CL Hawks Make History in Pleasanton Win, 28-10
Canyon Lake High School Running Back Jacob Ruff (#32) rushes for a touchdown against the Pleasanton High School Eagles. (mjrphotog.com)
Canyon Lake made history after taking over the 2nd half and beating Pleasanton, 28-10 on Friday night at Gustafson Stadium in San Antonio.
“We weren’t ourselves in that first half,” Head Coach Charley Drum surmised. “Give Pleasanton credit, we were lucky to be down by just 3 points, 10-7 at half.”
Way to go Hawks!!
CL game plan was to win the coin toss and then take 7 minutes off the clock to go up, 7-0 in their game with the Eagles. That plan was abruptly stopped after suffering their 4th lost fumble this year. Pleasanton would then take the ball methodically down the field with their passing game and take an early lead, 7-0.
The Eagles used 13 plays to travel 67 yards using the pass on 7 of those snaps. Pleasanton would convert three 3rd down plays and QB Johnny Zamora would complete this drive with a 5 yard run that would jolt CL as they started the game looking at a 7 point deficit.
Canyon Lake had not been behind since the Fredericksburg game and it was the Austin Akins contest being the last time the Hawks had not scored first to start a game. The good news, Canyon Lake, has been victorious in all of the battles mentioned above.
Much of the damage was coming in the Eagles passing game, with drives that looked like a passing slot-t way of handing off by passing the ball.
The Hawks were still sleep walking on their next possession as that drive had 7 plays and no player with more than a 4 yard run as that would have the punting team out on the field, as this affair had started with a lost fumble and now being stopped after gaining 12 yards on 7 running plays. Almost 2 yards per carry if you do the math.
CL’s defense would come to the rescue, as this spread offense, was traveling down the field with relative ease. After that Hawk punt, Pleasanton, had used 8 plays that had the Eagles inside the Hawk’s 10 yard line and ready to jump out to a quick 14 point lead.
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The next play would help put a damper on the home team as their bruising running back would fumble on a 4th down play and needing one yard to continue this drive for a score.
Canyon Lake would start this drive on the 8 yard line and it would end successfully, when QB Ben Fulton found Tanner Faris, with a wide open screen play that went 44 yards to paydirt and tying the score at 7 points a piece.
There was still over 3 minutes on the clock before half-time refreshments and this Eagle team was still churning with their ball control passing offense.
Pleasanton was not finished and proceeded to the Hawk’s 1 yard line where they had just 12 seconds left on the clock. A timeout by the Eagle’s coaching staff decided to go into their locker room with a 3 point lead after an 18 yard field goal.
Canyon Lake had their worst first half offensively for this year and Pleasanton was not being very pleasant during that first stanza.
“We made adjustments in how we were going to get to their quarterback and we were going to stop number 21 (Isaac Mendiola),” Coach Drum beat, when asked what the Hawks drew up in their halftime break. “We played with a lot more energy in the second half.”
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Mendiola carved up the Hawks defensive backfield with 128 receiving yards on 10 receptions and many of those coming in that first half.
The Eagles had 217 total yards in that first half while CL could only muster 140 yards of real estate.
Canyon Lake would get into the act when they started the 2nd half, but this scenario would have Pleasanton with a chance of putting this contest in their hip pocket. The Eagles were working on their 3rd first down try to start the 2nd half, when the Hawk defense would finally say enough. After converting a 3rd down needing an 8 yards pass, the Eagles would not be flying much for the remainder of this game.
Pleasanton’s first 5 plays of this series had garnered 25 yards and a first down on the Hawk’s side of the field residing on the 48 yard line. Counting those 25 yards and adding another 20 yard pass play on the their last play of the game, when Canyon Lake was playing pass prevent, would be all the fireworks left in the Eagles vault.
“We had a slow start to start the game,” Running Back/Linebacker Jacob Ruff said. “We just needed to get together and keep playing….our Senior’s led us out at halftime.”
Go Hawks!!
Bottom line, Pleasanton was able to scratch out just 12 yards of offense for the rest of this contest. And on the flip-side, CL would drain the clock with 3 touchdowns that went unanswered by the Eagles to end this battle with a Hawk 18 point victory.
Impressive set of numbers for the good guys and an eventual hard fought victory as Canyon Lake would end Pleasanton’s bid for another chance to play another day for the 2nd time in as many times these two teams have met, during this time of the season. (playoffs)
The Hawks would have the ball 3 times during the second half and they scored on each of those drives.
plays yards highlight play score elapsed time First Drive 9 70 Jacob Ruff 27 yd run 14-10 Hawks 4:48 Second Drive 15 96 Tanner Faris 38 yard pass 21-10 Hawks 6:56 Third Drive 3 32 Tristan Chacon 12 yard run 28-10 Hawks 1:21
CL was finally in their element and would end this game the way a Slot-T offense is suppose to manage a contest. Controlling the clock with some help from a defensive unit that continues to improve each week.
