Hawk Freshman Do the Two Step over Lampasas, 29-8
The Canyon Lake Freshman team continued their winning ways through non district play Thursday night against the Lampasas Badgers on their home turf, but in a most unlikely fashion of what seemed like the Texas two step all night long scoring a, 29-8 win.
Having home field advantage when you’re from Lampasas is definitely an advantage over a team, especially as you travel from Canyon Lake and the sand man keeps you drowsy on the bus all the way to kickoff time, or so it would seem.
The Badgers opened up on offense to begin the game and methodically as they drove the Hawks backwards on their heels after starting off with good field position on a failed onside kick from the Hawk’s forty nine yard line.
The Badgers picked up 18 yards on four plays and got help from a Hawk defense with a fifteen yard personal foul and putting the Badgers just outside the twelve yard line after a couple small gains up the middle.
After a false start by the Badgers and a team tackle by Triston Chacon and Greyson Lee, the badgers faced a second and eleven in which their pass ended incomplete.
The Hawk defense came to life after a wall of Hawk jerseys piled up the middle for a one yard gain.
On fourth and six the badgers swept left and were met by Chance Martelli who slipped his blocker and still manage to stop this Badger one yard short.
This awakening down under the Hawk’s goal post on the first drive set the tone for the rest of this game. The Hawks had come to life.
On the Hawks opening possession, still fired up from the defense’s play performance, had the Hawk offensive line opened up a Badger defense like an old can of c-rations left over from a WWII supply room and the running backs ripped off sixty one yards on four plays.
Jeremaih Soliz was a big part of that effort playing Strong Guard. “I started out the season playing center and coached moved me over so I could help the team better in that position and as the year has moved on I have gotten in better shape.”
Soliz stated that he had missed summer conditioning camps and was not up to his potential at the start of the year because of missing out on conditioning, however he had a good reason.
He said “My grandfather had cancer so I stayed with him as much as I could during the summer and he passed away on July 17th, so since then I have been determined to come back strong for the memory of my grandfather and get into shape and play for him this season.”
Playing well is an understatement for this young man as he has become a corner stone for the freshman this year on both sides of the ball.
Sheldon Flint and Soliz opened up a hole and Trenton Lorett took care of a ten yard TD and extra point, even though the Hawks had two false starts on this drive.
So, as the Hawk offense begins to dominate so does the two steps forward and one step back methodology begins to take shape and will be how the offensive makes its way up and down the field.
The Badgers opened up their second possession and were stopped by Lee, Andrew Kullberg, JT Greene, Brent Hemphill and Landry Moore as Lampasas punted on a fourth and four.
On the second Hawk possession, one would believe it would be a down the field ramble for the score, but the yellow flags of a personal foul would come to take back some nice running only to have an incomplete pass doom the frigid drive which would only net one yard.
The Badgers would fare no better as Cameron Herbert, Hemphill, Lee and Allen Blatantly had had enough and forced a fourth and long. As the Lampasas lined up in the punt formation, and thought they could slide one by the old Hawk defense; problem is that a Hawk’s vision is ten times sharper than your normal human and can spot a muse at one mile.
So to say that the Hawks vision spotted this large Badgers attempt at a fake punt is an understatement.
The punt fake was a colossal failure as a tag team of Gavyhn Allen and Kullberg and Hemphill stuffed that Badger and put him on the shelf.
Hemphill said, “We just did what the coaches taught us and didn’t throw what they have to say out the window. I mean every week we have to learn from our mistakes like tonight, fix the mental mistakes and put the games behind us after their over and focus on next week.”
The Hawk offense again would get into gear and QB Cooper Harris would hit Greene for a thirty five yard pass reception and three plays later Chacon would score from two yards out with Harris catching the two yard pass for two points for the lead 15-0 over the Badgers. The Hawks would hold the line again right before halftime on Lampasas and force the ball over with a punt.
The Hawks would waste no time in getting another score up on the electric sign standing in the end zone by running the same play four times as Conner Rose scored after the Hawks had another set of penalties take root on this drive.
Two steps forward one step back.
At half time the hawks were up 22-0 over the hapless Badgers in their den.
As the Hawks took over on the second half they were stopped due to more penalties, namely false starts and holding calls.
This thwarted a long drive as CL danced forward and went back with the Badger defense that was all but glad to have Canyon lake give up some of its offensive speed and power.
This motivated the Badgers and shocked them back to life like they were hit by a set of defibrillator paddles.
The Badgers took their next drive thirteen plays on thirty two yards with the assistance of three offside penalties to finally score in the fourth quarter with a six yard pass play to seal the deal.
This drive was almost dead three times but the aggressive Hawk defense jumped the gun a few times and kept the drive alive. The defense led by JC Glowka, Hemphill, Lee, Flint, Greene, Hebert and Zane Fullen made the badgers earn every yard.
As it seems, this freshman team, so far this year (and last year as eighth graders), motivation from mistakes just makes them want to dominate even more and charges this team up like a bolt of lightning from Zeus himself.
After being scored upon largely due to the Hawks contributing to the Badgers drive, the offense would now find it within themselves to turn up the Green Machine and plow head long into the scampering Lampasas’s defense to return the favor.
The Hawks grinded up the inspired Badger team into a wood pulp substance coming from a tub grinder.
The Hawks had gains of sixteen and thirteen yards and a pass for a touchdown only on five plays to have them; you guessed it, called back for three holding calls totaling thirty yards.
Thus two steps forward one step back. So Harris uncorked a pass to Rose for forty three yards down to the four yard line and then had Cade Dunavant run in for the score as Lorett tacked on the extra point for a 29-8 victory over the Badgers.
The freshman team cleaned up on five wins in non – district play in their inaugural season at Canyon Lake and have not skipped a beat this year.
Even with two of their team mates on Varsity.
They walloped their old nemesis Wimberley like no team has ever done before in their history and now have kept things in perspective with that win.
As this team heads into the district play after the break, they will meet their new nemesis, the Liberty Hill Panthers which they beat once last year 25-12 and tied 6-6 in a rematch in Liberty Hill.
If the freshman team can maintain their GPA’s, stay aggressively humble, play game by game, focus on the coaching staffs directions, they can give everyone in district a good game.
Go Hawks!!