Coaches downplay run, say rivalry with Westlake needs no hype.


photo by Andrew Loehman

Garrett Gilbert was a promising high school junior quarterback the last time Lake Travis lost a football game.

It was a warm summer night when Westlake defeated Lake Travis 28-21 at Chaparral Stadium in a game billed as the Great Lake Showdown.

All winning streaks are born somewhere, and Lake Travis has won 31 straight games since that loss on Sept. 7, 2007. The Cavs have won a pair of Class 4A state championships and established themselves as the dominant high school football program in Central Texas during that span.

Lake Travis owns the longest current winning streak in Texas, a badge of honor for the Cavaliers, but a motivational tool for opponents. That will be one of the story lines when Westlake travels to Cavalier Stadium on Friday night with hopes of busting the streak.

Westwood had its chance last Friday, but Lake Travis has reloaded without Gilbert, now a freshman at the University of Texas. A new group of Cavaliers, led by quarterback Michael Brewer, got off to an impressive start with a 55-31 victory over the Warriors.

Westlake will either be consecutive victory No. 32 for the Cavs ... or the end of a long journey.

"Our kids will not see this type of excitement again until late in the playoffs," Lake Travis second-year coach Chad Morris said.

Morris and Westlake coach Darren Allman have downplayed the importance of the streak during practices this week. The Cavaliers and Chaparrals have a natural neighborhood rivalry, and they have faced off in each of the past three years, with Westlake winning twice. Neither team needs extra incentive to get prepared for a game.

"The proximity of the two schools has a lot to do with it," said Allman, head coach at Odessa Permian for four years before moving to Westlake this season. "Our kids and parents have friends (from Lake Travis) and they're fully educated on the history of the rivalry.

"I simply look at this as two good football programs that have high expectations."

No Central Texas coach knows more about managing a long winning streak than Liberty Hill's Jerry Vance. The Panthers had their state-best 38-game winning streak snapped in December, when they lost a state semifinal against Celina.

Liberty Hill, like Lake Travis, won consecutive state championships during its streak, claiming 3A crowns in 2006 and 2007. Vance said there was more pressure trying to win a third straight state title than keeping the winning streak alive.

"I never wanted the kids pushing and letting a number determine how hard they played," Vance said. "Remember, these are 16-, 17- and 18-year-old kids and, in this day and age, they have little time to be kids. Start putting pressure on them to win a certain number of games, and I believe you're asking for some unwanted consequences."

Morris has taken a page from Vance's theory, saying he rarely talks about the streak to his players. Lake Travis boasts the nation's sixth-longest active streak, and is far behind Celina's state-record run of 68 victories from 1998-2003.

Most of the Lake Travis and Westlake players were not on the varsity teams when the Chaps won the 2007 matchup. Cavaliers linebacker Ian Lazarus played, but that game was dominated by former Chaps like tailback/receiver Jordan Etier (245 total yards) and quarterback Walker Kobelan (236 yards passing).

Gilbert finished with 159 yards passing and three touchdowns.

Allman, 40, learned plenty about heated rivalries when he played for Permian in the 1980s — he still holds the school's single-game interceptions record of four — and later as the school's head coach. Permian and Midland Lee have been state powerhouses, and fiery pregame speeches were unnecessary when they met.

"It can be counter-productive (to use the streak as motivation)," said Allman, part of Permian's 1984 state championship team. "We'll try to make the week as normal as possible, use the same routine, put the focus on our game plan."

The game, he said, requires no extra hype.


photo by Erich Schlegel