CL Celebrates Explosive Senior Night, 35-7 over Billies
Canyon Lake Hawks continued their dominance over the Billies winning their third game in a row on Senior Night at Hawk stadium, 35-7.
The Hawks have three wins over a total of one team in the short history…..Fredericksburg!!
After a first year loss by 51 points, the Hawks have now pummeled the Billies for the third time and improved their record to 7-2, which is also a record for the most wins in a season.
It took a while for CL to not have self inflicted wounds, as the first quarter started to look like the last two games where turnovers were the norm.
A fumble on the first drive and then an interception with the second drive stopped a possible two scores and leaving the Billies squarely within smelling distance.
Both turnovers were inside the Red Zone where the Hawks had suffered in their earlier losses.
Senior Quinn Pike stepped up finishing a three play 58 yard drive for the first CL score. The 44 yards pass and run was a thing of beauty as the Billie defender was left holding nothing but air.
Canyon Lake’s defense held Fredericksburg to their fourth three plays and punt in a row, setting the offense up on their 18 yard line.
Boom! Zach Henshaw got credit for a three yard run because of a holding penalty that brought the 50 yard run back to the 11 yard line.
“We came out with enthusiasm and wanted to get pumped up,” Henshaw expounded. “I had been a little depressed the last couple of losses…everything I have done my whole life came down to tonight…there are no promises after this and that is what the Seniors did tonight.”
Boom!! Quinn Pike caught another great pass from Branson Belcher for 49 yards to the Billies 41 yard line.
“He (defensive back) was shorter than me,” 6’4” Pike said looking down on this reporter. “We came in real confident and we knew it was senior night and all the underclassman wanted this for us….we will do the same thing next week.”
Boom!!! Zach Henshaw 30 yard run this time brought the ball down for a first and goal on the 10 yard line.
Two more runs from Henshaw gave the Hawks a 13 point lead. The missed extra point for Jake Robinson was his first miss of the year. Robinson had been true for 36 consecutive points after, which is a Canyon Lake record.
The good news for Canyon Lake was defense and the lock down the team had of a Fredericksburg offense.
The 173 total yards for Fredericksburg was the best defensive effort in the history for the school. The previous record was, 214 yards given up to this same team in 2009.
Fredericksburg did not have a first down until the second quarter.
“They (defense) played with more emotion and got tired of being pushed around,” Defensive Coordinator Drum said. “We questioned their toughness and they responded.”
Canyon Lake helped the Billies with their first touchdown after a fumbled punt return allowed Fredericksburg to set up shop on the Hawks 19 yard line.
Two plays later the Billies scored, closing the gap to a six point lead for CL. Fredericksburg scored on their six possession while accumulating 17 yards on the first five drives.
The drive of 19 yards doubled their offensive output and they now trailed by only six points.
Canyon Lake could not capitalize before half as they drove to the six yard line and stalled after allowing a fourth down sack as QB Branson Belcher had little time to execute the play.
Senior running back Henshaw gave the home fans a glimpse of how the second half would bring everything back to normal.
The 60 yard drive was all Henshaw…(Zach would also like you to know and ‘the offensive line’).
The drive started after Henshaw ran the kick-off back 30 yards to the 40 yard line. Seven plays later Henshaw had 60 yards and Canyon Lake had a 21-7 lead after Belcher had a somersault over a Billie defender for the two point conversion.
CL’s defense was also in prime time on the next drive.
Defensive End Alex Kemp had one of his three sacks while Linebacker Joe D’Ottavio shot the gap catching the Billie runner for another seven yard loss on the next play.
“We brought the enthusiasm down tonight,” Sr. Kemp started. “We have to win to get in and we will bring the heat in Bandera.”
The CL defense also had some planters playing. That is how hard Jeremy Best and D’Ottavio tackled some Billies during the game.
“I had a lot of fun out there,” D’Ottavio said with a smile on his face. “My teammates made it fun for me…to make that tackle—that’s football to me.”
The two players literally picked the runner up in the air and planted them on the turf.
“This whole week we stepped up the intensity to try to get over the mental block,” Best said it best. “We unleashed and had no seat belts…it is not about, ‘I’, it is about ‘We’, and we were willing to sacrifice.”
