Hawks Electrify the Panthers, 41-26
RB Eduardo Covarrubias paving the way for Zach Henshaw
Canyon Lake Hawks brought their own Breaker System to Navarro and lit up the Panthers for a 41-26 hard fought victory.
The Hawks had 29 points last season in the fourth quarter for all of their games. In this contest alone, Canyon Lake finished with 20 and now have garnered 62 points, doubling last year’s total.
“It feels good to win a game for a team that is hard to prepare for,” Head Coach Matt Monzingo said. “We had ball control too in the second half and moved the chains.”
Finish is the ‘mantra’ for this year’s club and the conditioning and focus has once again catapulted the undefeated Hawks to 6-0 and waiting for Wimberley next week.
Canyon Lake keeps raising the bar and has a realistic chance of reaching the .500 mark (all time) with a win against the Texans. (20 wins and 20 losses)
The game was delayed for over an hour as the home side of the field did not have lights working. Both teams retreated back to their dressing rooms as the entertainment from the Band and Cheerleaders took center stage.
Some of the stunts performed by the Canyon Lake Cheerleaders during the wait was delightful to say the least.
The game started just like the Coaches needed it too. Navarro offense was a three and punt series of downs.
The punt would be the first and last for the Panthers, especially since the kick went one yard.
Canyon Lake Defense storming Panther Offense
Canyon Lake set up shop on the Navarro 36 yard line where Senior Zach Henshaw would score one of his five touchdowns on two running plays. The first one was vintage Henshaw with a 32 yard run. A four yard up the middle run had the Hawk enjoying a 7-0 lead with over nine minutes left in the first quarter.
Navarro would answer on their next series with a 79 yard drive as Eric Schleier ran it in from 10 yards out to knot the score at seven. The drive looked eerily similar to last seasons game with the Panthers. Ten plays with lots of running. Explosive plays were plentiful for Navarro with five of the plays being 10 or more yards.
“We only had 19 plays in the first half,” Coach Monzingo added. “With the delay, just keeping us focused was the biggest thing.”
CLHS next drive stalled on Navarro’s 49 yard line when punter Matt Magness left the ball in the good hands of the Hawks as they downed the ball on the one yard line.
A Panther 20 play drive to the Hawks three yard line was the best bend but don’t break for the defense ever devised.
“They’re a good football team,” Safety Brandon Berger interjected. “It takes a lot of mental preparation to play a team like this…we had a lot of will to win and that mindset had to go right there.”
“We needed to read our keys and what we were taught,” Berger continued. “We got it fixed and took care of business.”
Senior Matt Noyola holding on for another Tackle
The Hawks actually scored twice in the sequence of plays. With the ball on the Hawk’s 48 yard line, Henshaw took the pitch and looked like the ball in a pin ball machine as he bounced off of Panther players in route to the goal line.
However an illegal block nullified the score and Canyon Lake decided to score on the next play via the air. The catch and run by Matt Magness was a thing of beauty as he came back for the ball and then arm wrestled the defender off with nothing but green grass to the end zone.
A 14-7 score was short lived for the Hawks, when Navarro took their turn with a 70 yard scoring drive to tie the score at 14 all at intermission.
The first half was all Navarro in the yard category. Here is a sample of numbers at the half.
Total Yards 152 for Canyon Lake 277 for Navarro Score? 14 points 14 points TOP 6:35 17:25
“Exceptional game for Zach (Henshaw) and the offensive line,” Monzingo said. “Eduardo (Covarrubias) did a great job blocking.”
All things considered, Canyon Lake was in good shape. The biggest concern had to be the Defense and how they would hold up with another half to go against the Slot-T offense.
Here are some other numbers for Henshaw the (Energizer Bunny).
First half rushing? 9 carries for 72 yards
Second Half? 25 carries for 215 yards
“Wow”, Zach Henshaw said with awe.
Zach Henshaw on his way to 287 yards rushing
The second half did not start like the team wanted, when Canyon Lake took the ball on their 34 yard line and were held gaining 11 yards and a holding penalty.
Another Magness punt for 41 yards put the Panthers on their 24 yard line, but another personal foul penalty moved the ball to the 39 yard line.
Ten plays and 61 yards later, Navarro would have their first lead of the game at 20-14 with 6:15 left on the third quarter clock.
The electricity was finally turned on for Canyon Lake as they scored on their next four possessions.
During that stint, Henshaw rushed for 191 yards with the help of the stalwart offensive line.
