Hawks Break Wimberley’s Back Bone in Win, 28-14
Hawks with Devil’s Back Bone Trophy after Wimberley Win
Canyon Lake Broke Wimberley’s Back Bone in Win on Friday at the Hawk Nest, 28-14.
The first year for the Back Bone Trophy will now have a home at Canyon Lake for the next year as the Hawks took care of business in the second half to win their second game in three years over our friends to the North.
This win had a stellar defensive game by both teams but a goal line stand in the third quarter allowed this scrappy Hawk team to stave off the Texans and hold onto their 7 point lead, 21-14.
Turnovers were a friend for CL as in year’s past, it has been a Hawk problem holding onto the ball or throwing interceptions against the Texans.
Two costly fumbles and an interception helped Canyon Lake win a game that has been hard to come by for so many years.
Overall, CL had a good set of games with Wimberley as the Hawk JV had the only loss as they were stranded on the 2 yard line when time ran out on Thursday.
As for the 7th, 8th, Freshman teams, the Hawks swept Wimberley having their best success ever for what has been a lopsided series up until 3 years ago.
Now Canyon Lake has two wins in the last three contests and for this win, a trophy has a home at the Lake.
The game started with great defense for both teams as Wimberley compounded their problems when they punted on their first series with the ball traveling only one yard.
The Hawks had the ball at the Texans 24 yard line but after 4 plays and finishing with negative yardage the score stayed tied at, 0-0.
When Wimberley took over, they had one first down but a jarring hit on the Texan’s QB JoJo Weeks by Parker Reno and Kenneth Jowers put an end to that drive on their next play.
Canyon Lake would then have their best drive of the first half with 4 plays and a Hawk lead, 7-0 having Tanner Faris going around the end for 13 yards for paydirt.
Micah St. John had a 33 yard run earlier on that drive giving CL the momentum to get this score.
Those 4 plays covered 52 yards and that would compose 93% of the Hawks total yardage for the half. Canyon Lake only averaged 2.5 yards per play as Wimberley’s line controlled the trenches for much of that period.
CL also had a decent quarter defensively as the Hawks would get a defensive touchdown when the Texan’s center snapped the ball over the punter’s head where Tyler McCleary would fall on the ball in the end zone for a, 14-0 lead starting the second quarter.
“I can’t really describe what happened, but it was exhilarating,” McCleary said. “We got better tackling and got off of the ball a lot faster….we can get better and we can’t go anywhere but up.”
Wimberley would score the next two touchdowns with a 27 yard drive for their first touchdown and then just three plays later Andrew Gonzales would scoop up a Hawk fumble for the tying TD, 14-all.
The Texans did double CL’s yardage in that first half, but self inflicted wounds would not allow Wimberley to take advantage as two fumbles stopped drives and even the defensive scoring for both teams was tied at 7-7.
Second half adjustments would tell who would be the team taking the game in hand for the Back-Bone Trophy.
“Coming into halftime, we had to get into our heads that the score was, 0-0,” QB Ben Fulton said. “After I came back to the field after halftime, I just forgot my mistakes and I told myself that this would be a whole new game….we had confidence on what we would be doing in the second half.”
Canyon Lake got the ball to start the half and a first play pass to Faris for 63 yards was just what the Dr. ordered as the Hawks would score 4 plays later for a lead that would stand, 21-14.
“It happened so fast,” Faris said like Big Tex at the Texas State Fair. “We had been practicing that play all week and the corner just bit down and I just had to make sure no one would come from behind me and knock the ball loose.”
Wimberley’s offense would come alive next, when they drove to Canyon Lake’s 1 yard line on a 43 yard pass play which helped set up what would be the turning point in this contest.
That pass play had the Texan’s with a first down on CL’s 17 yard line when Weeks would scamper 10 yards for another first down at the Hawks 3 yard line.
Canyon Lake’s defense had taken a lot of water after last week’s game with Marion giving up 55 points in that contest. On this night, however, the defense was resurrected in a big way with several players having great plays.
