The Westlake thing

[tonyswife]

Would one of you kind Austin fans please explain to me "Westlake thing". It's like the Statesmen is getting paid to run favorable little stories for their program. Dave Campbell's mag has them ranked like 7 or something above Converse Judson. What the.... :confused: We beat them in our scrimmage(San Marcos), they didn't look sharp at all. I think..no I know they lost their opener. Please someone explain this Westlake thing to me. Let it go...the streak ended two years ago... :cool:

[westlake]

Firstly, westlake is a completely different team than they were in the opener

After the loss to Leander, we beat Westwood 50-17 and we bear A&M Consol 36-15. I think in a rematch westlake would win it over leander now, we are a completely different team. Westlake deserves to be raked higher than they are. Probly not 7 but higher.

Through the 1st 3 games

Rushing 590 yards
Passing 654 yards
Average 414 yards/game

Minor 5hundred something yards rushing (mostly in 2 games b/c Dornak broke his ankle to start game 2)
Jobe 13 catches for 329 yards
Foles 32 for 58 passing over 600yds

Minor (RB) rushed for over 275yds against westwood, and over 200yds against A&M Consol.

Westlake has had few down years since coach Schroeder left, and i think is finally rebounding.

As for the stories in the paper, unless they put some stuff in there between games, the only game coverage westlake got other than a little blurb about scores and stats was when we lost to Leander. Pretty much everyone hates Westlake, not know if its the rich white thing or if its cause we win alot of games, but alot of people arent too fond of us and we dont seem to get much publicity unless we loose.

[westlake]

And i just looked Westlake isnt in Dave Campbells top 10. I know they were #8 in the preseason.

[tonyswife]

Thanks Westlake for letting me see things from your point of view. My bad about the ranking, I was looking in the Magazine, you must more current info. :) I still think they cover you guys mucho in light of the current situation. Much more ball to play....we shall see. If you are not covered due to the rich white thing, in your opinion, then us Rattlers down the street must not get covered for the exact opposite reason. It doesn't matter though, what I love about sports is that it is pure. No politics in the world can prevent talent and success from being noticed and recognized :D
Thanks for the response!

[chap fan]

I think the problem with San Marcos getting more coverage in the American Statesman is that you're no longer in a district that contains Austin teams. You're a "suburban" district, and even worse--you're in a district with San Antonio teams, a larger metropolitan area that has its own coverage area.

I grew up in a town about an equal distance from Austin and San Antonio and we couldn't get coverage from either area--the San Angelo paper actually gave our community the best coverage.

It's frustrating, but most urban newpaper sports departments don't place the value on high school sports that you see in smaller communities. And if you can remember playing AISD teams at their stadiums, you will also remember how very low their turnout is. It's kind of sad.

[BandidoNB]

I went to the Austin Bowie-New Braunfels game and from what I saw Bowie bought a huge crowd to the game. Of course, they didnt fill their side of Burger Center, but then again that stadium is huge....

[westlake]

Westlake has to take a lot of licks because no one likes us. I wish we still had San Marcos in our schedule, that game in 2002 when we won after like double OT at home to save the win streak for another year was the best high school football game i have EVER seen. Our side went from dead silent to an emmense erruption.

Westlake also has the kind of program that can suffer early season losses and come back for a good playoff run, the same kind of stuff that we use to outlast teams into the second half (won alot of games that way). EX: 2003 lost to Hays and San Marcos, and a non district game. Wound up going to the state semi-finals before loosing to GP North Shore (we had no chance, it couldnt watch).

Dont you guys have a San Marcos Paper? I think it is a distance thing also. I dont think the AAS writes articles b/c of soceo-economic status. I think they write what they think will sell, and probably there arent enough readers from san marcos to warrant heavy coverage of san marcos athletics, and furthermore i think that b/c most people hate Westlake that they dont get as much press, or because people like to see it when we loose...... i guess it makes them feel good.

I got my ranking from the website, ranking was sponsored by State Farm. I assume that is the only one they have, i expect we will be back on it shortly though :D

[westlake]

And if you can remember playing AISD teams at their stadiums, you will also remember how very low their turnout is. It's kind of sad.

There also arent many good AISD teams, if any.

I remember 2001, everyone thought Bowie had westlake's number (i guess it was b/c of the Griffins) Bowie fans were packed into the visitor side, and Westlake won 49-3. And Westlake eventually advanced to the Title game to loose to Lufkin 31-24 (something like that)

One of the griffins busted out a good run setting up a field goal. Other than that All westlake. But the highlights on the news focused on the griffin run and the fieldgoal.

