Pre/Game: Bracken Warriors vs. CASA Rams      September 5th   5:30pm

 History: Warriors lead 6-0 in a series started in 2008.
 BCS  58   CASA  13
 BCS  64   CASA  19
 BCS  50   CASA  00
 BCS  74   CASA  06
 BCS  53   CASA  00
 BCS  67   CASA  21

 This Season's Games:
 Bracken Warriors 45 Temple Holy Trinity  18      CASA  6 Kerrville OLH  51

The Warriors did not have anyone hurt last week!!!!  Yes, unfortunately that is the biggest statistics for this season’s team with so many players from last year missing and not playing will make this year a game of numbers.

Number of players on their roster, numbers.

That was carried out last week, when Bracken  went on the road to Temple and took care of business playing a team that had enough players to field two teams.

The Temple game had 113 plays which is second on their play list, only behind the Gustine game played two years ago when the Warriors had 127 plays in that 98-56 victory.

Not much is known about CASA, except that they usually don’t field a team that will win many games, as you can note having been beaten by OLH last week, 51-6.

There has yet to be a game played by these two teams that went four quarters. The Warriors have averaged a 61-9.8 score through those years. You can even add up all the points scored by the Rams and it would still not add up to that 61 point average.

Domination has been the name of this series and with the results of last week’s game, BCS might be playing another game not going four quarters and that would be just what the doctor would order.

Once again based on having that injury word not being mentioned on this night and a scoreboard that can be turned off early and the Warriors on their way home.

Bracken will not have a home game for two more weeks, but one stat that will play in favor of this schedule comes with a 30-4 road record.

The Warriors will still need to do their business and get enough reps for many of the Freshman that are starting this year.

Also, just working the cobwebs out of their system, as this year will have more tough teams on the horizon and taking a Friday off would not be the best course of action.

Hopefully, BCS will be able to up that win total to 31 after Friday night.

 Smithville Tigers  @  Canyon Lake Hawks      September 5th 7:30pm

 History: Hawks and Tigers have not played.

 This Season's Games:
 Canyon Lake  7  Blanco  35       Smithville  0   Rockdale    49

The Hawks will try to get a bad taste out of their mouth this week when they take on Smithville.

The Tigers did not have a good start to their season either and with two schools starting on the wrong foot, you will have two teams that will come out with a strong desire to change and get on the winning side of the ledger.

First Smithville, the Tigers were not very good on their opening day as they finished with no points, with no completions in their passing game, and a running game that could only muster two yards per play.

QB Garrett Mathis finished with negative 25 yards which would translate to enough sacks that HEB might be missing their allotment and not giving customers a paper or plastic option.

Running backs, Austin Green, Sean Moyer, Dameon Zepeda and Jake Dawson all finished with 18 to 35 yards rushing. Moyer had the best night of the four, with over five yards per carry.

Smithville’s defense had their problems too, in giving up over 500 yards with the majority of that real estate being gained through the air (414 yds).

When your best weapon is in the form of the punting formation, then you know it was not a good night. The Tigers had a 39 yard average per punt but that really just translated to more yardage that Rockdale could cover on their way for a score.

Canyon Lake is not in a position that they can snicker at those numbers as the Hawks were not much better with their game with Blanco.

Smithville ended with 92 total yards compared to the Hawks 158 yards.

Six of the seven touchdowns scored on Smithville was through the air and if CL can find a passing game, then that might be a way of breaking the Tigers’ for this night.

Rockdale had just 95 yards running which might suggest that Smithville’s best unit would be against the run.

Smithville had just one turnover and that bodes well as this team made their opponent play the whole field with no short scoring drives. Rockdale had just one score that did not cover more than 10 yards on those scoring plays.

Can the Hawks be opportunistic and make some long plays?

Last week the longest play covered 40 yards on a pass play to Evan Schuller with CL’s longest run covering 13 yards.  That run happened on their scoring drive which had Blanco guessing on defense for the only time during the game.

Last year, Canyon Lake started in a similar fashion against Blanco only to break out of their funk with a whale of a game in Somerset.

The big three of McGuire Johnson, Hayden Dubois, and Josh DeVries ran for 199, 79, and 92 yards in that game. That allowed your Hawks to score 35 points and if not for an electrical storm, might have translated into a win.

Momentum was lost in that delay but the simple fact is that Somerset had that same delay. No excuses, but the main point was how much different Canyon Lake looked compared to their opening game just a week earlier.

Canyon Lake needs a win and with the injuries, this game will be huge in establishing a team that can improve as District 14-4A comes a calling next month.

Go Hawks!!

Addison Farley ready to score in game with Lockhart earlier this year

Canyon Lake Volleyball won the Bronze Bracket at the San Marcos Tournament last weekend, sweeping their bracket to get their game back after losing to Blanco on Friday night.

