miscue of the game was huge, but you could hardly even call it a mistake.
Linebacker Derek Tomlin, Carroll's most athletic and active linebacker, stripped receiver Aldarius Johnson of the ball and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown, giving Southlake a 14-7 lead with 1:26 left in the first quarter.
Harris completed his seventh straight pass to start the game to the Miami-bound Johnson in the left flat. Just before Johnson was going down for no gain, Tomlin stripped the ball and ran untouched down the sideline making it 14-7.
Following the fumble return, Northwestern's star linebacker Sean Spence set up a tying touchdown - a 19-yard strike from Harris to Streeter.
Dodge made his first bad pass of the game, throwing it right in the hands of Spence at the Southlake 41. Spence, Northwestern's leading tackler last year, returned it 22 yards to the 19.
After an incompletion, Harris rolled to his right and fired a perfect 19-yard strike to Streeter, who on Friday was nursing an extremely sore right heel he injured at practice on Monday.
"I couldn't hardly walk Tuesday," Streeter said Friday. "But I didn't come all the way to Texas to sit. I'll be ready."
Evidently so.
The touchdown tied the game at 14-14 with 11:10 left in the second quarter.
Harris was pin-point accurate all night, including his third touchdown pass of the half, a 16-yarder to his future Miami University teammate Aldarius Johnson, giving Northwestern a 21-14 lead with 4:48 left in the half.
After Carroll went 3-and-out for the first time all night, the Bulls went nine plays in 58 plays capped by Johnson's juggling TD grab.
"I'm glad (Johnson) is on our side," Streeter said..
Harris, a rail thin 6-4, 175-pound senior, lofted a perfect fade to the right corner of the end zone where Johnson was drilled as the ball arrived. Johnson, called "Glue Man" by teammates for his excellent hands, juggled the ball shortly before cradling it home
"We have the best receivers any where," Harris said.
Dodge and the Dragons were undeterred, firing a beautiful 26-yard TD strike to Oregon-bound Blake Cantu with 1:32 left until halftime tying the game at 21-21.
The 55-yard scoring strike was set up by a pair of critical Northwestern errors. The first came when Brandon Drayton decided to field a bouncing punt. Bad move. The ball bounced off his chest and Carroll's Cole Wicklund recovered at the Southlake 45.
After a delay penalty on Carroll, Dodge was sacked but Todd Chandler, a defensive lineman who played a stellar first half, grabbed Dodge's facemask. That gave Carroll first down at the Northwestern 49.
Following two completions and a short run by Tre' Newton, Dodge found Cantu on a wheel right down the right sideline, making it 21-21.
Both teams made key miscues in the final 1:30 to keep the score knotted.
Northwestern drove 36 yards on a pass interference call, 11-yard run by Tyresse Jones and 10-yard completion, but while Harris was directing traffic in the shotgun formation, the ball was snapped off his face mask. The ball was recovered by Carroll's Brayden Burnett at the Northwestern 47.
"Goofy," Harris said.
Dodge then scrambled for 24 yards to the Carroll 29 before setting up a beautiful screen to Newton, who looked like he might get to the end zone.
Instead he was drilled by Marshall, fumbled and Northwestern recovered at its own 6. The Bulls ran out the clock to complete a remarkably entertaining first half.
"We needed to make some adjustments, especially getting to Dodge," Forston said.
That translated so-so, especially against the run where Newton finished with just 13 carries for 39 yards.
Harris fired his fourth TD pass and third to Tommy Streeter, this one a 75-yarder on a blown coverage as Northwestern took a 27-21 lead with 5:56 left in the third quarter.
Streeter, who scored on tosses of 19 and 32 yards earlier, was all alone streaking along the right sideline.
"I didn't have to do much but catch it," Streeter said. "LaCory put it right there."
The point after try was missed by Robert Demps, who made his previous three PATs.
Streeter's third TD came after Carroll backup quarterback Kyle Padron was intercepted in the end zone by Marshall.
Padron was inserted on after Dodge was drilled in the nose on a keeper on the second play of Carroll's first drive of the second half.
Padron drove Carroll to the Northwestern 24 before the interception. Dodge was back in on the next possession, but after three plays went no where, a punt snap went over the head of Loarn Hinkle, who kicked the ball through the back of the end zone for a safety, making it Northwestern 29, Carroll 21.
"Of all their mistakes, that was probably the biggest for us," Rolle said. "That gave us some cushion."
With one of those, the defense took over and Southlake's hopes to break the state big-school consecutive win streak was over. The Dragons have to be satisfied with sharing the lead Abilene.
"We still have a lot to accomplish - everything really, Wasson said. "The man thing is we need to learn from this."
What did the Bulls learn about themselves?
"Something I already knew," Harris said. "We're resilient and do whatever we have to do."
Congratulations to both Northwestern and Southlake and for all your hospitality the last four days. You were great hosts and gave us a fantastic game. E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
