The past three years have been extremely kind to the Cedar Park Timberwolves. They have a state title under their belts, they’ve been to the finals in 2014, and they only lost one game last year. Stud quarterback Mak Sexton has seen the Timberwolves have ridiculous amounts of success over his high school days, Cedar Park is 39-5, with four of those losses coming in the same year. That’s a crazy amount of success.
Despite all the winning Cedar Park has been doing, something was a bit off about last year’s campaign: the Timberwolves didn’t make it to the finals, they fell in the third round to a ridiculously talented squad from Manvel.
The Timberwolves were down 40-21 to Manvel at the half, but Sexton lead them back, clawing within 5 points in the 4th quarter. A late Manvel touchdown pass sealed the Timberwolves’ fate, but Sexton still impressed, throwing for 415 yards and 4 touchdown passes against one of the fastest defenses in the state.
Despite only losing one game in two years, the end result still stings.
“I think our mentality has changed a lot,” said Sexton, when asked if Cedar Park would be changing their approach. “Winning 28 games straight, you kind of get used to winning…We expect to be back in those big games.”
Before they get into those deep playoff rounds, Cedar Park will have to navigate one of the toughest pre-district schedules in the state. They’re opening their season with Waco Midway, who many are picking as a massive dark horse contender in 6A. From there they’ll have a showdown with Vandegrift, who will always give you a run for your money.
“We use those (big games) as preparation for the playoffs. Once you get around those late rounds everyone has those D1 athletes. If you can get used to that early in the season, and continue to prepare throughout the season, we’ll be good for the playoffs,” said Sexton.
The ultimate goal for every single high school program is obviously to win a state championship, but few actually see this reality. Fewer still get the chance multiple seasons in a row. There are many other measures by which other programs can call their seasons a success, like beating a rival, winning their district, or simply winning a game. This isn’t the case at Cedar Park, where the taste of being the top dog has the Timberwolves chomping at the bit to get back.
“Our expectations are 16-0,” said Sexton. “Of course, we have to take it one week at a time, but the grind is for sixteen.”
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