Hawks Lose Fountain of Youth in Win over Smithville, 25-14
Defensive End Tyler McCleary making himself known in game with the Tigers
Canyon Lake’s, the Young and the Restless, came alive in the second half beating the Smithville Tigers, 25-14 for their first win of the season.
“This team cannot use the ‘we are young’ any longer and that excuse can’t go on,” Head Coach Charley Drum said. “We did not play with any juice starting the game….but we showed it in the second half.”
The Tigers had a total of 12 offensive plays in that second half with a total of 30 yards as the Hawks controlled the ball for 20 of the 24 minutes in the second stanza. To be exact, CL> 19:50 and Smithville > 4:10.
That first half had the Tigers with a 14-7 lead after scoring on a 34 yard pass play with no time left on the clock.
The Tigers made the most of their opportunities in that first part of the game as their passing offense had 180 yards, capped off by a 62 yard catch run to the Hawk’s 1 yard line in scoring the first touchdown in this game.
Smithville had 217 halftime yardage and finished the game with just 30 more yards in that second half.
Defensive Ends, Robert Woods and Tyler McCleary had so many sacks that HEB said they had a job for life in sacking if they wanted that opportunity.
The ReSporter had Woods and McCleary with 7 sacks and 5 hurries on Smithville’s Quarterback, Mathis.
“Our pass rush and moving the ball in the second half was just allowing us to let things happen,” Coach Drum said. “But we have to give Smithville credit because they came out and were ready for us.”
With 132 yards of real estate for CL in that first half, the team coming from their dressing room for the next phase of the game, had changed and finished with 219 yards and dominated by the time the 2nd half ended.
Sophomore running back, Micah St. John, had his best game in his short career when he finished with 133 yards on the ground with most of that damage occurring up the middle.
That becomes a tough way to get yardage but on this night St. John got stronger as the game got longer as Canyon Lake controlled the clock in helping the Tigers to stall.
Senior Mike Thorpe’s special team play was on this night as punts helped change field position and then getting a 36 yard field goal that would have been good if kicked 45 yards from the goal posts was perfect.
“It was nerve racking waiting to kick the ball but as soon as I hit it I knew it would be good,” Thorpe said confidently. “We just need to go out every game and play for the team and win.”
Add a perfect onside kick from Thorpe and the Hawks would control over 10 minutes of the 3rd quarter. Those two first drives would result in 11 points and a lead, CL, would not relinquish.
Thorpe had recovered the onside kick as he followed it for the allotted 10 yards only to need help as Tyler McCleary was right there to pounce on the leather to keep the ball in the good guy’a hands.
“I wasn’t suppose to get it (the ball),” McCleary stated. “But the ball popped out and I just fell on it.”
Thorpe supported McCleay’s story, “We had just scored and we saw them line up and I hit it and followed the ball and then a helmet popped it out of my hand.”
Two halves and two different games as the intermission saw a Hawk team that will hopefully grace the field many more times during this season.
The Tigers were penalized after a Thorpe extra point, giving a chance for a 2 point try from the 1 yard line that allowed the Hawks to take a, 15-14 lead.
Penalties would hurt Smithville, after a touchdown run called back on their first drive after the Hawk’s first touchdown of the second half.
A 56 yard run by QB Mathis to paydirt would have switched the lead back in the Tiger’s favor, only to be punting two plays later for another Hawks possession and score, 25-14.
Smithville played all out in stopping Woods, as the Hawk bruising running back had scorched the Tigers for 123 yards last season.
But with just 12 yards on this night rushing, meant this young man, needed to search like a Tiger for other ways of making his mark.
Now Woods, is in 2nd place all time in sacks, residing with 13 and only seven behind Alex Kemp who finished his last season in 2011.
“Speechless,” Woods would start. “I feel like we accomplished what we needed to do in this game….but we have room for improvement, I am proud of our team.”
