Westlake vs Cedar Ridge Halted at 20-7 After Chaparral Stadium Transformers Blow

Westlake led Cedar Ridge 20-7 before the lights failed at Chaparral Stadium on Friday night, stopping the District 25-6A matchup just after Westlake quarterback Patton Jones hit Nash Chapman on a 9-yard touchdown pass. The Chaps never attempted the extra point; the field went dark before the snap.

Eanes ISD officials attributed the outage to two blown transformers, one of which caught fire. Austin Energy crews were working at the stadium to repair them. The stadium lost power at about 7:40 p.m., and the game was pushed to noon Saturday.

Rain fell throughout the day and thinned the crowd. About 400 fans remained when the lights failed, using cellphone screens for illumination. Most had left the stands within 30 minutes. Westlake Hills Fire Department personnel were already at the stadium before the outage and were later seen leaving the press box.

Westlake coach Tony Salazar said power failures had happened before during his career but never one that postponed a game. He said he was sending the players home to rest before a Saturday restart. Cedar Ridge coach Bryan Vardeman said he had not seen anything similar in 23 years of coaching, and that his players were steady in the locker room. "For us, it's kind of a good, hard reset," Vardeman said.

The game carried district title implications. Both teams entered undefeated in district play, and the UIL playoffs open in two weeks. The matchup paired the top two teams in the American-Statesman's weekly Class 6A rankings.

The teams return to Chaparral Stadium on Saturday morning to resume play, with kickoff set for noon.