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)
