Let’s be realistic about tomorrow, what it means and what will transpire.

On paper, the No. 1 team in the state, Lake Travis (2-0), will defend its 48-game winning streak at home against the No. 2 team, Aledo (2-0). But there’s a little more to it than that, thanks to the Cavaliers’ misfortune of late.

Lake Travis’ biggest playmaking threat, Conner Floyd, broke his leg in the season opener against Westlake, and it was never more obvious how valuable his presence was until last week’s win over Hendrickson, when the Cavaliers had trouble stretching the field without their speedy vertical threat.

Their No. 2 receiver, Tanner Gillette, had a groin pull heading into last week’s game, played the first half, caught four passes, got hit pretty hard numerous times thanks to a lack of mobility and then sat out most of the second half thanks to some re-aggravation of the injury. It was gutsy, to say the least.
Floyd’s backup, Alex Matthews, pulled his hamstring during the Hendrickson game and is trying to be fit in time for Aledo.

Most important of all, quarterback Michael Brewer is battling a shoulder injury, and he could also potentially miss the game.

That leaves just receiver Griffin Gilbert as the lone returning offensive threat from last season.

Aledo, on the other hand, appears to be healthy at every position and has won its first two games of the season easily, topping Stephenville 20-3 and Weatherford 48-13.

While Lake Travis is known for its depth and ability to adjust from season-to-season thanks to the exit of significant players and coaches, these are some major obstacles during the biggest regular season week the Cavaliers will have in 2010.

Most people would understand if head coach Hank Carter and his team aren’t looking forward to tomorrow night, but even if that’s the case, they certainly aren’t acting that way. They’re gearing up like they always do, and aren’t dwelling on their struggle to stay out of the training room.

“The state championship teams we’ve had in the past have had some key components,” Carter said. “They’ve had really good players, sound coaching and they’ve stayed as injury free as possible. That last one is just as important as anything else. You can try to prepare for injuries, but some of the ones that have hit us, you can’t prepare for. We just have to take our lumps right now. It doesn’t do any good to be negative or feel sorry for ourselves. We’re going to plug in another guy and the kids around him are going to have to step up so we can keep moving forward.”

In Lake Travis’ last three games, each of their three DI college commits have been injured. Against Longview, Taylor Doyle severely injured his ankle. Then Floyd and Brewer over the last two weeks. It’s a lot to process, even without throwing in the injuries the rest of the team is sorting through.

If all of that isn’t enough, it’s worth remembering that the team is still adjusting offensively to not having Andy Erickson to rely on, and the defense is adjusting to the loss of some serious experience. Carter believes that lack of experience is what made bringing down Hendrickson’s Kenny Williams so difficult last week.

“In a lot of ways, after a game in which you didn’t play as well as you should have, the old saying is that it’s never as bad as it looked and it’s never as good as it looked,” Carter said.  “A lot of that is true. We had an eight-play span where we gave up three touchdowns, but other than that, we played really good defense. We had a lapse. We were in the right place at the right time, our effort was better than the Westlake game, but our tackling needed to be better, especially against big guys like Williams and Jackson. We weren’t tackling the way we’re taught. You’ve got to put teams away when you’ve got a shot and you’ve got to make the other teams earn it. We’ve got a lot of talented players we’ve added this year, but they’re inexperienced. They’ve got a lot of lessons to learn, and so far, they’re learning quickly.”

Quickly enough? We’ll see tomorrow night.

If the Cavaliers win, it will be a high point in the program’s history for battling through adversity. If they lose, and the streak ends, it will be hard to blame them. Better to have a reason to point to – in this case, attrition – when something like that comes to an end than to lose with your best players on the field and have only yourself to blame.

Either way, they’ll be better in November for what they’re going through in September, and if the Cavaliers are healthy, they’ll still be a title favorite. It’s not college football, and a playoff will determine the winner. Early losses don’t matter.

The team and coaches want you to expect them to be the Goliath they’ve been for over three years. Just don’t be surprised if they look like David for at least a quarter. That’s what injuries can do to the best teams. This all could also be said about next week’s game against a tough Tivy team.

There is good news, though, and no, it doesn’t have anything to do with car insurance. Regardless of the result tomorrow night, the team will be better, stronger and tougher for what it has gone through.