History says you can’t be in two places at once, but Luke Hutton is sure going to try.

Hutton’s got a work trip in Colorado this week. But Friday morning he’s flying home to Austin, driving to College Station for the State 7-on-7 tournament Friday and Saturday, and flying back to Colorado on Sunday. His colleagues don’t understand. Dude, it’s 7-on-7 football, they say. But Hutton gave his word to coach the Lake Travis team, and he plans to stick by it.

This is the type of dedication which makes Lake Travis Texas’s longest active streak in the State 7-on-7 Tournament, having qualified every year since 2004. The streak has spanned three different head coaches and six state championships. Back when Hank Carter first took over for Chad Morris in 2010, dads served as 7-on-7 coaches, such as former NFL quarterback Gale Gilbert and former Texas quarterback Robert Brewer. 

But Lake Travis football alums Griffin Gilbert and Luke Hutton took the reins several years ago. Gilbert, a high school All-American tight end who played college football at TCU, coaches the offense, while Hutton, an all-state safety and team captain at Harvard, controls the defense.

Hutton and Gilbert won a state championship together in 2010, part of Lake Travis’s five-peat. Those teams didn’t treat the summer 7-on-7 circuit as fun exercise. If they lost in the state tournament, they treated it like they just lost in the fall playoffs. 

“It wouldn’t matter if we were doing extra conditioning by playing soccer after our morning workouts in the summer – we were going to compete,” Hutton said.

But don’t mistake these two for the old men on the porch screaming about how much tougher kids were back in their day. Gilbert and Hutton want to carry on the winning tradition by explaining to the players what they did to be successful. Seems like they’re listening – Lake Travis has won less than 10 games just three times since 2007, and one of them was the shortened COVID season.

“It kind of sounds corny, but I see myself in these kids,” Gilbert said. “I was one of them a long time ago, and I love getting to live vicariously through them and their success, because it’s all about them at the end of the day.”

It’s also a chance to scratch their coaching itch. Both served as graduate assistants, Gilbert at TCU and Hutton at Texas, following their playing career before moving into the business world in Austin. They still love the game even if they can’t be around it full-time.

The coaching duo has complete control over the team in the summer because Coach Carter trusts them. Both Gilbert and Hutton played for Carter, and they relish the opportunity to give him a much-needed break. The pair makes nothing nor wants anything for their service.

“I view it as a chance to give back to Lake Travis,” Hutton said. “Coach Carter has done a lot for me. He helped grow me as a player and person. He and his staff worked really hard to get me into Harvard.”

The 7-on-7 coaches aren’t the reason Lake Travis has qualified every year since 2004, however. The Cavaliers churn out Division I quarterbacks. Gilbert’s older brother, Garrett, was a five-star who played a decade in the NFL. Heisman winner and No.1-overall NFL Draft selection Baker Mayfield is an alum. The Brewer brothers, Michael and Charlie, both went onto Division I careers, as did Hudson Card.

This year’s quarterback, East Carolina commit Chaston Ditta, is the next in line. He began last season at wide receiver before transitioning to quarterback for the final six games. In College Station, he’ll call all the plays. 

“When the offense is on the field, it’s the quarterback’s show. And it’s always been that way with Lake Travis,” Hutton said. “It’s a testament to how good the quarterbacks are and maybe it’s a reason for why the quarterbacks are the way they are. They have extreme ownership of the team.”