It wasn't too late for the Collierville High School Dragons to make the 2006 football season special. On Oct. 20, senior night – also the final regular season game at Herman Osteen Field – the Dragons were giddy with smiles as they routed the Kirby High School Cougars, 54-8. It wasn't the score that made the Dragons happy but the way they played.

"I think we came out and had a great game," said senior running back Zach Palmer. "We wanted to come out and really win."

Collierville scored on their offensive play on a misdirection inside handoff to senior Zach Palmer. He scampered nearly untouched for 19-yards into the end zone with 11:30 left in the first quarter. The extra point was no good, 6-0.

Five minutes later, the Dragons were on the board again. Collierville marched 50 yards in eight plays using a combination of run and pass. Senior quarterback Derek Pacileo connected with senior receiver Garrett Bizzell for an 11-yard pass taking the Dragons to the 21 yard line. Two plays later, Pacileo scored a rushing touchdown, 13-0.

Pacileo completed 4 of 7 passes for 41 yards. He added two passing touchdowns. Palmer rushed for 68 yards on eight carries.

The next time the Dragons went on the offense, they held the ball for 14 plays. The drive began at the end of the first quarter and ended with a touchdown at just over 9 minutes left in the second quarter. Along the way Bizzell hit Nick Reed on a fourth down trick play, and Pacileo scrambled for a 9-yard gain leaping and spinning away from would-be tacklers. The drive ended with a leaping catch to Bizzell from Pacileo. The extra point was no good, 19-0.

"We played to our potential tonight," said Collierville coach Paul Cox. "We needed this kind of game."

On their fourth drive, Kirby's Bubba Herald laid a lick to Pacileo's throat that even drew boo's from the home crowed. With the wind knocked out of the starter, back up sophomore quarterback Gabe Bouldien finished the drive by tossing the ball to Goins. The Dragons made their 2-point conversion attempt with 1:15 left in the half, 27-0.

The second half started almost exactly the same for the Dragons. On Collierville's opening drive junior Bart Smith instead of Palmer ran the ball 64-yards untouched to score, 33-0.

If it wasn't already – Collierville, officially, was taking Kirby behind the woodshed. Cox started slipping in his bench. And, they played well.

Bouldien scored on a quarterback keeper on the Dragons next possession to make the game 40-0. Senior receiver Harrison Bizzell scored his first touchdown of his high school career with 2:52 left in the third quarter to make it 47-0.

Collierville score for the last time with 8:21 left in the fourth quarter. With Bouldien at the helm, the Dragons mixed in running backs sophomore Al Burriss and junior Eric Smith. Burriss scored on a 9-yard underneath counter run, 54-0.

Defensively, senior Dustin Walker, junior Riyaz Manjiyani and sophomore John White hand their hands in recovering a fumble, sacking the quarterback and stopping Cougar running backs behind the line of scrimmage.

"It felt really good to get in the game and make that play on the fumble," Walker said.

Kirby finally got on the scoreboard with 1:23 left in the game when Collierville's Evan Stock missed an interception at the 8-yard line. Instead, the Cougar's Antonio Dodson caught the tipped ball. Kirby made their 2-point conversion attempt, 54-8.

"This was a huge game for us," said senior lineman Laine Halfacre. "I've been playing on this field since I was in seventh grade. We just need to go out and whip up on Wooddale next week."