Week 12: Steele

Knights in 2009: 9-2, 5-1
Last year’s game: Lake Travis 38, Steele 21
The Cavaliers trailed 21-14 at halftime, and for the first time all season, were seriously threatened by another team. But after falling behind 21-7 initially, Lake Travis reeled off 31 unanswered points to seal a win. Steele made it a game even without star running back Malcolm Brown, who was injured.

Scouting Report

Lake Travis struggled badly for two quarters against Steele last year in the Area Championship. The good news was the Cavaliers found a way to pull away in the end. The bad news is the Knights were doing it without their best player, and arguably the best running back in Texas, Malcolm Brown.

“He’s as close to an Adrian Peterson-type running back you’ll see at our level,” Lake Travis head coach Chad Morris said of Brown. “He’s big, fast and a punisher that runs with great body lean. He’s extremely physical.”

As Brown goes, so go the Knights, and if there’s good news for Lake Travis, it’s that the Cavaliers have faced a few future collegiate Division I running backs this season in Princeton Collins of Westwood and Kenny Williams of Hendrickson. Both backs had huge games against Lake Travis, and the Cavaliers still beat each team by at least 24 points. If the same holds true for Brown, his performance won’t dictate the game result. But Brown is the best the Cavs have seen, a back that runs for over 200 yards in a handful of carries. He’s extremely dangerous at any moment on the field.

As for the rest of the offense, Steele was severely hurt by receiver and Oklahoma-commit Sheldon McClain’s injury earlier this season in a 14-13 loss to San Antonio Southwest.

The loss of the star receiver for the season will limit the Knights offensively, making them even more of a run-first team than they were before he was injured.

Defensively, Steele still has a staunch defensive front, which is its strong point on that side of the ball. The other team to beat the Knights this season – Kerrville Tivy – had a lot of success against the defense with a balanced attack, and so did Alamo Heights, despite a one-point loss to Steele for the district title in the last game of the season.

Those results, and 31 unanswered points at the end of last year’s game for Lake Travis, bode well for a Cav offense that is relentless and moving at full speed until the clock stops.

All things being equal, both teams have been waiting for this game for a long time, and when the anticipation and preparation for one game are that built up – well, as the cliché says, you can throw the records out. The winner of this game is the region favorite, so there’s plenty at stake.

Who to watch this week

Lake Travis: Linebackers
Here comes the most physical, punishing running back Lake Travis has seen all year. It‘s up to Quinton Crow, Austin Williams and Ian Lazarus to cause trainwrecks at the line of scrimmage.

Steele: Malcolm Brown, RB
And this is Brown’s chance to exact revenge for the teammates he couldn’t join last year due to a foot injury. He’ll be ready with a full head of steam.

Inside the numbers

Date    Opponent    Time/Score
Aug. 30    at Westwood    W, 55-31
Sept. 4    Westlake    W, 42-21
Sept. 10    at Cedar Park    W, 54-17
Sept. 18    at Boerne    W, 52-0
Sept. 25    at Killeen*    W, 56-31
Oct. 2    Hutto*    W, 57-16
Oct. 9    at Lampasas*    W, 38-7
Oct. 16    Hendrickson*    W, 58-15
Oct. 30    at Dripping Springs*    W, 52-0
Nov. 6    Marble Falls*    W, 52-7
Nov. 12    Crockett (LTISD)    W, 58-7
Nov. 21    Cibolo Steele (Alamodome)    12:00 p.m.
* – District 25-4A Game

District 25-4A Standings

Team    District    Overall
Lake Travis    6-0    11-0
Killeen    5-1    9-2
Hendrickson    3-3    7-4
Lampasas    3-3    4-7
Hutto    2-4    5-5
Marble Falls    2-4    5-5
Dripping Springs    0-6    2-8

This week’s district games
Killeen vs. Alamo Heights, Hendrickson vs. Kerrville Tivy

LTHS Statistical Leaders

Rushing    No    YDS    TD    AVG
Andy Erickson    75    664    16    8.85
Michael Brewer    62    362    13    5.84

Passing    C    A    I    YDS    TD
Michael Brewer    192    267    2    3,396    33

Receiving    No.    YDS    TD    AVG
Conner Floyd    50    998    8    19.96
Andy Erickson    42    1,020    10    24.28
Griffin Gilbert    33    364    5    11.03
Tanner Gillette    28    543    4    19.39

Tackles    No.    TFL    SCK    HURR
Quinton Crow    117    4    2.5    1
Austin Williams    103    4    0    0
Ian Lazarus    89    7    3.0    3
Trevor Gillette    76    10    1.0    4
Hunter Akers    68    0    0    0