Canyon Lake is Prepared and Driving on a Smooth Road

Canyon Lake will have Coaches with new job descriptions this year, but you

might not know the difference except by looking at their face.

When Coach Matt Monzingo left for the Comal Athletic Director job, the brass was pretty careful on how they replaced the dominoes that fell based on that empty position.

Head Coach Charley Drum slid into his new office seamlessly and then the Hawks had to replace their Offensive and Defensive Coordinators.

Job completed and this Friday you will have a chance to see how no bumps in the road make for a smooth ride.

Defensive Coordinator Cody Means started with responding to the number of points scored on the Defense last season, “Just looking at the points scored is misleading, when we get ahead in a game, then we will let people in, kids getting to play is more important to me.”

“We will be trying to get more people involved, we will be using the same wheel,” Coach Means was answering what differences might be noticeable for the fans. The same wheel is simply stating that with Head Coach Drum being the former Defensive Coordinator his philosophy will be important in scheming and preparing for each game.

“We have a lot of players that have changed positions and even though they might still be in the defensive backfield, they will still be brand new in many of the plays. Daniel (Camarillo) and (Doug) Hubnik, I still have a lot of faith they will do well with it.”

Defensively, Canyon Lake has not quite had a group of players on the field that rivals the 2009 unit, “Compared to the 2009 defense we are not close to getting that nastiness they had. You can play without it, you either have it or you don’t. We can have sound technique defense against anyone, we just need to make it simpler.”

The Hawks lost a solid playmaker in Alex Kemp last year and the ReSporter wanted to know how that position might be filled this season, “T.J. Gregory will be in for Kemp and he will be the best he can be.”

When asked about the scrimmage performance, Coach Means commented, “We did real well with our front, we used our same alignment and tackled decency well…we had one defensive coverage all night.”

Coach Means was commenting on the first scrimmage in Georgetown on the quote above.

Coach Levi Montgomery will be taking the Offensive Coordinator’s job in two days.

When asked about his thoughts of replacing Coach Monzingo his response was short in to the point, “Everything I have learned was from Monzingo.”

That should give you an idea of what this offense will be about. This will also play into Canyon Lake’s smoothness in the Coaching transition.

“We will get the ball into the hands of guys that make plays…you don’t want to be too predictable, we will have to be balanced but not necessarily 50/50. I will want good football players that will be more physical.”

Coach Montgomery also commented on how the offense will do this season, “We will be starting eight to ten Seniors on offense.”

That will be good news based on this Senior class being the team that finished undefeated two years ago as the JV club.

“Against Blanco we have started first year quarterbacks the last two years, now (Branson) Belcher has already played ten games to start this season. Last year it was his first year and the year before that (Jeff) Nabors was in his first game.”

“We will expect Belcher to make more plays with his feet.”

“Blanco will get after us, we will not sit and bang our heads against the wall,” Coach Montgomery was commenting on how the offense might change their game plan based on what the opposing defense is doing to stop the run or pass.

This has to be an exciting time for both Coaches as they enter a new realm this season, “I’m extremely excited, I have been with this same group of players since middle school…I am very close to this group of kids.”

“I have been part of this offense so long….I’m Prepared!”

Thanks Coach Means and Montgomery, this should be a fun year for you both, good luck and your preparation will be a sight to behold.