Lake Travis will give itself another week before playing its first football game.
Wednesday afternoon, Lake Travis coach/athletic director Hank Carter announced that the school had cancelled its Aug. 28 game at Dripping Springs.
“After careful consideration and with the physical and mental safety of our players and staff as our top priority, we have made the decision to cancel our football games against Dripping Springs next week,” Carter wrote in a letter to football parents that he also posted on the football team’s X page. “The past 2 weeks have been incredibly difficult for everyone involved.”
On Thursday, Dripping Springs coach/athletic director Galen Zimmerman said it never crossed his mind to play the game once Lake Travis asked to cancel it.
“We’re going to do what Lake Travis needs right now,” Zimmerman said. “Everyone wants to play games, but those kids and that community are hurting. We have the opportunity to show grace to a neighbor, and we’re going to do that.”
Following senior Odin Hensley’s tragic death last Wednesday, Lake Travis paused all football activities. The team eventually returned to practice on Aug. 15 and held its first practice in full pads on Aug. 17.
While Carter acknowledged that players and coaches had begun the process of resuming their season preparations, Hensley remains at the forefront of everyone’s mind. The family’s Celebration of Life service will be held Saturday, Aug. 22 at 2 p.m. at Austin Ridge Bible Church. Later Saturday, the Lake Travis Legacy Foundation fundraising event at Wahoo’s Fish Tacos in Hudson Bend featuring a Jack Ingram concert will donate its proceeds to the Hensley family.
Carter said late last week and again following Monday’s practice that he’d continue to take cues from the players.
“Everyone is hurting,” Carter said Monday, Aug. 17. “We’ll do what we can do, and when we run into some struggles, (we’ll) be there to support one another, and if we need to take some time off, we’re gonna do it.”
The grieving continues, and football has been far from the top of everyone’s priority list, including the coaches.
The decision to cancel the game also factors in the missed on-field time. Lake Travis had previously cancelled its Aug. 20 scrimmage with Waco Midway. Rough estimates indicate Lake Travis has missed between 10 and 12 hours of practice time. That, Carter said, would put the Cavaliers at a physical disadvantage, unnecessarily exposing players to injury.
Lake Travis continues to practice and plans to hold an intrasquad scrimmage Friday morning, Aug. 21. Carter hasn’t ruled out the possibility of turning next Friday’s canceled game into a controlled scrimmage with the Tigers but said that decision wouldn’t be made until the weekend at the earliest.
As it stands, Lake Travis will now open the 2026 season on Sept. 4 against Weiss at The Pfield in Pflugerville.
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