Team has a proud legacy

Phil Barber, 77, has only missed one Southlake Carroll Senior High School Dragon football game since he moved to Southlake 34 years ago.

That day in 1990, his daughter got married and Carroll won 56-0 against Springtown under head coach Bob Ledbetter's guidance. Barber cannot pick a favorite coach or team, but he can easily name his favorite game: Carroll vs. Vernon in 1992.

"The game just kept going back and forth," Barber said. "We'd be ahead. They'd be ahead. They'd get up by two touchdowns. We'd get up by a touchdown and/or two. And we went on to win state that year."

Chuck Kelly, who is the Dragon radio voice and general manager of Metro Sports Communications, remembers that game.

"People were pitching over the fence to get into the stadium, because it was sold out and it was one of those amazing games that people talk about forever," he said.

Under Ledbetter, the game ended with Carroll scoring 39 points, beating Vernon by four.

Ledbetter became head coach in 1979. The University Interscholastic League classified the high school as Class AA, according to its enrollment of about 250 students. Ledbetter recalls when Superintendent Jack Johnson told him it would be challenging to win a state football championship.

"He said, 'We don't have kids that are bigger, faster and stronger,' and he said, 'We have great parents. This is a great school district, but we don't have those kind of athletes,'" Ledbetter said. "And I remember I looked at Mr. Johnson and I said, 'You don't win state championships with great athletes. You win with great kids, and you win with kids that believe in themselves and believe in the program.'"

Between 1981 and 1995, Ledbetter guided the team to three state championships while the school grew and moved up in classification from 3A to 4A.

Former coach Todd Dodge lead them to four state championships in five years, Kelly said. Under coach Hal Wasson, this year's state championship team was undefeated, surprising everyone.

"It was amazing what [Wasson] did, because this was not the most athletically gifted team and I mean that with all due respect," Kelly said. "This was a team that had to scrap every game to win and they did."

The Dragon Parade of Champions is scheduled for April 22 in Southlake Town Square to celebrate the school district's state and national champions.

"Carroll football is like a major college program," Kelly said. "Like Texas, like Oklahoma, USC. It is the biggest of the big high schools, because everybody in Southlake cares: The businesses care, the people care, everyone cares. Little kids grow up wanting to be Dragons."

Reference: 'A Commemorative Program: 1981–2000 Carroll Dragon Football'