Liberty Hill Plugs Canyon Lake’s Dam in Loss, 31-7
Senior Linebacker Hayden Lee is second leading tackler for Hawks only trailing Bobby Flint
Canyon Lake had a tough night in loss to Liberty Hill with an anemic offensive night losing, 31-7.
“We turned the ball over and then we faced a defensive line that is the best I have seen in the last few years,” Head Coach Charley Drum calculated. “When an team defers during the pre/game coin toss, then you know they will have a pretty stout defense.”
Canyon Lake had a decent first half only trailing by 7 points and that from a fumble return being the difference.
“They took advantage of our three mistakes,” Coach Drum continued. “Our younger kids grew up tonight and there are a lot of positives we can take from tonights game…..We are right into ball games and we need to find ways of cleaning up mistakes.”
The Hawks first half numbers had 117 yards and during the second half CL totaled another 9 yards of offense with 3 turnovers giving you an idea that a 24 point loss not looking as bad as it sounds.
Those 9 yards were set on 10 total plays for a half that will be easy to forget.
CL’s best drive in that first half involved two pass plays totaling 50 yards with 43 of those yards being a screen play from QB Ben Fulton to Austin Brennan.
That play worked to perfection as the play looked like Liberty Hill had 50 players in the Hawk backfield ready to take Fulton down.
Getting that pass off just in time for a play that would set up Canyon Lake deep in the Panthers territory where the Hawks used that momentum in scoring in 7 plays with a Robert Woods 4 yard run up the middle.
That would be the last time the Hawks would have ease in moving the ball as Liberty Hill would work on Canyon Lake’s dam and a job done so well there would not be any hint of a leak for several years down the road.
Counting the last two games, Canyon Lake has not put any numbers in place to give opposing teams something to think about in preparation.
Luke Justis had the longest play in the second half that was for 7 yards on a reverse play having the Hawks looking at needing just 2 yards for a first.
Next play? Losing 2 yards and a punt for what would be the last chance for a first down in the second half.
Those next two drives would end with a fumble and interception and leaving the Hawks with not much hope for a comeback.
Liberty Hill dominated the offensive and defensive lines while Canyon Lake just could not muster any momentum in this contest.
Explosive plays would be that screen play for 43 yards with Austin Brennan and a 13 yard running play by Tanner Faris, both in the first half.
Defensively, Canyon Lake would have a pretty even stats in giving up yardage for both halves.
That first half a total of 153 yards were surrendered and another 151 yards in the second stanza.
Canyon Lake had the ball for right at 6 minutes in the second half giving you an idea of how long the defense was on the field trying to hold the damn with one finger plugging the hole.
The ReSporter does not have final defensive stats, but a guess would be Senior Linebacker Hayden Lee with over 20 tackles.
Lee finished his game in Lampasas with 19 tackles, those numbers were last seen when 2010 graduate Bobby Flint, the all-time leader in tackles, was a linebacker for the Hawks.
“We will have to put this game behind us,” Lee said when asked what he will admonish the team with in preparing for next week’s game in Bandera. “This game sucked and if we want to change it, then we will have to come to work on Monday where we will need to change it in practice.”
“He (Lee) practices like he played tonight,” Coach Drum said admirably. “He (Lee) is a great example in how he plays and practices and I feel he will have a good chance of playing at the next level.”
High praise from the Head Coach that also has a Defensive Coordinator’s eye for talent.
Canyon Lake was in this same scenario last year and a team came together to finish a season with a lot of momentum.
What happens in practice will give Hawk fans a chance to see if this team will turn the corner and finish the season on an upbeat.
“They are a good football team and they are good up front and my hat is off to them,” Coach Drum said reverently.
Go Hawks!!
1 2 3 4 Final LH Panthers 0 14 7 10 31 CL Hawks 0 7 0 0 7 Scoring Summary: LH-Jon Shannon 30 yard run (Slade Cummins kick), 7:02, 2nd LH-Dylan Joiner 56 yard fumble return (Cummins kick), 5:39, 2nd CL-Robert Woods 4 yard run (Mike Thorpe kick), 0:22, 2nd LH-Jon Shannon 5 yard run (Cummins kick), 1:38, 3rd LH-Slade Cummins 23 yard field goal, 5:04, 4th LH-Tyler Weger 3 yard run (Cummins kick), 2:17, 4th Game Stats Panthers Hawks Total Yards 304 126 First Downs 13 6 Rushing/Yards 51/284 27/76 Comp/Att/Int 3/4/0 2/7/2 Passing Yards 20 50 Punts/Average 2/31.5 4/33.5 Fumbles/Lost 0/0 3/2 Penalties-Yards 5-25 2-20 TOP 27:24 20:36 Passing Comp Att Pct Yds Int TD Ben Fulton 2 7 .286 50 2 0 Rushing Att Yds Ave Lg TD Tanner Faris 7 29 4.1 13 0 Austin Brennan 6 17 2.8 7 0 Robert Woods 5 12 2.4 6 1 Micah St. John 7 12 1.7 4 0 Luke Justis 1 7 7.0 7 0 Ben Fulton 1 -1 -- -- 0 Receiving No Yds Ave Lg TD Austin Brennan 1 43 43.0 43 0 Tanner Faris 1 7 7.0 7 0
