After injury, Carthage star taking 'golden opportunity' to help fuel Texas title hopes
LONGVIEW, TEXAS - A cold, constant rain fell hard all throughout the night, even at game’s end.
Many of the players on Carthage’s football team — after singing the school song with their fans — quickly made a beeline for the fieldhouse at Pirate Stadium, seeking immediate refuge from the lousy weather.
It may not have been the ideal conditions for the Bulldogs as they began defense of their Class 4A Division II state championship. In the end, though, with their 42-0 bi-district playoff win against Liberty-Eylau on Nov. 9, they were able to make it to the next round.
Of all the players that took part in the decisive win against the Leopards, one Bulldog in particular didn’t really mind the rain. He didn’t care if he was playing in rain, snow or sunshine.
KD Matlock was just happy to be playing on a football field. Weather wasn’t going to deter him, considering all that he went through earlier this season.
There was talk that Matlock’s season was done after the opening ballgame. His golden opportunity - gone, just like that. A season relegated to standing on the sidelines and cheering on his teammates as they attempt to make it back to AT&T Stadium in Arlington and play for the program’s 10th state championship.
KD Matlock, though, didn’t listen to the outside noise. He heard his own voice, in his own head, essentially saying, “You’ll be back.”
Matlock entered his senior season with plenty of promise. And he was able to land the job of starting tailback, especially with the offseason move of LaRandion Dowden, who transferred to Wills Point and was a focal point of Carthage's 2022 championship squad.
Now, Matlock was wanting to follow in the footsteps of Dowden, of Keaontay Ingram, of Tevin Pipkin, of Mason Courtney, of those Carthage backs that racked up yards and the state titles during the remarkable reign of head coach Scott Surratt.
Things appeared to look good in the season opener on Aug. 25, a road game against Kilgore. On the team's second play from scrimmage, Matlock darted 67 yards to the end zone and continued to find holes and run the ball at will.
But late in the ballgame, things took a drastic turn for the worse. He injured his right knee on a play that Matlock still hasn’t been able to process.
“I don’t even know how to explain the injury to you; it just happened out of nowhere,” he said. “It was a game, I got hit and it ruined everything.”
A knee injury. A torn MCL and an ACL. Doom permeated the Carthage sideline, and for Matlock, a sinking feeling to go along with the intense pain he was experiencing at that instant.
“When it first happened, I thought this was over with,” he said. “When I got to the sidelines and they told me it was my MCL and my ACL, I thought my high school career would be over with.”
Carthage senior tailback KD Matlock speaks after the Bulldogs' bi-district playoff victory against Liberty-Eylau on Nov. 9, 2023.
Something happened while he was being taken off the field. A strong determination that he wasn’t going to end his career at Carthage that way.
No, Matlock was going to prove he would come back, and come back stronger than ever.
That’s when the rehabilitation process began in earnest.
“I had to go through six weeks of treatment on my knee. … It was me lifting on it, doing quad strength, hamstring strength on it,” Matlock said. “Squats, lunges, all of that.”
He also found strength from a different avenue - his teammates. In particular his backfield mates, sophomore quarterback Jett Surratt and fellow tailback KJ Edwards, another sophomore.
“Jett, he was the main one pushing me to get through all of the treatment and stuff,” Matlock said. “KJ, he was there on my side at each step.”
Leadership is an asset Matlock brings to the Bulldogs.
“I just bring all of that excitement to the team; I’m a team leader, everybody looks up to me,” he said.
So, the main thing Surratt encouraged Matlock on during his rehab process was to continue his role as a leader.
“I just told him that God has a plan for all of us and that this wasn’t what we wanted to happen but that all he can do now is be the best leader he can possibly be,” Surratt said. “I told him that he was an incredible player and an even better leader and that he is going to have an impact towards our team regardless of if he’s playing or not and he has done just that.”
Then finally, on the week of Carthage’s home game against Brownsboro, on Sept. 29, Matlock received the news he had waited all season to hear.
Being officially cleared to play.
“I was happy, I was just smiling all day,” he said.
Then that night - five weeks to the night that Matlock's promising season appeared to be in peril - Matlock found himself on the turf at Bulldog Stadium and took it all in. He saw limited action in Carthage’s 45-0 win, though that was by design from the coaching staff.
But Matlock was just glad to suit up and hit the field once more.
“When I first got back onto the field, I was nervous because I couldn’t get hit on my knee and be out again at any time,” Matlock said.
Ah, but the reward turned out to be greater than the risk. Even a bit of icing on the cake, as Matlock was able to score not one but two touchdowns in his return to the Bulldogs.
He was able to score two more TDs before the regular season ended, providing to be a complementary back to Edwards, who has emerged as one of the state’s top rushers as a sophomore.
“Once he went down we thought he was done for the season so for him to come back it’s been incredible for both my team and I,” Surratt said. “Just to see his commitment and dedication to get back on the field has boosted all of us to want to play for him and the others injured because we never know if it’s going to be our last snap or not.
“He’s an incredible player and an even better leader.”
Fast forward to Nov. 9, the Bulldogs’ postseason opener.
With rain falling in droves, it took Carthage a while to get settled in. But the Bulldogs scored four second-quarter TDs to make some distance.
One of those touchdowns was Matlock catching a screen pass from Surratt. Matlock then made a move upfield and was able to outrace the secondary for a 49-yard play that put the Bulldogs up, 28-0.
“When I first saw it, it was a bad ball, but I happened to get on track and catch it and get behind all my blockers,” he said. “The o-linemen that I have. It’s great running behind all of them big linemen.”
He couldn’t stop smiling after the game, even as the rain continued to intensify.
“It felt great to be on the field,” Matlock said. “At the beginning of the season, I thought I had lost it all, and with me coming back, it just helped us all.
“I’m at like 95 percent; I’m not fully recovered all of the way.”
The Bulldogs moved their record to 12-0 last week with another decisive win, beating Van Alstyne in the area round. Carthage now gets set to face Texarkana Pleasant Grove in a regional semifinal showdown Friday afternoon, right back at Pirate Stadium in Longview.
Matlock wants to have similar results like he had there two weeks ago. And to help Carthage make it back to Arlington to play for title No. 10.
And here's a postscript: When he was interviewed following the Liberty-Eylau game, Matlock lamented the fact that he had yet to receive a college offer, even before the injury.
“I don’t have any colleges looking at me right now. … It would be great if I have one, just one college come up to me and ask,” Matlock said.
A few days later, his wish was granted. He remarked on his X page that he received an offer from Northern Arizona University.
So the good fortune continues to smile on Matlock. No doubt he’s giving good thanks on this special Thanksgiving.
But whether or not he scores another touchdown, and whether or not Carthage can add to its abundance of state championship trophies, Matlock has also received an early Christmas present, something that’s of the utmost importance to him now.
“Being able to sit back up,” he said.
-- Buck Ringgold | buck@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveTX
Photo of Carthage's KD Matlock by Addison Glaze, The Panola Watchman