Woods was no longer speechless as he tackled this question like The ReSporter was the Smithville’s QB, “They were keying on me on offense and so I just figured if they were going to do that then, they would get a surprise on defense.”
This ‘Young and Restless’ Hawk is one of the elder statesman for Canyon Lake and certainly says a lot even when he is, speechless.
Tyler McCleary also had a good game as he would also combine with Woods for those 7 sacks while specializing on the Special Team’s squad.
“When Gordon (McCleary) got hurt that just triggered me,” Tyler McCleary started. Gordon McCleary had been a key player these past three years and left the game with a recurring shoulder issue.
“Tavion (Soliz) told me to go out there for Gordon and so I played for my brother and wanted to win the game for him,” Tyler McCleary said clearly.
Canyon Lake would finish the game with 2 rushers topping the 100 yard barrier and both players broke the 100 yard mark for the first time.
Multiple Hawk Players to have 100 yards in the same game:
Game Year Player Yds Player Yds Total
Waco La Vega 2014 DeVries 180 DuBois 159 339
Smithville 2014 DeVries 175 Woods 123 298
Boerne 2013 Johnson 162 DuBois 114 276
Smithville 2015 St. John 134 Faris 106 240
Bandera 2010 Henshaw 135 Covarrubias 103 238
Pleasanton 2013 DuBois 118 DeVries 110 228
Fredericksburg 2014 DeVries 120 Woods 106 226
Boerne 2012 DuBois 119 Covarrubias 100 219
Bandera 2014 DeVries 109 DuBois 102 211
The difference in all the above games was having two players that are Sophomores doing the honors.
There is that ‘Young’ tag again, but with each passing game these young players are getting valuable wisdom on how to be better and excel.
“The offensive line was great,” St. John said. “I did not do that well in the first half but the second half I felt pretty good.”
St. John did have a run for 12 yards in the first stanza but taking that one run from the total and you would have 26 yards on 7 carries.
“I had to be coachable and get to the ball faster,” St. John took the handoff. “I am proud of the team and offensive line and we just want to continue winning games.”
That offensive line did have to come together as Gordon McCleary left leaving a hole to be filled to help get those runners some yardage.
“The Coaches told us we were not playing like they have seen us play from our 8th grade year up to this game,” Sophomore Jacob Foster said with conviction. “We needed to change our focus and we can use this game as an example of how completely different our two halves were and become more mentally sharp and have the drive to finish and play the whole game.”
Wow!! Young and Restless but you can see how those young guns are growing for future success and it will hopefully start next week!
Go Hawks!!
1 2 3 4 Final CL Hawks 0 7 11 7 25 Smithville 7 7 0 0 14 Scoring Summary: SMHS-Mathis 1 yard run (pat good), 0:30, 1st CLHS-Austin Brennan 2 yard run (Mike Thorpe kick), 10:04, 2nd SMHS-34 yard pass (pat good), 0:00, 2nd CLHS-Tanner Faris 13 yard run (Faris run), 7:35, 3rd CLHS-Mike Thorpe 36 yard field goal, 2:57, 3rd CLHS-Micah St. John 11 yard run (Mike Thorpe kick), 9:24, 4th Game Stats Tigers Hawks Total Yards 247 351 First Downs 10 21 Rushes/Yards 22/39 61/328 Comp/Att/Int 11/23/0 0/5/0 Passing Yards 208 0 Punts/Average 4/27.3 3/35.7 Fumbles/Lost 1/0 0/0 Penalties-Yards 8-72 3-15 TOP 15:58 32:02 Passing Att Comp Pct Yds Int TD Ben Fulton 4 0 .000 0 0 0 Luke Justis 1 0 .000 0 0 0 Rushing Att Yards Ave Lg TD Micah St. John 22 134 6.1 16 1 Tanner Faris 16 106 6.6 33 1 Austin Brennan 9 46 5.1 14 1 Mike Adams 6 30 5.0 16 0 Ben Fulton 3 23 7.7 17 0 Robert Woods 5 12 2.5 8 0
