GAMES
RANKINGS
THE POWER RANKINGS: Undefeated Lake Travis finishes atop final poll
The 5A teams know how to party.
Yes, the 6A powers pummeled each other with glee on the final weekend of the regular season. Lake Travis avoided a letdown against Austin High to finish 10-0, atop both District 26-6A and atop our final Power Rankings of the year; #2-ranked Dripping Springs outlasted #3 Westlake to remain runner-up in our rankings – and grab a home playoff game; #6-ranked Vandegrift rode a blocked field goal return for a touchdown in overtime to hold off #14 Round Rock and grab a piece of their 8th consecutive district title. They’ll share that title with #10-ranked Hutto, who held off #12 McNeil, the best team in the Austin area to miss the playoffs.
All intense, highly important and occasionally dramatic games, to be sure, but games that more or less restored the status quo to what we’d laid out back in August.
The 5A clubs, on the other hand, flipped the field. Liberty Hill battered Bastrop for their 8th straight win and claimed the District 11-5A-2 crown, along with a Top 5 Power Ranking; #9-ranked Weiss upended previously unbeaten #4 Anderson; #16 Cedar Park made all their free throws and drained their 3-pointers to outrun #7 Georgetown 62-50. That set up an “A-over-B; B-over-C; C-over-A” scenario with #14 East View, who split with those two teams. Same with Pflugerville Connally firebombing #18 Pflugerville and McCallum crushing Crockett. They all beat each other up? The heck with it then; they all finish tied in the Rankings.
And so it went all season long. We hope you enjoyed this year’s “means absolutely nothing but it’s fun to argue about” Power Rankings. Now it’s time to settle it on the field.
VYPE Austin Top 20 Combined Class 4A-6A
*Last parentheses indicates most recent game result
1. (1) Lake Travis Cavaliers (6A) – 10-0 (W 40-14 @ Austin High)
2. (2) Dripping Springs Tigers (6A) -- 9-1 (W 45-35 @ #3 Westlake)
3. (3) Westlake Chaparrals (6A) – 7-3 (L 45-35 vs. #2 Dripping Springs)
4. (6) Vandegrift Vipers (6A) - 8-2 (W-OT 23-17 @ #14 Round Rock)
5. (8) Liberty Hill (5A-2) – 8-2 (W 48-14 vs. #5 Bastrop)
6. (10) Hutto Hippos (6A) – 8-2 (W 52-49 vs. #12 McNeil)
7. (9) Weiss Wolves (5A-1) – 8-2 (W 28-7 vs. #4 Anderson)
8. (4) Anderson Trojans (5A-1) – 9-1 (L 28-7 @ #9 Weiss)
9. (5) Bastrop Bears (5A-2) – 9-1 (L 48-14 @ #8 Liberty Hill)
10. (11) Vista Ridge Rangers (6A) – 7-3 (W 38-34 @ Westwood)
11. (13) LBJ Austin Jaguars (4A-1) - 8-2 (W 58-6 vs. Eastside)
12. (7) Georgetown Eagles (5A-1) – 8-2 (L 62-50 vs. #16 Cedar Park)
13. (16) Cedar Park Timberwolves (5A-1) – 7-3 (W 60-52 @ #7 Georgetown)
14. (17) East View Patriots (5A-1) 7-3 (W 50-13 @ Leander)
15. (14) Round Rock (6A) – 5-5 (L-OT 23-17 vs. #6 Vandegrift)
16. (12) McNeil Mavericks (6A) – 6-4 (L 52-49 @ #10 Hutto)
17. (15) Bowie Bulldogs (6A) – 6-4 (BYE)
18. (19) Rouse Raiders (5A-2) – 6-4 (W 55-40 vs. Glenn)
19. (20) Cedar Ridge Raiders (6A) – 5-5 (W 69-21 @ Manor)
T-20. McCallum, Pflugerville, Pflugerville Connally (6-4)
VYPE Austin Central Texas Game of the Week Recap: Liberty Hill batters Bastrop to claim district title
The big question going into their showdown last Friday night (11/7) with a district title on the line was whether Liberty Hill’s and/or Bastrop’s defenses would be able to slow down the other team’s offenses.
While the Panthers' defense was able to do just that, the Bear’s defense couldn't do the same. As a result, Liberty Hill battered Bastrop and clinched the District 11-5A-2 title with a convincing 48-14 victory in our VYPE Austin Central Texas Game of the Week.
After Liberty Hill’s defense forced a punt on Bastrop’s first series to break serve, senior Preston Benefield’s 6-yard run capped off a 14-play, 94-yard drive. With Bastrop junior quarterback Weston Nielsen firing passes to Zac Wilkinson to set the table for Gary Jefferson Jr.’s answering score, everything appeared primed for the shootout. But the Panther defense made sure Bastrop was firing mostly blanks.
Junior Pierre Dylan Belinga put the Panthers back on top 14-7 with a six-yard run. Then, Liberty Hill’s Ethan McMilliam recovered a Bastrop fumble – their second of the quarter -- to stymie the Bears’ attempt to answer. Senior Jack Pitchford punched it in from four yards out and the Panthers tacked in the two-point conversion to send Liberty Hill into the halftime locker room with a 22-7 lead.
Belinga opened the third quarter with a 90-yard scoring dash to nudge the lead up to 28-7. With Bastrop trying to answer, senior Alister Vallejo forced yet another fumble on one of his three sacks to deny the Bears. Pitchford’s second score of the night, this one from 35 yards out, essentially put the game out of reach at 35-7. Benefield scored for a second time to increase the Liberty Hill lead to 42-7 heading into eh final quarter.
Nielsen got the Bears on the board again in the 4th quarter with a 2-yard run, but Panther junior Cayden Timmons’ answered with a 15-yard scamper to bring the score to the final 48-14.
Liberty Hill (7-0 in District 11-5A-2, 8-2 overall) hosts San Antonio Lanier Thursday night (11/13) to open th e5A Division 2 playoffs. Bastrop (6-1, 9-1) looks to bounce back from its first defeat of the season against San Antonio Burbank. VYPE crews will broadcast both games on the NFHS Network.