CL Hawks Start to Click in Win over La Vernia, 48-27.
Hawks Celebrate Bi-District Win over Bears, 48-27. (photo by Karen Holmes)
Canyon Lake hit their stride in win over the higher seeded La Vernia Bears in a contest they never trailed, 48-27.
Way to Go Hawks!!
Head Coach Charley Drum, on responding to the difference this Hawk team has performed as the season has continued, “We have grown up as we had a lot of growing pains during the beginning of the season. But when we started district we have been playing a lot better and our offensive line did the job tonight. Our secondary played great that was the difference tonight.”
La Vernia finished with right at 200 yards gained by the pass but those receptions were earned as CL’s defensive backs were not beaten on any of those pass plays.
The Lake continued winning those little battles that have translated into a much better brand of football after a non-district slate that had too many miscues leading to one possession losses.
CL was flagged three times for 30 yards which translates to a much smoother offensive run game and not needing 10 or more yards to convert 3rd down plays to continue a drive.
This game had two teams that were frugal in that penalty category as LV had a vaunted passing attack with no holding penalties while CL had zero movement penalties helping with their run game.
Canyon Lake won another aspect in this, win or go home, time of the season by intercepting two passes and recovering one fumble while keeping that part of their game with no mistakes.
Let’s Go Hawks!!
Those scenarios will and did translate into a three touchdown victory and a chance to meet another powerhouse team in Calallen next Friday in Pleasanton.
The Hawk’s rushing defense has been locked down since district play started and this Bi-District match continued that same mantra. Canyon Lake is 58-28 when holding an opponent under 200 yards rushing.
Last 5 Games Team Rushes Yards Ave La Vernia 24 89 3.7 Burnet 28 148 5.3 Lampasas 28 148 5.3 Fredericksburg 38 174 4.6 Austin LBJ 23 148 6.4
The Hawks started on their first possession with an 8 play drive covering 41 yards after La Vernia started this game missing on an onside kick.
On the first snap of this drive, QB Peyton McMullen took the ball for 12 yards which would be the longest play…in fact, McMullen was the leading Hawk rusher on this drive garnering 19 or almost half of the yardage gained.
La Vernia would reciprocate by going 62 yards in 13 plays with 9 of those coming via the airwaves for 56 yards and tied score, 7-7.
CL would up the ante on their next possession covering 71 yards in 8 plays that had two explosive plays of 22 yards on a Shayne Moss carry and 25 yards when Jeremy Greene was left just one yard short of the end-zone. Moss finished this set of downs with a one yarder and a Hawk lead that would last for the remainder of this battle.
A 3 play and punt for CL’s defense help set up shop on the Bear’s 41 yard line and 8 plays later a two score lead when Jesse Horner went 30 yards on a run that would have counted if the teams were playing two below for a tackle, 21-7.
Things would become interesting after another La Vernia score that cut into the Hawk lead to 8 points when the Bears stopped that next Lake drive. With right at 4 minutes remaining in the first half.
Greene would get an interception after some defensive pressure on LV’s quarterback and help Canyon Lake to regain that 2 score lead after scoring leaving 4 seconds before halftime, 28-13.
Horner Scores then rinse and Repeat 5 times for Win.
This drive started with 5 straight running plays that was draining the clock and CL still needing 20 yards to score.
Two consecutive passing plays to Tyler Pauly with the first pass covering 19 yards to the one yard line and then followed with a one yarder for the score. Both passes were with precision as Pauly kept both feet in bounds for that first catch for a first down and a possible two more plays trying to score.
The Hawks used their final time-out with 9 seconds remaining to come up with a play to score, knowing that if a run play might not have another chance to snap as seconds were scarce.
A successful passing play which was a win-win scenario as a catch would be optimal or an incomplete that would have stopped the clock for a last chance.
La Vernia responded coming out of their halftime discussion driving 58 yards using two explosive passing plays with the final scoring and reducing the CL lead to, 28-20 with right at 9 minutes still left in this 3rd quarter.
Canyon Lake’s offensive line started dominating and the Hawk rushing attack would have just one play that went less than 4 yards when Horner scored from 7 yards and a Hawk, 35-20 advantage.
Jesse Horner rushed for 5 touchdowns and 129 yards in win over La Vernia.
Horner finished the night with 129 yards on the ground to go along with those 5 scores.
“I love my team,” Horner said. “We all had responsibilities and we have such a great line and everybody worked well as a team.”
