The Westlake Chaps have been dominant in regular season play and look to continue their streak in the second round of the playoffs. A team that is used to winning expects to win. They handled the Cibolo Steele Knights convincingly 30-7 in the first round with ease.
Up next are the Brennan Bears at Texas State stadium over in San Marcos, last year they cruised to a 49-7 win, but Coach Dodge doesn’t want to look past them as they travel down IH-35. “We’re very excited to play at Texas State stadium we haven’t played there. Brennan is a very good team, we played them last year, but it didn’t show how well of a team they were, we jumped on them early.”
Coach wanted to make sure the Chaps doesn’t overlook their opponent. With just one loss this entire season he understands not to look at their next challenge. Every game is important. This week Coach Dodge wanted his team to take in this is a whole new year. “They (team) understand that Brennan is 9-2, they’re good and a very athletic team.” A one game at a time approach. A great team is disciplined and continues to get better.
Coach Todd Dodge asks for an explanation from an official on the sidelines in the Battle of the Lakes game at Lake Travis on October 11th 2019. The Cavs defeated Westlake 26-25!
Coach Dodge has one phrase of how his guys will respond when he needs them to make plays. “Next one in line.” Dodge believes in his players, no matter the conditions. He’s led them to a near perfect season. Westlake’s lone loss came against Lake Travis as they lost by one. Close games will not be an issue for his team.
As the next playoff stage of teams get ready to play it will all come down to coaching. Coach Dodge has earned himself as Central Texas’s top tier coaches.As the playoffs filter out the elite teams closing out their games let’s hope Westlake will stand victorious in San Marcos.
By
now, Longhorn fans have seen video clips or photographs of Sam Ehlinger
paying homage to Drew Brees by donning his throwback Westlake jersey at
the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day.
What
some may not know is that the idea didn’t come from Ehlinger himself,
and the jersey wasn’t found at an Austin-area merchandise shop. Instead,
the show of respect came about thanks to an alert teammate from
Homestead, Florida.
Senior
cornerback Davante Davis was walking near Canal Street prior to the
game when he spotted the jersey at a retail shop. After a quick text
message to an excited Ehlinger, Davis purchased the item, brought it to
Ehlinger and the quarterback reimbursed the $90 price tag.
Ehlinger
wore the jersey during a pregame walk into the stadium, and the former
Chaparral put in on once again after Texas had completed a 28-21 upset
of the highly-touted Georgia Bulldogs. Not even head coach Tom Herman’s
strict dress code policy could stop Ehlinger from honoring the NFL’s
all-time passing leader.
“Coming
into the Superdome, I had to respect Drew because of all the amazing
things he’s done in this building,” Ehlinger said. “I honestly wanted to
play like him and have a little magic. That was just paying my respect
to him.”
Brees
was sent a picture of Ehlinger’s tribute and posted his support on
Twitter. He said that he was able to catch most of the second half of
the Sugar Bowl and gave his Westlake predecessor credit for guiding the
Longhorns’ offense.
Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger heads to the locker room before the team’s Sugar Bowl NCAA college football game against Georgia on Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019, in New Orleans. Ehlinger wore a high school jersey of Westlake High School graduate and New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees. (Nick Wagner/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
“He
played big, his team played great, but he was obviously the leader and
the catalyst for the team,” Brees said. “I’m happy for his success and
he’s a great kid.”
Brees,
of course, led Westlake to the 1996 UIL Class 5A state championship
before departing for Purdue. Ehlinger left Westlake two decades later
and finished his prep career as the program’s all-time leader in passing
yards and touchdowns.
Brees
said he’s known Ehlinger for years and marveled at how the signal
caller has handled the spotlight of being the Longhorns’ starter.
“I
feel like I’ve seen him grow up a little bit, just knowing him since
middle school and high school and some of his goals and aspirations,”
Brees said. “I think he’s always envisioned himself being in that
position, playing for the University of Texas — the hometown team — and
leading them at quarterback. He’s done a phenomenal job of that in his
first two years. He’s still young. His future is very bright.”
That
opinion is shared by many that watched Ehlinger earn the Sugar Bowl’s
Most Outstanding Player award after becoming the first Texas quarterback
since Vince Young to rush for three touchdowns in a bowl game.
But
even after witnessing Ehlinger rise to national prominence in his own
backyard, Brees still seemed more surprised that the sophomore could
actually find one of his No. 15 Chaps jerseys.
“Did
he have to get that specially made or put a call in to the coach or AD
and borrow it?” Brees asked reporters in a press conference the day
after the Sugar Bowl. “I don’t know. It was cool.”
Westlake
High School has since remedied the problem of a potential lack of
inventory. It announced on Jan. 9 that the team store inside Chaparral
Stadium has ordered throwback Brees jerseys to sell, as well as versions
with Ehlinger’s No. 4 and Nick Foles’ No. 7.
Perhaps Davis should ask for a portion of the proceeds.
Todd Dodge knows his defensive coordinator Tony Salazar is going to leave him for a head coaching job sooner rather than later, but he’s going to hold on and cherish his prized assistant as long as he can.
The proof is in the pudding that Salazar knows how to coach up a defense. In four years as Leander’s defensive coordinator from 2009-12, the Lions gave up 19.2 points per game – 11.7 in his last season. The year after he left, that number ballooned to 27.1
The year before he came to Westlake, the Cha
ps allowed 27.1 points per game. In the four years since that number has never risen above 17.1.
When Dodge was the head coach at Marble
Falls, he hired Salazar away from Leander because he had so much trouble moving the ball against him. As they say: if you can’t beat em, hire em.
Dodge said the modern spread offense is about having lots of options and Salazar always found a way to take all those options away. He added that Salazar’s organization skills and ability to float around at practice because of his broad depth of knowledge at all the position groups are what separates him from the rest.
When you combine a wise coach with talented personnel the results can be dominant, and Salazar has a number of great pieces to work with on Westlake’s defense.
Senior defensive end David Neil is the boogeyman up front. He made 101 tackles last year with a team high in tackles for a loss (16) and sacks (13) while finishing third in quarterback hurries (nine).
Senior linebacker Jake Ehlinger (little brother of Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger) is the returning leading tackler with 104 stops. He registered seven of those behind the line of scrimmage with five sacks, four quarterback hurries, and a team-best four forced fumbles.
Junior safety Sage Luther anchors the back after tying the team lead with three interceptions to go with 79 tackles and four pass break-ups while earning the district defense newcomer of the year award as a sophomore.
Dodge admits defense is the strength of this team but is confident the offense will hold up its end of the bargain with senior quarterback Taylor Anderson leading the way.
Anderson was thrust into the starting job as a sophomore when an injury knocked out Sam Ehlinger and put up so-so numbers. He may not have been ready then, but he sure is now after posting 4,010 total yards (2,879 passing, 1,131 rushing), 46 total touchdowns (32 passing, 12 rushing, two receiving), a 63.2 completion percentage, 9.6 yards per attempt and just nine interceptions last year as a junior.
Dodge thinks Anderson will be even better in 2018, and hopefully, he’s right because no one is replicating the production the departed running back Nakia Watson (1,938 yards, 27 TDs) and the offensive line is mostly rebuilding as well.
Dodge’s ace in the hole is senior kicker Gabriel Lozano. Lozano made 83-of-84 extra points and 10-of-11 field goals, including a 40-yard game winner against Vandegrift. He’s also excellent in the field position department, where he averaged 55.1 yards per kickoff with 23 touchbacks and 40.9 yards per punt with nine downed inside the 20.
