CL Hawks Debut Defense in Win Over Mustangs, 52-13
(photo by Dan Reed Photography https://www.danreedphotography.com)
Canyon Lake racked up 596 yards of offense but it was the 236 yards given up by the Hawk defense that paved the way for The Lake to get back on a winning side of the ledger in win over Marble Falls, 52-13.
Make a Deposit & Go Hawks!!
CL had been giving up over 50 points a game coming into this District 13-4A opener for a defense that would be needing to see improvement and those signs were a welcome sight.
“We were proud of how our team responded from our loss vs. East Central,” Head Coach Charley Drum assessed. “We had two really good weeks of practice and came out vs Marble Falls with a lot of energy.”
Coach Drum continued, “We were much more physical on both sides of the ball. We tackled well and forced turnovers on defense and were effective on the ground and in the air on offense. A great team win.”
Another aspect of Coach Drum’s assessment was seeing CL’s special teams in their kicking game taking a step forward with Jayden VanAusdall being true on all point after attempts as well as cashing in on a 24 yard field goal that ended the scoring on this night. Not needing to punt made this part of CL’s game an exclamation point after.
Some Statistical Notes: 424.2 Average Total Yards per game which ranks 1st on the Hawk charts. 4 Hawks have reached 100 yards or more in a game with two reaching 200 yards thus far. (Caden Rodriguez, Trevin Cutrer, Justin Abbott, Carter Williams) 3 Times CL has reached 500 yards of total offense this season and with the 596 yards in this game Marble Falls ranking 3rd on the All-Time List. (La Grange 652 in 2020, Freddie 632 and Marble Falls in 2023). 3 Receiving Touchdowns by Harris Gilliam is a first for Canyon Lake. .590 Passing percentage leads the all-time list by QB Steven Crowder presently. 65-12 Hawks record when holding opponent below 24 points. 71-20 When Hawks hold opponent to a 5.5 average yards or less rushing average. 69-33 Record when Canyon Lake rushes over 200 yards and 79-29 when outrushing an opponent. 10 Times CL has had 100 yards or more for a Receiver & Runner (Gilliam 100 & Cutrer 125)
In a game where your Hawks started quick and passed their way to an early lead that would not be threatened.
Go Hawks & Fly High this year!!
Passed their way? How bout 53 of the 75 yards on the first drive came via the airwaves and culminated when QB Crowder found Gilliam on a 9 yard throw that started the scoring spree. That would be a theme as Gilliam caught the first 3 scores in this game.
A one pass play drive of 29 yards play with that same combo of Crowder to Gilliam was next on this menu.
After the Mustangs closed the Hawk’s gap to a 7 point advantage, 14-7 that was when. The Lake’s, response had another 29 yarder pass with Crowder to Gilliam. (Getting the picture?)
In fact Canyon Lake would score 28 straight points before a 3rd quarter MF’s touchdown that closed the Hawk lead, 42-13.
Special Teams appeared on this Mustang point after attempt when Carson Reinarz blocked and almost caught the kick but this added to a passing grade for the special teams on this night.
Explosive plays of 10 yards or more was a common occurrence in this night seeing CLHS with 20 plays (8 passing & 12 rushing) that resulted producing 446 yards or 75% of CLake’s offense.
This was a classic game that you can count on one hand where Canyon Lake used their passing game to open those running lanes.
Want Proof? Canyon Lake had 11 explosive plays in the 1st half using 4 passes before CL could get their first run matching that 10 or more yards plateau. The Hawks finished with 6 passing and 5 rushing going into halftime.
In the second half it was 7 rushing to just one passing down in that explosive play category.
Let’s GO HAWKS!!
Marble Falls was successful on one blown Hawk special team play when they recovered an on-side kick try.
Then a goal line stand by the Hawk defense with that drive ending on a fumble that put this contest to rest with a well deserved victory.
With this game, getting back to CL’s defense wanting to shine once more when Max Granger had two sacks on Marble Falls’ last drive that resulted in a loss of 21 yards and a dominating fashion which will be a key as district continues next week against a powerful offensive Davenport.
Playing a top heavy schedule against some larger schools did play into this win but before the Ticker Tate Parade starts and readying floats a reality of knowing this Mustang team had just one resume win to the same opponent CL had beaten.
Add to this formula this being a team that featured the same type of offense will give this next game on the road in Davenport a bigger test on questions of playing teams that use their offense with a more pronounced urgency with using passing as a weapon which has been the Hawks biggest concern.
Let’s Go Hawks and Beat the Wolves!!
1 2 3 4 Final CL Hawks 14 21 14 3 52 Marble Falls 7 0 6 0 13 Scoring Summary: CL-Steven Crowder 9 yard pass to Harris Gilliam (Jayden VanAusdall kick), 1st CL-Crowder 29 yard pass to Gilliam (Jayden VanAusdall kick), 1st MF-Mustangs 9 yard run (pat good), 1st CL-Crowder 29 yard pass to Gilliam (Jayden VanAusdall kick), 2nd CL-Caden Rodriguez 3 yard run (Jayden VanAusdall kick), 2nd CL-Steven Crowder 1 yard run (Jayden VanAusdall kick), 2nd CL-Justin Abbott 2 yard run (Jayden VanAusdall kick), 3rd MF-Mustangs 2 yard run (pat blocked), 3rd CL-Kaiden Lewis 2 yard run (Jayden Van Ausdall kick), 3rd CL-Jayden Van Ausdall 24 yard field goal, 4th Team Stats Mustangs Hawks Total Yards 236 596 First Downs 11 22 Rush/Yards 38/190 55/400 Comp/Att/Int 2/8/0 9/11/0 Passing Yards 46 196 Punts/Average 3/37.3 0/0 Fumbles/Lost 3/3 2/1 Penalties-Yards 6-60 7-62 Passing Comp Att Pct Yds Int TD Steven Crowder 9 11 .818 196 0 3 Rushing Att Yds Ave Lg TD Trevin Cutrer 11 125 11.4 37 0 Justin Abbott 13 95 7.3 38 1 Kaiden Lewis 9 64 7.1 30 1 Caden Rodriguez 8 51 6.4 14 0 Carter Williiams 5 29 5.8 13 0 Ryder Smith 1 15 15.0 15 0 Grant Simpson 2 12 6.0 9 0 Steven Crowder 3 5 1.7 4 1 Cash Ziemba 3 4 1.3 2 0 Totals 55 400 7.3 38 3 Receiving No Yds Ave Lg TD Harris Gilliam 5 100 20.0 29 3 Carter Williams 2 38 19.0 24 0 Rylan Oppelt 1 37 37.0 37 0 Jayden VanAusdall 1 21 21.0 21 0 Totals 9 196 21.8 37 3