[LeanderLions3033]

I truley dont think you would beat Leander if yall played them over again. I'm not saying yall aren't a different team but still. You beat the hell out of an 0-3 Westwood team (congrats i guess) and you beat a solid A&M Consol team, but what makes you think that Leander wouldnt beat you again. Yall were COMPLETELY shut down in the game against us and you had an amazing offense against westwood and Consol. That just means that their defense isnt as good as ours. If and when yall play either Leander or Pflugerville (assuming Bowie makes the playoffs) yall will get yalls first round exit agianst 15-5a. I'm not trying to sound gay or anything but 15-5a is just all around alot stronger than 16-5a this year. Where you just not impressed with us or what?

[gochaps]

I truley dont think you would beat Leander if yall played them over again...... Where you just not impressed with us or what?
LeanderLions3033 - I for one, was quite impressed with Leander in the Westlake game. Your game plan and execution were good. Leander was clearly the better team in that game. Westlake was nearly shut-out, except for a big play, which hasn't happened since I can remember. In fact, correct me if I'm wrong, Westlake still has a national record of consequtive games without a shutout.

In terms of publicity of Westlake in the Austin Stateman; It is my opinion that Westlake gets about it's share or a little less. When Westlake was a state power in the 90's or so, then Westlake DID get much more than it's share of the headlines and photos! Westlake WAS interesting news because they were a state contender for the better part of that period. Climbed into the state finals something like 5 times in a period of about 12 years. For the period after that, the big news was when Westlake lost. We then rarely saw Stateman press coverage of the success of the new Westlake players! In fact, I see that it is still somewhat like that today. I see that as unfortunate for todays players, but also understandable in the aftermath of the high success of the 90's.

Westlake is still rated high in coaches polls due to name recognition and the consistent success over the years. As teams like Leander and San Marcos have rose to the top, I think they have been under-rated along the way. San Marcos is viewed as a San Antonio area team and has to compete for publicity with alot of good San Antonio teams. Is Westlake over-rated? Yes, I think they are. When Westlake gets the offensive coaching mindset to build a team with an offensive strategy, with the short yardage plays, that can consistently move the chains rather than just depending on big plays, then I think Westlake will be back as a contender. I think that Westlake would have a better game in a re-match with Leander, but it is not obvious to me that Westlake would win. I would like to see it in the playoffs, but...

I am interested to see how Leander handles McNeil and Pflugerville. Those should be good games. I think an impressive thing for Austin is that there are FOUR Austin area teams (Pflugerville, Leander, McNeil, and WL) ranked in the top 25 in the state!

Good luck to y'all throughout the season!

[tonyswife]

Now see Westlake, I wasn't going to mention various "head to head" games my only reference was to this summers scrimmage. But since you did "go there" with reference to the 2002 OT win...You leave me no choice but to bring out the big guns....hold on a minute...darn...I just went to my son's room to see if I could see what date that was of the Statesmen in 2003 that shows him running in the winning touchdown in OT against yall when we won the District Championship,also an overtime game against you guys. Ah....it's the matting in the framed picture that kept me from seeing the date of the paper :D He was the one in that enormously big photo that covered the AAS sports page that dark Saturday morning for yall, a mere sophomore lad. OK OK...sorry sorry.....just couldn't resist after the 2002 reference. Ah.....see..theraupeutic, I feel better about the Statesmen already....such a nice pic :p

Now seriously.....when else would I get a chance to do that. Just having fun with you. I think yall have an outstanding, well coached group of guys. My son said that Westlake always was very well mannered and polite and showed good sportsmanship. I think the teams always played well against each other. You guys have awesome facilities. We do pack them in at Bobcat Stadium..not sure the exact numbers maybe like 6,000? That sounds about right there was 7,000 at the Burnet game Friday night. It was an electric atmosphere. I did notice the low attendance at the AISD games. See...I have to learn to be brief like you men. we women talk too much...too long a message :cool:

[Jrock]

Speaking of Westlake and publicity, this article (http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/sports_columnists/article/0,1375,VCS_225_4090495,00.html) appeared in the Ventura, CA County Star today.

[LeanderLions3033]

^^see what i mean. Yeah their is a little bit of envy coming from my direction knowing that we have beat yall the last two times we played and yall still get publicity like this.

[tonyswife]

Jrock....I rest my case...incredible :confused: I must say the logo on the t-shirt was pretty smooth... ;)

[ThEgReAtOnE]

Westlake is strong, but a loss is a loss...Leander is ahead of Westlake in my opinion.

So is Judson.

We'll see as the season goes on!

[Tiger Dude]

Westlake has a powerful offensive team, no doubt several of their guys will be playing on Saturday next season.

