With the ball on their own 40 yard line, Atascocita junior running back Cardae Mack scooped up a fumble in a backfield. Evading defenders downfield, he made his way down the sideline into the end zone, turning what was supposed to be a momentum swing for the Chaps into a momentum-killer that ended up icing the game for the Eagles.
“We have to look deep inside and show more pride than we did tonight,” head coach Tony Salazar said. “In the second half, we had a lot of opportunities to come out and win this game. They were the better team.”
Westlake (2-1) couldn’t close out Atascocita (3-0) in a non-district contest Sept. 13 at Chaparral Stadium. The Chaps couldn’t score in the second half, getting outscored 22-0 in the final two frames en route to a 39-21 loss. The offense wasn’t able to take care of the football, as Junior quarterback Rees Wise threw three interceptions and senior running back Justice Johnson fumbled. The offense combined for a season-high four turnovers.
“They physically whooped us,” Salazar said. “They made all of the right plays down the stretch.”
The Chaps defense dominated at the start of the first quarter, forcing two straight Atascocita three-and-outs to begin the game behind a big performance for the defensive line. The field position created by them allowed Wise to engineer a Westlake drive that ended with him punching the ball in from four yards out to get the Chaps on the board first.
“When we get their offense behind the sticks, they are forced to play dimensionally,” senior defensive end Cullen Devine said. “As a defense, we are able to more accurately predict what type of plays we were receiving.”
The Chaps were able to hold off the Eagles offense until midway through the second quarter. Mack barely handled the snap on a fourth down from the 37 yard line before throwing a glance route to senior wide receiver Brodrick Malone who broke two tackles into the end zone. The Eagles kept pace with the Chaps until halftime, scoring 10 more points on the Westlake defense.
“Getting TFL’s is huge for us,” Devine said. “We are able to call coverages or blitzes that can put us in the best position to make plays, even if we aren’t going to get a stop every drive.”
Atascocita began to pull away in the second half, driving the ball down the field and lofting a touchdown pass to get the scoring started in the third. Wise couldn’t connect with his receivers, tossing two picks in the second half. A 20-yard touchdown pass to Mack and a two point conversion put the nail in the coffin for the Chaps.
“We have to go back to the drawing board,” Salazar said. “We have to look ourselves in the mirror and fix some of these things.”
Through two head coaches, four starting quarterbacks, and countless positional players, one thing was always consistent: the Westlake varsity football team was going to be undefeated in the regular season. Their historic loss to Atascocita marks their first regular season loss since Oct. 11, 2019, and their first home loss since Sep. 11, 2018.
“We can’t waste time dwelling on the outcome of one game,” Devine said. “Especially when we line up against another great team right after it.”
The No. 14 Chaps look to bounce back against No. 9 Steele Sept. 20 at Lehnoff Stadium in Schertz. The last matchup between the two teams was in the 2021 state playoffs, a 34-0 Westlake win. The Chaps have taken the last three games against the Knights.
“What I’ve tried to echo through our locker room is that there is a lot of football left to play,” Devine said. “We are nowhere near playing our best football. As a team that has a standard of playing into December, we have to be able to learn from each game and get better every week.”
