COPPELL — Arlington Bowie tried two quarterbacks and multiple formations, but nothing was able to keep pace with Southlake Carroll’s running.
Typically pass-oriented Carroll rushed 53 times for 351 yards in a 56-14 win over Arlington Bowie in a Class 5A Division I bidistrict game Friday night at Coppell’s Buddy Echols Stadium.
Carroll (10-1) scored on four of its first five possessions to lead, 35-14, at halftime and scored on its first possession of the second half. Carroll advances to meet Midland Lee (9-2) at 7 p.m. Friday at Saginaw’s Chisholm Trail Stadium.
Bowie (7-4) had another playoff trip end in a showdown with Carroll, which ousted Bowie in the third round in 2011. Bowie defeated Carroll in the third round in 2009.
Carroll used two big passes on its first scoring drive, which took less than two minutes, to take a 7-0 lead. Carroll quarterback Ryan Agnew threw a screen to running back A.J. Ezzard for 22 yards on the first play and receiver Luke Timian muscled a catch for 21 yards in a six-play, 58-yard scoring drive.
Ezzard scored the first of his four touchdowns and Carroll threw only 11 more passes as it took over behind a blossoming offensive line.
“We started early with a young offensive line,” Carroll coach Hal Wasson said. “We’ve believed in them all year. We have a lot of confidence, but it’s not about one game. It’s about all the stuff we do beginning in January.”
Ezzard ended with 164 yards on 24 carries and Agnew rushed for 94 yards on 12 carries, including touchdown runs of 19 and 40 yards. Promising sophomore Lil’ Jordon Humphrey had the final touchdown on a 30-yard run with 10 minutes remaining. Senior linebacker Steven Bergmark, who played running back early in his career, had a 4-yard score.
Bergmark was part of a suffocating defense with linebacker Matt Miller and Joel McClellan and linemen A.J. Tolbert and King Newton, who gang-tackled a usually explosive Bowie offense. Quarterback Keaton Perry and speedy Tony James were only able to help Bowie compile 265 yards.