‘It’ starts on the Line

The Canyon Lake Football team has high aspirations for the coming campaign and if you want to know how the team will fare, then a look at the offensive line can help in that evaluation.

The last couple of articles on the ReSporter, has been on the running game and how ‘it’ has improved each year.

‘It’ is easy to deduce when you look at the yardage gained the past two years.

This season the Hawks will not have players that will see both sides of the ball. The offensive line will not be going both ways during the games like previous seasons.

“That will make them better,” Offensive Line Coach Chuck Wallen said. “We have ten quality players that can play at anytime.”

In the past the line has started to jell later in the season, especially last year when the ground game became the focal point as the line dominated their competition.

The question on when the line can perform at the level they ended the season with will allow the confidence to build and result in an overall improvement for the whole team.

“The turning point with the offensive line last year was when we challenged the team to step it up last season,” Coach Wallen elaborated. “That is when we started believing in each other and the power running game became our identity.”

Wallen continued,”Going into the season last year, we thought the passing game would be our forte….then, we found out we could knock people off the ball.”

The coaches were excited last year as the season started to approach, but this time, the coaches seem to be on a different level with their confidence with this team.

“This is the best we have ever been at this time of the year,” Coach Wallen quipped. “The kids have a grasp and have become coaches on the field. The main core that have been with us a while are real exciting to watch.”

So, let’s recap the offensive line strengths going into the new year:
Depth
Depth
Depth

Players that have less responsibilities because defense will not enter into the picture.

Players that will be able to rest while the defense is on the field will only make them fresher as the game gets into the fourth quarter.

Remember these numbers from last year: 79—96—77—29

The numbers above were the points scored by the offense in each quarter. The last number is the amount of points scored by Canyon Lake in the fourth quarter.

There is a chance the Hawks will be able to sustain that same scoring average throughout the game if the offensive line is fresher as the game gets into the latter stages.

On average another 50 points might be possible with the new scheme from the Coaches.

We will be talking about the defensive line later, but using that same strategy, the defense gave up 113 points in the fourth quarter last season. If the defense has more depth and is fresher, then the same could be said, the Hawks defense could improve by 50 points.

Their numbers last season? 49—70—46—113
Those were the number of point given up by quarter last year by the defense.

If the team can increase their point total by 100 points, then the result can only mean a better record and a reason to feel excited.

The skill players are the easy ones to pick out during the game. The line is where the games are won. ‘IT’ will start on the line and Coach Wallen talked about several of the ‘it’ players in the interview with the ReSporter.

Elijah Montgomery….Jaaz McNair….Wes Dicks….Taylor Hocutt will all be ‘it’, if the Hawks continue their playoff run….and that is a good thing.

Which is where the Coaches are now—excited….when does August get here?