That all being said, even with Consol's total collapse in the first half, Consol was in a position to win that game.

Westlake is beatable. If you shut down their big play, you can concentrate on stopping their excellent back Max minor. I do not believe they will go too far in the playoffs, assuming they are there.

In fact, I bet that Consol goes farther in the playoffs than Westlake.

(now there's a bold microbrewed IPA 9% alcohol content prediction!)

:)

[badger95]

You're talking nonsense. If you stack the line to stop the run, you will give up the big play to a team that has four d-1 caliber recievers. If you back off to prevent the big play, you let a powerful offensive line and a elusive back gash you for major yardage. You can't do both to a team that can beat you either way! People are saying that all that Westlake has is the big play. That was true vs. Leander. But Westlake's line has settled into a zone and is leading their 2nd string TB to over 200 yds. a game in his two full games.

Pick your poison. Westlake is averaging over 200 yds. passing and rushing per game.

Here's a bolder prediction. A&M won't make the playoffs and Slaughter will be gone following the season. :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Tiger Dude]

You're talking nonsense. If you stack the line to stop the run, you will give up the big play to a team that has four d-1 caliber recievers. If you back off to prevent the big play, you let a powerful offensive line and a elusive back gash you for major yardage. You can't do both to a team that can beat you either way! People are saying that all that Westlake has is the big play. That was true vs. Leander. But Westlake's line has settled into a zone and is leading their 2nd string TB to over 200 yds. a game in his two full games.

Pick your poison. Westlake is averaging over 200 yds. passing and rushing per game.

Here's a bolder prediction. A&M won't make the playoffs and Slaughter will be gone following the season. :eek: :eek: :eek:

won't argue that I often talk nonsense. But for all the yardage, all the big plays, we were damn close to tying it up and winning that game. that's all I'm saying.

Westlake is a good team, no doubt. We beat ourselves that night. DB's out of position, middle LB's making big mistakes. You guys can enjoy the big win all you want, but truth be told, we beat ourselves with playing out of position. Y'all were just there to take advantage of it.

As for Coach Slaughter, I'd predict he's there for a few more years until he retires.

If I'm wrong, I"ll buy ya a beer or three. :)

[LeanderLions3033]

The reason yall didnt have a very successful running game against us was because our dline was getting in the back field at the snap of the ball and Dornak couldnt do anything. This also didnt allow Nick Foles very much time. If Max Minor was in the game i think he would have been a little more successful, since he was faster and quicker to hit the holes. Trust me, in no way do i want to play Westlake again, don't get me wrong, but i do think that in the 1st round of the playoffs you will lose to either Leander or Pflugerville (hopefully Pflugerville, because that will mean we won district lol). This is just my honest opinion. I dont see any other team on yalls schedule that would touch yall.

[gochaps]

Westlake is a good team, no doubt. We beat ourselves that night. DB's out of position, middle LB's making big mistakes. You guys can enjoy the big win all you want, but truth be told, we beat ourselves with playing out of position. Y'all were just there to take advantage of it.


Tiger Dude -
I agree that Consolidated beat themselves and Westlake was there to take advantage of it. Westlake was the better team that night. However, I think that Westlake should have adopted a ball control strategy in the second half to move the ball down field in small increments and to chew up the clock. I felt that Westlake blew the opportunity to put the game away and left open the door for consolidated to creep back into the game.
Either way, I thought the game was alot closer than the half or final scores indicated. There is definitely alot of talent on the Consolidated team. When the Consolidated quarterback(s) are connecting with Consolidated receivers, defense beware!

[chap fan]

Westlake's success wasn't so long ago. From 2000-2004, we appeared in the state finals twice (2000 and 2001), the state semifinals (2003), and lost in the first or second round of playoffs twice (2004 and 2001). I think these kids have achieved on par with the 90's bunch except for not winning a state championship--but there are still 6 years left in this decade!

[westlakefootball]

I definately think if Westlake and Leander had a rematch, Westlake would win, no biased opinion. The o-line that game practiced against a different defense than y'all actually ran and that really messed us up. The offense is clicking, and not just b/c of the 'weak' defenses, we are executing. The defense, which was my main concern, being pretty young, has shown to be very successful. If they were to hold Leander to 16 or so points again in a rematch, which I'm sure we could definately do again (I wasn't too impressed with the offense) no doubt I believe Westlake would win.

Oh and LeanderLions3033, what happened to your last year's kicker, Pedro Pereira?

[LeanderLions3033]

Oh and LeanderLions3033, what happened to your last year's kicker, Pedro Pereira?

