SAN ANTONIO – Westlake may be a popular pick to win the state championship, but for the first quarter, it seemed it was in for an upset.
Smithson Valley came out of the gates sprinting, hitting the Chaparrals in the mouth. But football is not a sprint, but more of a marathon. The Rangers learned that as the Chaparrals finished off another postseason win 51-31.
It started with a Trevon Moehrig-Woodard touchdown and a Ranger field goal, which ended the first quarter with a 10-7 lead.
To start the second quarter, a 50-yard post route by Mason Pierce ended with him catching and taking it into the end zone. The 17-7 lead ignited the Ranger sideline and fans, as it depleted that of the Chaparrals.
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Down 10 isn’t something the Chaparrals were used to. Westlake coach Todd Dodge said this was a scenario they had talked about before, because they didn’t know how the team would react.
“You got to talk about it, how are we going to act? Are we going to panic, act like a bunch of frontrunners,” Dodge said he asked his team before. “There for a little bit, they were handing it to us. There was no panic on the sideline, a little grit. Offensively we were in the wind at that time, so we put some things together and put the momentum back right there.”
The offense responded to the call, scoring three times in the second quarter. The first of which, 40-yard Taylor Anderson run to make it 17-14. Westlake’s defense stepped up big on the next drive, forcing a three-and-out.
The Chaparrals offense looked to be in for the same outcome on its next drive, until it reached into the bag of tricks. A double-pass put Westlake on the nine-yard line, with the chance to finally take a lead.
Wisconsin-commit Nakia Watson turned on his jets and took it around the edge for a touchdown on the next play.
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Each team scored one more time before half, but Westlake had a 28-24 lead going into the break.
Coming out, the Chaparrals were firing on all cylinders like the state-favorite they are praised to be. They scored 10 points in the third, keeping the Rangers scoreless. Coach Dodge said that quarter played a huge part, not because of the scoring but because of the wind.
“We really want to do is milk that quarter so they don’t really have a lot of touches with the wind,” Dodge said. “That was the strategy coming in, to establish Nakia and the run game in the third quarter.”
Westlake continued to pull away in the fourth quarter, as it entered with a 38-24 lead. It didn’t happen immediately, though. Smithson Valley quarterback Levi Williams first found Moehrig-Woodard for a 15-yard touchdown pass. All of the sudden, it was a one-score game with 8:38 left.
“What we tell our players is they get over here in the hot zone, on the bench, and you cheer on your teammates,” Dodge said. “We got a job to do. When we go out on the field, it’s our job to put points on the board. We don’t need to worry about the defense giving up a touchdown or whatever, we got to go and continue to score.”
They did exactly that. All while milking more than four minutes off the clock, Anderson ended the drive with an exclamation point. As he dropped back in the red zone, he hit Watson for 11 yards and a score to extend the lead 45-31 with just over four minutes left.
The Rangers began to panic, down two scores with little time left, they could see the end of the season approaching. Their next drive ended when Williams threw a ball that was intercepted by Westlake defensive back Connor Kelley. Kelley returned it 25-yards to the house to make the final 51-31.
Westlake will play either Edinburg Vela in Corpus Christi Buccaneer stadium Friday at 7:30. If Eagle Pass advances, it’ll travel back to San Antonio for a 8 p.m. Saturday kickoff.
