Austin Lake Travis returns to Title game with win over Friendswood
December 14, 2008
COLLEGE STATION - The Austin Lake Travis Cavaliers (15-0) extended their two-year W/L record to 30-1 by soundly defeating the Friendswood Mustangs (11-2) by a score of 56-22 Saturday at Kyle Field. Despite the blowout, the game wasn’t even as close as the score makes it appear. The Cavs accounted for 556 yards of offense with Gatorade National Football Player of the Year, Garrett Gilbert tallying 384 of those, while notching three rushing touchdowns as well as three through the air.
The game started out with Friendswood getting the ball first. They put together one of their best drives of the night in moving the pigskin deep into Lake Travis territory, but the drive stalled because of overthrown and dropped passes. Lake Travis responded with a 12 play, 87 yard drive in just 3 minutes and 16 seconds. Chris Aydam capped the drive by taking a Garrett Gilbert pass in for a 6 yard score.
After a quick three-and-out by the Mustangs, Lake Travis again wasted no time in turning the possession into points 5 plays and 46 yards later. Another Gilbert pass - this time to Cade McCrary for 16 yards - put the Cavs up 14-0.
The second quarter began differently as Friendswood finally had the strong wind at their back and wasted no time in using it to their advantage. Just 9 seconds into the second stanza, Jacob Karam found Austin Fitzpatrick wide open going deep over the middle and he ran it 70 yards for the score. With the score at 14-7, it appeared that the Mustangs were poised to make it a game.
While it was clear that both quarterbacks were top notch and that both teams had excellent receivers, the real disparity between the two squads started to show as the Cavaliers line pushed the Mustangs d-line all over the field with ease. Garrett Gilbert known for his prowess throwing, looked like a running back as he piled up big play after big play on the ground. While he IS a great runner, he wasn’t being touched for the first 8 yards or so of each play - the holes were just that big.
Halftime came with Gilbert being involved in three more scores - a 19 yard run, a 34 yard pass to Austin Pollard, and another 1 yard TD run. The Cavaliers went into the locker room up 35-7 and more than double the yardage of Friendswood (374 to 142.)
In the third, the Lake Travis domination continued as the Cavs put up two more scores. One, on Garrett Gilbert’s 8 yard run, and another on a Chris Aydam 4 yard jaunt. Before the quarter came to an end, the Lake Travis fans saw something very familiar - Garrett Gilbert leaving the game with more than a quarter remaining.
In trash time (the fourth quarter) Friendswood did manage to put up two scores. Andrew Cole busted a 51 yarder with 10:18 to go in the game and backup quarterback, Peter Maetzold punched it across on a 1 yard run with 14 seconds remaining. The Cavaliers’ second team put up one score when Andy Erickson carried it from 9 yards out in the middle of the quarter.
In the end, the rest of the state has finally started to take notice that Garrett Gilbert is not only the “real deal,” but as Lone Star Gridiron’s Chris Doelle pointed after Gilbert’s debut game his sophomore year, “This is the best quarterback I have seen in 25 years of following Texas high school football - the BEST.” (Sept 2, 2006)
Next up for Garrett Gilbert and the Cavaliers is a return to Waco for what they hope will be their second straight 4A state title. They will be facing a very tough Longview team which earned the spot via their victory over a surprising Denton Guyer team 41-30. Longview has been a 5A team for a long while, but dropped this season to 4A after the realignment and should provide Lake Travis with a very tough test.
STATISTICS
RUSHING (carries-yards, TDs)
Austin Lake Travis
Garrett Gilbert (14-131, 3)
Chris Aydam (10-90, 1)
Friendswood
Andrew Cole (7-71, 1)
Peter Maetzold (3-12, 1)
PASSING (att-comp-int, yds, TDs)
Austin Lake Travis
Garrett Gilbert (30-21-0, 253, 3)
Micheal Brewer (4-2-0, 29, 0)
Friendswood
Jacob Karam (37-17-2, 233, 1)
Peter Maetzold (1-1-0, 18, 0)
RECEIVING (no-Yds, TD)
Austin Lake Travis
Austin Pollard (10-146, 1)
Floyd Conner (4-68,0)
Chris Aydam (4-30, 1)
Cade McCrary (4-30,1)
Friendswood
Austin Fitzpatrick (7-144, 1)
Andrew Cole (6-51, 0)
Chris O’Bryan (2-27, 0)
Cody Bergeson (2-24, 0)
TACKLES (unassisted-assisted, total, sacks)
Austin Lake Travis
Quinton Crow (2-4, 6, 0)
Ian Lazarus (2-4, 6, 0)
Jon-michael Paul (2-4, 6, 0)
Michael Streuling (3-2, 5, 0)
Friendswood
Beau Barnes (5-7, 12, 0)
Broderick Sasser (5-5, 10, 0)
Hunter Mcafee (4-4, 8, 0)
Brant Liufau (1-6, 7 0)
A complete play-by-play LIVE blog of the game can be found here.