That Blanco game was on the Hawks off day for the tournament and CL had played several larger teams from the Dallas area.

Canyon Lake beat Connally, Weatherford, and SA Southwest on Saturday claiming that bracket with a Hawk flag.

This was the last regular season tournament for the Hawk girls as they will enter into District play in a couple of weeks in hopes to ending their season by earning the right for a berth in the UIL Tournament.

Canyon Lake has already matched last year’s win total and will want to now take aim on the all time 25 win season set in 2009.

The Hawks also continue to close in on evening their all time record as they will need three more wins to get that record (109-112) to .500.

The top 4 teams will qualify and you can start to see what each team will be bringing to the court as there has been enough games to get a feel on what might happen.

Navarro has played 27 games already while Canyon Lake is close behind with 25 in the books.

The ReSporter has to search for records so the District 26-4A Standings below will not be complete.

 District 26-4A Standings
                           W   L    Pct
 Cuero                    17   3   .850
 Wimberley                14   4   .778
 CL Hawks                 18   8   .692
 Navarro                  19   9   .679
 Yoakum                   13   8   .619
 La Vernia                 6  14   .300
 Gonzales                  1   9   .100

 This Week's Games:
 9/01    Wimberley      Won    Devine

 9/02    CL Hawks       Won    Marion      
         Yoakum         Won    Vanderbilt Industrial  
         Yoakum         Won    Beeville Jones        
         La Vernia      Lost   SA East Central    
         Cuero          Won    Nixon-Smiley          
         Navarro        Won    Shiner
         Gonzales       Lost   Hallettsville

 9/04    Wimberley              @    Hays Rebel Bash Tournament
         La Vernia              @    Hays Rebel Bash Tournament

 9/05    Sinton                 @    CL Hawks    6pm
         Hallettsville          @    Yoakum
         Navarro                @    Luling

Bracken Christian started another year in familiar territory, a win, as the Warriors took care of

Senior Running Back Noah Boriack had a busy night in Temple

business in beating the Temple Holy Trinity Celtics in Temple last Friday night, 45-18.

“Emotionally we played well but we still had too many mistakes,” Head Coach Lloyd Fields fielded. “I had to keep reminding myself that we were playing three freshman on offense, but we will improve the most this week between our first and second games.

Thomas Johnson, one of those freshman, started at center and contributed with two catches for 29 yards.

“I started pulling the ball down for my runs and start taking off,” Senior Noah Boriack said. “But they (Celtics) would leave him wide open and he just did his job.”

Boriack was also responsible for the first six tackles on defense and then decided to play some offense just to get a good work out.

(more…)

CL Hawks ready themselves against Blanco

Canyon Lake had a rough time in Blanco Friday night as the Panthers spanked the Hawks into submission by controlling every facet of the game in a resounding 35-7 win.

“They beat us physically,” Head Coach Charles Drum said. “We had played two spread teams in our scrimmages and we met a team that was just more physical than us.”

The Hawks went to Blanco to eat steak but only brought their butter knife, as this game showed that they will need to sharpen their weapons.

“I’m disappointed,” Coach Drum finished. “But this is a long season and we proved last year that we can come back.”

(more…)

Quarterback Ben Fulton zeroing in on Braden Duke

Canyon Lake’s Freshman class opened with a bang as the Hawks scored 22 points in the first quarter providing more than enough cushion to coast to a win over the visiting Lago Vista Vikings.

CL Freshman busted out like a caged Hawk but could not keep that momentum offensively.

The Defense and Special Teams were a different story as these two units controlled this game from start to finish.

CL gave up just three yards per play for the game while the special teams was successful with two onside kicks and a punt return for a touchdown giving this Viking team looking for the North Star for a way get back home.

If you arrived five minutes late for this party then you were absent for all the festivities as Canyon Lake opened all the presents and had eaten the cake before they would blow out the candles.

(more…)

CLJV, relishing an after game talk, after a solid win

This might be a good year for Canyon Lake football as the CLJV finally got that long awaited win as they took the Blanco Panthers to the wood shed on Thursday night winning, 27-8.

“They got after it this week against the Varsity and it showed,” Head JV Coach John Barthels said. “This year, the Offensive Line knows where to go.”

That was an understatement as Canyon Lake rushed for over 300 yards while averaging a lofty 9 yards per carry.

With all that being said, this game was won as the Hawks were clinging to a 13-8 lead to start the second half.

(more…)

Coaches Corner with Bracken’s Lloyd Fields

The ReSporter: Hey Coach have you had a chance to get that ‘blahh’ feeling after last week’s scrimmage during this week’s practices out of your system?