Canyon Lake took over on the 43 yard line and Henshaw had four runs with Senior Dylan Adams 12 yard reception sandwiched in between for another momentum score, 28-7.
There were so many explosive plays for Canyon Lake, that if the turf would of been last year’s grass field, the stadium would of been evacuated because of a fire hazard.
This next part will be started by the lineman.
Jaaz McNair started, “I kind of lost it our there and I went kind of crazy…you have to be crazy to play football…tonight the whole team played as a team and we brought the ‘family’ back.”
Eilijah Montgomery also chimed in, “It all comes down to hard work and it was not put to waste…the past two weeks has been a gray area, but this team is more of a family…we spend 75% of our lives out here and this is a home away from out house…this game came out from the off season.”
Here are some numbers of explosive plays that were 15 yards are more during the game. Offensive line either gave Belcher the time to throw are those same guys opened the hole for running backs.
15 yard run Zach Henshaw
17 yard run Zach Henshaw
27 yard pass Zach Henshaw
30 yard run Zach Henshaw
32 yard pass Quinn Pike
34 yard run Zach Henshaw
41 yard run Zach Henshaw
44 yard pass Quinn Pike
44 yard run Zach Henshaw
49 yard pass Quinn Pike
The Canyon Lake offense also had their second best showing in the history of the school. The 496 yards is second only to a 579 yard effort against Ingram in the 2009 season.
The 2011 offensive line has now posted the top four rushing outputs in their history. And have averaged 242 yards rushing per game this season.
“God, lineman, and downfield blocking was what got me here tonight,” Zach Henshaw said as he left home field for the last time in a Hawk uniform.
Henshaw would not want this next part on record, so the ReSporter will share some numbers for the Offensive Line that has blocked for Mr. Henshaw these past three years.
4 # of passing TD’s the other ten offensive players have blocked for Henshaw. 7 # of games the OL has blocked for over 200 yards for Henshaw. 7.2 Average yards per carry the OL has blocked for Henshaw this season. 18 # of games the OL has blocked for over 100 yards for Henshaw. 45 # of TD’s the OL has blocked for Henshaw in his career rushing. 146 # of yards per game the OL has blocked for Henshaw in his career. 165 # of yards the OL will have to block for Henshaw to reach 2000 yards rushing. 1051 # of yards the OL has blocked for Henshaw in the second half of games this season. 4097 # of yards the OL has blocked for Henshaw in his career.
1 2 3 4 Final
Fredericksburg 0 7 0 0 7
Canyon Lake 7 6 15 7 35
Scoring Summary:
CLHS-Quinn Pike 44 yard pass from Branson Belcher (Jake Robinson kick), 2:49, 1st
CLHS-Zach Henshaw 7 yard run (kick failed), 11:54, 2nd
Fred-Reeh 14 yard run (Beltran kick), 5:54, 2nd
CLHS-Zach Henshaw 4 yard run (Branson Belcher run), 8:57, 3rd
CLHS-Zach Henshaw 10 yard run (Jake Robinson kick), 3:47, 3rd
CLHS-Zach Henshaw 3 yard run (Jake Robinson kick), 4:47, 4th
Stats Billies Hawks
Total Yards 173 496
First Downs 12 20
Rushes/Yards 45/141 39/307
Comp/Att/Int 3/12/1 7/14/1
Passing Yards 32 189
Punts/Ave 5/35.6 0/0
Fumbles/Lost 2/0 2/2
Penalties-Yards 7-55 7-60
Passing Comp Att Pct Yds TD Int
Branson Belcher 7 14 .500 189 1 1
Rushing Att Yds Ave Lg TD
Zach Henshaw 32 298 9.3 44 4
Eduardo Covarrubias 4 14 3.5 5 0
Branson Belcher 3 -3 -1.0 5 0
Receiving No Yds Ave Lg TD
Quinn Pike 3 125 41.7 49 1
Zach Henshaw 1 27 27.0 27 0
Doug Hubnik 2 25 12.5 13 0
Dylan Adams 1 12 12.0 12 0
