Lake Travis has been San Antonio Madison’s bugaboo for
some time now. That proved to be the case again on Friday when the
Cavaliers knocked the Mavericks out of the playoff for the fourth
straight year with a 49-21 victory at Rattler Stadium in San Marcos, TX.
With star quarterback Hudson Card still on the shelf from the
foot injury he suffered against Westlake, Lake Travis leaned on junior
running back Weston Stephens, who paced the offense with 20 carries for
165 yards and three touchdowns. It was the fourth time in five games
he’s hit the century mark in rushing after doing it zero times before.
He also had five catches for 61 yards.
Junior quarterback Nate Yarnell was 19-of-25 for 239 yards with
two touchdowns and one interception. With 1:41 left in the half and
Lake Travis leading only 14-7, Yarnell engineered a perfect two-minute
drill. He completed five-of-six passes to march the Cavaliers 58 yards
on nine plays, the last a four-yard touchdown toss to senior Grayson
Sandlin (six receptions, 78 yards) with 15 seconds left on the clock.
Lake Travis’s defense had the Mavericks’ attack completely out of sorts until the fourth quarter. Madison scored on only one of its first nine possessions, and that scoring drive was aided by two 15-yard face-mask penalties and culminated with a strange touchdown pass on a broken play.
Maui Trevino makes a tackle in the the 3rd Quarter at Rattlers Stadium against the Madison Maverick’s in a decisive win for the Div I 6-A Area Playoff. Cavs will face Weslaco next week in San Antonio likely the Alamodome on Friday Nov 29th at 1pm.
With the score 35-7 late in the third quarter, senior
linebacker Maui Trevino intercepted a pass and returned it to Madison’s
12. Three plays later, Lake Travis gave one of their big guys some love
as senior guard Andrew Salem (6-foot-2, 270 pounds) rumbled four yards
for touchdown to effectively ice the game.
AUSTIN
— It’s common knowledge that Lake Travis spent the latter portion of
the season trying to work through an injury to starting quarterback
Hudson Card.
Thankfully for the Cavaliers, senior middle linebacker Maui Trevino is still there to command the other side of the ball.
Head
coach Hank Carter’s team kicked off the 2019 postseason by stifling
Smithson Valley 21-3 at home on Friday, Nov. 15 in Austin. In that game,
Lake Travis surrendered an early field goal to the Rangers but
absolutely clamped down on the visitors for the remaining three
quarters.
Trevino
was in the middle of the action all night and helped slow Smithson
Valley’s not-so-secret weapon — senior running back/wide receiver Greg
Eggleston, who came into the contest averaging 11.7 yards per touch.
The
Cavs limited the Rangers’ X-factor to just 15 yards on 12 carries,
while Trevino piled on 10 total tackles to bring his team-leading season
total to 91 prior to Lake Travis’ second-round matchup with San Antonio
Madison.
“Maui
is the leader of our defense,” Carter said. “He’s a three-year starter
and embodies everything you want from a middle linebacker. He’s smart,
tough, instinctive and is a great tackler. I’m proud of the player that
he’s become and he’s a huge part of our success this season.”
Of
course, there were still plenty of eyes fixed on Lake Travis junior
Nate Yarnell, who took over for Card during the week leading up to the
Del Valle game. Yarnell went 3-0 in the last three weeks of District
25-6A competition, but it was unknown if the playoffs would prove to be a
stumbling block.
However,
the 6-foot-6 junior stood tall when it counted and helped turn the tide
with a pair of touchdown drives in the second quarter. The first was
capped by a 34-yard strike to Grayson Sandlin, while the second was an
81-yard march that saw Yarnell cover the final few feet on a 1-yard run.
“Nate
did a lot of good things,” Carter said. “He made some big throws and
runs when we needed them. He’ll continue to improve as he gets more
games under his belt.”
The
offense was also given a boost by running back Weston Stephens, who
churned out 160 yards on 27 carries to help the Cavs keep the chains
moving.
Defensively,
Trevino received additional support from defensive back D.J. Johnson
and defensive end Trey Sofia. Johnson shadowed Eggleston all night,
while Sofia caused a key fumble to help preserve the Cavaliers’ 14-3
halftime edge.
All of those players will be instrumental as the postseason rolls on.
Lake
Travis faces a matchup with Madison in the second round and will look
to slow the Mavericks’ one-two punch of quarterback Michael Garza (1,801
total yards, 23 TDs) and running back Darien Gill (1,131 yards, 10
TDs).
Garrett Wilson’s three second-quarter touchdowns helped Lake Travis pull away from San Antonio Madison last year for a 56-35 win in the 2018 Class 6A Division I Area playoff game.
There’s also hope that Card could return at some point down the line if the Cavs can keep on advancing. His prognosis, which initially stated that his injury required season-ending surgery, was changed to a four- to six-week timetable days after the Westlake game. It’s not known if Card will be healthy enough to get back on the field before he makes the move to the University of Texas, but even if he’s unable to return in 2019, Trevino and the defense will be ready for whatever comes their way.
