How Round Rock can still make a UIL playoff run after rough loss to Westlake football

It's on to the next game for Round Rock.

And though it will take the Dragons longer to get back on the field than they'd probably like after Thursday's 38-17 loss to Westlake at Chaparral Field, Round Rock has plenty left on the table.

But as Dragons coach Cody Moore noted, Round Rock will have to play better the rest of its District 25-6A slate, especially against Lake Travis and Cedar Ridge, if it wants to accomplish some of its goals.

"It's a long season, and this was only the second district game," said Moore, whose team went 3-1 against a grueling nondistrict schedule. "But it definitely makes us go back to the drawing board. Makes us realize that there's a lot of work to do and we're not there yet."

Round Rock (4-2, 1-1) is still in the district title race, heading into the off week. But it's going to need help. And it's also going to need to beat Lake Travis. The Dragons also have three fellow Round Rock ISD schools left to play - they beat Stony Point in their district opener - to try and get into the 6A Division I playoffs and win a postseason game for the first time since 2020.

Moore said he'll use the time off as a bit of a reset. Despite the disappointing loss on a soggy Thursday night, Round Rock owns impressive wins over Dripping Springs and Vandegrift

"We'll go back to the fundamentals," he said. "Go back to what makes us us, and just get better at the things that we hold true and what we're all about."

Round Rock is mostly about a good passing attack. It's possible the rainy weather conditions Thursday hampered a previously high-flying Dragons offense that saw quarterback Dov Stickler enter the game with 1,376 yards and 17 TDs through the air. But that's an unknown theoretical, and Moore said his team made too many errors.

"Our offense did a good job moving the ball up and down the field, but when you have three turnovers, it's hard to overcome that," he said. "Westlake did a good job defensively. … When you play good teams and play guys that don't make mistakes, you can't make mistakes."

Westlake coach Tony Salazar said his team respected Round Rock coming into its district opener, which led to a good week of practice.

"No. 17 (Dylan Jaeger) is pretty talented, and every time you see him on tape, he's breaking through tackles and going for 60 or 70," Salazar said of the talented tight end and wide receiver. "They're a physical, good football team. … That led to our kids knowing that we better show up and work because we got a football team coming to play us. And that's exactly what happened."