Hawks JV Win Second Game of Season, 18-14
Running Back Karl Weidner gets yardage on first scoring drive.
The Canyon Lake Hawks Junior Varsity improved their record to 2-0 after making the game much more entertaining than the fans were wanting. The Hawks held on for a 18-14 victory in their first home game. The balanced attack of the Hawks kept the visiting Bears guessing all night long.
On CL’s second possession the Hawks drove 64 yards on just five plays. The drive had three runs from Karl Weidner for 18 yards. The runs set up two pass plays to Isaiah Gutierrez for 46 yards and the first score.
The next Canyon Lake drive finished on the Bear’s six yard line, but the home team could not capitalize on the Bear’s fumble on their 35 yard line. The red zone was not good to the Hawks with an incomplete pass from the six yard line went awry.
Then the Bears finally penetrated the Hawks defense. Up unto that point La Vernia had only mustered 27 yards of offense.
The La Vernia quarterback Simms then took things into his own hands as he called his own number on a third and one on his own 27 yard line. The 73 yard run was a thing of beauty and tied the score, 6-6.
That one play was twice the total yardage the Bears had for the half. To say the Hawks had the Bears bottled up would of been an understatement.
The response from Canyon Lake was another 61 yard five play drive.
This time Theisz had the three runs for 18 yards and the two passes was 29 yards to Gutierrez setting up the Hawks on the 21 yard line. Then the final blow with the 19 yard pass and run to Austin Christman. The score left only 32 seconds on the clock insuring a 12-6 lead for the good guys.
The second half was the, let’s give the Bears a chance half.
After holding La Vernia on their first possession the Hawks fumbled the snap on their first play from scrimmage, the fumbled allowed the Bears momentum and a four play drive to pay dirt.
The point after allowed La Vernia the lead even though the stat sheet was in the favor of the Hawks.
The defense of both teams started to settle in and Canyon Lake found themselves down two points in the second half.
Dominic Thiesz helping the dominating defense
Isaiah Gutierrez returning the Kick-Off
Andrew Riali played well from both sides of the ball, but his disrupting style on defense was the key to another Hawk try for the end zone.
“We had a blitz called on a couple of the plays,” middle linebacker Riali said. “The quarterback was changing his snap count and I just got their early.”
Once again an understatement considering the La Vernia quarterback had to make sure he was handing off to the right jersey color after Riali blew past their offensive line.
The play gave the Hawks the ball to start the quarter and 77 yards from a score needed to take the lead back in hand.
How about the longest drive of the night for the Hawks. The 11 play drive had some bumps on the road, but after a bootleg pass from Ricker to Riali on a fourth and six play the gleam was in the eyes of the home team.
“It was a pass or run option and I was going to run if nobody was open,” quarterback Ricker stated. “Riali was wide open so the he made the decision easy.”
“The line got a lot better and stronger as the game went on,” Ricker continued. “If we keep doing what we’re doing then we can go undefeated…the line is very good.”
Sounds like Ricker has been to the quarterback school of knowing you are only as good as the lineman who block for you.
Two plays later Theisz bounced off the line for a 20 yard touchdown run and the eventual winning score.
“Not so fast,” Lee Corso from ESPN would say.
The Hawk defense once again held the Bears, but another fumble gave La Vernia another chance from just the 32 yard line.
Four incompletions later the Hawks were looking at another nail biting win on the season.
“This team has a different style than last year’s squad,” the reflective Head Coach Trent Dunavant said. “These are tough kids and they ran that bootleg play like the pros…they could of easily panicked…we might not have the speed of last years team, but they seem to be at the right place.”
Line Score 1 2 3 4 Final
La Vernia 0 6 8 0 14
Canyon Lake 6 6 0 6 18
Scoring Summary:
Hawks-Gutierrez 23 pass from Ricker (pat failed), 3:08, 1st
Bears-Simms 73 yard run (run failed), 2:28, 2nd
Hawks-Christman 19 pass from Ricker (pass failed), 0:32, 2nd
Bears-Felan 4 yard run (Anderson run), 3:32, 3rd
Hawks-Theisz 20 yard run (pass failed), 5:10, 4th
JV Game Stats Bears Hawks
Total Yards 207 267
First Downs 7 10
Rushes/Yards 30/149 22/130
Comp/Att/Int 4/10/0 7/14/0
Passing Yards 58 137
Fumbles/Lost 2/1 2/2
Punts/Ave. 2/39.0 2/36.0
Penalties-Yards 4-19 5-25
Passing Comp Att Pct TD Int
Connor Ricker 7 14 .500 2 0
Rushing Att Yds Ave Lg TD
Dominic Theisz 8 51 6.4 20 1
Connor Ricker 4 42 10.5 18 0
Karl Weidner 10 35 3.5 11 0
Lee Power 2 2 1.0 2 0
Receiving No Yds Ave Lg TD
Isaiah Gutierrez 3 75 25.0 29 1
Andrew Riali 2 33 16.5 21 0
Austin Christman 1 19 19.0 19 1
Dominic Theisz 1 10 10.0 10 0
