The Hendrickson High football team had the opportunity to pull off the upset of the young season Friday night but could not quite knock off Lake Travis, falling 34-24 at Hawk Stadium.

Three long Kenny Williams touchdown runs had the Hawks (0-2) knocking on the door of a huge upset and the Hendrickson defense gave them the chance to kick the door down. On a fourth and two from the Hawk 19-yard line Hendrickson’s Devante Robinson wrapped up Cavalier quarterback Michael Brewer in the backfield stopping Lake Travis short of the first down, turning the ball over to the Hawk offense with five minutes left.

On Hendrickson’s first play from scrimmage Williams coughed up the ball and Cavalier Bryan Kribbs came up with it to return possession to Lake Travis. Three plays later Colin Lagasse rumbled across the goal line from a yard out to effectively seal the win for the Cavaliers.

Despite the fumble, the game was a huge rebound for Williams and the Hawks’ offense. The Texas Tech commit struggled in Hendrickson’s first game of the year, rushing for only 41 yards against Vista Ridge. However, he found his mojo against Lake Travis, scoring a 39-yard touchdown early in the third quarter to trim the Cavalier lead to 17-9 and an 83-yard romp later in the quarter to cut the deficit to 20-17. He finsihed the game with 268 yards rushing. After another Lake Travis score Williams scooped up a Damarion Jackson fumble and rambled 55 yards for his third score of the game. Jackson had 54 yards on 10 carries.

“(We are) getting used to the new system,” Hendrickson coach Chip Killian said. “We’ve now had 13 practices in pads so the learning curve is reducing.”

The Hawks struggled to cross the goal line in the first half. Lake Travis scored on their first possession of the game when Brewer, also a Texas Tech commit, found Alex Matthews for an 8-yard touchdown pass. The score capped an 80-yard Cavalier drive and put them up 7-0.

Thanks to a strong kick return by Tommie Robins the Hawks were in position to answer the Lake Travis score, starting their ensuing drive at the Cavalier 47-yard line. Riding Williams, Hendrickson moved the ball to the Lake Travis 9-yard line before their drive stalled. Faced with a fourth and five, the Hawks called on kicker Will Ward who booted a 26-yard field goal to cut the lead to 7-3.

It was Hendrickson’s only points of the half. The Cavaliers scored two more times in the first half and led 17-3 at intermission.

“The first half gave us a great deal of confidence in the plan,” Killian said. “We should’ve only been down by three to seven points. We made a few adjustments and executed better.”

Williams scored his three touchdowns in the second half and Hendrickson outscored the Cavaliers 21-17 but it was not enough to overcome the halftime deficit. Brewer finished with 300 yards passing and two touchdowns.

Next up for the Hawks is Leander Rouse on Friday. Killian believes in order to win, his team first must solve their own, internal problems.

“We’re still battling our own demons,” he said. “Our biggest opponent is ourselves. Once we get that handled, we will be good to go.”