Tied 0-0 and with five minutes left till the second quarter, Lake Travis quarterback Luke McBride dropped back to pass, hoping to get some momentum going for his team. McBride scanned the field and fired toward his teammate.
Instead, he found senior defensive back Thompson Bennett diving for the ball and coming up with an interception for the Chaps.
“I was just trying to get the game going,” Bennett said. “I was just trying to set the team up the best I could.”
Despite Bennett and the defenses’ best efforts, the Chaps (5-2, 3-1 District 26-6A) were smothered by the Lake Travis (8-0, 4-0 District 26-6A) offense in a 31-10 loss. An injury-riddled defense kept it close in the first half but gave up 18 points in the second half. The loss puts the Chaps second in the District 26-6A standings and gives the Cavaliers a wide open path to their first District Championship since 2019.
“We just didn’t have enough today,” head coach Tony Salazar said. “We needed to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football to start, and we didn’t do that. And when you don’t do that, things start to unravel, and you start finding holes in the rest of your football team.”
The Chaparral defense came up with two turnovers on the night, both in the first half. Aside from Bennett’s pick, senior defensive lineman Pasquale Maurici stripped McBride of the ball on a read option and recovered it himself. The Chaps special teams also added to it with a blocked point-after-touchdown.
But with no points coming from any of the turnovers, Lake Travis led 13-7 going into halftime.
The interception and fumble were McBride’s only blemishes of the night. In the second half, McBride completed two touchdown passes, both to Cavalier wide receiver Westin Smith. Both touchdowns, a 48-yarder and a 38-yarder, came on the same post route. Smith beat his man on the first and was left wide open for the second.
Smith’s touchdowns made it an 18 point game going into the fourth quarter. Smith finished with 136 yards on five receptions along with his two touchdowns.
“They’re just a good football team,” Salazar said. “…Had a busted coverage on the big post down there at the last touchdown. They did some good things, and obviously that’s why they’re where they’re at, undefeated, and one of the top teams in the state.”
The Chaps defense has battled injuries all season and felt the absence of senior defensive lineman Maddox Flynt in this game. The Cavaliers took advantage by using running back Vann Hopping for much of the game. By halftime, Hopping was already well over 100 yards.
“One of the biggest [injuries] that kept us from being physical up front was number 99 [Flynt],” Salazar said. “But obviously there are no excuses, it’s just about being the next man up and taking hold of the moment. We didn’t take hold of the moment tonight.”
In addition to a plethora of injuries, senior defensive back Bryan Zhang went down in the second quarter on a fumble recovery. He returned to the sidelines later, but was on crutches.
The Cavs suffered some injuries of their own. On a third and five early in the third quarter with the Cavaliers up 13-7, McBride hit Hopping on a slip screen. Hopping came up short of the first down and did not get up from the field until helped off by the trainers. Hopping returned to the sidelines with crutches while running back Wesley Glass took over and added 40 total yards.
“They got a good couple running backs,” Bennett said. “We should’ve responded better.”
From now on, the Chaparral’s road for a fifth straight District 26-6A Championship gets much harder. The Cavaliers will need to drop their next two games, Akins and Austin High, and the Chaps need to win out against Del Valle and Dripping Springs. The Chaps visit Del Valle on Halloween night and will look to move to 14-0 all time against the Cardinals.
“The only mistake is if we don’t learn from this,” Tony Salazar said. “We’re gonna show up tomorrow [Saturday morning], hopefully with a pride to scratch a little bit. Hopefully, a little pissed off even, and turn that into motivation to get better.”
