Friday Night in Central Texas: Unbeaten Cedar Ridge at No. 23 Westlake for the District 25-6A Title, on a 552-Game Texas Slate
Both teams are 4-0 in the district. Westlake just took back the Battle of the Lakes, 38-17; Cedar Ridge just hung 21 points on Stony Point inside 30 minutes. Something gives Friday night at Chaparral Stadium.
Friday night's Texas slate is enormous — 552 UIL games across the state, 19 of them featuring ranked teams, Sports Illustrated's High School on SI reported — and its Central Texas headline is in Austin: No. 23 Westlake hosts unbeaten Cedar Ridge at Chaparral Stadium, with the District 25-6A title and the top playoff seed effectively on the field. Both teams are 4-0 in district play; Cedar Ridge is unbeaten overall and Westlake is 7-1, per HS Football Nation's district table.
Westlake arrives with the rivalry receipt. The Chaparrals beat Lake Travis 38-17 on October 23 in the 20th regular-season Battle of the Lakes, a year after losing the same game 31-10, winning the line of scrimmage and protecting the football, TexasHSFootball reported. First-year starting quarterback Patton Jones arrived at that game with 16 touchdown passes against one interception, in an offense that had not been held under 30 points all season, HS Football Nation reported.
Cedar Ridge arrives with speed. The Raiders dispelled any look-ahead worry against Stony Point inside 30 minutes, VYPE reported: sophomore Deondre Crank capped a 65-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run and added a second score, sophomore Beckett Lohman intercepted a pass at the 29, and senior Ayden Obrien-Brown's 52-yard pick-six made it 21-0. A defense that scores is the specific problem Westlake's ball security has to solve.
The winner takes the inside track to the 25-6A crown and the district's top seed with one week left in the regular season. This desk's Friday-night roundup, with this game's final and the rest of the Central Texas Week 10 scores, files tonight.
