The rivalry goes back 20 years and for majority of them, Westlake has made the game look like a cross-river tussle they couldn’t lose.
The tables turned three years ago when Austin High topped the Chaps for first time, the proceed to beat the Chaps again in 2007. This year the two rivals made it look like a State Title game rested on the outcome at Chaparral stadium.
After four quarters of play, the two teams sat locked at 42. In overtime, the Chaps had their shot from the 25-yard line first. Bryce Hager pushed the ball in on a four-yard touchdown run and gave his team a 49-42 lead.
“It was an incredible atmosphere,” Hager said, “the fans were so loud we couldn’t hear each other.”
On their chance for a rebuttal, the Maroons drove the ball to the two-yard line and then lost five yards on a false start. The game came down to the final Maroon play, with fourth and seven, QB Jacob Morgan throttled the ball towards wide receiver Cayleb Jones in the end zone.
Surrounded by members of the Westlake secondary, Jones could not secure the completion, and the Chaps stormed the field in celebration.
“Really, I don’t want to ever go through anything like that again,” coach Darren Allman said, “but I am a little excited about the way it all played out. We had to lean on our offense tonight, and they just kept producing time after time… The offense pulled us through and the defense made enough stops, especially that one at the end.”
For both Allman and L.D. Williams, this marked their first meeting in the rivalry, as both just began their roles as head coaches at their respective schools in the last year.
“It can’t get any better than that, and they’ve got a lot of great players,” Allman said. “We’re going to have our hands full every year it looks like.”
The game sat locked in ties for the majority of the game. Westlake gained the lead early, but never led by more the seven points. Austin gained the lead for the first time in the game midway through the fourth quarter to make the score 42-35.
Westlake struggled to answer the Maroon score, but finally managed to tie the game with 2:28 left in the game. Tanner Price completed a 27-yard touchdown pass to Miles Berger.
On both sides of the ball, Hager made big plays to help his team win. RB Hager accounted for four Westlake touchdowns. At LB Hager showed off his speed and made frequent tackles.
After sitting out last week due to an off infraction, Morgan made up for lost time by throwing for 541 yards while completing 39-of-55 passes. Many of those passes went to Thomas Coffman and Jones.
“We didn’t number four and number two enough credit,” Allman said of Coffman and Jones, when talking about how he had planned for the game. “They’re better than we thought they were.”
Only a sophomore, and already 6-3 and 180 pounds, Jones will likely pop-up on D-1 recruiting radars across the country soon. Jones worked as the go-to WR and pummeled the Chaps secondary as he gained 282 yards on 17 receptions with two TDs.
Now 5-4 on the season and 3-4 in the district, Austin closes the season with Anderson. Westlake (7-2, 5-1) finishes the regular season with Akins on Thursday.
Central Texas Notes
A week after losing to Cedar Park, Stony Point came back strong and beat Vista Ridge 38-7. Sam Kelly had three touchdowns and 138 yards in the game.
Bastrop continues to roll through district 25-5A as they beat Akin 35-21. Barring a loss against Bowie next week the district championship will go to the Bears.