What a Pleasant(on) Surprise, Hawks Win, 24-21
Pleasanton is nice enough to lend a hand in pushing McGuire Johnson over the goal line.
Canyon Lake just made every fan who has ever said, “That is why you play the game,” a truism as the Hawks jumped out to a 14 point lead and held on for a 24-21 win on a Mike Thorpe, 19 yard field goal in the fourth quarter.
“We did not get breaks during the first of the year,” Head Coach Charles Drum said. “This team just kept fighting back and now this game is important because of all the confidence we lost in the Navarro game has come back.”
Pleasanton came into this game as a one loss team, but found out Canyon Lake was no slouch and were succumbed at the hands of this 3-7 team.
The Eagles (9-1) did have a good record, but their non-district opponents were over 20 games below .500 ball
A Pleasant Sandwich
while CL had played a non-district schedule with teams sporting a 20-42 record.
Pleasanton won the toss and had moved into Canyon Lake’s territory when Christian Dittman put a hit on an Eagle causing a fumble that Dominick Theisz pounced on.
That play allowed the Hawks to drive 63 yards on 9 plays and a quick 7-0 score when McGuire Johnson ran it in from the 8 yard line.
On that drive, Josh DeVries had first dibs with a 20 yard run and Hayden DuBois then helped the Hawks overcome a penalty and gained 14 yards when 15 yards was needed for a first.
Two plays later the Johnson score gave Pleasanton a sad start.
The Hawk Defense then contributed on the Eagles next set of plays with a Dittman sack and a punt.
Canyon Lake wasted no time with a 2 play 70 yard drive taking a whopping 29 seconds off the clock.
DeVries ran for 43 yards on his first carry of this drive and had his counterpart, DuBois bruising his way 27 yards and a touchdown.
DuBois (118) and DeVries (110) both finished this game over the century mark.
The Tackle continues…
The Eagles finally arrived on their fourth possession scoring on an 80 yard–14 play drive. The key play on this drive was a tipped pass that found a Pleasanton player that help convert a fourth and six yard down.
It only took Pleasanton two plays to score after that pass play, from 5 yards out and after a missed two point try, the Hawks was still 8 points to the good.
Canyon Lake fumbled on their next possession but an Isaac Mendez interception stopped the Eagles short of their quest and the first half was history.
The Hawks had another fumble to start the second half giving Pleasanton a chance of tying the game.
The Eagles first two plays netted 21 yards and snapping their next play from the Hawks 14 yard line.
Then, self inflicted wounds would end Pleasanton’s drive after two consecutive penalties and needing 18 yards for a first.
On that first infraction, a holding penalty, the Eagles would of had a touchdown, but you can deduce that play would not have happened if the Eagles would not have been holding a Hawk on the play.
Canyon Lake then took over and drove 7 plays and 74 yards for a comfortable, 21-6 lead.
This drive had an offside penalty that helped the Hawks convert a first down and after that Pleasanton miscue , CL had two consecutive plays from Johnson for 18 yards and DuBois traveling 38 yards that helped the Hawks move the chains and increase the lead, 21-6.
The Eagles were not finished and countered with a 74 yard drive of their own that took 12 plays and the rest of
The Hits Keep on Coming
the third quarter clock. Their two point extra point was good and now the game was back to a one score contest, with one more quarter and being down, 21-14.
Canyon Lake was stopped cold on their next possession and Pleasanton only needed to travel 60 yards for a chance to tie this contest.
The Eagles converted another fourth down and this time taking that play to the house from 37 yards out.
A 15 yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct was assessed on the extra point try when the Eagles Jason Mills converted from 35 yards out. If that try would of been two yards further, then Canyon Lake would have had a one point advantage.
Time on the clock showed nine minutes and a vintage Hawk drive would be unwrapped for a very early Christmas present.
Key plays? Glad you asked.
A DeVries three yard run started this drive and then Quarterback Skyler Tschoepe fumbled the snap for a one yard gain.
Canyon Lake was needing six yards to continue this drive from their 28 yard line.
