Northwestern's Harris calls up his best in clash of prep titans
DALLAS — Northwestern (Miami) coach Billy Rolle calls senior quarterback Jacory Harris a coach on the field.
The compliment is more than lip service. Rolle says it because Harris, who has given a verbal commitment to the Miami Hurricanes, calls the plays.
GALLERY: Images of Southlake Carroll and Miami Northwestern
Harris directed a productive passing game, throwing for 280 yards and four TDs as the No. 2 Bulls defeated No. 1 Southlake (Texas) Carroll 29-21 on Saturday in front of 31,896 fans at Southern Methodist's Ford Stadium.
"My performance wouldn't have been as good if I didn't have those linemen blocking in front of me or my receivers catching the ball," Harris said. "It wasn't easy. We played a great football team. They showed us why they've been No. 1 (in Texas) all these years."
Northwestern's victory ended Carroll's 49-game winning streak, which began at the start of the 2004 season. It was just the third time in the history of USA TODAY's Super 25 prep football rankings that the top two teams played. It was the first time those teams were not from the same state.
Former Dallas Cowboys players — Nate Newton, whose son Tre is a running back for Carroll, Michael Irvin and Deion Sanders — attended the game. All three played college football at Florida schools.
The game, billed as the "Clash of Champions" pitting Florida's best vs. Texas' best, was a hard-hitting, competitive contest filled with fine plays and mistakes.
Harris kept his miscues to a minimum. Few NFL and colleges coaches let their quarterbacks run the offense. But Rolle trusts Harris, ranked the No. 4 dual-threat quarterback in the nation by Rivals.com.
"Jacory's a leader," Rolle said. "He's very smart out there, and we ask him to do a lot for us."
After Carroll went 87 yards for a touchdown on its first series, the Bulls responded. Harris threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to 6-4 senior receiver Tommy Streeter. The Harris-Streeter connection proved efficient. Streeter caught two more touchdown passes, including the winning score, a 75-yarder with 5:56 left in the third quarter.
Northwestern borrowed the play from the Dragons' playbook after watching video of Carroll run it.
"We were running it against our defense in practice during the week," Harris said. "We decided to give it a try."
In the end, the Dragons made too many mistakes against a team with uncommon talent, size and speed offensively and defensively. Two of Carroll's five turnovers came inside Northwestern's 10-yard line.
The Bulls also stuffed Carroll's running game, holding Newton to 39 yards on 13 carries. While Dragons quarterback Riley Dodge threw for 260 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, Carroll's offense sputtered in the second half.
"I'll take the blame," Carroll coach Hal Wasson said. "We had opportunities. We just didn't capitalize. It's also Northwestern making plays. They made big plays at big times, and we didn't."
Superb Pryor:
Jeannette (Pa.) QB Terrelle Pryor, rated the No. 1 player in Class of 2008 by Rivals.com, completed 7 of 11 passes for 120 yards and one touchdown and rushed nine times for 127 yards and one score in a 53-0 win vs. Yough on Saturday.
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