Pedro is an all world soccer player that has been getting offers from most every big time d-1 school, so he decided to focus on soccer. We are back to our old kicker from 03, Robert Georgefski. He has just as strong of a leg if not stronger. And you held us to 16 points, but we were still moving the ball at will. We just couldnt capitolize when we got to the redzone (props for that). But if we get in the endzone on those drives and eliminate your one long pass play the score could have easily been something like 28-0. Our offense this year is the most impressive offense we have had over the last 5 years because of the amount of weapons. Billy Allen had a great game (billy was #9, the white reciever) that game and he isnt even our go to option. Yall had our go to option on lock for the most part. Most likely we wont play agian unless one of us dont win district, but i am fully confident that if you play either us or Pflugerville in the 1st round, you will finish the year with a 9-2 record and be eliminated in the 1st round. Thats just my unbiased opinion. Westwood is not good. A&M Consol is better, but from what i saw from your offense and what you put up against their defense, they obviously dont have that much of a ball hawking defense to allow 237 rushing yards to an above average at best Max Minor (i take that back, he looked like a player, but he just couldnt get it going againts us).
The reason Westlake has matchup problems with us and pflugerville was one glaring reason. During pregame i was looking at your team and i was like wow, they are alot bigger than us, we could get worked. But as the game progressed, it was obvious that we had alot mroe overall team speed than yall did, and we arent even that fast of a team. Now adays you can't have a bunch of 6'3" 220 lb guys that run 4.8's and 4.9's, because thats what it seemed like yall had. Don't get me wrong, the fastest player on the field was Jobe, but after that the list goes on and on about how many people on our team were faster. Pflugerville is alot faster than us, so more than likely you would have more trouble with them. And about the two differnet defenses we run either a 4-2-5 (4 down linemen, 2 inside backers, a rover-SS, and 4 dbs) or a 3-3 stack (3 down linemen, 3 insider backers, 2 outside linebackers/strong safteys, and 3 dbs) based on what we feel is better suited for the situation. If you studied all week for the 4-2-5 then you studied wrong because we run both. We didnt just magically switch up the defense to throw yall off if thats what your getting at....

[badger95]

Tiger Dude -
I agree that Consolidated beat themselves and Westlake was there to take advantage of it. Westlake was the better team that night. However, I think that Westlake should have adopted a ball control strategy in the second half to move the ball down field in small increments and to chew up the clock. I felt that Westlake blew the opportunity to put the game away and left open the door for consolidated to creep back into the game.
!

Were you at the game? Did you not see Max Minor run for over 230 yds. on leads right up the gut of the defense? What else could they have done? Y'all are acting like the Tigers were putting together sustained drives and getting back into the game. They busted two big plays, and then were shut down again.

[gochaps]

Were you at the game? Did you not see Max Minor run for over 230 yds. on leads right up the gut of the defense? What else could they have done? Y'all are acting like the Tigers were putting together sustained drives and getting back into the game. They busted two big plays, and then were shut down again.
Badger95 -
I was especially impressed with Max's scrambles and the deep passes and outstanding catches. However, if Westlake continues to depend on the big play for scoring throughout the pre-season and regular season and are not working on a ball control game, then they will be missing a crucial part of their game in the post season.

[badger95]

Badger95 -
I was especially impressed with Max's scrambles and the deep passes and outstanding catches. However, if Westlake continues to depend on the big play for scoring throughout the pre-season and regular season and are not working on a ball control game, then they will be missing a crucial part of their game in the post season.


Again, how is being able to rush for over 240 yds. with one back not a ground control game? How do you think the big pass plays were set up? They were all off of play-action passes. You're not getting it. The big pass plays are the result of a ground-based attack that was very effective.

[PonyExpress81]

You're talking nonsense. If you stack the line to stop the run, you will give up the big play to a team that has four d-1 caliber recievers. If you back off to prevent the big play, you let a powerful offensive line and a elusive back gash you for major yardage. You can't do both to a team that can beat you either way! People are saying that all that Westlake has is the big play. That was true vs. Leander. But Westlake's line has settled into a zone and is leading their 2nd string TB to over 200 yds. a game in his two full games.

Pick your poison. Westlake is averaging over 200 yds. passing and rushing per game.

