BATTLE OF THE LAKES

How Westlake vs. Lake Travis Became Central Texas Football’s Premier Rivalry

Some rivalries need generations to acquire a name, a mythology and a place on the Texas high school football calendar.

Westlake and Lake Travis needed considerably less time.

Separated by roughly 13 miles, the Chaparrals and Cavaliers first met in 2006. Westlake won that inaugural game 38-14. What followed transformed a relatively young matchup between neighboring programs into one of the fiercest rivalries in Texas high school football. The UIL eventually included the “Battle of the Lakes” in its celebration of 100 years of Texas high school football rivalries.

And perhaps no description captures the rivalry better than longtime Westlake voice Joe Taylor.

Writing before the 2017 meeting, Taylor observed that this was the game Westlake fans always knew was coming: even if they couldn’t immediately name every opponent on the schedule, they knew when the Chaparrals were playing Lake Travis.

That is what the Battle of the Lakes has become.

TWO PROGRAMS BUILT TO WIN

The rivalry’s stature isn’t based simply on geography. It comes from what the two programs have accomplished.

Westlake entered the rivalry with an established championship tradition, highlighted by its 1996 state championship team led by Drew Brees. Lake Travis then developed one of the great championship runs in Texas high school football history.

As the Cavaliers rose, the balance of power in the rivalry shifted dramatically.

Westlake won the first two meetings in 2006 and 2007. Then Lake Travis took control.

Beginning in 2008, the Cavaliers won 10 consecutive meetings, a streak that included nine straight regular-season victories and a devastating 51-3 playoff victory in the 2016 Class 6A Region IV final. Lake Travis went on to win the 2016 state championship.

Those Lake Travis teams also helped turn the rivalry into a showcase for elite quarterback play.

The list of players associated with the matchup reads more like a college recruiting retrospective than a high school rivalry: Garrett Gilbert, Baker Mayfield, Michael Brewer and Hudson Card at Lake Travis; Nick Foles, Sam Ehlinger and Cade Klubnik among Westlake’s stars.

THE NIGHT WESTLAKE BROKE THROUGH

By October 13, 2017, the Lake Travis streak had become part of the rivalry itself.

Westlake coach Todd Dodge refused to let the previous decade define that night’s teams.

“The 2017 Lake Travis Cavaliers and the 2017 Westlake Chaparrals haven’t played each other before.”

His point was simple: great programs reload, and every season creates a new matchup.

That night, Westlake finally broke through.

The Chaparrals defeated Lake Travis 21-14, ending the Cavaliers’ nine-year, 10-game winning streak in the series. Taylor later described a game worthy of all the anticipation: turnovers, explosive plays and the kind of atmosphere that had come to define the rivalry.

A year later, Westlake won again, this time 44-14.

Then came another classic.

2019: ONE POINT

The 2019 Battle of the Lakes demonstrated why records and predictions don’t always matter in rivalry games.

Lake Travis entered having lost two straight to Westlake. Dave Campbell’s experts favored the Chaparrals.

Instead, the Cavaliers won 26-25.

The teams traded the lead three times during the fourth quarter. Lake Travis went ahead on a Grayson Sandlin touchdown reception, and Westlake still had an opportunity to win before a 45-yard field-goal attempt into the wind fell short.

The lesson was familiar: rivalry games produce magical moments.

WESTLAKE TAKES ITS TURN

After the COVID-affected 2020 season interrupted the annual series, the pendulum swung decisively toward Westlake.

The Chaparrals won 63-21 in 2021 and 35-20 in 2022.

Then the rivalry acquired another dimension: the teams began seeing each other again in the postseason.

Westlake defeated Lake Travis 20-14 during the 2023 regular season and then beat the Cavaliers again, 21-14, in the Region IV final.

In 2024, it happened again.

Westlake won the regular-season Battle of the Lakes 28-16, then eliminated Lake Travis from the playoffs with a 24-17 Region IV final victory.

Suddenly the rivalry wasn’t simply deciding bragging rights.

It was deciding who kept playing in December.

LAKE TRAVIS ANSWERS IN 2025

By October 2025, Westlake had turned the rivalry completely around.

Lake Travis entered the game leading the overall series, but the Cavaliers hadn’t defeated Westlake since that dramatic 2019 game.

That changed emphatically.

Lake Travis beat Westlake at Chaparral Stadium, ending its six-game losing streak against the Chaps. The evening carried another piece of history.

Before kickoff, Westlake retired Drew Brees’ No. 15, the first number retired in the history of Chaparral football. The game once again carried major district-title implications.

It was a fitting setting.

A rivalry born in 2006 had grown important enough that a night celebrating one of Texas high school football’s most famous alumni shared the stage with another chapter of Westlake-Lake Travis.

MORE THAN A RIVALRY

What separates the Battle of the Lakes from many neighborhood rivalries is the stakes.

These aren’t simply two schools that happen to dislike losing to each other.

They are programs accustomed to playing for district championships, regional championships and state championships.

They have produced NFL quarterbacks, major-college recruits, legendary coaches and December playoff runs. They’ve traded periods of dominance: Lake Travis owned the matchup for nearly a decade; Westlake answered with a run of its own; Lake Travis struck back in 2025.

And the rivalry has become bigger as Central Texas itself has grown.

The UIL has recognized the Battle of the Lakes among the state’s notable football rivalries despite its comparatively young age.

That’s why, when Westlake and Lake Travis meet, the stadium fills.

That’s why the date gets circled.

And that’s why nearly two decades after Westlake won the first meeting, the Battle of the Lakes has become one of the defining games on the Central Texas sports calendar.

Research sources: Texas Sports Monthly archives; Austin American-Statesman; Dave Campbell’s Texas Football; UIL; Westlake Chaparral Nation/Joe Taylor.