Former Tiger stops Dripping Springs again

Westlake High School head coach Tony Salazar excelled in sports as a student at Dripping Springs from 1996-1999, when he played basketball, baseball, football and ran track and his name can be found in the school’s athletic records. As a head coach, Salazar holds another record; in Dripping Springs’ second year in class 6A, his Westlake teams are 2-0 against the Tigers.

The Tigers lost at home 29-10 last year and 27-14 last Friday night at Westlake.

“This is a big win for us. We know they’re coming. They are a good team and just keep getting better.” Salazar said about the Tigers after the game. “We’ve just got to keep them at bay as long as we can, 'cause when they beat us, they’ll know they can beat us.”

Dripping Springs’ approach to Friday’s game was that they could beat the Chapparals and through at least the first half, it appeared in might come to fruition. The Tigers got the opening kickoff and in less than two minutes, on the third play of the game, Jack Tyndall ran 77 yards for a touchdown and 7-0 lead. Westlake quarterback Rees Wise tied the game on a 5-yard run with 3:07 in the first quarter. Kyle Koch scored early in the second quarter on a 42-yard pass from Dripping Springs quarterback Maddox Maher. Both teams missed field goals and Tiger fans enjoyed a 14-7 Tiger lead on the scoreboard at halftime.

The Chaparrals got the ball to begin the second half and Wise scored on a 9-yard run before two minutes had run off the clock to tie the game 14-14. Westlake missed its second field goal in the game, but got the ball late in the third quarter when the Tigers failed to convert a fourth down and five.

Wise scored his third touchdown of the game for a 21-14 lead with just under nine minutes in the game. Westlake’s defense forced the Tigers to punt on a fourth down and nine on the Tigers next possession. Judson Crockett blocked the punt, his second of the game, and Heath McRee picked up the ball and scored. The Chaps PAT failed. With just over seven minutes in the game and a 13-point lead, Westlake’s defense would keep the Tigers off the board to seal the victory.

“You put a lot of effort into this game and you should be disappointed, but I’m proud of you and you should be proud of the way you battled, so hold your heads up,” head coach Galen Zimmerman told his team after the loss.

Maher passed for 190 yards and a touchdown. Jack Tyndall carried 31 times for 180 yards and a touchdown. Koch had six receptions for 95 yards, Maddox Bloomgren had three receptions for 54 yards and Cooper Reid had two receptions for 39 yards. Dripping Springs had 381 total yards to Westlake’s 326.

The Tigers 5-2 (4-1) will host Lake Travis 6-1 (4-1) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 20.