'I think we can beat everyone': Dripping Springs whips Bowie, makes case as area's best team

While the eyes of the state may have been 5 miles away on West Lake Hills and the annual blood feud between No. 1 Westlake and Lake Travis, Dripping Springs sent a message from South Austin.

Maybe the best team in District 26-6A — and perhaps the entire Austin area — is farther west than either of the Lakes.

In a dominant display on both sides of the ball, Dripping Springs made its case by turning a battle of unbeatens into a 55-7 beatdown of Bowie on Friday at Burger Stadium. Quarterback Austin Novosad, a four-star recruit who has remained faithful to Baylor despite overtures from virtually every collegiate powerhouse, led the charge with 215 yards and four touchdowns on 21-of-24 passing. But Dripping Springs (4-0, 2-0) dominated everywhere from the trenches to the one-on-one battles downfield while staying tied for first place in the district race with Westlake, which pulled away for the win over Lake Travis.

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“We’ve been preaching all this year that we’re going to play some really good teams, but we just have to worry about ourselves,” Dripping Springs coach Galen Zimmerman said. “We’re going to enjoy this because this was a big game and this kind of keeps us in the (district) lead, but we got to go get ready for Johnson.”

Zimmerman was referring to a beat-up Johnson squad that beat Anderson on Friday. A meeting with struggling Akins follows the Johnson game, then Dripping Springs has back-to-back contests against Westlake Oct. 14 and Lake Travis Oct. 21. But Zimmerman knows the one-game-at-a-time mantra has worked so far in his program’s maiden voyage in Class 6A, and he stressed that his team can’t afford to look past any opponent.

“I know it’s a cliché, but we focus on our practice, our execution and our consistency,” Zimmerman said. “We can’t worry so much about who we’re playing or what the situation is.”

Still, the Tigers left the game with the same amount of swagger that they brought into Burger Stadium

“Our team has a great chance to beat Westlake and Lake Travis,” said receiver Kyle Koch. “Our defense played amazing tonight; the offense played really good. I think we can go out there the next few weeks and beat everyone we play.”

Koch, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound receiver who earned the Statesman’s all-Centex newcomer of the year award last season, missed the first two games of the year but looked in midseason form against Bowie’s outmanned secondary. He hauled in nine catches for 91 yards and a touchdown, and Zimmerman said his healthy presence “completes” a deep receiving corps that also includes Garon Duncan and Joseph Moreland, who combined for three touchdown catches.

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“With Kyle back, from an offense perspective, we’re complete now,” Zimmerman said. “We’re two deep at every wide receiver position, and we have a good stable of running backs. Kyle plays the deep ball really well, and he can do some things that the other guys don’t do.”

Dripping Springs’ defense, which held Bowie star running back Max Barnes to 32 yards on 12 carries, even joined the scoring when Greyson Jones returned an interception 10 yards for a touchdown.

But Dripping Springs’ hopes for a district title — and any extended playoff success — begins with Novosad. The 6-4 senior’s decision-making may be even faster than his blink-and-the-ball’s-gone release. He punished Bowie’s defensive backs with a series of quick outs early then hit them deep when they even hinted at pressing the Tiger wideouts. All of his touchdown passes came in the first half, when Dripping Springs built a 34-0 lead

Veteran Bowie coach Jeff Ables, whose high school foes have included Super Bowl winners such as Drew Brees and Nick Foles of Westlake, said Novosad has some of the same traits.

“He’s good, he’s tall, and he throws the ball well,” he said. “You mention Foles and Brees. Can he be that? I think it’s obvious. He can be as good as those guys.

“Credit to him and credit to (Dripping Springs). They are a good football team, and we had some chances to make plays and couldn’t make them.”

Ables said Bowie (4-1, 2-1) won’t overreact to its first loss of the season. The Bulldogs still look like a strong postseason contender despite the setback, and Ables said his squad will learn from its mistakes and prepare for Thursday’s meeting with fierce rival Austin High.

“You look at all the things you do right and wrong, just like you do every week,” he said. “But you also tell (the players) ‘Hey, look, we’ve had some success. Just because we’re faced with some adversity, don’t put your heads down.’ There’s no quit in these guys.”