2011 Flash Back: Canyon Lake Finishes off Blanco, 14-7
The Hawks had a slow start to the season last year and the Blanco game looked like Canyon Lake would be put in that situation again. The main item the past few months in the football write-ups has been the inability of the team to finish.
“Last year we didn’t finish,” Head Coach Matt Monzingo stated. “Tonight we finished, we controlled the game with ball control in the second half.”
Finishing did not happen until the end of the season and now the Hawks have acquired the taste of accomplishment in the second half as CLHS finished the Panthers off.
Here is the tale of the tape between the first and second half. Canyon Lake totaled 108 yards in the first half. Second half? 196
Junior Linebacker Travis Walker holds on for dear life.
Defensively, Blanco had 195 yards in the first half and only 57 yards in the second stanza.
The word to describe those numbers? Finishing!
“We just kept persevering,” Coach Monzingo continued. “Zach (Henshaw) took the pressure off of (Branson) Belcher tonight and Eduardo (Covarrubias) was fresh because we got to rest him the first of the game.”
First play of the game went for 49 yards for Blanco with a play action a pass to the CL 25 yard line. What air was in the balloon had seeped out much like the inflatable Hawk the team had run through just 10 minutes earlier.
The next five plays were running plays for Blanco and a score on their first possession put the Hawks in a hole that punctured the Hawk inflatable.
Tim Goodman was the workhorse for Blanco as he averaged five yards per carry to score what proved to be the last touchdown of the evening.
The Hawk defense was a bend but don’t break machine for the rest of the half.
What happened in the dressing room during half time had to be some soul searching. The team did not grace the field until there was no time left for intermission.
The Coaches might not of been finished, but the talk would help the Hawks finish the game.
Taylor Hocutt, Justin Monfils, Johnny Cervantes, and Alex Kemp get a team tackle against Blanco
“We wanted to keep things simple and not get ahead of ourselves,” Offensive line Coach Chuck Wallen exclaimed. “We made some halftime adjustments in order to handle the different stunts they were running. We schemed our tight end for a different way to block.”
Defensive Coordinator Coach Charlie Drum also chimed in on the half time get a way, “We told them it was time to grow up, the team was pressing and Blanco was breaking our tackles.”
The second half started with a little mistake that stops a drive mantra. A penalty that kept the offense with only four plays and punting the ball back to Blanco.
The Panthers answered the bell with an 11 play drive that stalled on the CL 30 yard line. All the plays on the drive were running plays as Blanco was wanting to control the game by using the clock.
Of the 57 yards the Panthers had in the second half, 43 of those yards were used up on that one drive. The Hawk defense would hold Blanco to just 14 more yards for the rest of the game. Finish!!
CL would chew real estate up with 194 total yards and the switch had been made for the Hawks as they controlled the game and finished.
The next drive was also the first score of the year and it consisted of 11 plays and 70 yards. The little things that had been stopping the Hawks was now a thing that did not matter.
After 18 yards on two carries from Zach Henshaw and Eduardo Covarrubias the Hawks proceeded with a holding penalty on a Henshaw 40 yard run. A pass to Matt Magness got the pivotal first down on a third and 13 yard nail driver.
A nifty 19 yard pass play to Covarrubias put CL in business in the red zone allowing Henshaw to put Branson Belcher in position for a sneak from the one yard line.
Jeremy Best and Doug Hubnik tackle a Panther
After another three play and punt offense by Blanco, the Hawks would drive to the visitors nine yard line but the Hawks could not take advantage.
Before the offense could come onto the field, Sr. Linebacker Joe D’Ottovio planted the Panther split end after a short pass play.
“We needed the stop,” D’ottovio said. “We only have a few chances to have a chance to do this (the hit), he came underneath me and I said man…let’s do it…and then it became ‘Madden NFL’.”
Then the finish line was realized when the CL defense allowed an 11 yard run, but quickly dropped the curtain with their first sack of the game. At least four Hawks were on the quarterback at the same time for a 12 yard loss.
After a Matt Noyola 19 yard punt return setting CL up on the Panther 33 yard line, the Hawks were in business.
Three plays of the Henshaw and Covarrubias show gave the Hawks their first lead of the game. The last 13 yards was on a run up the middle by Covarrubias, his second run of the game.
The Panthers would not give up as they still had a chance to tie the score starting on their 30 yard line.
Tight End Jeremy Fulton knocks the 'gnat' out of the way on his 21 yard catch and run
Receiver Matt Magness makes the catch on pivotal third down play in the fourth quarter
But the finish line was behind Blanco instead of in front of them as Alex Kemp would not be denied when he caught the quarterback and forced a fumble on the final play.
The three sacks gives the Senior Defensive End the all time lead in sacks for Canyon Lake.
“Coach Hodges said that I was not Superman,” Kemp mused. “He told me not to try to make every play and to read my keys more and let the other 10 defensive players on defense help.”
Canyon Lake ran out the clock when Henshaw darted for a 28 yard run to the Blanco 12 yard line giving the Hawks a first down and a knee to the ground to finish off the Panthers.
Senior running back Henshaw finished with 199 yards on 26 carries. Those numbers become pretty impressive considering where he left off at the end of last season.
Try this on for size: 970 yards in his last five games. The offensive line stepped up in the second half, as Henshaw had rushed for just 58 yards.
It looks like the young man is on a mission to finish this year.
“When I first came out I knew they would not take it easy on us,” the reflective Henshaw said. “This is the most amazing feeling this year, I’m just thankful and glad I did not let the team down. You finally get to be out there and with it coming down to this….it just makes you fight even more.”
Yes, in his own way Zach Henshaw sounds like he was saying Canyon Lake finished.
