Westlake's Cade Klubnik, Todd Dodge named SBLive's Texas High School Football Player and Coach of the Year

Together, Klubnik and Dodge led Austin Westlake to a perfect 16-0 record and a third consecutive 6A state championship.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Austin Westlake has a long lineage of great quarterback play. 

So does Chaparrals’ head coach Todd Dodge, who has a lengthy track record of tutoring several of the most successful quarterbacks in recent Texas high school football history.

Few, though, have achieved as much under Dodge or in a Westlake uniform than senior quarterback Cade Klubnik, who dazzled in 2021 during his third season of varsity football and second as the Chaps’ starter.

Together, Klubnik and Dodge led the Chaparrals to a perfect 16-0 record and a third consecutive 6A state championship during a dominant season that earned the duo SBLive’s 2021 Texas High School Football Player and Coach of the Year awards.

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“We played as many games as humanly possible in the state of Texas,” Dodge said following Westlake’s victory over Denton Guyer in the 6A DII state title game. 

“I think it's the toughest thing — I really do believe it is the toughest thing to do in high school sports in America — is to win a high school state championship in the state of Texas when we play 16 weeks and most of these states have been done playing for three or four weeks now.”

Dodge, who announced his retirement at the beginning of the 2021 season, has helped architect a sustained run of excellence at Westlake and beyond as one of the most successful head coaches in Texas high school football history.

He coached the Chaparrals to four state championship game appearances and a 104-12 record in eight years at Westlake, where he also became the first Texas high school football coach to win three straight 6A state titles.

(Photos by Tommy Hays)

Dodge also had stops as a head coach at Carrollton Newman-Smith, Cameron Yoe, Keller Fossil Ridge, Marble Falls and North Texas collegiately, but experienced his greatest success at Southlake Carroll in the early 2000s.

In seven seasons as the Dragons’ head coach, he led his team to five straight 5A state championship appearances and captured four titles.

Dodge retires with seven state championships and a 248-70 overall record after a 23-year career as a high school football head coach and a lasting legacy as an all-time great quarterback coach with ties to Chase Daniels and Greg McElroy among others.

“I would just say the quarterback and person that I am today is because of Coach Dodge right here. He couldn't have written it up any better,” Klubnik said. “But when it comes to being a quarterback, he knows all the ins and outs. He's been doing it for a long time, and I think he's the greatest head coach of all time, and maybe the greatest quarterback coach of all time. If you look at the quarterbacks that he's coached, I mean, it's unlike anybody else.”

Klubnik might be the most decorated quarterback Dodge has ever coached at the high school level.

The Chaps’ signal caller credits Dodge for jumpstarting his high school career with valuable reps as a sophomore before he took charge of Westlake’s offense last year as a junior.

Klubnik won every start of his high school career (30) demonstrating elite playmaking abilities and strong leadership along the way.

Despite missing three games due to a shoulder injury, he upped his game in virtually every metric statistically during a dominant senior season.

Klubnik finished with 3,251 passing yards and 43 touchdown passes while completing 189 of 265 passes and also ran for 471 yards and 12 rushing touchdowns on 70 carries in 13 games. 

He also ended his high school career with 86 passing touchdowns and 7,426 passing yards to surpass Drew Brees in breaking Westlake’s all-time passing yardage record.

“That's definitely a huge honor for me,” Klubnik said. “I think it's all because of Coach Dodge and our whole O-line and our receivers. The receiving class that we've had the last three years, I mean, you couldn't have picked four (better) guys every single year.”

“The thing about Cade that I will always respect and remember is that, you know, he had a lot of personal accolades. He had a whole bunch of offers all over the country, he had won the Elite 11, he just got named Gatorade Player of the Year, all that stuff. And not one time did he ever let it get in the way of his love for his team and his leadership of his team,” Dodge said. 

“Last summer when certain people opted out for stuff and somebody asked Cade, ‘Would you have ever thought about doing that?’ And he goes, ‘There's no way I would have ever thought about leaving my teammates before my senior year in high school.’ I thought that was just kind of what sets Cade apart.”

Klubnik, who graduated from Westlake days before his team’s appearance in the 6A DII state championship game, signed to play collegiately at Clemson and enrolled early for the spring semester.

Westlake, meanwhile, has selected longtime defensive coordinator Tony Salazar to take over as head coach and Dodge’s successor.

MORE AWARDS: 

Lambert named SBLive’s Texas Football Offensive Player of the Year

Holmes named SBLive’s Texas Football Defensive Player of the Year

Bailey named SBLive's Texas Football Newcomer of the Year