The war was won in the trenches during this span of the game. With explosive plays based on over 10 yards rushing, the Hawks had nine plays that fit that description.
(Zach Henshaw—pointed to his offensive line when asked for an interview by the ReSporter, when asked who to talk to, Henshaw pointed to Jaaz McNair and Elijah Montgomery) “We went straight at them and that helped us to control the game,” McNair said. “We started strong and finished strong.”
When asked what it is like to block for Henshaw, Montgomery said, “It is a glorious good feeling to know he will be on your right side and then gets to the corner….breaking on a 20 yard play. The whole offensive line is getting in sinc with Zach and everybody is ready to go.”
When asked about next week’s game, Montgomery said succinctly, “We are going out there to play some football.”
Joe D’Ottavio and other Hawks stop another run
Those 27 points were scored on 23 plays while Navarro scored on one of the possessions with 16 plays total for the Panthers four times with the ball. The pivotal play was on a Panther drive with the score 34-26, with over eight minutes still left on the clock.
Navarro had started the drive on their 25 yard line and were looking at a third and five on their 47 yard line. That is when Jeremy Best blitzed the right side of the line and waited for the misdirection play and downed the Panther back for a five yard loss. Navarro went for the first and the six yard run gave the ball over.
A questionable call to say the least with the game still in the balance and giving the Hawks a short field to score their final touchdown of the night.
“Our Coaches are good, the way they prepared us,” Best said. “They (coaches) signaled the play in at the last second and that is when I blitzed the right side. I just shucked (the offensive player) off and the runner was just there.”
How about a six play offensive Line and Henshaw drive the last two for 13 and 14 yards and the score that turned out the lights on Navarro.
On Navarro’s next drive, Best tackled a Panther after a catch for a loss of three yards and then Isaac Pruna got a sack two plays later.
“This win means a lot and now we need to make a statement,” Statesman Best said. “Now the whole team needs to focus.”
This was Pruna’s first game of the season after suffering an injury before the season started.
“It was good to be back,” Linebacker Pruna said. “I’m happy!”
“It will be a fun atmosphere next week,” Head Coach Monzingo breathed. “Looking forward to Wimberley.”
Numbers: 1 Number of wins Canyon Lake needs to even All-Time record. 4 Road game winning streak. Started last road game of 2010 to present. 5 TD’s scored by Offensive Line blocking for Henshaw in Navarro game. New Record. 6 Winning Streak...longest in history of school. 216 Points scored in 11 games in 2009. 221 Points scored in last five games this season. 235 Number of points scored in last six games. 287 Yards Offensive Line blocked for Henshaw.
1 2 3 4 Final Canyon Lake 7 7 7 20 41 Navarro 7 7 6 6 26
Scoring Summary: Hawks-Zach Henshaw 4 yard run (Jake Robinson kick), 9:25, 1st NavHS-Schleier 10 yard run (Howard kick), 5:10, 1st Hawks-Matt Magness 62 yard psss from Branson Belcher (Robinson kick), 3:47, 2nd NavHS-Smith 21 yard pass from Sestek (Howard kick), 1:06, 2nd NavHS-Bowles 21 yard run (kick failed), 6:15, 3rd Hawks-Zach Henshaw 1 yard run (Robinson kick), 0:54, 3rd Hawks-Zach Henshaw 22 yard run (Robinson kick), 10:38, 4th NavHS-Schleier 53 yard run (pass failed), 9:58, 4th Hawks-Zach Henshaw 32 yard run (muffed pat), 9:16, 4th Hawks-Zach Henshaw 14 yard run (Robinson kick), 3:59, 4th Team Stats Hawks Panthers Total Yards 402 496 First Downs 20 23 Rushes/Yards 39/303 55/411 Comp/Att/Int 5/10/0 8/14/0 Passing Yards 99 85 Punts/Ave 2/44.5 1/1.0 Fumbles/Lost 2/2 0/0 Penalties-Yds 9-80 6-45 Time of Possession 22:00 26:00 Passing Att Comp Pct Yds TD Int Branson Belcher 10 5 .500 99 1 0 Rushing Att Yds Ave Lg TD Zach Henshaw 34 287 8.4 32 5 Eduardo Covarrubias 4 9 2.3 7 0 Branson Belcher 1 7 7.0 7 0 Receiving No Yds Ave Lg TD Matt Magness 2 72 36.0 62 1 Zach Henshaw 3 27 9.0 16 0
