Falling short
The Woodlands’ state title quest ends with 41-13 loss.
ARLINGTON — Capturing the first state title in program history, in honor of a seriously injured teammate, with a coach that was on the school’s first varsity team, led by that coach’s son, seemed like the perfect ending to The Woodlands season.
But that’s not the story the Highlanders got.
The Lake Travis Cavaliers wrote their own storybook ending Saturday night — throttling The Woodlands 41-13 in the Class 6A Division I state championship game at AT&T Stadium.
“They got out on us and it was hard to catch up,” said The Woodlands coach Mark Schmid. “It took us out of our gameplan … and just didn’t work well.”
Lake Travis senior quarterback Charlie Brewer carved up the Highlanders’ defense to the tune of 434 total yards with four touchdowns and one interception.
The Woodlands struggled to move the ball all night, picking up just 15 first downs to the Cavaliers’ 22. Lake Travis also outgained the Highlanders with 490 total yards to The Woodlands’ 291. The Highlanders averaged 488.9 yards per game coming into Saturday’s matchup.
Saturday’s championship win gives Lake Travis its sixth in program history and its first in Class 6A. The Cavaliers lost to Katy 34-7 in last year’s championship game.
The Highlanders didn’t have the greatest of starts in their return to the championship stage for the first time since 2003.
A three-and-out on their opening possession was followed by Lake Travis driving down the field for a touchdown. Brewer completed all four of his throws on the drive, including a pass to a wideopen Cade Green in the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown to make it 7-0 with 8:28 left in the first quarter.
The Highlanders forced a three-and-out of their own on Lake Travis’ next possession, but they couldn’t get anything going offensively.
The Woodlands went three-and-out on its first three possessions, and senior quarterback Eric Schmid threw an intercep- tion on the Highlanders’ fourth drive.
It wasn’t until midway through the second quarter that The Woodlands picked up its initial first down of the game, and on its final drive of the half, Schmid found senior wideout Dylan Casey in man coverage on the outside for a touchdown with 25 seconds left in the half.
The Highlanders had their point-after attempt blocked, so Lake Travis took a 27-6 lead into the locker room.
Brewer, an SMU commitment, put on a clinic Saturday night — further demonstrating why he was named Offensive Player of the Year in Class 6A by the Associated Press.
He was 27-of-37 passing on the night, bringing his completion percentage to 77.2 for the year and making him the national record holder for best completion percentage in a season, passing Dano Graves from Folsom, Calif. (75.2 in 2009).
Trailing by multiple scores in the second half, The Woodlands kept fighting but was unable to move the ball consistently against the Cavaliers’ defense.
Down 34-6, The Woodlands got a boost when Casey picked off Brewer with 5:23 left in the third quarter. It was just the third interception thrown by Brewer this year.
The Highlanders were unable to do anything with the turnover, though, as on their ensuing drive, Schmid was intercepted in the end zone by Lake Travis junior defensive back Jake Foster on a pass intended for Casey.
Schmid finished the night 16-for-24 passing for 131 yards and two touchdowns. Senior running back Carlos Ramos had 91 rushing yards on 21 carries.
“We battled until the very end,” said Lake Travis coach Hank Carter. “I’m proud of all phases tonight.
“Our defense fought — that was an extreme offense we held down tonight — and our offense kept making good plays.