By Max Thompson

Garrett Gilbert and Lake Travis (13-0) simply do not lose in the Alamodome.

The Cavaliers made Alice (12-1) their fifth victim in as many games at the San Antonio venue over the last three seasons, using a 20-point run in the second half of Friday night’s Region IV semifinal to secure a 55-32 victory.

Lake Travis was led by Gilbert, who finished the night with 233 yards passing, 128 yards rushing, five rushing touchdowns and one passing. It’s an adjusted role for one of the nation’s elite high school passers, but he’s fine with it.

“As long as we’re winning, it doesn’t make a difference to me,” he said. “It’s been part of our game plan, and something the coaches have wanted us to do.”

For a while, it appeared the Cavaliers would get back to their normal business of dispatching opponents touchdown by touchdown, but Alice had other ideas, and challenged Lake Travis throughout much of the game.

After trading stalled possessions to open the game, Alice got on the board first with a two-yard run that helped the Coyotes to a 7-0 lead with 6:08 left in the first quarter. The sea of orange on the West side of the Alamodome was rocking, and the Coyotes tried to roll with the momentum with a surprise onside kick, but the Cavaliers pulled it in, and then used the short field to their advantage.

Lake Travis took six plays to march 60 yards down the field, scoring on a 34-yard run by Gilbert that helped tie the game at 7-7.

Alice answered with a 27-yard field goal just inside the second quarter to make it 10-7. It would be their last lead of the game.

On the ensuing kickoff, Cavalier Andy Erickson pulled in the kick two yards deep in his own end zone, and then shot right up the heart of the Coyotes’ coverage unit for an unofficial 102-yard touchdown return. It was the biggest turning point of the night.

“It’s a return that we’ve been working on all year, and we hadn’t run it at all this year until tonight, and it was something that was a bit of a back-breaker,” Lake Travis head coach Chad Morris said. “Once we got that, we had the momentum going and had them on their heels.”

The rest of the second quarter was brutal for Alice, who watched Lake Travis pull away with their playoff hopes.

Lake Travis scored on runs of three and two yards by Gilbert, extending the lead to 28-10, and then an interception by Cavalier safety Andy Holt set up a double reverse flea-flicker touchdown pass from Gilbert to Conner Floyd, pushing the lead to 35-10 with three minutes still left in the quarter.

And the way things were going, it was a question of whether the Cavaliers could force another big stop and score once more before the half ended.

That’s when Alice started to pick up the pieces and make a game of it.

The Coyotes drove 72 yards down the field, scoring on a 23-yard draw on fourth-and-11, building some momentum for the second half as they entered the break down 35-17.

“The thing about it is [Alice] played so hard, and we told [our kids] at halftime that there were 12,000 people from Alice that showed up. They’re not going to lay down for you guys, and they didn’t,” Morris said. “They came out, made adjustments and stopped us on a couple of drives. We couldn’t stop them, and boom they were back in it.”

Alice stopped Lake Travis’ opening drive, and fired back with a 95-yard drive that was topped off with a three-yard run by Deon Hill to pull within 11 at 35-24. They stopped Lake Travis again, and again, scored on the following drive on a run by Hill – this time from one yard out – and then completed a pass for the conversion to reach striking distance. With 3:22 still left in the third quarter, Lake Travis led by just three points at 35-32.

“I’ll tell you what, we didn’t have any panic on the sidelines, but you could sense that our kids knew we had to figure something out in a hurry,” Morris said. “That’s when we just decided the heck with it, we’re just going to give the ball to Garrett and let him do his thing. Most of what we ran wasn’t designed quarterback runs, but zone reads. That’s what he does so great.”

Gilbert led Lake Travis 78 yards down the field, scoring on a 32-yard run to get the Cavaliers some breathing room back at 42-32. In yet another hostile environment, with everything at stake, the Cavaliers found a way to get the job done in convincing fashion. But there were moments when the Alice fans made it difficult to hear, and the Coyote players weren’t making life easy, either.

“Honestly, I try to keep it out of my head,” Gilbert said of the noise and distractions. “I have to block it out. On the first drive, we had a lot of trouble hearing and we had to do our best to put it in the back of our mind. From there, that’s what we tried to do.”

But Gilbert and his teammates could be seen jawing with a fired up opponent just across the line of scrimmage.

“It’s true, but you try not to let that or the crowd bother you and stay focused,” he said.

The Cavalier defense stepped up and stopped the Coyotes on the next drive, and Alice didn’t do itself any favors with a 15-yard personal foul penalty, forcing an early strategic punt on third-and-29 from their own 12-yard line.

Lake Travis took just five plays to score, with Gilbert rumbling in from 12 yards out to secure a 48-32 lead.
After another big defensive stop, the Cavaliers made one more run for the end zone, scoring on a 14-yard touchdown run by Erickson with 2:29 left in the game.

After the game, the Cavalier players looked almost solemn, as if it was their playoff hopes that had been dashed, and not the Coyotes’.

“That’s enough of that,” Morris barked at his players. “You beat a great football team, and you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. I want to see your chins up because you’re playing football in December.”

But he understood the mentality.

“Our kids were disappointed we let them back in it, and it’s just one of those deals you have to learn from,” he said. “You can’t ever count someone out.”

The Cavaliers will play the winner of Saturday’s Killeen–Gregory-Portland game for the Region IV title next week.