Canyon Lake: It’s Time to get Defensive

During district play last season, Canyon Lake finished second in points scored only behind State Champion Wimberley.

That translated into a season with eight wins and no chance for more since the team missed on the tie breaker rule with Boerne and Navarro.

However; District 26 standings would of been predicted right on the button if you would of known how many points each team would give up.

Wimberley allowed only 51 points total in their five games, a whopping 100 points less than the Hawks.

Canyon Lake had a break out year offensively, but were left at the altar defensively when they gave up 30.2 points per game in that five game stretch.

Their fourth place finish in points allowed was 16 points more than Navarro and 27 points more than Boerne. Twenty points per game more than district champion Wimberley.

Any wonder that the Hawks are trying to shore up some holes on that side of the ball? Canyon Lake lost a lot of yards offensively with Zach Henshaw and Matt Magness walking across the stage last May, but if the defense can improve, then those lost yards could be compensated for.

Canyon Lake gave up an average of 404 yards per game in district and that included the best defensive game ever for the Hawks. Fredericksburg was the recipient and that record now stands at 173 yards.

Take that game out of the mix and CL average was at a balmy 462 yards per game. Now it might be easier to figure out the lack of extra games (playoffs) for the Hawks last season.

A little history lesson from the previous years for Canyon Lake shows that the defense gave up 19.8 points in 2009 and 21.8 points in 2010 for district play. Another 10 points added to 2011 and you can see where the kryptonite was hiding on last year’s team.

The ReSporter took all of the scores against Canyon Lake the past three seasons to see what was the average distance opponents traveled to cross the goal line. Look below:

Touchdown: Runs 17 Ave Run 12.0 By Pass 13 Ave 19.5  Combined 30 Ave 15.2  ‘09
Touchdown: Runs 22 Ave Run 19.1 By Pass 15 Ave 22.1  Combined 37  Ave 20.3  ‘11
Touchdown: Runs 22 Ave Run 25.1 By Pass 15 Ave 27.8  Combined 37  Ave 26.2  ‘10

Some notes to remember from the information above.
The 2010 team played an additional two games in comparison to the 2011 team.
You can also deduce that the 2009 team was able to make their opponents work harder for their scores based on the average distance they traveled to hit paydirt.

A common phrase you will hear constantly from coaches is, Defense wins championships.

Case and point: Look at what Wimberley did last season by giving up 13.4 points per game or 63 points less than Canyon Lake had last season playing five less games.

You get the idea, Canyon Lake can go as far as the defense can take them, and hopefully this will be the season the defense can shine as bright as their offense.