AUSTIN (KXAN) — No. 9 Humble Atascocita clamped down on defense in the second half and ran out of Chaparral Stadium with a 39-21 win over No. 4 Westlake on Friday.
It’s the first time since 2018 the Chaparrals have lost a regular season game at home. Cypress Ranch topped the Chaps 25-21 in Week 2 that season.
Westlake led 21-17 at halftime but the Eagles adjusted their defense and stymied the Chaps the rest of the way. Atascocita quarterback Cardae Mack had a lot to do with it, as well.
He scored on a bizarre play to give his team a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. After handing off to Troy Blalock, Blalock ran into a mass of people and fumbled, but the ball squirted right to Mack who picked it up and raced around the end for a 56-yard recovery score.
The PAT gave the Eagles a 31-21 lead with around 10 minutes left.
With the Westlake offense stuck in neutral, Atascocita put an exclamation point on the win with a Mack touchdown pass to Kyren Pate on fourth down. Mack’s 23-yard froze rope to Pate came with 2:01 left in the game, and then Atascocita bobbled the PAT snap but turned it into two points with a conversion.
Westlake quarterback Rees Wise threw three interceptions in the game. He had a 43-yard touchdown pass to Lawson Grimes late in the second quarter to give Westlake the lead and a 4-yard touchdown run for the game’s first touchdown. Justice Johnson scored the other touchdown for the Chaps, hauling in a 20-yard pass from Cal Livengood on a double-pass play.
“We’ve got to the drawing board and look at ourselves in the mirror,” Chaps head coach Tony Salazar said. “They made plays down the stretch in the second half.”
Mack threw two touchdown passes to Broderick Malone, one in each half.
Westlake (2-1) has one more non-district game left against No. 10 Cibolo Steele in Schertz next week. Atascocita (3-0) begins district play against Houston King next week.