In 2007, Jason Bird caught a state-record 153 passes as Lake Travis won its first state football championship.

A year later, Cade McCrary earned all-state status as the Cavaliers rolled to another title.

Last season, as Lake Travis won yet another state championship, Andy Erickson had 1,339 receiving yards while Conner Floyd hauled in 66 catches.

Griffin Gilbert, you're up.

In a 32-21 victory over Westlake, Gilbert became the latest Cavalier to establish himself as a go-to receiver. Playing on the same field that his brother will star on this fall, Gilbert, the younger brother of Texas Longhorns quarterback Garrett Gilbert, caught nine balls and a touchdown.

"It definitely feels very good to come out here and be the guy that stepped up," said Gilbert, who had 164 receiving yards. "Our whole team actually stepped up."

With the rest of his teammates struggling in the first half — Lake Travis had numerous dropped balls in the first two quarters — Gilbert emerged as a consistent force in the Cavalier receiving corps. He caught four balls before halftime and his 29-yard touchdown catch with 17 seconds left in the first half narrowed Westlake's lead to 15-10.

On its second drive of the second half, Lake Travis finally appeared to have re-established the offensive flow that had helped the team win 46 straight games. But on Cameron Wrinkle's 5-yard touchdown run, Floyd fell limp at the Lake Travis goal line.

Floyd, who has committed to the University of Tulsa, was carted off the field with an apparent leg injury.

"When Conner went down, that scared me for a lot of reasons," Lake Travis coach Hank Carter said. "I really worried how the rest of our team would handle that because he's one of our guys."

The Cavaliers handled the situation pretty well.

Down 21-16 at the time of Floyd's injury, Lake Travis went for a two-point conversion and Michael Brewer immediately hit Gilbert for a successful conversion.

Less than three minutes later Brewer got into the end zone to give Lake Travis a 25-21 lead, and the Cavaliers never looked back.

"Conner's like my best friend and just seeing him down like that hurt me a lot," Gilbert said. "Our whole team had to keep our composure \u2026 and we did that."

After the game, Carter declined to talk about the severity of Floyd's injury. But the loss of Floyd, who has 107 catches during the past two seasons, would deal a blow to an offense that is already struggling to replace Erickson, who accounted for 35 touchdowns last season.

"We've just got to take it one play at a time; we try not to think about the pressure," senior wide receiver Tanner Gillette said.

"We practice these kind of situations — if someone goes down — so we're ready for it."