The first year of The Hilltop Reporter Newspaper, this reporter was talking to second year Head Coach

Bracken's Grady Achilles now playing for Incarnate Word

Lloyd Fields with Bracken Christian football team.

Coach Fields was giving a run down on what type of team he would be fielding that season (2009).

Coach Fields informed The Hilltop Reporter that his starting quarterback would be a freshman and one might have wondered that there could be a chance for a rocky year.

Bracken Christian had lost seven seniors from the previous season to boot.

However this ’09 Team had a break out season with a final four appearance and a squad that quite possibly could win a championship in future years.

During the playoffs that same year, BCS would be meeting a team that the Warriors had played earlier that season.

It was a large team (Tomball Rosehill Christian) in 6-man lingo, with several players over 200lbs and height to compliment that in spades.

Watching that game was an eye opener as this defensive back that was not even six feet tall, yet, had taken on one of those gladiators at the goal line and held his ground as this player planted his cleats right on the chest of this young man on his way to a touchdown.
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The ReSporter: Tell us Katie about how you have balanced Volleyball and Basketball this past Summer?

Senior Katie Williams

Katie Williams: “I was busy this Summer playing both, but I had a lot of games and I played through the Summer and it helped me not lose that feel for Basketball.”

The ReSporter: What position will you be playing for Canyon Lake this year?

Katie Williams: “I will usually play low post. I have learned some different moves and I am posting up a little more than I would of in year’s past.”

The ReSporter: The Hawks seem to be at a different level so far this season.

Katie Williams: “Our guards have a good eye and are distributing the ball which is helping our team in getting confidence. We have a lot of hustle and non-stop energy this year.”
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Canyon Lake’s Freshman Volleyball team is better than their record.

Freshman Cameron Berger and Sydney Riebschlaeger

Most 3A schools will have three teams in many of their sports.

The Junior Varsity, Varsity, and Freshman teams will be formed as each team prepares for their season. When this happens you will have most varsity teams acquiring all of the best players for that particular team.

So a Varsity team will have predominately Seniors and then a good number of Juniors. The football team will many times have two to three Sophomores that make a varsity team.

This year CL’s Volleyball Varsity team has added a Freshman (Halley McKnight) to their roster which is a rare feat.

Junior Varsity will many times have Juniors, Sophomores, and a Freshman will have their best chance to move into this role.

You will always have a Freshman team being just freshman. They will never have the luxury of adding any other grades to that team.
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Canyon Lakes Cross Country teams have been off to the races as practice and

Distance Runner Chris Neiland

The ReSporter had an interview with Head Coach Mary Beth Gallagher and Senior Chris Neiland.

The ReSporter: What are you wanting to accomplish this year with the team?

Coach Gallagher: Well, we have already accomplished my first goal which was to increase the number of kids that came out for Cross Country.

We have 24 on the roster and they are all great kids. However, out boys team missed a birth to regionals by one point last year as a team, so we want to change that and we do have a good young talent pushing those older boys for those top spots.

For the girls it’s more about steadily improving from week to week. We do not have real strong girls but we are deeper than we have ever been.

The ReSporter: Tell us about some of the newer athletes for this year.

Coach Gallagher: We have two freshman boys that are consistently one to two minutes off the pace of our top boys and that is very exciting.

The ReSporter: What type of training are you doing?

Coach Gallagher: When we kicked off the season, we were not in the kind of shape we need to be in and therefore we are a little behind the pace of some larger programs.
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Running Back Eduardo Covarrubias with Zach Henshaw

Eduardo Covarubbias has been a mouthful through the last two years as Canyon Lake goes on the road and that team’s announcer has the chance to practice a lot of syllables.

The saving grace has been that Covarubbias has not had the amount of carries his counterpart had (Zach Henshaw) during his 4,329 rushing yards the past three years.

Now, Covarubbias will have the chance to show off his skills during his Senior year and quite frankly, there might not be that much difference from what we had seen when Henshaw was running over defenses for the Hawks.

Covarubbias was the feature back the first part of the 2010 season when Henshaw was nursing an injury suffered during the Summer. Covarrubias did quite well during that time slot when he rushed for 417 yards on 71 carries for a 5.9 per carry average during that four game stint.

For his career Covarubbias has totaled, 943 yards on 159 carries for a 5.9 per carry average.
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It was the fifth game of the season when Doug Hubnik made history with a four year

Senior Doug Hubnik ready for Season to start

Hubnik scored on a 60 yard interception return and 80 yard kickoff return in the Luling game which was a first time for those type of scores for Canyon Lake.

Hubnik had the most catches from a non-senior last season with six. Those catches went for 95 yards and now the log jam in the receiver corp might allow this senior a chance to make a difference.

“We have a lot of skill players,” Hubnik started. “We will need to play to our skill levels this season.”

When asked how the play of Quarterback Branson Belcher was this first week, “He is playing real good…Branson is throwing real good.”

“We have grown up since our junior varsity year and a lot of us have moved to different positions and that has been our biggest change,” Hubnik said while commenting on how this Senior class might perform this season.
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Many times what you hope will happen can get changed and coaches need to reach into

Junior Davis Scott ready for new role

Bracken Christian had that scenario come about when practice started last week. Six-man football is the game of choice for the Warriors simply because the number of boys available to play the sport.

Hence, it does not take many changes in a summer to start the dominoes falling and causing angst among the coaches and team.

The best way to stop the domino effect is by having players that can step into different roles at the drop of a helmet.

Junior Davis Scott will be that player this year as he will change from his Center position to running back. Scott had six carries last season from the Center position and he gained 36 yards.

Scott made his mark on the defensive side gaining All State honors last season as a defensive end.

“I’m a little shocked,” Scott said shockingly. “I am also very excited and I will do whatever the team needs me to do.”
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Canyon Lake intrasquad Scrimmage

Quarterback Branson Belcher has won more games than any other quarterback in the history of Canyon Lake Football.

His eight wins last year put him ahead of Ross Wagliardo and Jeff Nabors who won seven and six games respectively in the previous three years.

Now the Hawks prepare for a break out year that hopefully will include that hidden word called, ‘Playoffs’.

The 8-2 season last year was great, but not having a game after the tenth game, left an emptiness for the team and fans.

Senior Quarterback Belcher will now take ownership of a team that has the possibility of eclipsing the eight wins from last year.
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Defensive Back and Kicker Jake Robinson

Canyon Lake had the right man for the job last year when kicking was part of the defensive Back and Kicker Jake Robinson game. Jake Robinson only missed two extra points last season while kicking two field goals for a team that averaged five touchdowns per game.

The offense ran at a high octane level last season and if they have a repeat, then you can count on the extra point to be good.

Robinson was successful on 45 out of 47 tries and those numbers with the two field goals, had Jake with 51 points.

That has this young man in fourth place for career scoring and with another year like 2011 season, Robinson could end his career in second place in points scored for the Hawks.
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