Tschoepe would fake a handoff and then attempted his only pass of the game.
What had happened to CL earlier in this game when the Eagles converted on a tipped pass would now be repeated against Pleasanton.
A pleasant pass play was tipped and landed in Shane Relkin’s hands 19 yards down the field and a welcomed first down.
The Hawks stuck to the run with only one pass, but that pass was a nail driver.
“We got a lead,” Offensive Coach Troy Moses said after responding to why more passes were not attempted. “The football gods evened this game out when we got a tip pass just like Pleasanton did.”
Dominick Theisz and Javier Mendez complete the tackle.
From there, Canyon Lake had the faucet turned on as they clicked the next 53 yards in 11 plays down to the two yard line.
With under two minutes in the game, Sophomore Mike Thorpe would enter the game for what could be the winning field goal.
Recap on this season: Thorpe started this year as the Junior Varsity kicker as this was his first year in a football uniform.
That game in Blanco had CLJV coming back in the fourth quarter and needing a 37 yard field goal for the win. Side note: Thorpe had only practiced extra points up to that field goal try.
Thorpe would kick the ball through the uprights that night with plenty of room to spare. His only try this year on Varsity however had been blocked.
The kick was true and now Canyon Lake’s defense would be on center stage.
Pleasanton passed on their first seven plays for 22 yards and was needing 16 yards on their fourth down try.
The Eagles were not even close and Canyon Lake now has Pleasantly Surprised Pleasanton and another date with La Grange next week.
What had been a problem a week earlier when both the offense and defense was a no-show in Navarro, had each unit perform superbly this night.
Offensively, Canyon Lake controlled the clock and won the yardage battle.
Defensively, the Hawks held the Eagles to their lowest point total this year.
Special Teams? Well they were Special with a nice 45 yard punt off the foot of Connor Ricker. Thorpe was perfect on extra points and on his kick-offs, helped keep the Eagles with more real estate to cover.
Oh yeah, and that field goal was pretty spectacular. Reminder: It was three years ago when Juan Martinez was just short on a winning field goal try from 42 yards out. That would of sent the Hawks to the third round in the playoffs that year.
The Hawks played a complete game and beat a heavily favored (not so) Pleasanton team.
What a Pleasant Surprise and that is why they play the game.
Now wipe that frown off your Hawk face after last week’s loss to Navarro and get ready for another tough game next week against La Grange.
1 2 3 4 Final Pleasanton 0 6 8 7 21 Canyon Lake 14 0 7 3 24 Scoring Summary: Hawks-McGuire Johnson 8 yard run (Mike Thorpe kick), 4:42, 1st Hawks-Hayden Dubois 27 yard run (Mike Thorpe kick), 1:50, 1st Eagle-Jacob Arevalo 2 yard run (pass failed), 4:31, 2nd Hawks-McGuire Johnson 3 yard run ( Mike Thorpe kick), 4:51, 3rd Eagle-Grant Jackson 11 yard pass from Arevalo (Oliver from Arevalo), 0:40, 3rd Eagle-Jackson 37 yard pass from Arevalo (Jason Mills kick), 9:04, 4th Hawks-Mike Thorpe 19 yard field goal, 1:45, 4th
Game Stats Eagles Hawks
Total Yards 294 323
First Downs 14 14
Rushes/Yards 36/130 46/304
Comp/Att/Int 16/24/1 1/1/0
Passing Yards 164 19
Punts/Average 2/29.5 1/45.0
Fumbles/Lost 1/1 4/2
Penalties-Yards 6-45 4-15
TOP 22:54 25:06
Passing Comp Att Pct Yards TD Int
Skyler Tschoepe 1 1 1.000 19 0 0
Rushing Att Yards Ave Lg TD
Hayden DuBois 17 118 6.9 38 1
Josh DeVries 11 110 10.0 43 0
McGuire Johnson 16 76 4.8 18 2
Skyler Tschoepe 2 0 0.0 1 0
Receiving No Yards Ave Lg TD
Shane Relkin 1 19 19.0 19 0
