Pre/Game: Navarro (3-1) @ CLHawks (2-2)

History: Canyon Lake and Navarro are tied at one game a piece in their short history.
 2010 Hawks   26   Panthers   38
 2011 Hawks   41   Panthers   26

This Year:
 Hawks  26  Blanco          21        Navarro  21  SA Antonian     35
 Hawks  35  Somerset        54        Navarro  36  SA Christian    34
 Hawks  13  La Vernia       14        Navarro  68  SA Holy Cross   07
 Hawks  31  Burnet          37        Navarro  48  Marion          14
 Hawks  09  La Grange       34        Navarro  30  SA Sam Houston  13
 Hawks  27  Fredericksburg  17        Navarro  28  Boerne          14
 Hawks  42  Bandera         07        Navarro  20  Wimberley       21
 Hawks  03  Wimberley       40        Navarro  54  Fredericksburg  23
 Hawks  16  Boerne          43        Navarro  48  Bandera         13

Canyon Lake has just one option this week. Win, and if possible more than 14 points.

Navarro will be bringing their run game to Hawk stadium and if you can think back two years ago, then you might remember over 500 yards gained on the ground by that Panther team.

Navarro only has one loss in District 27-3A competition and that loss was by one point to Wimberley.

Boerne was beaten by 14 points to Navarro leaving just one other choice for Canyon Lake.

If Boerne could beat Wimberley, then Canyon Lake could win by one point over Navarro to squeeze into the third spot in district play. That win would give CL the bid based on head to head action.

If Boerne loses, then Canyon Lake will have to beat Navarro by more than 14 points to get the tie breaker invitation. This was the same way CL failed to make the playoffs last year.

Navarro will be the third team in three weeks that has had a totally different philosophy offensively.

Wimberley, three weeks ago was a balanced offense and then last week, the Hawks got a good idea of what a passing team could do with their weapons.

This week, the Slot-T will make another appearance to Hawk country and that will put pressure on our run defense.

The only time Navarro passes will be on their bus ride coming to this game, when they can get by slower traffic in route.

The Panthers have two players averaging over 100 yards rushing per district game. L. J. Anderson averages 135 yards while Zane Conlin has a 114 yard average.

To put this run game into perspective the rest of this Panther team averages 173 yards per game running the ball.

Pretty much whoever, Navarro wants to put in their backfield will be lethal.

Navarro has only punted five times in district play and three of those plays were against Wimberley.

Two other punts were in the fourth quarter against Bandera last week when the Panthers had a comfortable, 48-6 lead.

So, you can conclude that this team will not punt and counting those three quarter punts against Bandera you have 11 quarters of play without calling out their punting unit.

Pretty impressive. The defense is also a decent part of this Panthers squad.

Navarro averages giving up just 288 yards per game in district and seem to excel in rush defense, giving up just 121 yards per game. Canyon Lake averages 155 yards in district play running the ball.

This Panther team also keeps penalties to a minimum so far in games played.

District 27-3A teams average five penalties for 49 yards per game this year.

Canyon Lake is averaging one more penalty per game and another 20 yards of real estate to make up the difference between the rest of our district friends.

Turnovers? Navarro is a plus two while Canyon Lake is operating with a minus two in this category.

A lot of little things, but it is those little things that have kept your Hawks from advancing in more of their games.

At this writing Eduardo Covarrubias is not known by The Hilltop as being ready. The Hawks will need all hands on deck and rumor has it, that Head Coach Charley Drum is petitioning the UIL on being able to have 13 players on the defensive side of the ball when playing Slot-T schools.

Canyon Lake averages 155 yards rushing and 159 yards passing so far in district play. This game might need both of those clicking to help grind out time on the clock and keep this Panther team’s offense on their bench.

Also, with smaller schools, many of their players will still be playing both ways. CL is twice the size of Navarro in enrollment but have as many of their players going on both sided of the ball.

Either way you slice it, the Hawks will need to have fresh legs to keep this game as an even keel affair.

Can Canyon Lake win this game? Well if you take the word Canyon and break it up, then this might be a way of assessing what will need to be done in this week’s game.

CANyon would represent that first part of what we do know and Yes CANyon CAN win if they play YON quarters.

YON means 4 in Japanese and this will have to be paramount to pull this upset off and put your Hawks in the playoffs.

CANyon Lake needs to play YON quarters and bring their ‘A’ game into this game and then next week, The Hilltop ReSporter, might be writing a Pre/Game article on our next opponent.