Recap for Freshman Football that Finished 2nd in District
Canyon Lake’s Sub-Varsity Football teams enjoyed successful seasons that will give hope for the near future of having more playoffs and the hardware that accompanies that success.
This year’s Freshman team had come into this season by showing improvement with each passing season from Mountain Valley Middle School to their first year in high school.
A record that would suggest a team that has not come of age would be a wrong assumption.
This Freshman crew were several games just one play or turnover away from realizing a win and then being in view of finishing the year playing for a chance to win district.
“Based on that first workout to that final game, this team fought hard all year long,” Head Freshman Coach John Barthels said. ‘We were outmanned at times, but as you know we were in every game we played and several of those games came down to the last possession of the game to determine the outcome.”
Coach Barthels continued, “At the beginning of the year we had to move several ids to positions that they had never played before. They were not selfish, they did what we asked them to do and gave their all the entire season.”
Those thoughts from Barthels could peg why the beginning of the season had some hiccups that could cause losing contests. The fact that this team was still right at the lip of the cup in those battles should instill confidence that these players might have a bright future.
On what was the biggest surprise seen this season, Coach Barthels relayed, “The biggest surprise to me was that although practices sometimes looked a little rough, they executed much better on game days. Teams struggled against us at times and we had more successes then miscues. The win loss record may not show it to be as true as it was. Yes, we had key fumbles and missed tackles, but overall we were in a position to win district, that is all we could have asked of them.”
Of course there would be disappointments, Coach Barthels was candid in this realm as well, “I would say the biggest disappointment is not having some of the players from last year play football. Sports are a numbers game at times and our numbers were low. Then grades got us a little bit throughout the season and as much as I would like to blame the Pandemic, it is on us to get them to perform both on and off the field.”
On what would be some of reasons the slow start, “Turnovers are a big part of the game, they can happen at any given time. I think if we came into the season working as hard as they were at the end of the season may have made a difference, but not so much one team fielded versus the other. Again, it is our job to get them ready and we struggled with the transition at the beginning of the year. That is on all of us, players and coaches alike. Every group is different and it took a little while longer than normal to get this group playing together and working together. They will continue to improve with a good offseason and weight program. I am looking forward to the progress that will happen over the course of the remainder of the year leading up to next season.”
Well thought out thoughts coming from Coach Barthels and thusly a glimmer of hope that this group of players will continue to improve with another year of seasoning and ready to not only compete for a district championship but win a Junior Varsity Championship in 2021.
Way to Go Hawks and look forward to seeing you compete in other sports as this school year continues.
2020 Season Stats 1 2 3 4 Final Opponent Freshman 64 56 22 40 182 CL Hawks Freshman 60 60 54 22 196 Team Stats Opponent Hawks Total Yards 1996 2388 First Downs 105 116 Rush/Yards 246/1007 340/2343 Comp/Att/Int 72/113/3 3/14/2 Passing Yards 989 45 Punts/Average 14/26.5 6/25.0 Fumbles/Lost 14/5 24/11 Penalties-Yards 40-352 38-235 Passing Comp Att Pct Yds Int TD Steven Crowder 2 4 .500 34 0 0 Luke Moses 1 7 .167 11 2 0 Billy Welty 0 2 .000 0 0 0 Rushing Att Yds Ave Lg TD Billy Welty 69 809 11.7 64 11 Caden Rodriguez 80 764 9.6 72 5 Justin Abbott 95 374 3.9 34 5 Daulton Burt 18 150 8.3 52 1 Christian Standifer 10 86 8.6 38 1 Alex Mejia 27 87 3.4 8 1 Tevin Cutrer 3 67 22.3 57 1 Rand Ahlman 14 38 2.9 7 0 Chevy Standifer 3 6 2.0 12 0 Jayden VanAusdall 3 12 4.0 5 0 Dylan Wunderlich 0 5 … 5 0 Chance Dunbar 1 -1 - - 0 Steven Crowder 7 -5 - 0 1 Mason Paananen 1 -3 — - 0 Team 1 -5 - - - Oscar Aguilar 2 -12 - - 0 Luke Moses 14 -24 — 2 1 Receiving No Yds Ave Lg TD Caden Rodriguez 3 45 15.0 19 0