Role reversal defines rivalry: Thomas Jones, Westlake Picayune

It’s Lake Travis week at Westlake, and the Chap athletic offices have a buzz not usually heard in September.

Maybe it’s the positive vibe stemming from a hard-earned win in the season opener at Cedar Park. Perhaps it’s the puppy love that still exists between a new coach and the community.

But, really, it’s about an opportunity to regain statewide respect. And that’s what would happen if the Chaps can stroll into their neighbors’ yard Friday and seize an upset win.

How the tables have turned since Westlake and Lake Travis started their fledgling “rivalry” just three years ago. That season, then-Cav coach Jeff Dicus saw Westlake as a barometer against which he could measure his growing program. The Class 5A Chaps obliged Dicus’ request and shoved around the youthful Cavs on their own turf. The “rivalry” seemed little more like a marketing campaign – resplendent with a trophy handed to the winning coach in a postgame ceremony – generated by an eager marketing agent of game sponsor Chick-fil-A.

Westlake also won in 2007, but the victory didn’t come easy. In that contest, Lake Travis showed the scrappiness to go along with its high-scoring style. The loss seemed to galvanize the Cavs; they haven’t lost in the 31 games since while collecting two state-title trophies. That streak included last year’s lopsided win at Westlake.

Lake Travis now serves as the measuring stick for any area team, including a Westlake squad that has gone 16-8 since beating the Cavs in 2007. Class 4A status? Doesn’t mean much for an elite program like Lake Travis. Line ’em up against a six-man squad from Paint Creek, Texas, or the nation’s top-ranked team at St. Thomas Aquinas in Florida, and the Cavaliers would likely emerge with a win.

As long as the Cavs keep up such winning, this “Battle of the Lake” will turn into a true-blue rivalry that transcends records and crosses generations. In time, it could replace Austin High-Westlake as a nasty neighborhood battle that extends from the gridiron into downtown’s board rooms.

For now, however, the series still seems more a curiosity than a clash rife with enmity. Westlake has proven its staying power by tallying 22 consecutive winning seasons and 21 straight playoff berths, while Lake Travis is just six years removed from an 0-10 record. Heck, there’s no guarantee that Chap coach Darren Allman and Lake Travis coach Chad Morris will even renew the nondistrict series next season.

For now, enjoy Friday’s game and all the ramifications that a week-two game can hold.

A Cav win Friday will further confirm Lake Travis as the elite program in the Austin area, but a loss could reveal a chink in the Cavs’ apparently impenetrable armor and help reestablish Westlake as the big dog in this backyard.

Call it 31-28 Westlake as the Chaps’ 3-4 defense holds off Lake Travis’ explosive attack. West Austin’s original big dog still has plenty of bite.

LT has stolen Chap thunder: Max Thompson, Lake Travis View

There is absolutely no doubt who Lake Travis’ top rival is, and I’m sorry Dripping Springs, but you’re not it. At least not in football.

Ask any Cavalier football player what game they look most forward to each year, and the answer is always the same – Westlake.

Typically in rivalries, it comes down to one side having something the other team wants. Two years ago, Lake Travis had no state titles, a couple playoff wins and a program that was beginning to gain traction as a consistent winner. Westlake had everything the Cavaliers wanted: hardware, history and attention.

My how things have changed.

Lake Travis has two state championships to Westlake’s one, the Cavs have better practice and workout facilities, it seems like half of the Statesman’s complaints last season were about too much Lake Travis coverage, and, get this, the Cavaliers even have media days at the busiest times of the year to minimize player distraction. Lake Travis’ quarterback, a kid who had never even started a varsity football game at the position, was a 4A cover boy for the Statesman’s football preview, and the Chaps’ quarterback – a DI commit – didn’t make the cut in 5A.

What happened Westlake? It appears you’re no longer the team everybody loves to hate. I guess they’re not that worried.

See, the Cavs now have everything the Chaps want and once had, and it happened so quickly, Westlake is still trying to catch up.

Remember when Lake Travis went out and hired the best coach available from a storied Texas high school program in the hope that he would lead them to their second state championship? That was January of 2008. Wouldn’t you know it, the Chaps did the exact same thing last winter.

What’s next? A bubble dome that costs a half million more than the Cavs’ roofed facility? Is big brother trying to play catch up with the little 4A guppy?

In fairness, Westlake still lays claim to Lake Travis’ last loss, it still holds the 2-1 advantage in the all-time series, and by all accounts, has a better stadium with a much nicer press box and what I suppose you would call a jumbotron. In as much as it is jumbo compared to a 14-inch black and white Magnavox, and has about three more colors added to the picture.

And you can tell me the Austin High rivalry is a big deal, and that’s fine.

But let’s be honest – the only reason that got interesting is because Westlake started losing. Remember back when they didn’t lose games like that? Remember when Lake Travis was mired in mediocrity and Westlake wouldn’t even bother worrying about it? In both cases, it seems like ages ago.

Admit it, Chaps, this fired you up. And that’s why Lake Travis is your biggest rival now. Lake Travis wins, 35-21, and keeps big brother reeling by splitting the four-game series.