“Our defense was a whole lot different from last week,” Haden Lee said. “They made us win by forcing turnovers.”
The next two plays counted out one yard per play and having a 3rd down and one right inside the Hawk 1 yard line.
“We made up for some of their big plays and we all knew we just had to plug the holes and keep running your feet….all three of our linebackers made a play on it (the 3rd down run at the goal line),” Jowers said with excitement.
A whole host of Hawks would help in halting the 3rd down try and then Canyon Lake took things into their own hands when Parker Reno blitzed and caught Weeks’ handing off to Logan McKinney and a loss of 4 yards which would snuff out a great scoring opportunity for the Texans..
“The blitz was called from the sideline and they had a long drive and I knew how to finish what I had started,” Reno said with wisdom from his Dad. “What an adrenaline rush….this is probably one of my most memorable times in my life.”
Later in the 3rd Quarter, Canyon Lake, would have their most impressive drive of the game as they used 12 plays to travel 68 yards helping break the Devil’s Back Bone and give the Hawks a 14 point lead.
A pass from Fulton to Austin Brennan from 11 yards out was the play helping CL build a trophy case for the new addition for the school.
That drive also had another pass from Fulton to Heath McDonough for 9 yards which helped convert a 4th down and 5 yards needed to keep the drive going.
After enjoying a 14 point lead earlier in the game, Canyon Lake, would still need to be focused as Wimberley could strike quickly and that lead could evaporate.
Sophomore Safety Luke Justis would squelch another Texan opportunity, when he intercepted a Weeks’ pass on CL’s 4 yard line.
“They threw that same play before,” Justis started. “I was playing man and turned around and just leapt for it and got it….We have really good leaders on this team and we just play for each other and do this for the team.”
Sophomore Running Back St. John would help in running out the clock when he rushed for 57 yards on two carries and getting the Hawk’s out of their hole and allowing precious seconds leaving the scoreboard clock. St. John would finish with 140 yards for his third 100 or more rushing game of the year.
“This was how a good hard fought win feels like,” Linebacker Lee said after a solid defensive game.
A victory formation would be in order as CL would take their second win from Wimberley and a Back Bone Trophy for grins.
Congrats Hawks!!
1 2 3 4 Final Wimberley 0 14 0 0 14 CL Hawks 7 7 7 7 28 Scoring Summary: CLH-Tanner Faris 13 yard run (Mike Thorpe kick), 6:13, 1st CLH-Tyler McCleary fumble recovery in end zone (Mike Thorpe kick), 11:12, 2nd WHS-Logan McKinney 2 yard run (Hugo Huesca kick), 4:32, 2nd WHS-Andrew Gonzales 26 yard fumble return (Hugo Huesca kick), 2:56, 2nd CLH-Micah St. John 1 yard run (Mike Thorpe kick), 9:54, 3rd CLH-Austin Brennan 11 yard pass from Ben Fulton (Mike Thorpe kick), 9:02, 4th Game Stats Texans Hawks Total Yards 291 280 First Downs 12 11 Rushes/Yards 27/48 40/180 Comp/Att/Int 19/36/1 5/10/0 Passing Yards 243 100 Punts/Average 5/32.6 7/38.7 Fumbles/Lost 2/2 2/1 Penalties-Yards 8-60 3-15 TOP 22:38 25:22 Passing Comp Att Pct Yds Int TD Ben Fulton 5 10 .500 100 0 1 Rushing Att Yds Ave Lg TD Micah St. John 21 140 6.7 36 1 Tanner Faris 7 15 2.1 13 1 Ben Fulton 7 14 2.0 15 0 Austin Brennan 6 9 1.5 6 0 Matt Adams 2 2 1.0 3 0 Receiving No Yds Ave Lg TD Tanner Faris 1 63 63.0 63 0 Heath McDonough 3 26 8.7 9 0 Austin Brennan 1 11 11.0 11 1
