By Michael Adams
Austin Sports Journal
DRIPPING SPRINGS – Lake Travis had a bit of redemption on Friday.
The Cavaliers ran for 218 yards and used defensive dominance to defeat Dripping Springs 49-21 Friday night at Tiger Stadium in Dripping Springs.
It was Lake Travis’ first win against Dripping Springs since 2011. However, the two long-time rivals didn’t play from 2012 to 2021.
Running back Vann Hopping led the Cavaliers (7-0, 3-0 District 26-6A) with 148 yards and scoring two touchdowns.
Quarterback Chaston Ditta was also spectacular, throwing for 240 yards and running for 70 more while delivering four total touchdowns for Lake Travis.
See more photos of Friday’s game.
The best start since 2015
Lake Travis is 7-0 to start a season for the first time since 2015.
The Cavaliers reached the Class 6A-Division I state championship game where they lost to Katy 34-7. However, Lake Travis went on to win the state championship game the following year.
There’s a lot of similarities between the two teams, and this could be Lake Travis’ most talented teams since that 2016 state championship team.
The closest anyone has got to beating the Cavaliers this year was Rockwall in Week 2. Lake Travis won that game on a late-fourth quarter pass by Ditta to Patrick Colby to secure the 45-42 win over the Yellowjackets.
Another test awaits the Cavaliers in Week 9 with rival Westlake making the short trip to Cavalier Stadium.
Not looking ahead
Common coach speak is that the team is only focused on the opponent in front of them.
However, there’s always a small chance of getting caught looking ahead when your biggest rivalry is the one behind your current opponent.
That wasn’t the case on Friday.
One might argue that the Cavaliers had a lot of unfinished business with the Tigers.
After all, Dripping Springs (6-2, 3-1) has beat Lake Travis in the last two meetings since moving up to Class 6A in 2022.
Lake Travis left no doubt and put up 21 points in the first 13 minutes of the game with two touchdown runs of 47 and two yards by Hopping and a touchdown pass by Ditta to Josiah Thomas.
If the Cavaliers weren’t looking ahead to Westlake next week, they were certainly sending a message to the Chaparrals.
Defensive dominance
Lake Travis’ offense may have been firing on all cylinders, but a signature of Cavalier football under head coach Hank Carter is a dominating defense.
And it was on full display Friday night.
Dripping Springs’ offense didn’t get into Lake Travis territory until late in the second quarter. Even then, it was the result of a big play when quarterback Maddox Maher threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Jakob Rivas with 2:06 left in the first half.
Defensive end Gus Cordova, a USC pledge, was in Maher’s face most of the game leading a fierce pass rush. Cordova also batted down a few pass attempts in the process.