Replay: Central Texas high school football kicks off with opening Friday night.
The first Friday night of the season is in the books. Highlights from tonight's action across Central Texas:
Connally knocks off Marble Falls 40-14
Connally opens up its slate with a 40-14 win at Marble Falls, while Hutto is racking up the points as the Hippos are rolling past San Marcos 56-35 in a game that is still in the 3rd quarter.
Stony Point is leading Austin High 24-21 in the 4th.
More finals
Westlake 31, Ridge Point 21
Lubbock Christian 30, Hyde Park 20
Ridge Point rallies and narrows gap on the Chaps; Warriors comes back for the win
Despite trailing 28-7 entering the final quarter, Ridge Point has rallied to narrow the Chaps lead to 31-21 late in the fourth quarter.
Westwood completed its second half comeback as the Warriors were 2 TDs better than East View 34-20.
Finals trickling in
Here are the finals so far:
Lake Travis 13, Arlington Martin 7
Georgetown 37, Copperas Cove 7
Vandegrift 27, Dripping Springs 7
Leander 48, Pflugerville 28
Smithville 37, Travis 7
Wimberley 60, Canyon Lake 6
Cedar Park 29, Cedar Ridge 7
Weiss 37, Round Rock 7
LT Wins; Westlake extends lead
Despite being held scoreless for 3 1/2 quarters, Lake Travis held on for a 13-6 win over Arlington Martin.
Westlake took advantage of a Rhett Steppe punt block as Jack Kayser pushed the Chaps lead to 28-0 over Ridge Point.
In 5A action, Leander has taken a two-score lead as the Lions lead Pflugerville 42-28 in the 4th quarter.
Wimberley is flexing its muscles as the Texans are routing Canyon Lake 60-0 in the fourth.
Georgetown routed Copperas Cove 37 -7.
Westwood has rallied to take a 27-20 lead over East View in the 4th.
Lake Travis finally in front
After not leading for 47:17, LT taken the lead over Arlington Martin as Kadyn Leon hit Seth Galbraith for a score and the Cavaliers leads Martin 13-7. Martin is now playing with out QB Tristan Bittle who left the game with a clavicle injury.
Hutto leads San Marcos 42-14 in the second.
LT back in the red zone
After recovering a fumble on the kickoff, Lake Travis has marched to inside the 10 with 1:20 left in the game.
At Kelly Reeves, Westwood has rallied and now is tied with East View 20-20 in the second half.
Koch puts Tigers on scoreboard
Dripping Springs' Kyle Koch raced 75 yards on a reverse as the Tigers now trail Vandegrift 27-7 late in the 3rd quarter.
Lake Travis finally dents the scoreboard after Nico Hamilton put the Cavs in the red zone with a 48-yard jaunt and then the Kadyn Leon scores from the 2. The PAT was blocked so it is now 6-6 with 3:09 remaining in the 4th.
5A-DII Scores
Manor New Tech 33, Eastside 0 - Halftime
Northeast 13, Hempstead 7 - Halftime
LASA 20, St. Andrew's 0 - Halftime
Smithville 23, Travis 0 - 3rd Quarter
Hippos rolling up the points
Hutto has scored 4 times as the Hippos have opened up a 28-7 lead over San Marcos.
Stony Point and Austin High are knotted at 21 at the half., while McNeil is shutting out Del Valle 10-0 in the 2nd quarter wile Weiss leads Round Rock by 20, 27-7 in the 3rd.
Patriots up on Westwood
East View leads Westwood 20-10 at Kelly Reeves while Cedar Park leads Cedar Ridge 15-0 at the half.
Georgetown scored on its opening possession of the second half as the Eagles lead the Bulldawgs 31-0 in the 3rd quarter.
Hays scored before the half as the Hawks have taken a 8-0 lead into the locker room over Akins.
Hays leads Akins in the 2nd
in a matchup of former district foes, the Hawks have drawn first blood as they lead Akins 2-0 in the second quarter.
At Cavalier Stadium, Lake Travis' Nico Hamilton was stuffed on a 4th down carry as the Cavs turn the ball over on downs on the Martin 26 and Martin has taken advantage as Tristan Bittle delivers a 51-yard strike to Brody Williams for 6, Martin leads the Cavs 7-0 with 4:18 left in the 3rd quarter.
In other 6A action, Weiss leads Round Rock 21-7 in a game that features a pair of coaches in their opening games as head coach at their respective school.
