Two of the area’s fiercest rivals may have entered new eras with new head coaches in 2009, but Westlake and Austin High engaged in an old-fashioned shootout at Chaparral Stadium.

The Chaps (7-2, 5-1) emerged with a 49-42 win in overtime, but it took a bevy of fireworks and one late defensive stand to dispatch Austin High (5-4, 3-3). After evening the game at 42-42 in regulation with a 27-yard pass from Tanner Price to Miles Berger with 2:28 left in the fourth quarter, the Chaps opened overtime with the ball and scored on Bryce Hager’s fourth touchdown run of the game.

Austin High promptly marched down to the 2-yard line after Cayleb Jones drew a pass interference call in the end zone, but a false start pushed the Maroons back to the 7-yard line. Austin High quarterback Jacob Morgan then fired four straight incompletions, including a fourth-down pass that dropped to the turf and triggered a wild Westlake celebration and looks of bewilderment from the Maroons, who called for a pass interference to no avail.

“There was just so much hype before the game, and for this to happen? Wow,” said Berger, who had three catches for 81 yards and two touchdowns. “This is the most fun game I’ve ever played in, easily.”

Chap coach Darren Allman, whose defensive sensibilities suffered shockwaves in the shootout, phrased his welcome to the rivalry a bit differently.

“I don’t ever want to have to go through something like this again,” he said. “We ran into a buzz saw, but we pulled it out.”

The overtime stop proved a rarity for Westlake’s defense, which was riddled for 541 yards passing and six touchdowns on 39-of-55 passing by Morgan, who bounced back with a purpose after a one-game suspension in the prior week. Jones, a sophomore, had a tremendous game with 282 yards and two touchdowns on 17 receptions, and teammate Thomas Coffman racked up 154 yards on 13 catches.

The bulk of those plays came against man-to-man coverage, a strategy that the Chap coaches abandoned by the end of the game.

“We should have game-planned differently,” Allman said. “We didn’t give No. 4 [Jones] and No. 2 credit [Coffman], and that’s our fault as coaches. Our guys [Chap cornerbacks Markham Sayers and Sean Potter] fought their tails off, but those receivers are good. You can’t leave them one-on-one all game because they will make you pay.

“We got them some help late in the game, and that made a difference. We should have done that from the beginning. In hindsight, we would have not put Markham and Sean in the bind that we did.”

Westlake’s offense put the Maroons in plenty of binds, too. The Chaps countered Austin High’s aerial assault with a balanced attack that produced 460 yards, including 92 yards rushing and 216 yards passing from Price. Westlake’s offensive coaches continued to expand the playbook, running options and toss sweeps, staple calls of Westlake’s past.

“By halftime, we knew that we would have to score a lot of points to win,” Allman said. “We had to lean on our offense tonight, and they kept producing. We’ve been leaning on our defense a lot this year, and tonight it was the offense pulled us through.”

Neither offense could pull away from its counterpart, however, as the teams began trading touchdowns in the first period and didn’t stop until overtime.