‘We came out complacent’: Crowley football shut out by Dallas Skyline in non-district game

“We just came out complacent,” said head coach Carlos Lynn after his Crowley Eagles (1-2) were stunned by the Dallas Skyline Raiders, 31-0, in a non-district high school football matchup Friday night at Crowley ISD Multi-Purpose Stadium.

Crowley, which played 6A powerhouse No. 3 state-ranked Galena Park North Shore tough a week ago in a 28-13 loss, opened the season with a 50-14 win over Birdville. North Shore was No. 7 nationally by USA Today last week and No. 5 this week.

“I think after last week when we played a nationally-ranked team so well even though we lost, we took this game too lightly,” added Coach Lynn, in his second season guiding the Eagles. “We had a letdown, and did not execute our game. We just could not generate anything offensively. But give Skyline credit. They did a heckuva job.”

Standout quarterback Caleb Williams could not get untracked for Crowley, the No. 5 team in the Star-Telegram’s current 6A area rankings. Williams finished with 102 yards passing, completing 12 of 21 passes with one interception, and rushing 12 times for 40 yards.

Standout wide receiver Derrick Tasby, a senior who is No. 62 on the Star-Telegram’s pre-season Top 100 area players list, did not suit up after sustaining an ankle injury in last week’s contest against Galena Park North Short.

“Derrick could have played if this was a district game,” Coach Lynn said. “He rolled it last week and we did not want to take a chance with him.”

Sophomore wideout Antayvious Ellis led the way for Crowley, hauling in eight passes for 72 yards. Ellis was the 6A District 3 offensive newcomer of the year last season as a freshman and already holds numerous Division I college offers, including Ohio State, Texas and Oklahoma.

He is No. 31 on the Star-Telegram’s pre-season Top 100 area players.

Skyline controlled and dominated the opening half, with Kevin Fuentes drilling a 38-yard field goal on the game’s initial possession. The Raiders’ Rohan Clarkson recovered a Crowley fumble on its first series, and running back Tyreke Cockroft, a transfer from Royse City where he rushed for over 1,200 yards last season, immediately capitalized, ripping off a 19-yard scoring gallop on the first snap that left Crowley with a quick 10-0 early deficit.

Crowley generated little offense -- just 69 yards -- in the first half. Meanwhile, after a 59-yard Eagles punt pinned the Raiders at their own five-yard line with 6:42 left before the break, Skyline quarterback Dante Ware engineered a 13-play 95-yard scoring drive that ate up 5:54 off the clock.

Ware converted a fourth-and-one at the Crowley 25 with an eight-yard keeper, and on the next play connected with Delvin Cook on a 17-yard aerial TD strike that left the Eagles trailing 17-0 at intermission.

Hoping to gain some momentum receiving the second-half kickoff, the Eagles suffered a second costly turnover. Skyline’s Sammy Shepard came up with an interception at the Crowley 46, which led to Cockroft racing 35 yards for a TD.

After forcing a Crowley punt on its next series, Skyline marched 51 yards on 13 plays in 5:25 with Ware again finding Cook on a three-yard TD pass with one second left in the third stanza. Skyline converted a trio of fourth down conversions on the drive, all short passes.

That left Crowley with a 31-0 deficit heading into the final period, which was scoreless.

“We will come back from this,” said Coach Lynn. “These games get us ready for district play. We will go back to the drawing board and come back next week.”

Skyline (2-1) fell 28-14 to Fort Bend Marshall last week, after a 21-7 season-opening win over North Forney.

For the Raiders, Donta Ware completed 14 of 23 passes for 114 yards and two TDs, while Tyreke Cockroft had a game-high 96 rushing yards on 15 attempts and a pair of scores on the ground.

Crowley hosts Tyler Legacy as it concludes its non-district slate with a Friday September 20 matchup with a slated 7 pm kickoff.