District Standings Update & Coaches Corner with Sam Parker
TOUCHDOWN HAWKS!
(photo by Daniel Clifton)
This week’s recap with two weeks of action remaining has given us a good picture of who will be on the top 4 list of each District 13 & 14 as these two districts will be pitted against each other for that Bi-District first round of post-season play.
Below, The ReSporter, was able to visit with Head Coach Sam Parker for a Coaches Corner for CLake as this team reaches their final two weeks of regular season play.
First: Canyon Lake had a bye week and will need a win over Davenport for a chance of being a 1-2-3 seed. This would present a situation where all 3 schools beat and lost to each other.
Fredericksburg beat Canyon Lake
Davenport beat Fredericksburg
Canyon Lake beating Davenport
Somerset would get that final seed after taking down Pleasanton leaving the Eagles out due to a head-to-head tie breaker rule for losing that match-up.
For District 13-4A, they will have four teams represented:
Austin LBJ
Taylor
Austin Travis
Manor Tech
Taylor and Austin Travis play that last week of games and Taylor is pitted against an undefeated and State Ranked LBJ this week. That Travis-Taylor match-up would produce a 2nd seed to the winner and 3rd seed for the loser.
Yes, your Hawks would still need to beat Pleasanton but they would still be placed as a 3rd seed based on their tie breaker win over Somerset earlier this season.
Just a reminder the pairing of these two districts would have 1st seed vs. 4th seed and 2nd seed vs. 3rd seed scenarios.
Canyon Lake’s home game battle this week will be a tough battle against a Wolf team that is presently in the top 10 according to Texas Football Magazine.
The Hawks have had a week of rest and hopefully getting some of those nagging injuries healed and the team having a week of not butting helmets against another team.
Head Coach Sam Parker had thoughts bout the Hawk’s Defense, “I have seen every year with (Defensive Coach Sloan) Kurt his patience and energy to keep them rolling…he has been amazing as he has instilled confidence in our defense and they are going to get stops and he has them (Defense) being aggressive the whole game!”
Coach Parker continued, “The team with the most energy and being able to handle those moments in a game when things go the wrong way…. will win this game.”
This season The Lake has had an offense that rushing and passing literally has had just a few yards difference, “This team is resilient and we will have our hands full with Davenport and Pleasanton to get to the playoffs but we like to take advantage of what a team will give us and capitalize on that part of the game.”
When asked Coach responded to where he thinks this team is now compared to that first week’s loss to Wimberley, “Night and Day! We keep taking steps forward…Wimberley was good but we were too young and too early on knowing the offense….the overall maturity of our offense has grown and we have taken the steps I wanted them to take….Ultimately….doing something in a game that will give us a chance!”
“We will be ready and we have already clinched a playoff berth but I will always say a playoff win is better than a district win,” Coach Parker said on what he values more. “Each win in the playoffs gives us a champion…that first round, if you win, you are crowned: Bi-District Champion, then Area Champion and so forth. Our goal is to keep getting better and keep finding ways to win and be successful.”
Canyon Lake’s Special teams has been special for this season, “They say that you have to win 2 of the 3 phases to win a game (Offense-Defense-Special Teams) and Coach (Brad) Manning has been opportunistic…on the field as he sets out to give 100% for our special teams and punt unit.”
Having a 36 yard or over punting average for high school, especially for a 4A school, would qualify for a successful ingredient in helping change field position and Junior Tristan Alexander has brought that to fruition as he presently has a 37 yard punting average. Alexander punts are not rain makers (that go high) put being able to put distance on where the returning player can’t return is a plus.
Add having Carter Williams’ punt returning to that mix has given The Lake good opportunities to switch field position whether on offense or defense.
Kick-offs (Hagen Gill) and point after attempts (pat) Jack Stracener has been a bonus addition with Gill’s putting opponent’s returning the ball from the 10 yard line and Stracener’s automatic pats (has missed just one this season) are points you can never get back.
“When I talk offense he’s (Coach Manning) on the field and sets out to keep me grounded and does a great job for me to hear another idea and he’s (Manning) is always one or two steps ahead of me,” Parker quipped on what goes into each offensive series. “We spend time on weekends to bounce things off each other.”
On if Parker has seen teams pull out something not seen starting a game that was not noticed in the film room, “Ironically a lot…..we call that a *3 Day defense when we see something new but we are built on what they are going to give us with the run and pass and having the ability to do both makes it pretty hard to stop!” *(3 Day Defense means a school only had 3 days of practice before putting out a defensive package in a game)
Finally Coach Parker shared his thoughts for those two Sub-Varsity Squads, “Our Freshman are 5-3 after having a tough start and I couldn’t be more proud of those groups….Brayden Sullivan—Archer Miller—Damon Garcia along with many of the players have upped their game and improving each week.”
“For our Junior Varsity (Hayes) Holladay and Ryder Smith along with Divan Hernandez have really stepped up and give everything they can on the field with the help of the offensive and defensive line.”
Coach Parker closed, “We need to keep taking steps and keep growing and by staying united throughout our program we will continue to make things happen!”
So now The Lake will have two more games before the playoff season begins and seeing those steps for improvement will be on display these nest two games for a chance of making a run for the more exciting part of this season.
GO HAWKS!!
4A-DIVISION 1 DISTRICT 14 Regular Season W L Pct PS PA District W L Pct PS PA Davenport 8 1 .889 398 184 Davenport 5 0 1.000 272 83 CL Hawks 6 2 .750 317 174 Fredericksburg 4 1 .800 174 89 Somerset 6 2 .750 236 199 CL Hawks 3 1 .667 157 81 Fredericksburg 4 5 .444 219 237 Somerset 2 2 .500 110 92 Pleasanton 3 5 .375 224 240 Pleasanton 1 3 .250 118 148 Uvalde 2 6 .250 158 231 Uvalde 0 4 .000 59 141 Kennedy 2 6 .250 190 357 Kennedy 0 4 .000 51 208 This Week’s Schedule: Davenport @ CL Hawks Kennedy @ Somerset Pleasanton @ Uvalde Fredericksburh Bye Final Game of Regular Season: November 8th CL Hawks @ Pleasanton Uvalde @ Kennedy Somerset @ Fredericksburg Davenport off Last Week’s Results: Davenport 56 Uvalde 24 Somerset 41 Pleasanton 21 Fredericksburg 66 Kennedy 00 CL Hawks Bye District 13 & The present Top 4 for Playoffs School W L Upcoming Contests Austin LBJ 4 0 Remaining: Taylor & Eastside Taylor 4 0 Remaining: Austin LBJ & Austin Travis Travis 3 1 Remaining: NE Early College & Taylor Manor Tech 1 3 Remaining: Achieve 0-9 & NE Early College (1-7)
