Remember the coaching change last winter, when Darren Allman shocked followers of Texas high school football by leaving Odessa Permian for Westlake?

Remember the influx of new coaches and the unusual spectacle of spring football? Remember the abbreviated two-a-days?

Remember the new offense? The fresh defensive approach? The newcomers’ gritty road win over Cedar Park in the season-opener?

OK. Now forget it all, because these Chaps are no longer new.

“Schemes are not new anymore, and the coaching staff is not new anymore,” Allman said after his team downed Anderson last week. “We’re starting to gel as a football team. The opportunity is now there for us to be very, very good and take this thing to another level.”

The eighth game of the season not only clinched a playoff spot for Westlake for the 22nd straight year, but it personified an identity that this particular team has carved out of a grueling schedule that includes just one opponent with a losing record: The Chaps scored a season-high in points, but they rolled to the win by stifling a potent Trojan attack.

A typical win for this most atypical Chap team.

With the novelty of Westlake’s first-year coaching staff gone, an understanding of the Chaps’ character has settled in. This Westlake team may not score like squads of Chap lore, but it plays better defense that any predecessor in almost a decade. Westlake has mastered the art of game management, winning more with field possession than fits of explosive plays.

It’s been a difficult transition to accept for some longtime fans, who have become accustomed to, say, 42-22 wins (last year’s average score in district play) more than 29-13 victories (this season’s numbers). Since Ron Schroeder took over the Westlake program in 1987, the Chaps’ identity has sprung from an explosive pro-style offense. Westlake averaged more than 40 points in the regular season for 10 consecutive years from 1992-2001 and hasn’t averaged less than 28.9 since the 1980s.

However, the Westlake defense had slipped in recent seasons. Since holding foes to 9.3 points game in the regular season in 2000, the Chaps have yet to keep teams to less than 13 points a game. Opponents scored 26.4 points a game against the Chaps last year, the most Westlake had allowed in the regular season in school history.

Westlake has allowed 16.3 points a game this season, but that number skews upwards because of the 42 points allowed to the scoring machine at Lake Travis. The Chaps may not match the defensive production of that 2000 bunch, but their ability to throttle opposing running games (opponents average 3.7 yards per carry) can make the unit approach dominance.

Without question, this squad’s identity springs from its ability to make stops.

The chants of “de-fense, de-fense” that greet the Chaps after a three-and-out don’t quite roll of the Westlake support’s collective tongue – yet. But the fans may still have time to practice.

In a telling reflection on Westlake’s potential, Allman offered a brief analysis Friday on the status of his squad.

“We’re in week eight, and if we get to the state championship game, we’re only at the midseason point,” he said. “We have so much room to get better.”

And that’ll provide that much more time to develop a personality no longer new.