Huddled in a semi-circle post game, head coach Tony Salazar stood up in-front of his team. Since letting up 29 points in a season-opening loss to Prosper, the defense let up no points to the Bulldogs.
“Defense is growing up a bit.”
Westlake’s (5-1, 2-0 District 26-6A) defense suffocated Bowie (4-3, 1-2 District 26-6A) 30-7 Friday night at Burger Stadium. Bowie’s only points of the night came through a defensive pick six.
“I think what we saw tonight was a little step of our defense growing up,” Salazar said. “I’m just excited about the way they are playing, trending. Less mistakes and more anticipation of the play. Good job by our defense today.”
As the defense has gotten better, injuries grew prevalent, especially on the defensive line. Last week against Austin High, senior defensive lineman Maddox Flynt suffered an injury. His status remains unknown. After Flynt went down, new players had to take on bigger roles.
“Injuries are going to happen in this game,” Salazar said. “… We can’t sit there and worry about what we don’t have. We got to worry about what we can control and that’s the next guy up and the opportunity for him to go out there and play.”
One of those players is senior defensive lineman Jack Burham, a transfer from St. Andrews and a Princeton commit. He had played second team reps all year before getting the start at defensive tackle this week.
His start resulted in eight total tackles and one tackle for loss, a career high.
Another player who has had to take on a bigger role is senior defensive lineman Austin Knape. Now as the player with the most experience and seniority on the line, he has become the anchor and leader of the group. He added a TFL during the win.
Both the linebackers and defensive line were crucial in stopping the run. Coming into the game, Bulldogs junior running back Rhys Moreno averaged 149 rushing yards a game. He was limited to only 65 yards and no touchdowns against the Chaps.
As the running game struggled, so did the Bulldog offense. The Chap defense continued to hold strong, especially inside the red zone. Bowie ended the game 0-for-3 on fourth down, all of them inside the Westlake 20 yard-line.
The secondary has also battled injuries all year long. Senior defensive back Thompson Bennett had multiple injuries but came back and helped limit the Bulldogs to 146 passing yards. Junior defensive back Wylie Nichols added to the effort with a crucial pick that was thrown right into his chest just as the Bulldogs crossed the ball into Chap territory.
“We had a big time interception,” Knape said. “It was just a good game. A lot of fourth down stops and if the offense does something wrong, we got their back.”
After the offense’s one costly error in the game, a pick-six, the defense hunkered down and allowed zero points the rest of the game. The Chaparral special teams got involved in the scoring and added two points to the Chaparral lead after a blocked punt rolled out the back of the endzone and went for a safety.
Now, the focus turns over to the Battle of the Lakes matchup next Friday in a matchup that will determine the leader in the District 26 standings. Lake Travis is led by their rushing attack in senior running back Vann Hopping who averages 107 yards per game and two touchdowns a game.
“Beat LT,” Knape said.