Tanner Faris had 82 yards via the pass on two crucial plays, “He (Fulton) knows that I have ok hands and we had been working on that screen play all week.”
Go Hawks!
Faris had a wall of blockers for an escort to the end zone on that pass play that was the highlight in the first half.
With Canyon Lake up, 14-10, Faris was on the good hands team again as his 38 yard reception helped convert a 3rd down 6 play drive and that catapulted CL for an 11 point lead with 5 minutes left in the game.
“I just saw a crowd and I stuck my hands up in the air and he (Fulton) saw it,” Faris remembered.
This pass play was during a 96 yard drive and Faris was being covered tightly for this much needed result.
Pleasanton had no answer for the Hawk offense or defense as both of these entities performed like they have most of this season, with an ending that would be a new Hawk bench mark, a 10 win season and Area Champions!!
“This is a real big deal for our school and in making history,” Sr. Guard Zach Covington said eloquently. “This next game will be the most important game we have ever played.”
Now, the Hawks, will need to start with their energy in the first half as each week the opponent will be more potent.
The Hawks will be back in action next Friday, December 1st in Round Rock as they will battle against Waco La Vega.
CL Hawks by the Numbers: Tristan Chacon passed the 1000 yard rushing mark and now stands with 1014 for season. With his 82 receiving yards, Tanner Faris is now in 3rd place in all-time yardage with 762. There are 4 Hawks that are presently in the Top Ten in scoring. 2nd Tanner Faris 242 points 5th Trenton Lorett 155 points 7th Micah St. John 146 points 9th Tristan Chacon 120 points This was the best Defensive effort in Playoffs as 274 yards ranks 32nd in Hawk history. Top 3 Playoff Defensive Contests Team Yardage Year Result Pleasanton 274 2017 Won Rockport-Fulton 283 2014 Overtime Loss Pleasanton 294 2013 Won Hawks topped the 5000 yards for a season with a 420 yards per game average. QB Ben Fulton needs 7 passing yards to top the 1000 yard barrier. QB Fulton needs 9 yards passing in Playoffs to pass Ross Wagliardo's record 307. Tanner Faris is in 2nd place receiving in playoffs with 132 yards. Canyon Lake now has an 8 game winning streak, their longest in History. Canyon Lake now has a 10 win season which is a best for the Hawks.
Go Hawks!!
1 2 3 4 Final Pleasanton 7 3 0 0 10 CL Hawks 0 7 7 14 28 Scoring Summary: PE-Johnny Zamora 5 yard run (Victor Gutierrez kick), 3:49, 1st CL-Tanner Faris 44 yard pass from Ben Fulton (Trenton Lorett kick), 3:18, 2nd PE-18 yard field goal Victor Gutierrez, 0:08, 2nd CL-Jacob Ruff 27 yard run (Trenton Lorett kick), 5:23, 3rd CL-Tristan Chacon 3 yard run (Trenton Lorett kick), 4:52, 4th CL-Tristan Chacon 12 yard run (Trenton Lorett kick), 1:06, 4th Game Stats Eagles Hawks Total Yards 274 346 First Downs 17 21 Rushing/Yards 27/58 47/254 Comp/Att/Int 18/26/0 3/5/0 Passing Yards 216 92 Punts/Average 2/46.5 1/36.0 Fumbles/Lost 1/1 2/1 Penalties-Yards 6-50 1-5 3rd Down Conversion 6/13 46% 5/9 56% 4th Down Conversion 1/3 33% 3/3 100% Passing Comp Att Pct Yds Int TD Ben Fulton 3 5 .600 92 0 1 Rushing Att Yds Ave Lg TD Jacob Ruff 12 79 6.6 27 1 Tanner Faris 7 51 7.3 18 0 Joseph Ruiz 5 43 8.6 10 0 Micah St. John 12 41 3.4 9 0 Tristan Chacon 10 40 4.0 12 2 Ben Fulton 2 0 0.0 2 0 Receiving No Yds Ave Lg TD Tanner Faris 2 82 41.0 44 1 J. T. Greene 1 10 10.0 10 0
Two Hawks that did not want this to be their last game of the season!
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Richard Rosas and Ross Snowden were part of a total defensive team effort to thwart the Eagles in the 2nd Half.
Go Hawks!!