Coach Fields: “Yes and no, today’s practice was better but the bottom line is that we are still young and we are just trying to fight through it.”

The ReSporter: Is it hard for a crowded field football team to transition to 6-Man?

Coach Fields: “I don’t know, I have never been in that position but many times it is hard for an 11-Man to play 6-Man with 11-Man tactics.”

(more…)

Bailey Drum going for the Kill

Smithville started the match scoring the first two of three points and with that 2-1 lead, the Hawks would run away with a victory in three games and Smithville would not have a lead again.

Canyon Lake (13-5) would have won all of their games even by adding all the points scored by Smithville which added up to just 24 points.

A 25-13 first game, 25-4, and 25-7 whitewash set the table for an earlier than usual time for supper with the family.

Canyon Lake had won their previous match against Smithville in tournament play in Bastrop but this game would be at home and this young team would not disappoint.

Addison Farley led the team with 15 kills as Bailey Drum was not that far behind with 13 put downs.

Mariah Ellis had to have her arm put in a sling with ice as she served 12 points. Ellis started her serve with a Hawk 7-2 lead and when she finished her serve the score was a comfortable 19-3 lead.

Grace Allen finished the game serving, as CL only needed four players serving to win this game, 25-4.

Head Coach Kim Paisley had a chance in letting all the players in the game which will hopefully pay dividends as this season closes in on district play.

“This was a developing game,” Coach Paisley said. “We were able to add depth from our bench.”

Canyon Lake has reached the 13 win total earlier than any previous year in their history. Finishing has been their downfall for many of those five losses.

 Season         Game Reached 13 Wins           Total Record
 2014                Game 18                      13-5
 2013                Game 25                      18-20
 2012                Game 26                      16-22
 2010                Game 28                      20-20
 2009                Game 28                      25-15
 2011                Game 39                      13-27
                                                 105-109

“We played our level and we did our jobs,” Coach Fields closed. “We had a chance to work on more plays for our offense.”

One of those plays was having Bailey Drum being set from the back row.

“It is fun,” Drum said while commenting on getting some kills from the back court. “They usually don’t see it coming and it is more of a quick offense.”

Drum also talked about some of those losses when the team might not be in sync for the whole game, “We are trying to shake things off and play our game and we definitely were able to get a sneak peak in this win.”

Canyon Lake will be busy for another weekend of non-stop games. The San Marcos Tournament starts on Thursday and then a break on Friday when your Hawks travel to Blanco for a tough opponent before a Saturday of more games in tourney play.

Lot’s of games in a short amount of time and you can feel that this might be a special year as Canyon Lake continues to rack up wins before district comes calling.

Game Stats: CL Wins 25-13, 25-4, 25-7
 Kills:   Addison Farley 15,  Bailey Drum   13
 Assists: Regan Mickey   26
 Blocks:  Destiny Riccio  2
 Digs:    Regan Mickey    8
 Aces:    Mariah Ellis    8

==========================================================

Canyon Lake JV also pulled off a convincing win which would also mark their first victory, 25-11 and 25-13.

Kaylie Duke and Faith Hasness are all smiles after recording their first win of the season.

This win was JV Coach Helmey first and she was all smiles after a winnable game last week in Lockhart that just got away.

“Yeah, that was my first win as a coach,” Helmey stated proudly. “I thought the girls were more comfortable and I had noticed before play started they were playing more as a team.”

Coach Helmey made these comments in response to how many girls had moved in which was hurting their communication and just getting to know each other better.

“In practice this last week, Faith (Hasness) has been getting more vocal and leading, before the girls were not prepared for the Lockhart game,” Coach Helmey closed. “I could tell in warmups that they would be ready tonight.”

Freshman Faith Hasness scored on her serve with 8 aces for the match. Hasness finished the first game and helped give the Hawks enough space to coast to their first game win scoring on her seven serves.

“We started talking a lot more and we would talk after each point,” Hasness talked. “We minimized our errors and we are just getting to know each other and we are starting to play better together.”

Hasness started the second game serving while the Hawks raced off for a 6-0 lead and helping CLJV dominate through the rest of this contest.

Sophomore Kaylie Duke is another newcomer who came on in that second game when she had 4 kills.

“This was a home game,” Duke duked it out. “After losing our last game, we did not want to have that feeling again and wanted to correct it and have a better outcome.”

That Lockhart game was a tough loss as CLJV had a chance to win the match but just could not finish.

“My approach to the ball is what I wanted to be better with,” Duke finished. “In that last game (Lockhart) we had a really big lead and then lost it and that was not going to happen again.”

True to form, Canyon Lake now has all three teams starting to jell and this will be a good time to come out and watch these teams come together.

Blanco is this Friday come out and fill the stands in Blanco.

Go Hawks!!!