The Cavaliers are one win away from fulfilling every gargantuan expectation laid upon them since winning their first state title.

Lake Travis (15-0) ran right over Friendswood (11-2) in the 4A Division I state semifinal on an extremely windy Saturday afternoon at Kyle Field in College Station, 56-22.

It was one year ago that the Cavaliers punched their first ticket to a state title game by defeating Dayton in the very same stadium. Now, they’ll head back to the scene of their first state championship, taking on Longview (13-2) – a 41-30 winner over Denton Guyer – next Saturday at 2 p.m. at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco.

“It’s been our goal ever since last year to get back to the state championship, but we knew it was going to be tough,” Lake Travis quarterback Garrett Gilbert said. “It’s a credit to a lot of hard work in the offseason and a lot of guys stepping up.”

For a team that for the most part, has rolled through its season, Friendswood looked completely out of sorts from the start of the game.

The Mustangs took the ball to begin the game, and managed to push all the way to the Lake Travis 37-yard line, but stalled out after two incomplete passes on second and third down.

After a punt into the wind, Lake Travis took over at its own 13-yard line. With the wind at their back, the Cavaliers worked their way down the field in 12 plays, scoring on a six-yard pass from quarterback Garrett Gilbert to running back Chris Aydam. They would never trail.

The Lake Travis defense forced a three-and-out on Friendswood’s next drive, and the offense answered in just five plays, scoring this time on a 17-yard pass from Gilbert to receiver Cade McCrary, helping the Cavaliers to a 14-0 lead.

On the first play of the second quarter, with the wind finally at their back, the Mustangs made things interesting with a 70-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jacob Karam to Austin Fitzpatrick, pulling back to just seven down.

From there, Gilbert and the Lake Travis offense dominated, scoring 35 points before the Mustangs scored again – against the Cavaliers’ second-team defense in the fourth quarter.