Pre/Game: CL Hawks vs. Blanco Panthers

            Canyon Lake @ Blanco   Friday August 29th   7:30pm

 History: Hawks and Panther's series is tied 3-3
 2008 Hawks  00   Blanco  63
 2009 Hawks  21   Blanco  14
 2010 Hawks  07   Blanco  12
 2011 Hawks  14   Blanco  07
 2012 Hawks  26   Blanco  21
 2013 Hawks  06   Blanco  13

 This Season's Games: First Game

Canyon Lake starts their seventh year and seventh contest against Blanco this Friday night.

When taking that first game out of the formula you have a series that has been within 7 points after that final gun has sounded.

Two years ago in Blanco, Canyon Lake escaped after a Panther receiver dropped a ball with no time left on the clock to preserve another close 26-21 score.

“This is a slobber knocker,” Head Coach Charlie Drum’s said with eloquent words being so aptly applied to this opening game.

Another season for the Slot-T will see if this Hawk team can start their year stronger than the 0-6 start last year.

Canyon Lake has now won 4 of their last 6 games as this season gets going and having a good start will help in restoring some confidence and a chance for momentum with this new district.

In fact, the Hawks will have an extra ‘A’ on their resume, which should certainly help in the classroom, but unfortunately football will not count for a graduation credit.

District 14-4A-I would be how the ticker tape would spell out this new domain for your Hawks as they will be adding some new teams in Liberty Hill and Taylor. Those two teams will take the place of Wimberley and Navarro who went to a smaller group of schools.

Other new teams this year has Smithville, Marion, Lampasas on the schedule.

Haden DuBois and Josh Devries will be returning as running backs as Skyler Tschoepe will be taking snaps for his second go round.

Austin Kahil, Gordon McCleary and Jonathan McGuire are also returning to the line to help rebuild what turned out to be the best running game ever for Canyon Lake in 2013.

Rushing/Passing Yards through the Years

 Year      Yards       Per Game Average
 2013      3208            267.3
 2011      2447            244.7
 2010      2214            184.5
 2012      1580            158.0
 2009      1117            101.5

Those 800 more yards rushing would need to be balanced with having the fewest yards passing in Hawk history.

 Passing Yards
 Year      Yards       Per Game Average
 2009      2296            208.7
 2010      2062            171.8
 2011      1613            161.3
 2012      1501            150.1
 2013       440             36.7

Now look at what the total yardage added up to and you will see that it was a middle of the pack year with an offense that really took a while to jell.

 Total Yards
 Year      Yards       Per Game Average
 2010      4276            356.3
 2011      4060            406.0
 2013      3648            304.0
 2009      3413            310.3
 2012      3081            308.1

Blanco have been a 2A powerhouse for several years now and they too have added an ‘A’ to their moniker and will be wanting to take another game from the Hawks.

The Panthers are a run first offense but they did average 10 passes per game last season.

Colton Elrod made his presence known running and catching the ball last year with 707 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns while leading Blanco in receiving yards hauling in 17 passes for 244 yards.

Adrien Dominguez led Blanco with 752 yards with a 5.53 rushing average. The Panthers will also be returning their starting QB, McKay Adamson with a chance of finishing his career with two wins over the Hawks.

This is always a hard fought game for both teams and if CL can control the clock and get the lead, then they will have a joyful bus ride home.

Don’t expect this to be a long game as both teams will be keeping their game on the ground.