By Michael Adams
madams@onthesidelinessports.com

Liberty Hill and Wimberley will try tonight to stamp their ticket for next weekend’s UIL football state championships, while Westlake will get the chance on Saturday.

If you believe the experts, Austin is at great risk to be shutout of state championship weekend at AT&T Stadium in Arlington for the first time since 2013.

Dave Campbell’s Texas Football picked all three teams to lose their respective state semifinal this weekend.

The Dallas Morning News pick em’ panel overwhelmingly picked North Shore to beat Westlake and Port Neches-Groves to beat Liberty Hill. However, unlike DCTF, all eight on the panel did pick Wimberley to beat Bellville.

Read more

• The Austin-area state championship game history since 2000

An Austin-metro team has made the state championships 17 times in the last 20 years. Along with the 2013 snub, the Austin-metro missed out on the 2004 and 2005 state championship games.

Teams from the Austin-area have collectively won 13 Texas high school state football championships but has a .406 winning percentage in title games.

Lake Travis, who lost to rival Westlake in last weekend’s regional final, has played in nine state championships, winning five straight from 2008-2011 and again in 2016. The Cavaliers six state titles are the most in the Austin-area.

Preview stories

• Class 6A-I Preview: Westlake vs. North Shore
• Class 5A-II Preview: Liberty Hill vs. Port Neches-Groves
• Class 4A-II Preview: Wimberley vs. Bellville
• State semifinal game times and locations

Westlake is attempting to reach its’ ninth state championship game since 2000 this weekend. The Chaps play Galena Park North Shore in a Class 6A-I state semifinal on Saturday. Westlake won three straight championships from 2019-2021 and are 3-5 in state title games since 2000.

Liberty Hill will attempt to reach its fifth state championship game tonight against Port Neches-Groves. The Panthers won their last state championship in 2007 when they defeated Gilmer 38-13 in the Class 3A-Division II final. It was the second straight Class 3A-II state championship for Liberty Hill. The Panthers last reached the state championship game in 2021.

Wimberley was one of two Austin-area representatives in the 2022 championships along with Vandegrift. The Texans are trying for their fourth state championship appearance since 2000 on Friday against Bellville.

Wimberly won state championships in 2011 and 2005, defeating Argyle in the 2011 Class 3A-Division II title game and Gainesville in the 2005 Class 3A-I game.