AUSTIN (KXAN) — Lake Travis head coach Hank Carter knows how the old biblical adage “iron sharpens iron,” goes. One look at the Cavaliers’ non-district schedule proves that.
Ranked No. 8 in the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football preseason Class 6A poll, the Cavs started official practices Monday and have a loaded schedule leading up to their District 26-6A slate. Three of their four games are against 6A teams that advanced further than the 6A-Division 1 bi-district round.
MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newsletters
He hates losing, there’s no doubt about that, but if he’s going to take an L, he’d rather it be to a tough opponent that’s going to teach him something about his team.
“Social media and the exposure has made people a little bit hesitant to schedule somebody that’s not a guaranteed win,” Carter said. “I want to win every single game, but if we find out some things early in the season that we need to get fixed and we end up taking a loss, I hate it, but sometimes you learn a lot more by playing a tough opponent than kicking the snot out of somebody.”
Right out of the gate in Week 1, Lake Travis hits the road to take on Arlington Martin, last year’s District 8-6A champ and D1 area qualifier, and it gets tougher from there. The Cavs host No. 22 Rockwall in Week 2 and then have another long trip in Week 3 to take on Midland Legacy before hosting San Marcos in Week 4. Legacy and Rockwall made it to the regional semifinals in 6A-D1 last season while the Rattlers went winless.
The tough non-district schedule that Carter typically puts together pays off more times than not. The Cavs rode it all the way to the regional finals last season, taking rival Westlake to the bitter end in a 21-14 loss, and there’s no reason why they can’t have the same success the program is accustomed to having.
“We have a lot of potential,” Carter said. “Obviously with Chaston Ditta coming back at quarterback and Cam Brooks, our leader in the secondary, I feel great about having those guys. We have a lot of good ones, and as a coaching staff, we’ve got to figure out how to best utilize everybody’s skills to see how good of a football team we can have.”
Ditta stepped in at quarterback about midway through last season and ran the Cavs’ offense with terrific efficiency with 17 passing touchdowns against four interceptions. He parlayed that into a verbal commitment to the East Carolina Pirates and he’s ready to take the job on full-time.
“You only get to play a certain amount of games each year, 16, hopefully,” he said. “So that’s only 16 days out of the year you get to play, but you have to practice all the other days.”
Lake Travis begins district play Sept. 27 against Bowie with the Battle of the Lakes against Westlake on Oct. 25. UIL realignment dropped Anderson out of the district to 5A and moved Buda Johnson to a San Antonio-based district, giving the Cavs two fewer district games than they’ve been used to.