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.
TSM: I know as a coach, you all like taking it one game at a time, but how sweet would it be to bring Westlake its first state championship since Drew Brees was quarterbacking back in 1996?
Coach Dodge: Oh gosh, it would be awesome. It would be something that obviously this entire student body would carry for the rest of their lives, not only the football team. We were basically 15 seconds away two years ago and that was a heartbreaker. To miss a field goal to win it with about 15 seconds left in the game, that’s how close we were to getting the second one. But now you got to start all over again. But it absolutely would be a thrill and something we’re always striving for. Our goals our to win a district championship, and then to be playing Thanksgiving. That means you made it to the final 16 in the state, and once you get there, you can really just let everything fly and see if you can’t go make a run at it.
What can you say about the job Eanes Independent School District does in giving you the resources you need to run a successful high school football program?
I think that we get everything that we need, between our budget from our school district and obviously the great facilities that we have. Our school district has really dedicated itself to turf fields. That’s a big plus. We have four 100-yard turf fields on campus, so that’s a real benefit to us, all of our sports. And then we got a tremendous booster club, a lot of hard-working parents that really support us. I’m very, very pleased.
Rivalries are one of the funnest aspects of sports. Y’all got a pretty good one with this Westlake/Lake Travis deal, which many consider the biggest game in Central Texas. What are the benefits of having a rival like Lake Travis?
Oh, I just think it’s just special for high school football players in schools. It’s part of the whole high school experience. I mean, I think everybody can remember back to their high school days what the big rival was. It’s just part of the great history of Texas High School football. There’s always a lot of memories that are surrounding those, so I think it’s really good for the kids.
How do you feel about what y’all return on offense going into the season?
Well, right now I have a lot of confidence in our four returning starters on our offensive line, so we got some guys up there, and that’s not the norm. You usually don’t have that many coming back in an offensive line, and then, obviously, our running back, Nakia Watson, those are the proven factors in our offense. Everybody else, all the other skill position people, I’ve really been pleased and excited about what this group can be. We’re just really, really young and inexperienced in a lot of places. We’re not alone. There’s a whole lot of people who are like that, but I’m very, very optimistic about our young receiving core.
How do you feel about the state of the defense with the season-opener right around the corner?
That’s got to be the strength of our team right now, is our defense, because of all of the veterans that we have on that side of the ball. We got seven bonafide returning starters. We got probably four or five other guys that have played quite a bit. So that’s really, really going to have to be our strength. We expect our defense to play well. We’ve played really good defense since we’ve been here, and we expect for it to continue.
If you could challenge Coach Carter to a game of anything not football-related for a charity of your choice, what game would you choose and what charity would you like the funds donated to?
I would challenge him to a game of washers. Either washers or horseshoes, either one. The charity that I would send the money to would be the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Austin, that organization. I think that’s awesome to be mentors for young kids.
