Canyon Lake Comeback Seals District Championship, 34-30
Jordan Hill prepares for tackling a Badger.
(photo by Chris Doepke)
Canyon Lake continued their late arrival and woke the party in the 2nd Half as the Hawks overcame a 16 point first half deficit (23-7) and bulled their way and outscored Lampasas, 27-7 in their last two quarters with that final score leaving 31 seconds on the clock, 34-30.
Go down the to do list and the Hawks were not going to do it….7 penalties which stopped drives and set up giving up 4 points on two point tries.
The Badgers took those two penalties allowing their offense needing one yard instead of 3 yards…it paid off.
The Lake’s offense had a turnover on their 4th snap to start the game which gave these Badgers needing 49 yards to score.
Score they did with a 29 yard pass on their first play and scoring 6 plays later, 8-0 Badgers.
Hawks were still asleep on their 2nd drive with one first down and punting into a stiff north wind that gave this home team another short drive, this time needing 44 yards.
This time it took just one pass for 44 yards and with the first quarter still in its infancy stage, The Lake were down, 16-0.
CL’s offense did get traction on their next possession and carved out 2 first downs before another punt….but this time the first mistake fumble on the punt gave Canyon Lake enough momentum to score only needing to traverse 8 yards and Helijah Johnson would score one of his 3 touchdowns, 16-7.
The Badgers would score before halftime on a 24 yard touchdown pass which had a Lampasas a, 23-7 halftime lead.
From there CL would continue their dominance in the 2nd half with another defensive stop and that set the Hawks up on their 19 yard line.
It would be a 10 play drive that had the first 8 plays of 5 or less yards before QB Hunter Anderson 16 yard run and then a Hunter pass to Johnson for 25 yards put CL on the 2 yard line for a score, 23-13 LHS lead.
Lampasas would score on one of 5 possessions as the Hawk defense gave up just 89 yards in the 2nd half and 64 of those yards were on their only scoring drive in those last two periods.
Canyon Lake would score on one of the best catches this season when Marshall McConnell one handed the pass before going out of bounds which set the Hawks up on Lampasas’ 38 yard line. That was when Chase Anderson would make the edge and finish his touchdown run that drew the Hawks down, 23-20.
LHS only score in that 2nd half was next and had the Hawks with just 3:32 left needing to score twice for a win.
CL started their drive on the 26 yard line and took 7 plays for a score when Johnson scored his 3rd touchdown from 10 yards out and leaving 2:07 left remaining, 30-27 score.
After a failed onside kick the Badgers started their next possession on their 45 yard line and needing one first down to put this game in the win column.
Two running downs for 9 yards left LHS needing just 1 yard for another set of downs.
The defensive line pinched the line suspecting a QB sneak and true to form was the call but a fumble would give Canyon Lake one last opportunity with 58 seconds to work with.
The Lake was 57 yards from a go ahead TD and Johnson obliged with an 11 yard reception that was followed with a 33 yard catch and run for Chase Anderson and all of a sudden needing 13 yards for that score.
Two more passes by this slot-t offense had a swing pass for 7 yards for Garza and then a tipped pass that found the hands of McConnell in the end zone and Hawk’s first lead, 34-31.
A win that put your Hawks alone in 1st Place in District 13-4A Division I and a date against Uvalde next week.
A win that might not have happened if Alyssa Hooper does not change where she was sitting during that halftime break which broke that first half spell was on the Hawks.
Other tidbits was James Garza finishing with 142 yard rushing his second 100 or more rushing outing this season.
Winning the turnover battle forcing two fumbles and two interceptions compared to the Hawks one fumble.
Where Hawks are placed in Canyon Lake lore:
Helijah Johnson Rushing:
Ranks 5th all-time with 2065 career yards and is one of 5 Hawks with 2000 yards.
Ranks 7th all-time with 1086 yards and is one of 10 Hawks with 1000 yards in a season.
Ranks 5th all-time with 13 rushing touchdowns for a season.
Ranks 5th all-time with 25 rushing touchdowns for a career.
Ranks 6th all-time rushing for 100 yards during a game 7 times.
Chase Anderson Receiving:
Ranks 14th all-time with 460 yards for career.
Ranks 13th all-time with 339 yards for season.
Helijah Johnson
Ranks 17th all-time with 309 yards for career.
Ranks 22nd all-time with 244 yards for season.
1 2 3 4 Final CL Hawks 7 0 6 21 34 Lampasas 16 7 0 7 30 Scoring Summary: LB-Badger one yard run (run good), 8:20, 1st LB-Badger 44 yard pass (run good), 6:18, 1st CL-Helijah Johnson one yard run (Jayden Van Ausdall kick), 1:23, 1st LB-Badger 24 yard pass (pat good), 0:55, 2nd CL-Helijah Johnson 2 yard run (run failed), 5:59, 3rd CL-Chase Anderson 38 yard run (Van Ausdall kick), 9:01, 4th LB-Badger 19 yard pass (pat good), 3:32, 4th CL-Helijah Johnson 10 yard run (Van Ausdall kick), 2:07, 4th CL-Marshall McConnell 8 yard pass from Hunter Anderson (Van Ausdall kick), 0:31, 4th Team Stats Badgers Hawks Total Yards 269 470 First Downs 12 23 Rush/Yardage 22/88 56/307 Comp/Att/Int 13/27/2 10/20/0 Passing Yards 181 163 Punts/Average 3/45.3 2/25.0 Fumbles/Lost 2/2 1/1 Penalties-Yards 2-21 8-34 Passing Comp Att Pct Yds Int TD Hunter Anderson 10 20 .500 163 0 1 Rushing Att Yds Ave Lg TD James Garza 24 142 5.9 41 0 Helijah Johnson 20 73 3.7 10 3 Chase Anderson 5 49 9.8 38 1 Hunter Anderson 6 37 6.2 16 0 Chevy Standifer 1 6 6.0 6 0 Totals 56 307 5.5 41 4
Receiving No Yds Ave Lg TD Helijah Johnson 4 46 10.5 25 0 Chase Anderson 2 44 22.0 33 0 Travis Parma 1 37 37.0 37 0 Marshall McConnell 2 29 14.5 21 1 James Garza 1 7 7.0 7 0 Totals 10 163 16.3 37 1
