CL Hawks can’t keep up with LV Pirates, 42-10
Tanner Faris trying to get the Hawks out of the shadow of their goal post.
Canyon Lake lost to a better team on Friday night in their Bi-District game, 42-10.
“They (La Vega) are a lot better than they were last year,” Head Coach Charley Drum said. “We had to have some things happen and take advantage of those opportunities and that just did not happen.”
The Hawks had the table turned on them based on last year’s game against this same La Vega team.
CL won last year’s game as the Hawks were a senior laden team while the Pirates were starting a freshman quarterback and La Vega’s mistakes resulted in their downfall.
On this night, LV was the more experienced team and with their speed and talent they just ran away from Canyon Lake culminating in this 32 point loss.
CL did have some success as they were finally able to get some sustained drives in the fourth quarter as the Hawks drove 65 yards on 7 plays with Micah St. John scoring from the 1 yard line.
Hawks gathering for a play during a time-out
The Hawks also finished the night with a class act as they allowed Senior Mike Thorpe a chance for a 33 yard field goal in which he made for the final score with no time left on the clock.
In fact, Canyon Lake called their time-out with one second left on the clock, which so happened to be Thorpe’s playing number.
There were other seniors that played a gallant game and they did it with class as this senior group was not a large class but the players were in the top of the echelon in talent.
Haden Lee left his mark finishing second in all time tackles as this linebacker would rush through any defense in hunting down the ball carrier whether that player was rushing or receiving.
“It’s been good and I’m just glad to be on a great team like this one,” Lee said retrospectively. “The time I spent was just like a family and now we will be going to bigger and better things.”
Robert Woods was also on his game as usual as this player would finish his career in second place in sacks for the Hawks.
“I’m speechless but I can say that there is nothing better than playing with and for brothers,” Woods said with pride.
How about Matt Adams who played as one of CL’s best defensive backs as he also had some rushing chances by using his speed to get around the end for yardage.
Adams will leave Canyon Lake as the best kick-off returner as he also had several chances on this night to show off his moves.
“I really enjoyed playing and I have good memories,” Adams said poignantly. “Yes, I wish we could have won but all things must come to an end.”
Just hearing these seniors gives you a good idea of how this game is much more than wins and losses.
The Hawks were not able to sustain any of their drives during the first half as they had two times with the ball with CL having a 7 point deficit.
A 9 play drive going 31 yards with the Hawks stalling on La Vega’s 38 yard line and then Canyon Lake drove to the Pirates 29 yard line before being thwarted with both drives having CL within 7 points for a tie.
Waco La Vega would then unleash their barrage of speed and yardage as Kendall Ratliff would find an open field and 68 yards later he would be crossing the goal line. That drive took 2 plays.
Faris finding daylight on a jet sweep as he led CL with 100 total yards
The Pirates would score again before half with another explosive play for 28 yards as Ratliff was doing the damage again.
This game would be over starting the second half when LV took the opening failed onside kick and drove 50 yards on 9 plays and 28 point lead.
Canyon Lake scored in the fourth quarter when Sophomore Tanner Faris ran for 48 of the 65 yards and then having Sophomore Micah St. John taking the last three snaps and a score on a one yard plunge.
The Hawks would force a fumble on LV’s next drive and with Mike Adams 18 yards the Hawks called a time out with just 1 second left in the game and one more play for Thorpe to help solidify his standing as CL’s best kicker in their short history.
A simple fact for this team is how the future looks as this roster was filled with enough young players that Moms and Dads would have a traffic jam when the Bus comes home after this game to pick their son up for the last drive home for this season. (they don’t have their driver’s license yet)
Class # of Players on the Roster Freshman: 9 Sophomores: 21 Juniors: 15 Seniors: 16
What happened last year in CL’s victory over La Vega was experience meeting youth.
This year La Vega had the experience and the Hawks had the youth.
The Pirates were undefeated and the idea would be having Canyon Lake being in that same stratosphere this time next season.
Plausible? Certainly as the Freshman and JV team both won district titles this year with an 8th Grade group of players that also won their district this season.
Three years of talent will lead to a ton of competition for those 22 spots and that same problem also will give you depth that can come up and after opponents with reckless abandon. Being tired will lead to another player coming in right at the same level of talent that went to the sideline.
Yes, this time next year, Canyon Lake will have a chance to make their mark.
Now, it is time to say good bye to a great group of seniors and Coach Drum was asked about his overall thoughts on these players, “This was a good bunch to coach and they had this young team and willed them to the playoffs…..they led by example and this is a bitter sweet and I told them that they will take their leadership to the next level, whether that is in school or wherever they go.”
Go Hawks and thanks to the Seniors for all of their hard work and in making the Hawk Nation proud.
1 2 3 4 Final CL Hawks 0 0 0 10 10 La Vega Pirates 7 14 14 7 42 Scoring Summary: LV-Parrish Cobb 4 yard pass from Jamal Williams (Alvaro Vargas kick), 8:38, 1st LV-Kendall Ratliff 68 yard run (Alvaro Vargas kick), 6:43, 2nd LV-Kendall Ratliff 28 yard run (Alvaro Vargas kick), 1:22, 2nd LV-Kendall Ratliff 9 yard run (Alvaro Vargas kick), 7:50, 3rd LV-Kemoche Hobbs 1 yard run (Alvaro Vargas kick), 1:51, 3rd LV-Parrish Cobb 26 yard run (Alvaro Vargas kick), 9:22, 4th CL-Micah St. John 1 yard run (Mike Thorpe kick), 7:15, 4th CL-Mike Thorpe 33 yard field goal, 0:00, 4th Game Stats Pirates Hawks Total Yards 404 226 First Downs 19 14 Rush/Yards 32/289 56/222 Comp/Att/Int 11/17/0 3/4/0 Passing Yards 115 4 Punts/Average 1/28.0 3/38.3 Fumbles/Lost 1/1 1/1 Penalties-Yards 8-75 3-25 TOP 17:26 30:34 Passing Comp Att Pct Yds Int TD Ben Fulton 2 3 .667 5 0 0 Mike Thorpe 1 1 1.000 -1 0 0 Rushing Att Yds Ave Lg TD Tanner Faris 18 96 5.3 28 0 Austin Brennan 9 44 4.9 12 0 Jacob Ruff 14 41 2.9 7 0 Matt Adams 5 17 3.4 10 0 Ben Fulton 6 15 2.5 8 0 Micah St. John 4 13 3.2 7 1 Receiving No Yds Ave Lg TD Tanner Faris 1 4 4.0 4 0 Heath McDonough 1 1 1.0 1 0 Jacob Ruff 1 -1 — — 0
