Lakeway – A dominant opening quarter carried Lake Travis to a 42-15 win over Anderson in a District 26-6A game Friday night.

Kadyn Leon passed for 131 yards and 4 touchdowns and ran for another, and Nico Hamilton added 138 yards rushing on 16 carries with a touchdown. Lake Travis’ defense made sure Anderson’s dynamic receiving duo of Ed Small and Zayden Sharp never got untracked. The duo managed just 5 catches for 48 yards.

“We really game-planned around (Small),” Lake Travis (6-1, 4-1) safety Keiondre Lewis said. “We knew they wanted to get him the ball and we needed to lock him up, and we did.”

All told, Lake Travis’ defense limited Anderson (3-5, 2-4) to just 147 yards, 55 of which came in the game’s closing moments.

“I thought it was awesome,” Lake Travis coach Hank Carter said. “Our coaches put together a really good plan trying to get hands on (Small) as much as we could because he’s such a great player. I was proud of how our guys executed. I thought our plan was excellent. I thought we played hard. Defensively, I thought it was outstanding.”

Anderson wants to lean on its passing game, but Lake Travis’ defense, led by Markus Boswell and Josef Aganbi, sacked Brady Gephart 5 times and held him to just 88 passing yards on 9 of 24 attempts. It’s the fourth straight game in which the Lake Travis defense has allowed less than 100 passing yards.

“We knew they had a couple of weapons at receiver, so we wanted to watch them and double-team them,” Boswell said. “They are some of the top players in the district and we respect that. We wanted to do our best with our coverage and we did our thing.”

By the time the first quarter ended, Lake Travis led 21-0 and outgained Anderson 178-16. The Trojans went 3-and-out on their opening three drives and didn’t convert a first down until the game was already out of reach.

Leon ran for a touchdown on the Cavaliers’ opening possession and then threw touchdown passes to Chaston Ditta (twice), Dylan Cullers and Cole Munnerlyn. By the time Hamilton added an 11-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter, Lake Travis led 42-0.

“The offense did really well,” Carter said. “Kadyn can throw it, and we didn’t help him out a lot tonight with a few drops, but overall we made some nice plays in the passing game and Nico and Vann (Hopping) both ran the ball well.”

“We executed what we wanted to tonight,” Leon said. “We wanted to get our timing down, connect with the receivers and focus on the little details we’re going to need going into next week.”

Anderson avoided a shutout with a pair of late scores. Defensive end Jack Middleton returned a fumble 23 yards for a touchdown, and Gephart threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Tristan Waidelich in the final minute.

With the win, Lake Travis turns its attention to a big game at Dripping Springs next Friday. The Tigers, at one time the Cavaliers’ fiercest rival, won last year’s game to end a 9-game losing streak that dated back to 2003. Prior to last season, the teams hadn’t played since 2011. Dripping Springs leads the overall series with Lake Travis 16-13.

“We know they’re going to be a really good, physical football team and I’m sure it will be a sellout and a fantastic environment,” Carter said. “I’m looking forward to how we respond to that. It’s kind of going back to the old days with LT and Drip.”

Immediately following Friday’s win over Anderson, the Cavaliers were already focusing on the coming matchup.

“We want to play together and build off of this game,” Leon said. “We want to make the little details perfect.”