Weiss' Vernon Hughes took over the head coaching reins from long-time coach Steve Van Meter, while the Dragons are skippered by Cody Moore who replaced Jeff Cheatum.
Acosta extends Chaps' lead
Nate Acosta raced down the left sidelines as Westlake has opened a 21-0 lead over Ridge Point with 5:22 remaining in the first half.
Unlike last season's pair of three-point thrillers, Vandegrift leads Dripping Springs 27-0 at the half as Diego Le La Vara Vazquez returned an interception 28 yards to pad the lead.
Fournier hits pay dirt twice to give Vandegrift a 20-0 lead
Brendan Fournier has rushed for a pair of scores as the Vipers lead Dripping Springs 20-0 late in the half.
Pflugerville has taken advantage of a botched snap on a Leander field goal as the Panthers scored on a long run to cut the Lions' lead to 28-21 with 23 seconds left in the opening 24 minutes.
In the Martin-Lake Travis game, the Statesman's Jay Plotkin reports that there have been a combined 15 combined penalties for 145 yards, including penalties on a pair of Kadyn Leon TD runs that were wiped out.
Westlake leads in the second quarter
Brody Wilhelm took in a TD catch on a pass from Paxton Land, while Jack Kayser tacked on a 1-yard TD run and Westlake is leading Ridge Point 14-0 with 9:20 left in the first half.
They have reached half at Birkelbach as the Eagles lead 24-0 over Copperas Cove. Georgetown scored 4 times in 5 possessions as the Eagles offense has not slowed down from last years season.
With less than 2 minutes left in the half, Leander leads Pflugerville 28-14.
Bryson Batts electrifies House Park crowd
After Stony Point took a 14-7 lead over Austin High, the Maroons Bryson Batts evened the score as he took the ensuing kickoff 105 yards with 2:50 left in the first quarter at House Park.
Midway through the second, Vandegrift has extended its lead over Dripping Springs to 13-0. Lake Travis has squandered plenty of chances as the Cavaliers and Martin are scoreless at the half.
Adams to Adams accounts for an early Viper lead
Deuce Adams hit Eli Adams for a 54-yard TD pass as Vandegrift takes an early 7-0 lead over Dripping Springs just 60 seconds into the opening quarter.
Meanwhile in Georgetown, Xavier Warren took a 5-yard out from Booras, made a man missed and was off to the races for an 80-yard TD reception. The Eagles now lead 24-0 late in the opening half.
Leander takes the lead again in first quarter scoring explosion
Leander has retaken the lead over Pflugerville as the Lions now lead the Panthers with 21-14 with 1:30 remaining in the opening stanza.
The Lions are now entering the 2nd quarter as the Panthers are on the move again.
Petter scores again
Early in the second quarter, Andrew Petter find the end zone, from 6 yards out, for the second TD of the night as Georgetown has upped its lead to 17-0 over Copperas Cove.
Penalties have played a factor in the Lake Travis- Arlington Martin as LT's Kaedyn Leon's 75-yard scoring run was nullified by a holding call on the Cavs so it is still scoreless after 1 quarter of play.
Statesman's Pre-Season Top 10
Here is the American Statesman's top 10 pre-season poll
10 - Rouse
9 - Wimberley
8 - LBJ
7- Georgetown
6- Liberty Hill
5- Round Rock
4 - Dripping Springs
3 - Lake Travis
2 - Vandegrift
1 - Westlake
Leander takes a 14-7 lead over Pflugerville
Midway though the first quarter, Leander has scored a pair of touchdowns as the Lions now lead Pflugerville 14-7 at the Pfield in a 5A matchup.
Meanwhile in Georgetown, the Eagles have scored the season's first touchdown to take a 10-0 lead on Copperas Cove. The 65-yard drive was capped off by a 4-yard run by Petter.
Georgetown leads early, LT misses an opportunity
Aaron Guzman hit a 32-yard field goal to push the Eagles out to a 3-0 lead over Copperas Cove with just over 6 minutes left in the opening quarter.
Lake Travis reached the Arlington Martin 10 yard line on the opening drive but after a pair of false start penalties proved costly as a 37-yard field goal was no good. Still scoreless with 4:46 left in the opening stanza.
Liberty Hill opens Saturday
Perennial 5A power Liberty Hill will take its vaunted slot-T offense on the road to San Antonio Wagner to kickoff its 2023 campaign.
The Panthers are paced by their 3 top running backs, Noah Long, Ben Carter and Joe Pitchford. The trio combined for more than 5000 yards rushing with 61 scores.