Horner continued, “We couldn’t have done this earlier this year as we have a lot of young players and working together and pushing it has us building at the right moment.”
Speaking of those lineman, Mountain Man Eric Teutsch started, “They (La Vernia) came out strong but we kept pounding them and they got demoralized.”
“We have more level heads and we wanted this win,” Brett Harwell pancaked his answer. “We were much quicker and that takes a lot of mental work and our teammates fought as one and we stiffed them.”
The Lake’s defense started to respond in concert and got stingy in forcing a turnover on downs after the Bear’s advanced to CL’s 13 yard line before a sack and incompletion that help stopped another one score advantage.
Offensive Lineman Brett Harwell & Eric Teutsch plowed holes in those Bears in win.
The Hawks were still not out of the woods when they were stopped, but a booming Pauly punt, resulted in a CL fumble recovery and needing 19 yards for a chance to ice these Bears.
You guessed it, Horner would take the rock from 8 yards out and a Hawk 22 point lead.
This drive was helped when a McMullen run was flagged for roughing on LV and now needing only 8 yards for a score.
After a La Vernia score Canyon Lake on their next possession would finally give the Bear’s a sleeping pill for hibernation time on a Horner 5th TD that was set up by a 50 yard pass play when Ryan Rivali saw a lot of daylight that help convert a first down play that needed 25 yards to gain for a first down.
Do everything, Tyler Pauly, was instrumental in all three facets as he averaged 44 yards per punt, broke up passes, and finished with 40 yards on four catches on the offensive side.
Hawk Proud
“The only thing that matters to me is putting all of our parts together,” Pauly said like a Chess Champion. “In this game we finally clicked as those first games this year we were just a play away from wins. But we will need to come out everyday and play like we are 0-0 and work this week so we can do the same thing next week.”
Game-Set-Match as the best 5-5 team in Texas will take a 6-5 record into a game with powerhouse Calallen in Pleasanton with the kick-off at 7:30pm.
Now the Hawk Nation can up their send-off for a chance to continue the season.
Go Hawks!!
1 2 3 4 Final La Vernia 7 6 7 7 27 CL Hawks 14 14 7 13 48 Scoring Summary: CL-Jesse Horner 3 yard run (Dalton Stanley kick), 8:19, 1st LV-Daryl Dulak 6 yard pass from Gage Lowry (Roberts kick), 4:03, 1st CL-Shayne Moss 1 yard run (Dalton Stanley kick), 0:40, 1st CL-Jesse Horner 30 yard run (Dalton Stanley kick), 8:16, 2nd LV-Gage Lowry 7 yard run (kick failed), 3:45, 2nd CL-Tyler Pauly 1 yard pass from Peyton McMullen (Dalton Stanley kick), 0:04, 2nd LV-Koy Carpenter 18 yard pass from Lowry (Mason Roberts kick), 8:59, 3rd CL-Jesse Horner 7 yard run (Dalton Stanley kick), 4:18, 3rd CL-Jesse Horner 8 yard run (Dalton Stanley kick), 9:31, 4th LV-Kolban Mills 9 yards pass and fumble recovered by Carpenter (Roberts kick), 6:28, 4th CL-Jesse Horner 3 yard run (pass failed), 3:40, 4th Team Stats Bears. Hawks Total Yards 294 391 First Downs 18 26 Rush/Yards. 24/89 55/301 Comp/Att/Int 16/32/2 5/8/0 Passing Yards 205 90 Punts/Average. 1/33.0. 2/44.0 Fumbles/Lost 2/1 0/0 Penalties-Yards. 5-33 3-30 TOP 20:30 27:30 3rd Down Conversions 7/13 54% 7/12 58% 4th Down Conversions 3/4 75% 3/3 100% Passing Comp Att Comp Pct Yds Int TD Peyton McMullen 5 8 .625 90 0 1 Rushing Att Yds Ave Lg TD Jesse Horner 18 129 7.2 30 5 Shayne Moss 20 87 4.4 22 1 Peyton McMullen 7 33 4.7 12 0 Jeremy Greene 1 25 25.0 25 0 Ryan Rivali 7 23 3.3 6 0 Matt Soza 1 4 4.0 3 0 Receiving No Yds Ave Lg TD Ryan Rivali 1 50 50.0 50 0 Tyler Pauly 4 40 10.0 19 1
