For five years, Westlake quarterback Tanner Price ran an offense first designed by former Chap coach Ron Schroeder in the mid 1980s.

No player had to make a bigger adjustment to the new schemes installed by first-year Westlake coach Darren Allman and his staff.

Almost four months after the season’s start, however, no player has made a bigger impact.

“Tanner has really picked up the offense faster than we could have hoped,” Allman said. “He has so much confidence in the system now. It’s fun to watch.”

Price enters Saturday’s regional final against Clark with 2,195 yards on 52.4-percent passing with 17 touchdowns and five interceptions, which compares with last season’s numbers (2,200 yards, 61.3 percent, 20 touchdowns, six interceptions) through the same amount of games.

However, Price’s embrace of his role as a runner separates this season from 2008. Last year, Price had 125 yards rushing, and his seven running touchdowns came primarily on sneaks.

Price’s ability to make decisions in Westlake’s zone-read spread offense – and a burst of speed that often surprises defenders – have helped the 6-foot-1-inch, 215-pound Wake Forest recruit amass 813 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground.

According to Allman, it only took a few games for Price to get comfortable in Westlake’s power spread offense.

“It seemed like midway through the season, things started to click on offense,” he said. “There’s been an obvious difference in the way we’ve played since then.”

The numbers support Allman’s assertions. Through the first six games of the year, Westlake topped 400 yards of offense just once and averaged 23.3 points a game.

Since their week-six loss to Bastrop, the Chaps have averaged 41.3 points and didn’t gain less than 400 yards of offense until Saturday’s win over Harlingen.
In addition to producing points, Price has helped craft plenty of playoff wins. He enters this week with six career playoff wins, which ranks third on Westlake’s all-time list for quarterbacks. Drew Brees went 9-0 in 1995 and 1996, and Jay Rodgers accumulated an 8-2 record in 1993 and 1994.

News and Notes
Westlake forced a season-high six turnovers in the win over Harlingen. Linebacker Bryce Hager, who had one takeaway entering the game, recovered two fumbles and intercepted a pass. Campbell McCrea (interception), Sean Potter (interception) and Markham Sayers (fumble recovery) had the other takeaways. … Sophomore linebacker Lance Duran forced three fumbles. … Linebacker Conor Byrne had his first career sack.