Long paced the potent backfield with 2074 yards and 22 scores, while Carter chipped in 1933 yards while reaching pay dirt 31 times and Pitchford tacked on 1078 yards while finding the end zone 8 times.
Can Georgetown repeat its District 11-5A Division I magic?
Led by seniors quarterback Nate Booras and running back Andrew Petter, the Eagles lift the curtain on their '23 campaign with high hopes.
The Eagles finished in a 3-way tie for the district top spot with College Station and A&M Consolidated, as they fashioned a 10-3 mark.
Booras, who replaced an injured Tucker Griffin, in the Liberty Hill game last year, led the Eagles to the 3rd round of the UIL playoffs while earning the district's offensive MVP award as he completed over 75% of his passes for 2810 yards and 33 TDs. The multi-dimensional Petter was the Eagles' workhorse in the backfield as he rushed for 1835 yards while scoring 33 TDs on the ground. Petter also caught 27 passes for 400 yards and 3 scores.
The Eagles will entertain 6A foe Copperas Cove at Birkelbach Stadium.
6A opens with inter-district tilts
Teams from District 25-6A and District 26-6A are matching up on a sweltering Friday night to open the 2023 campaign.
Besides last night's Bowie-Vista Ridge overtime barnburner and tonight's Dripping Springs-Vandegrift affair, Stony Point is venturing to House Park to take on Austin High, while McNeil visits Del Valle, where Todd Patmon will be coaching the first game for the Cardinals.
Other 6A squads in action tonight:
Lake Travis is hosting Arlington Martin
Cedar Ridge visits Cedar Park
East View is at Westwood
Hays takes on former district rival Akins
Weiss is taking on Round Rock at Dragon Stadium
Westlake is traveling to Missouri City to face Ridge Point
Buda Johnson visits San Antonio Clark
San Marcos drives up 130 for a matchup with Hutto
Vipers, Tigers At It Again
For the third time in less than a year, Vandergrift and Dripping Springs will square off as the 2023 Texas high school football season kicks off tonight at Gupton Stadium.
Playing in its initial game as a 6A school, Dripping Springs edged the Vipers 23-20 on a last second field goal in last year's season opener. The Vipers exacted a measure of revenge in the 6A Division II regional final with a 27-24 nail-biting win.
After the opening game defeat, Vandegrift rattled off 14 wins before falling 42-17 to DeSoto in the 6A finals at Jerry's World in Arlington.
Both schools will be replacing their starting quarterbacks from a year ago. Dripping Springs will turn to Jack Williams who is the heir apparent to Austin Novosad, a Baylor signee.
Offensively, Williams will be supported by two of the area's top playmakers in receiver Kyle Koch and running back Jack Tyndall. Koch, who garnered All-Central Texas second-team honors last year as he racked up 1077 yards on 67 receptions and 18 TDs. Tyndall led the Tigers in rushing as he reached paydirt 13 times while amassing 878 yards on the ground.
Louisville commit Deuce Adams is stepping into the shoes of Baylor baseball signee Brayden Buchanan who led the Vipers to the 6A DII finals a season ago.
The senior transfer from New Braunfels Canyon, threw for 3007 yards with 34 TD passes last year. He will look to get the ball into the hands of dual-sport standout Miles Coleman. Not only did the diminutive Coleman haul in 99 passes for 1664 yards and 13 TDs, he threw for 2 TDs on his only 2 pass attempts.
Vandegrift will also rely on senior offensive tackle Blake Frazier. Frazier, a Michigan verbal commit, did not allow a sack last season.
4 Area Schools Post Opening Night Victories
The 2023 Central Texas football season kicked off last night as Anderson, Crockett, Manor and Vista Ridge brought home wins.
Anderson shut out McCallum 42-0 in the traditional Taco Shack season opener. Ed Small hauled in three first half TD passes to pace the Trojan attack.
Crockett also notched a shutout with an identical 42-0 blanking of San Antonio Highlands. It was the Cougar's first shut out of a non-AISD school since 2009. (thanks Mike Barnes).
Manor erased an early 12-0 deficit as the Mustangs galloped past LBJ 39-26, while Vista Ridge squeaked by Bowie 21-14 in a come-from-behind overtime thriller at Burger Stadium. The Rangers trailed Bowie 14-0 before scoring 21 unanswered in posting the victory
Hendrickson was tripped up by Belton in its season opener as the Tigers edged the Hawks 35-27.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Central Texas high school football scores: Live coverage, updates
