Hawks Finish Declawing Tigers, 38-34
Zach Henshaw leaping into the record books.
Canyon Lake improve to 3-0 after winning an instant classic against the Sealy Tigers, Friday night at Hawk Stadium, 38-34.
Quite frankly, the ReSporter does not know where to start…how bout with the Head Coach.
“We are a ‘real’ football team,” Matt Monzingo said proudly. “You can’t get a better feeling as a coach…the kids are the ones that work we just act like their jockey.”
What about Zach Henshaw? “Awesome!! The offense was awesome, they (Sealy) have a great football team, but we made one more play tonight.”
The Hawks had a chance to get two touchdowns ahead after stopping the Tigers in the third quarter, but that drive fizzled after penalties and not well executed plays.
“We reverted back to the Blanco game,” Coach Monzingo said. “I was just praying that Seals-Jones would not just take off running on that fourth down play.”
This game was one of those barometer games for the Hawks. With the win this young program can hang a lot of hats on their wall notch, crafted by this resilient team.
Go back one year and you had a game where the Hawks finished with their lowest amount of offense not counting that first year. Sealy controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball in that game.
The score was close, going into the fourth quarter, in that contest because the Hawks were winning the special team battle. In that fourth quarter, those Tigers controlled aspects of that game and raced to a comfortable win, 33-6.
Alex Kemp will sleep well tonight after another tough tackle.
The defense had given up one more points since then, but CL’s offense exploded with 370 yards rushing.
Perspective time: The best game rushing before this game? 293 against Burnet in the Playoffs during last year.
The offensive line and Zach Henshaw beat that record by 77 yards. Henshaw beat the record by four yards all by his lonesome.
The offensive line was night and day in comparison to last year’s squad against these Tigers.
“This is a great feeling,” Jaazaniah McNair said with confidence. “We started to take it to them and we could see it in their eyes. They hadn’t had a game like us and they started talking to each other. We had the taste of blood and started swarming like sharks.”
Canyon Lake’s offense started the game with a first play sack and followed that sac with a motion penalty as they walked off the field after the punt with nothing to show for it.
Sealy knew what to do and quickly moved the ball 48 yards on six plays and started the game like they ended it one year earlier.
Matt Noyola catching a Tiger by the tail.
The Hawks took baby steps on their next drive and amassed 36 yards on 10 plays. This drive siphoned four minutes off the clock, but another punt and nothing of significance up to that point.
A Matt Magness punt did pen the Tigers down at their 12 yard line and the Hawk defense turned in a decent set of plays and stopped Sealy with 29 yards and the 7-0 lead for the first quarter.
“We went in trying to stop #25 (Jowan Davis),” Defensive Coordinator Louis Drum said. “Seals-Jones made it tough to make adjustments, but our offense did a good job of keeping us on the sidelines.”
“We still held them to what they scored last year,” Coach Drum joked.
Canyon Lake was working on a six quarter scoring streak that started the second half of the Blanco game. That record now stands at three quarters after the Hawks were held scoreless in that first quarter.
CL finally broke a Tiger claw the next drive, taking eight plays to go 73 yards. The drive had Henshaw with the keys to the car. Six of the plays for 61 yards…the final run covered 35 yards, tying the score at seven early in the second quarter.
Receiver Matt Magness catches 12 yard pass on third down, keeping drive alive
“With our weight room work this summer we talked about finishing and all the extra time we put in helped us keep loading it on them,” Running Back Henshaw said. “The offensive line will get some pizza from me…I could not do this with out them…I could not do this with out God…and we did exactly what we have been taught in practice. I’m happy to be a part of this team and just glad to be playing.”
The Hawk defense responded again holding the Tigers to six plays and a punt, whit CL setting up shop on their 38 yard line. This drive featured Eduardo Corvarrubias, Quin Pike, and Branson Belcher. The Belcher run covered 11 yards on a critical third down play.
Henshaw had just one run on this drive which it covered 25 yards. The 62 yard drive gave CL their first lead in the last two games against the Tigers.
It took Sealy just plays for 17 yards. Special teams was the culprit for this short drive after their kick-off return gave and their opponent ease in scoring.
Canyon Lake finished this half driving 53 yards thanks to an ill advised on-side pop up to Michael Brady, giving the Hawks a short field to work with.
The tenth play ended with kicker Jake Robinson being true for a 22 yard field goal and no time left on the half time clock. The Hawks had the momentum and the lead after the first half.
Casey Coffee making breakfast plans with a Tiger…there grrrreaattttt!!!
When asked about the decision about that field goal Monzingo said, “Part of the finishing we had talked about doing a better job with that part of our game. That would a great momentum builder.”
Defensive stops would be hard to come by, but Canyon Lake came through when they had to , Jeremy Best had stops on two consecutive plays at the end of the third quarter.
“Last year I broke my leg on the very first play against Sealy,” Linebacker Best said it best. “I had not played linebacker in a while and I played with all instinct.”
When asked about the job of tackling the behemoth Seals-Jones, Best said, “He’s a big boy and a great athlete, but thank God our Hawks were resilient…it always takes a team effort and we always had four hats on the ball.”
