CL Freshman Take Out Laundry in Win Over Texans, 26-16
Little things, Get Bigger and Cleaner, in Hawks Freshman Win over Wimberley, 26-16
Canyon Lake’s Freshman football team had a losing record after suffering two close losses in the past two weeks.
This Freshman team was not going to let that number get to three as the Hawks took little steps all week to make a giant leap in this Hawk win.
With their first time to open the game, CL would drive 79 yards to paydirt after a pass from QB Peyton McMullen to Logan Cruz for 16 yards and a quick, 6-0 lead.
Derek Wiatrek and Ryan Rivali hand signal CL after win over Wimberley, 26-16
That would be the only pass for this game as the Hawks would find enough success via a running game to realize this win.
“We have been preaching that this game is all in the details,” Freshman Coach Javier Almanza said. “We were not executing in our two losses and we were working on that part of our game all week.”
Coach Almanza continued, “We focused on all of those details and if they (the team) did not respond then there would be some squats for everyone on the team…..Everyone would suffer because we were stressing everything.”
Canyon Lake’s defense would be on target, holding the Texan’s to 5 yards and turning the ball over on downs at the 46 yard line.
Offensive and Defensive Lineman Shawn Pendleton was one of many Hawk’s that made sure Wimberley would have dirty laundry after this contest.
“The start of the game we were pumped and we really wanted it,” Pendleton stated. “We have kept positive the last two weeks and that really helped and we just played a heck of a game.”
Go Hawks!!
It took just 3 plays on this drive as Derek Wiabrek would be the main contributor on a 41 yard run that would have the Hawks needing just 10 yards for a two score lead.
Enter Ryan Rivali with a 10 yard end around that put CL up 12-0 with still time on the first quarter clock.
“We felt like we had not had enough focus going onto the field,” Rivali recalled. “So we just said that there would be no way that we would let our rivals beat us.”
Rivali continued with his second cycle at the washing machine, “Last week we had a lot of squat jumps because we did not turn in our our clothes correct….and that helped show us that the little things matter.”
Wimberley would stall on the Hawks 41 yard line on this drive as the Texans had a penalty that helped keep the momentum with Canyon Lake with 3 drives for 3 scores and the same result as those previous two drives as the Hawks covered 59 yards this time.
Hawk Proud
It took 8 plays on this set of downs that was highlighted with two consecutive explosive plays by Noah DuMenil taking the rock for 18 yards on his first carry and followed that tote up with another 14 yards to the Texans’ 19 yard line.
From there, Wiatrek would finish another drive for a touchdown and a comfortable, 18-0 lead over Wimberley.
Wimberley would drive to CL’s 9 yard line before half-time, but the defense would bend but not break as the Texan’s turned to ball over on downs.
The Texan’s would finish the first 18 minutes of action with 84 yards, all on the ground, as the passing game had not connected on any of their 7 pass plays.
To open the second half, Wimberley would start strong with a 54 yard drive on 8 plays and with a successful 2pt conversion a 10 point deficit that would still have plenty of time to play, 18-8.
Hit Man says way to go Freshman!
Canyon Lake would not respond after having their first 3 plays and punt sequence which helped continue a Wimberley rally.
The Texans started this drive with a 26 yard pass play and then two runs totaling 20 yards and trouble brewing in the Hawk nest. Wimberley had penetrated to the CL’s 34 yard line.
Then the Hawk defense would once again become, a stout unit, as the next 4 plays would garner a minus 2 yards and an interception by Julian Theiss.
CL would then score the clinching touchdown as the Hawks traveled 96 yards with the bulk of that yardage coming from a ‘Birthday’ Boy Wiatrek who ran for 48 yards to the Wimberley, 27 yard line.
Wiatrek said while blowing out his B-Day candles. “Right before the game I saw two guys messing around and it was quiet and so I just got up and told the team that I was tired of losing and that I was not going to lead our team out (of the locker room) like that.”
Six plays later Wiatrek would start what he finished strolling across the goal line on a 14 yard run around the right side of the line.
With the lead, 26-8, Canyon Lake would play prevent defense as the Texans’ would score with 1:39 left on the clock and a Hawk win.
Go Hawks
That defense would be highlighted by another play from Wiatrek when he busted through the Texans’ line to throw a Wimberley runner for a 4 yard loss.
“Right before that play he (Wimberley’s runner) had told me that he was about to run for a TD,” Wiatrek remembered. “I was about to bust this kid and that was the most amazing feeling in your life when I got that tackle.”
Wiatrek might have to work on having more than one birthday celebration as this was a great way of motivating this player and team.
Little things were evident for this contest as the Hawks had lost two games due to having those little things resulting in losses on what were very winnable games.
Coach Javier Almanza would state it best as he finished a recap of his talk to the team after the game ended, “We just beat Wimberley’s butt…..Now let’s go and beat the Laundry’s butt!!”
With a loud yell, the Freshman knew it would be the little things that will help finish this season on a positive note. Not only for the team but for all those Mom’s that will expect those little things to translate to their home life.
Go Hawks!!
1 2 3 4 Final Wimberley Fresh 0 0 8 8 16 CL Hawks Fresh 12 6 0 8 26 Scoring Summary: CLH-Logan Cruz 16 yard pass from Peyton McMullen (pass failed), 4:04, 1st CLH-Ryan Rivali 10 yard run (run failed), 1:25, 1st CLH-Derek Wiatrek 6 yard run (run failed), 4:11, 2nd WHF-Noah Rankin 9 yard run (Cole Schroeder run), 5:00, 3rd CLH-Derek Wiatrek 14 yard run (Devin Placeres run), 5:08, 4th WHF-Blackburn 6 yard pass from Cole Schroeder (pass good), 1:39, 4th Team Stats Texans Hawks Total Yards 216 255 First Downs 10 14 Rushes/Yards 27/140 31/239 Comp/Att/Int 6/16/1 1/1/0 Passing Yards 76 16 Punts/Average 0/0 1/31 Fumbles/Lost 0/0 0/0 Penalties-Yards 5-40 6-70 Passing Comp Att Pct Yards Int TD Peyton McMullen 1 1 1.000 16 0 1 Rushing Att Yds Ave Lg TD Derek Wiatrek 11 88 8.0 48 2 Ryan Rivali 4 69 17.3 43 1 Noah DuMenil 7 61 8.7 18 0 Patrick Almond 3 11 3.7 7 0 Devyn Placeres 4 11 2.7 3 0 Jacob Lowe 1 4 4.0 4 0 Peyton McMullen 1 -5 — — — Receiving No Yds Ave Lg TD Logan Cruz 1 16 16.0 16 1