Here's a bolder prediction. A&M won't make the playoffs and Slaughter will be gone following the season. :eek: :eek: :eek:

Badger95 this is about as far off original topic as we can get but I believe that Westlake has already gotten through its toughest part of the regular season (except maybe Hays consolidated) Westlake will roll big time from here on out and be in the playoffs without breaking a sweat. Westlake has a great passing game period (long ball or short range). But that running game against us was from the same play being ran over & over & over again. It was a simple lead play to the weakside with a pulling gaurd. The wrong stunt was called from our sideline all night. We stunted to the strongside all night actually away from this one play. This one simple play accounted for nearly all of the 200 yards on the ground by itself. It was tough to see the Westlake blocking scheme from a ground level but it was very easy to see from the booth up top. I guess our D-coach in the booth was a sleep up there or his advice was being ignored on the ground. I don't know which? But if we had stopped that simple lead play by stunting into the pulling gaurd or blitzing the middle lb into the pulling gaurd there would not be 200+ yds on the ground. Hindsight is 20/20, I don't think that there was a way for us to shut down the long ball that night it was just a matter of needing better athletes to match up - no quick fixes available for that. Our team looked back to normal last week against Georgetown and we should make the playoffs too if they don't work our team into the ground. Practices have been a lot tougher and more negative since the Westlake game. Coaching is a tough job and a balancing act between hard work & team morale. In spite of some staff mistakes & the tough loss to Westlake Coach Slaughter is still a great man & coach and he will get things sorted out for this team with time to spare. And he may leave A&M Consolidated one day, but it will be on his own terms and when he is ready. Besides his son won't graduate until 2007 so I don't see him wanting to go any where else anytime soon. Most of the team does want another shot at Westlake but it will have to be in the playoffs.

[gochaps]

Again, how is being able to rush for over 240 yds. with one back not a ground control game? How do you think the big pass plays were set up? They were all off of play-action passes. You're not getting it. The big pass plays are the result of a ground-based attack that was very effective.

Badger95 - I didn't say ground control, I said ball control. That is control the ball to assure that you get each and every first down and to maximize the time WL offense has the ball in order to minimize the time the other offense has the ball in order to minimize their opportunity to score. If WL had good ball control when up 22-0 then AMC would not have had the opportunity to decrease the margin to 22-14. With good ball control, the score considering AMC's TD's should have been 36-14 (still a 22 point margin).

I have been enough AMC games over the years to believe that this game involved many mistakes that are totally untypical of the expectations of the disciplined AMC team. Besides guessing wrong on defense, many thrown balls were misfired or just not caught. We saw what the AMC running back/receiver could do when out in the open field. If a number of those other thrown balls had been caught, there was alot of potential for AMC to make plays.

If WL methodically moves the ball down the field, then AMC can't just methodically move the ball because they would run out of time. AMC would then be forced to the run the higher risk plays to try to make up the difference (and hopefully WL picks them off or gets the ball back on downs).

I truely believe that when the
WL offensive line can move the line of scrimmage,
WL can consistently convert 3rd downs with short runs and passes,
WL kicking game is back,
and WL defense continues to to what they do,
then I think that WL will be a force to contend with in the playoffs!

just my opinion....

[zippy]

Why did San Angelo cover a team in that area?


I grew up in a town about an equal distance from Austin and San Antonio and we couldn't get coverage from either area--the San Angelo paper actually gave our community the best coverage.
It's frustrating, but most urban newpaper sports departments don't place the value on high school sports that you see in smaller communities. And if you can remember playing AISD teams at their stadiums, you will also remember how very low their turnout is. It's kind of sad.[/QUOTE]

[chap fan]

Well, they do cover the western Hill Country some, and before we moved up in classification, we were in a district with some teams, like Brady, Coleman, Mason, that you would expect them to cover. When we moved up, we were on the north end of a district with Kerrville and San Antonio teams, and the larger cities to the west on the Mexican border (Eagle Pass, Del Rio) and the larger towns in between (Uvalde, Crystal City). Still not really the coverage area for the San Angelo paper.

[westlake]

minor put up another 202yds, and Jay Austin added 94. Foles for 144yds passing and 28yd TD to Ball. Foles picked up 2 rushing TD also. 28-17 over Bowie. i was expecting a higher score for us, but a win is a win.

[westlakefootball]

I truely believe that when the
WL offensive line can move the line of scrimmage,
WL can consistently convert 3rd downs with short runs and passes,
WL kicking game is back,
and WL defense continues to to what they do,
then I think that WL will be a force to contend with in the playoffs!

just my opinion....

I agree with this. The past few games the o-line has dominated and we have racked up major yardage. Our convertion percentage on 3rd down is very high, the dynamic run and pass threat will continue to help there. The kicking is still a struggle, the original starter, Justin Wang injured his ankle and can only do punts for now w/o risking another injury and the back up Justin Tucker has been 1 for 6 or something in his absence and a couple missed extra points. Luckily the games haven't been close to come down to those errors. The defense didn't do too well against Bowie, but I think that was just an off night. They have been solid since the first game and I believe they will continue to do so.