Lake Travis football team using unplanned bye week to prep for explosive Bowie
Even undefeated, highly ranked teams need a little extra time to practice.
Given an unplanned bye week because of a positive coronavirus test at Del Valle, Lake Travis coach Hank Carter put his seven-ranked Cavaliers through a week’s worth of vigorous workouts before turning his attention to Bowie.
“At the end of the day, we need to improve as a football team, so practice is really important,” Carter said. “We tried to create a competitive environment, and I liked seeing the guys getting after it and improving.”
What did the Cavaliers, who average a Class 6A-best 63 points per game, focus on during the bye week?
An offensive line breaking in three new starters must get better at communicating assignments in both the running and passing games. Defensively, the Cavaliers must improve on their pass coverage, making plays on passes without drawing the occasional penalty flags. Carter’s list goes on, but it’s still fairly simple.
“It’s just a lot of getting better at playing football,” he said. “We just need to improve.”
The Cavaliers have been pretty good in their first four games, and any extra time to improve may come as bad news for a Bowie team looking to keep itself in playoff contention.
Coach Jeff Ables’ team lost its opener, then squandered a 21-point, fourth-quarter lead to Austin High in a 57-56 loss. But the Bulldogs responded with a pair of wins to right the ship with a key win over Del Valle and a 42-0 blanking of Akins.
Bowie’s defensive effort, which held Akins to just 134 yards, caught Carter’s attention.
“When we were preparing for Del Valle [postponed from Oct. 30 to Nov. 13 due to COVID-19 precautions], we thought they had the most complex defensive scheme we’d seen so far,” Carter said. “Then we looked at Bowie, and they are even more complex. It will be a big challenge for our offense.”
Thanio Bright, Saul Garcia and Jack Kimbrough lead a Bowie defense that held Akins to just nine rushing yards.
Led by Weston Stephens, Marcelo Alanis and Gary Gordon, Lake Travis averages 257 yards on the ground to complement a passing attack that averages 325 yards behind sophomore Bo Edmundson, who earned his first scholarship offers last week from SMU and UTSA.
Bowie quarterback Diego Tello has also had a solid season, completing 69% of his passes for 1,497 yards and 17 touchdowns. He’s also athletic enough to escape the pocket if onrushing linemen don’t keep him contained.
“We have to keep our eyes on the quarterback and make sure that we rush in a disciplined way,” Carter said.
The Lake Travis defensive front has been effective early on. Raleigh Erwin and Austin Spille have combined for five and a half sacks and occupied blockers to allow linebackers Watson Cusick and Wesley Erwin and rover D.J. Johnson to get to the ball-carrier. That trio has combined for 134 tackles in four games.
They’ll be focused on Bowie running back Noah Camacho, who averages better than 110 yards per game, as well as receivers Jason Gaines, Cash Peters and Anthony Simmons. Those Bowie receivers have combined for 14 touchdown catches.
“I’m very impressed with their quarterback,” Carter said. “Their running back runs hard, and they’ve got some guys on the outside who are dynamic. We’re looking forward to the challenge. This is a big game, and we know that they’ll be prepared and try to take shots where they feel they have an advantage.”
News and notes
Lake Travis and Bowie have met six times since 2012. Lake Travis is 6-0 against Bowie with an average margin of victory of 31.6 points per game. ... Lake McRee, the Cavaliers’ senior tight end pledged to Southern Cal, could make his return to the lineup against Bowie after missing two games with a back injury. Senior quarterback Nate Yarnell, a Pittsburgh commit, remains out while recovering from a broken finger on his throwing hand.