Centex Clash - Lake Travis vs Cibolo Steele
November 18, 2008
A Class 4A Division I, Region IV game being played this weekend looks like it could decide the regional championship - Austin Lake Travis vs Shertz Cibolo Steele, Friday night in San Marcos on the campus of Texas State University.
Austin Lake Travis, the defending 4A state champion comes in with an 11-0 record and the top quarterback prospect in the state (and many say the nation) Garrett Gilbert (41 TD passes). In addition, the Cavaliers’ defense has sacked opposing QBs an amazing 45 times, led by Harry Hatch with 8 of his own. The stats are impressive across the board, but they really haven’t been tested this season. That will change with Friday’s game against Cibolo Steele.
The Cibolo Steel Knights come into the game with just one blemish (10-1) a 37-27 loss against a very tough Kerrville Tivy squad. They are led by the duo of QB Jacob Trevino (20 TD passes) and RB Malcolm Brown (10+ yards per carry), as well as several excellent receivers. The Knights are a very strong and very fast team that can take advantage of weakness on either side of the ball.
So will Malcolm Brown run over the Lake Travis defense or will Garrett Gilbert knock down a Cibolo defense that has notched 17 interception and 19 sacks? That will be determined Friday night at 7:30 in San Marcos.
by Chris Doelle
LoneStarGridiron.com
————–Statistical Leaders—————–
Austin Lake Travis Cavaliers
Offensive Leaders
Passing
Garrett Gilbert: 202 of 294 (68.7%), 3336 yards, 41 TDs, 2 INTs
Rushing
Chris Aydam: 79-538 yards (6.81 YPC) 7 TDs
Andy Erickson: 51-417 yards (8.18 YPC) 3 TDs
Garrett Gilbert: 50-313 yards (6.26 YPC) 9 TDs
Receiving
Cade McCrary: 61-1242 yards (20.4 YPC) 17 TDs
Austin Pollard: 32-586 yards (18.3 YPC) 7 TDs
Chris Aydam 31-397 yards (12.8 YPC) 5 TDs
Defensive Leaders
Tackles
Quinton Crow: 36 solo, 101 assists - 137 total
Harry Hatch: 36 solo, 49 assists - 85 total
Ian Lazarus: 55 solo, 17 assists - 72 total
Michael Streuling: 39 solo, 31 assists - 70 total
Sacks
Harry Hatch: 8
Todd Perry: 6
Quinton Crow: 5
Interceptions
Many: 2
Cibolo Steele Knights
Offensive Leaders
Passing
Jacob Trevino: 78 of 128 (60.9%), 1494 yards, 20 TDs, 2 INTs
Rushing
Malcolm Brown: 133-1352 yards (10.17 YPC) 17 TDs
Cory Anderson: 66-326 yards (4.94 YPC) 1 TD
Receiving
Sheldon McClain: 25-474 yards (18.9 YPC) 3 TDs
Anthony Foster: 19-344 yards (18.1 YPC) 8 TDs
Cameron Chandler: 8-290 yards (36.3 YPC) 5 TDs
Defensive Leaders
Tackles
Hunter Flake: 35 solo, 77 assists - 112 total
Zach Dye: 27 solo, 57 assists - 84 total
Dedrin Jones: 13 solo, 43 assists - 56 total
Shane Huhn: 18 solo, 36 assists - 54total
Sacks
JT Berish: 5
John Bailey: 5
Corey Hill: 4
Interceptions
Dedrin Jones: 4
Shane Huhn: 4
helmet graphics courtesy of Texas High School Helmet Project
