6A State Championship Preview: Westlake vs Southlake Carroll

Westlake comes off of a close victory against North Shore to advance to the state championship against Southlake Carroll tonight at 7 p.m. at Cowboys Stadium. The biggest performance for Westlake was on the defensive side. The Chaparrals walked away with two interceptions, eight sacks and two forced fumbles. Senior linebacker <strong>Nick Morris</strong> came away with the most sacks against North Shore with three, and senior linebacker <strong>Brady Lamme</strong> followed up with two sacks. In the secondary, both senior defensive back <strong>Christian Fournier</strong> and junior defensive back <strong>Carter Barksdale</strong> had an interception each. Lamme also led the team with 14 total tackles with two tackles for a loss. Both Morris and Lamme have been dominant this season. Morris totals 16 sacks this season while Lamme has six sacks. The Westlake defense is stacked with talent as senior defensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id="60594" first="Hayden" last="Bray"] has 12 sacks on the season, senior defensive back <strong>Jax Crockett</strong> has five interceptions and senior defensive back <strong>Michael Taaffe</strong> has three interceptions. The Westlake defense is diverse in talent and after keeping North Shore at bay, the Chaparrals enter the state championship with momentum in the biggest game of the season. On the offense, junior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="60713" first="Cade" last="Klubnik"] has been consistently successful. Against North Shore, Klubnik threw for 175 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. He also scored a rushing touchdown. Klubnik is a quarterback that can score in any way possible, and rarely makes mistakes. Klubnik has only thrown three interceptions this season, one against Akins and two against Steele in the week before North Shore. Klubnik has scored a rushing touchdown in every game since Dec. 18 against Smithson Valley and has thrown at least a passing touchdown in every game this season. In the past three games, Klubnik has thrown for 845 yards and seven touchdowns. Seniors <strong>Grey Nakfoor</strong> and [player_tooltip player_id="60490" first="Zane" last="Minors"] rule the running game with both having seven carries each in the game against North Shore. Nakfoor had 52 rushing yards while Minors had 26. In the past three games, Nakfoor rushed for 263 yards and three touchdowns while Minors rushed for 147 yards and three touchdowns. Although most of the focus is on Klubnik, teams can not sleep on Westlake’s running game which can drive up the score in a moment’s notice. Klubnik’s favorite targets on the receiving corps are sophomore wide receiver [player_tooltip player_id="60848" first="Jaden" last="Greathouse"], senior receiver <strong>Luke Nicklos</strong> and Minors. Greathouse totals 64 receptions for 1,050 yards and 12 touchdowns, Nicklos has 59 receptions for 840 yards and 12 touchdowns and Minors has 34 receptions for 602 yards and three touchdowns. Both Greathouse and Nicklos lead the way in scoring but the rest of the receivers on Westlake are worth keeping an eye on including Taaffe and senior receiver <strong>Nicholas Watanabe</strong>.