AUSTIN (KXAN) — A Texas 6A top 25 matchup featuring a Central Texas squad kicks off the season Thursday at a college stadium.
The neutral-site game at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton between No. 4 Westlake and No. 15 Prosper highlights the Central Texas schedule, and it will be aired live at 7 p.m. on KBVO.
Both teams are coming off deep playoff runs last season. Westlake advanced to the Division I semifinals only to lose, again, to Galena Park North Shore while Prosper advanced to the DI third round before losing to semifinalist Noth Crowley.
The Chaparrals return junior quarterback Rees Wise, and head coach Tony Salazer said during training camp that the game is "slowing down for him."
"He’s a true conductor of the offense and makes sure everyone is in the right place at the right time," Salazar said. "Now we can coach the details like where checks go, where ball placement is, all those finer points of quarterback play."
Prosper will look to run behind 3-star offensive lineman recruit Connor Carty. The 6-foot-4, 290-pound right guard is an absolute road grader in the middle of the line and can pave the way for the Eagles' running backs. He's verbally committed to Texas A&M.
This is one of three games for the Chaps on Thursdays this season. The other are Oct. 3 against Akins and Oct. 10 against Austin and will be live streamed via the NFHS Network. All other games on Friday will be live streamed on KXAN.com/Westlake.
