One thing stood out to new Lake Travis head coach Chad Morris about last year’s battle against Westwood.

“I thought that Garrett Gilbert got hit more in that game than he did all year long,” he said. “They brought a lot of pressure, and were successful bringing that pressure.”

A solid performance by the offensive line in last week’s scrimmage against Killeen Shoemaker is a positive, but Chase Greisbach will be difficult to slow down regardless. The Warriors will have added incentive after losing last year’s game, one year after walloping Lake Travis in Round Rock.

“They’re building this game up, it’s a huge game for them,” Morris said. “But I think our kids know them pretty well. I thought Garrett made a lot of plays last year that really made a difference, but I also felt like they got to him a little bit.”

The physicality of the 5A squad stood out last season, as well, in the lowest scoring game Lake Travis had all season. Morris said he thinks the team is ready for that challenge.

“We want to be a physical football team, and that’s something we’ve preached since we got here,” he said. “We want to play smash mouth with teams that try to play it with us.”

Quarterback Tyler Grabarkewitz is a good game manager, but a year after losing stud receiver Phillip Roush, he’ll be searching for new options. Morris didn’t feel like the team’s scouting gave them a clear indication of who that will be.

“We’ve got an idea that Bryce Vernon (6-0, 160), Kyle Martin (sophomore), Brian Murphy (6-2, 175), and Mason Taylor (5-8, 160) could all emerge as threats,” he said. “But they’re putting a lot of stock in junior running back [Princeton Collins] (6-0, 190).”

Collins rampaged in the second half of last year’s contest, but for whatever reason, wasn’t used more often.

“They didn’t run him a whole lot in their scrimmage against Brenham, but when he did run, he was a punisher,” Morris said. “He runs low with his shoulder pads, and they’re obviously high on him, and rightfully so, he’s one of their big returning guys.”

It doesn’t matter what level you’re at in the first week of the season, the thing that will get you beat is special teams. This early in the year, we’ve got to be sound in our special teams, and that’s tough because they haven’t faced a live situation.

I think it will come down to the team that makes the big play, that happens a lot in the first week.

You throw them in the fire, and say here you go. There’s not a whole lot I can do. We’ll get there about five o’clock, and let them throw it around a little bit. We do have some younger kids up, and hopefully those kids will perform.