Posted: Sun, 27 Sep 2009 12:23 AM - 6,750 Readers
By: Kevin Posival
photo by David Morris
No one wants to remember how the top-ranked Lake Travis Cavaliers rolled through Killeen in their two meetings last year en route to their second straight Class 4A state title.
The Cavaliers (4-0, 1-0 25-4A) made it three straight over the Roos with their 56-31 win in the District 25-4A opener for both teams, but the Roos, who travel to Dripping Springs next week, proved they could score on Lake Travis.
Killeen (3-2, 0-1) just scored 18 points in their two meetings last year but had 21 in the first half Friday night at Leo Buckley Stadium.
"Any time you play a team twice in a year, you will pick up some things," said Killeen High coach Sam Jones. "We learned how to score on them ... I think we played them a little better offensive and defensively (this year)."
Lake Travis receiver Andy Erickson had five touchdowns and 223 yards of total offense. Junior quarterback Michael Brewer completed 23 of 28 passes for 386 yards and five touchdowns.
Killeen quarterback Michael Cummings threw for 347 yards and four touchdowns, including an 87-yarder to Rodney Brown on the first offensive play of the game.
"I felt it," said Brown, who finished with eight catches for 175 yards and three touchdowns. "Somebody had to take initiative to get the game started. Everything else fell into place."
The ball literally fell into his lap after Lake Travis safety Colin Lagasse let the pass juggle between his two hands before Brown was able to corral it and sprint the distance.
The two teams combined for 977 total yards of offense, including 660 in the first half.
"We've still got to learn how to slow them down a bit," Jones said.
After Brown's game-opening score, the Roos' defense held the Cavaliers to a three-and-out at the Killeen 6 and Lake Travis kicker Kramer Fyfe missed the 28-yard field goal.
Killeen failed to convert on fourth down on its next possession and Erickson had the first of his four first-half touchdowns on a 13-yard run.
Cummings hit Brown again for a Killeen score, this one from 53 yards away to put the Roos up 14-7, but the Cavaliers answered 66 seconds later with a 38-yard pass from Brewer to Erickson with 6:51 left in the first.
Lake Travis took its first lead when Brewer scored on a 17-yard keeper with 4:10 to go in the first after Killeen was forced to punt and then Lake Travis went up 28-14 on a 70-yard Erickson touchdown reception six seconds into the second quarter.
James Terrell recovered a Michael Pojman fumble at the Lake Travis 48 and Cummings hit Brown on a 17-yard toucdown pass that cut the lead to seven, 28-21, with 6:56 remaining before half.
But Brewer hit Erickson on a 42-yard touchdown strike and then hit Griffin Gilbert, the sophomore brother of former Cavaliers' quarterback and current University of Texas freshman Garrett Gilbert, on a 9-yard fade to put Lake Travis up 42-21 at halftime.
The Cavaliers iced it in the third.
After marching the second-half kickoff 72 yards in a little more than seven minutes leading to Erickson's 1-yard leap on fourth-and-goal, the Cavaliers defense, which sacked Cummings seven times for 36 yards in the game, held Killeen just minus-3 yards of offense in the period.
Lake Travis added a 60-yard touchdown pass from Brewer to Floyd Conner on the first play of the fourth quarter and the Cavaliers' offensive starters were done after that.
"They're a good team or they wouldn't be ranked No. 1 in the state," Jones said.
Killeen's first sustained drive of the second half finished with a 29-yard field goal by Christian McCain and Cummings completed a 62-yard touchdown pass to Ja'Corie Baker with less than 30 seconds left in the game.
"We scored more points (this year than last) but we had opportunities to score more points than we put up," said Cummings. "We left points on the field." *
