Conversation with Coach Drum & Hawks By the Numbers.

                                            Hawks were left just short of win over #2 Ranked Lampasas this year.

Canyon Lake has completed their most bizarre regular season and now will have a chance to continue and make things more normal, when they match up with La Vernia this Friday in New Braunfels at the Canyon High School Stadium.

Freedom Car Care says take care of the Bears!

There were a lot of variables that contributed to the CL 5-5 record but The ReSporter would like the Hawk Nation to consider one main item that has changed those pre-district games to a more confident and consistent team.

“We started back in June with strength and conditioning and then football back on August 2nd and since the beginning of Summer we have been doing good,” Athletic Director Charley Dum stated when asked bout all the protocol procedures needed to have work-outs and games. “We were uncomfortable about playing football and luckily we got to play because it did not look good going into the Summer but we have bought in on doing all the stuff required to play.”

In an earlier ReSporter article during August it was mentioned all the hurdles the Training Department would need to have done to pass inspection to keep players and people safe.

“Our district has done a great job and we have a training staff that has done a good job for the health of our athletes and that has been good,” Coach Drum continued.

The Hawks started this year with a lot of injuries to some key players that put what would have been a deep roster with some razor thin scenarios as the season progressed.

Those injured players had a, next man up, motif for this team and in some cases that had CL not missing a beat.

Take into consideration when running back James Bates was lost for several games in a loss to Wimberley. That next man up was Sophomore Shayne Moss who not only filled in but finished leading the Hawks in rushing with 547 yards up thru this time of the season.

                    Go Hawks!!

On a deeper look, you had players that would be called into action on both sides of the ball and those pre-district bouts had Canyon Lake giving up more points and yardage.

When looking at this year’s defensive unit, you will notice the amount of Sophomores making an impact on games as this season has continued.

“Those younger kids are more experienced and with the great job our defensive       coaches has been doing in teaching the players has helped,” Drum surmised. “It has been a scene with our depth and getting our primary athletes back into the lineup.”

Since those injured players have worked back into game shape you now have the Hawks able to have more players to concentrate on either the side on defense or the offensive side of the ball.

Derek Wiatrek would bare that out as has come into his own now that he is not carrying the ball full time and is concentrating on tackling instead of being tackled.

There are 5 running backs with 70 or more carries and Wiatrek is tied for the lead with 83 carries with Jesse Horner (another Hawk who was injured).

                Let’s Go Hawks!!

Cole Cason and Helijah Johnson have one carry a piece and would have certainly been needed during those middle of the season games played out but depth helped those issues to be correctable and not a season changer.

“We had a killer schedule and we started to clean-up our mistakes and started trusting what we are doing,” Drum said in response in playing a better brand of football in having a .500 record. “After our Blanco game we were worried about our psyche on how our team would react in district. That loss to Austin LBJ gave us a bunch of confidence.”

Coach Drum continued in responding to the Lampasas loss, “We had chances in winning that game and we played physical and put it all together and knew we could play with anyone in the state…we knew those little mistakes and taking care of that would make a difference.”

CL’s defense has been dominant since district play has begun and even with allowing 40 points to Lampasas has been viewed  as a good omen.

“Each game has a different mentality to it in what you need to do,” Drum assessed. “Our younger kids started to put to practice what they had learned.”

On what Drum’s thoughts on this week’s Bi-District opponent, “La Vernia is very talented on offenses. They have a heavy presence of seniors on offense and they like to make big plays with their pass. We will need to make their quarterback accountable.”

Canyon Lake will be the underdog to this Bear squad that finished 2nd in their district after losing a close contest against Boerne. “They (La Vernia) were down 21 points and almost came back,” Drum cautioned.

Simply stated this is the time of year that games are not over until they are over.

Let’s GO HAWKS!!

                          Hawks BY THE NUMBERS:

   4 Hawks to rush for 100 or more yds in a game against Beeville.
     Horner (120), McMullen (116), Wiatrek (111), and Rivali (103)
   6 Touchdowns scored by the Defense All-Time.
  10 Touchdowns scored by Special Teams All-Time.
  23 Tackles for Loss that Kolton Ramey has for a season that is only one behind Ross Snowden’s 24
  40 Tackles for Loss that Ramey that is #1 in Hawk History
 103 Passing plays this season most since slot-t was installed in 2013.
 126 Touchdowns scored by passing All-Time.
 243 Yards rushing in a game by Shayne Moss that is 6th best All-Time.
 362 Touchdowns scored by running All-Time.
 409 Average yards per game for Hawk offense. Ranks 2nd behind 2016 team.
 651 Rushing Yards for QB Peyton McMullen and most by any Hawk QB in history.
 652 Rushing yards for Hawk Offense in La Grange game, Ranks #1.