This was a game the fans would need their seat belts. The ride was a bumpy one, but the reward would be the most impressive win in Canyon Lake’s history.
Sealy came out of their locker room after the half, with a whole different purpose. Starting on the 33 yard line the two headed Tiger took a bite out of the Hawk, when Ricky Seals-Jones rushed for 27 yards on a quarterback read. The next play had Jowan Davis scampering 40 yards to the score, taking a whopping 33 seconds off the clock.
Advantage Tigers: 20-17
Not to be out done, CLHS responded running seven plays and a little help on an interference call and the Hawks took three minutes to take the lead back. Henshaw highlighted this drive with a 27 yard run.
Advantage Hawks: 24-20
The fast Tigers took their two play drive 64 yards this time…elapsed time? 25 seconds. Seals-Jones highlighted the drive running 60 yards on the first play.
Advantage Tigers: 27-24
The Hawks drove 70 yards this time. Ten plays with Henshaw= 55 yards and Covarrubias=15 yards. Covarrubias had a 11 yard run and Henshaw scampered 23 setting the Hawks at the two yard line.
Advantage Hawks: 31-27
Sealy’s turn was a drive for 61 yards which was highlighted with a 52 yard run.
Advantage Tigers: 34-31
Canyon Lake gave the Tigers a heavy dose of Henshaw this time. Forty-eight yards on seven plays being helped with another penalty on the Tigers.
Advantage Hawks: 38-34
Taking a deep breath, here are some items to put in your grocery cart.
Drives for the Hawks in this game: 73, 62, 53, 66, 70, and 63 yards. = 317 yards
Plays for the Hawks on those drives: 8, 8, 10, 8, 10, and 7 plays. = 51 plays
Sealy’s last drive would be their longest and they took 13 plays to go 40 yards. The best news, the 40 yards left the Tigers 45 yards from the goal line and a game ball in the locker room being enjoyed by a Canyon Lake Team.
When asked what point he was trying to make during the last time-out and the Tigers needing a first down to keep the drive alive, Coach Bret Hodges said, “I was wanting them to tackle big #4 and to work better with their feet. They just needed to play better and not try to do too much.”
Henshaw and Hawks FINISH off the Tigers.
“This win was great, their defense was good and quick,” Quarterback Branson Belcher said. “It will give us lots of confidence.”
The biggest win will only go to waste if the Hawks don’t finish and play with the same resolve for each of the remaining weeks.
“You play this game, then rewind and reload…we got behind but no one panicked and we just stuck with our game plan,” Coach Monzingo finished.
Their are a lot of people starting to take notice and this win will be the best for at least one more week.
Canyon Lake Numbers:
#3–The number of wins for the 2011 team after playing three games.
#23–Number of first downs. A new Hawk record.
#24–Scoring streak by games. Brandeis last team to shut-out the Hawks.
#38–Number of carries Zach Henshaw had in Sealy game…new record.
#48–Number of TD’s rushing in CL’s history, rushing took the lead over receiving TD’s, 48-46 in Sealy game.
#228-Average rushing yards per game for Henshaw for this year.
#370-Number of yards gained against Sealy new record on the ground.
#686-Number of yards Zach Henshaw has rushing so far this season.
1 2 3 4 Final Sealy Tigers 7 7 13 7 34 CL Hawks 0 17 14 7 38 Scoring Summary: Tiger-Davis 14yard pass from Seals-Jones (Hernandez kick), 6:38, 1st Hawks—Zach Henshaw 35yard run (Jake Robinson kick), 10:36, 2nd Hawks—Branson Belcher 11yard run (Robinson kick), 5:09, 2nd Tiger-Davis 4yard run (Hernandez kick), 2:37, 2nd Hawks-Jake Robinson 22 yard field goal, 0:00, 2nd Tiger-Davis 40yard run (kick failed), 11:33, 3rd Hawks-Zach Henshaw 7yard run (Robinson kick), 8:25, 3rd Tiger-Ricky Seals-Jones 4yd run (Hernandez kick), 8:00, 3rd Hawks-Zach Henshaw 2yard run (Robinson kick), 3:12, 3rd Tiger-Seals-Jones 1yard run (Hernandez kick), 6:54, 4th Hawks-Zach Henshaw 19yard run (Robinson kick), 3:33, 4th Team Stats Tigers Hawks Total Yards 402 405 First Downs 16 23 Rushes/Yards 38/351 55/370 Comp/Att/Int 6/13/0 4/9/0 Passing Yards 51 35 Fumbles/Lost 1/0 0/0 Punts/Ave. 2/28.5 3/30.3 Penalties-Yds 6-65 4-30 Passing Comp Att Pct TD Int Branson Belcher 4 9 .444 0 0 Rushing Att Yds Ave Lg TD Zach Henshaw 38 297 7.8 35 4 Branson Belcher 10 45 4.5 12 1 Eduardo Covarrubias 7 28 4.0 11 0 Receiving No Yds Ave Lg TD Quinn Pike 2 22 11.0 16 0 Matt Magness 1 12 12.0 12 0 Eduardo Covarrubias 1 1 1.0 1 0
