The ReSporter will finish with a Trifecta on the most exciting games tour for this year’s Hawk Sports.
Karl Weidner with the tackle with Ryan Hutcheson ready to clean up
Canyon Lake finished with only four wins but three of those contests were defining games in excitement and also in turning some recent bad games and years into it was all worth it status.
Pleasanton would be CL’s first round playoff after finishing third in District 27-3A ahead of fourth place Wimberley.
The draw would pit your Hawks against a team that had suffered just one loss for the season. Pleasanton finished second in their district with their only loss to La Vernia which was also a common opponent for Canyon Lake.
That loss had La Vernia scoring all of their points in the first half and then holding on for a win after Pleasanton’s 20 unanswered points.
Now The ReSporter wants to take you back a year earlier when Pleasanton faced a Navarro team in their first round of playoff games and also having just one loss on their resume in the last game of their season to Somerset.
Navarro ran all over this Eagle team, 76-49. The Panthers owned a 42-21 score at half time and for the game amassed 694 yards of offense, 622 of that yardage via the ground game.
Navarro averaged over 10 yards per rushing attempt and while scoring 34 points in that second stanza.
What type of offense does Navarro run? Yes, that is a trick question as any Hawk fan can attest to seeing that same Panther team run roughshod over CL for these past four years of district play.
That was the one item that would give a glimmer of hope for a 3-7 team facing a 9-1 team in a playoff game.
Pleasanton had an off week and had coaches out the wazoo watching the blood bath agains Navarro in the Hawks last game of the season.
Those coaches certainly did not get a good idea by seeing CL as the Hawks were manhandled offensively and defensively in that contest losing 62-0 and possibly losing any sort of momentum gained in the last half of this season.
In this game Canyon Lake struck for two touchdowns in the first quarter and then relied on a defense that kept the Eagles to their lowest point total of the year and holding this team under 300 yards of offense was a good indicator of how this Hawk team performed.
Special teams was also in good form as Connor Ricker uncorked a 45 yard punt on his only attempt and Mike Thorpe kept the Eagles deep on their end of the field.
Both of those parts of this game resulted in giving Pleasanton more real estate to cover and a chance for making mistakes.
Christian Dittman also played a great first half from his Defensive End position while Isaac Mendez came up with a pivotal interception after a Hawk fumble to end the first half and a Hawk lead over a surprised Pleasanton team.
That same Slot-T offense that hounded this Eagle team a year before also played out again, but this time the jersey was Hawk Green and that was what the Peasanton players were looking like as they left the field after a Thorpe field goal to end the game and season for the Eagles.
Josh DeVries taking flight for extra yardage
Canyon Lake has been to the playoffs for three years now and hold a 2-1 record in their first round of games.
This contest helped erase a season of bad memories and give hope for a team that proved a record is not a true indicator as this win would cause a kerfuffle in the Pleasanton camp.
The fourth quarter started after an Eagle touchdown to end the third stanza and CL still with their 7 point lead, 21-14.
The Hawks could not muster enough yardage to answer this score and Pleasanton would score quickly to tie the score at 21 all.
A 5 play 60 yard drive where Pleasanton mixed up their pass/run offense was taking up huge chunks of yardage and Canyon Lake now looking like the tired team.
That Eagle extra point was converted from 37 yards out after an unsportsmanlike penalty on the Pleasanton score.
Drama was dripping as that extra point would have kept CL in the lead by the slimmest of margins.
There was still 9:04 left in the game and Canyon Lake would need to wake from there slumber after a no-show on their last possession.
The Hawks had some long and time consuming drives sprinkled though out this year’s work and this certainly would be a good time to rehash another ‘Drive’.
Well, CL would run 14 plays starting on their 24 yard line and when Thorpe’s kicked ball crossed over the bar that clock was down to 1:45 and little time for a score from their opposition.
Canyon Lake started ‘The Drive’ with a Josh DeVries 3 yard run and then a fumbled snap and one yard gain for Skyler Tschoepe had the Hawks staring at 6 yards needed for a chance to keep this drive going.
The Hawks would throw their first and only pass to surprise the Eagles but a good defensive player was there to tip the ball and as luck would have it, Shane Relkin was johnny on the spot with the reception.
That play was good for 19 yards and made up for a Pleasanton play in the first half that had the same result when CL tipped a ball on a third down conversion for the Eagles.
DeVries had the only explosive run for 19 yards on this drive while all the rest of the totes would be of the 4-5-6 yard variety.
Player Rushes Yardage
Josh DeVries 4 31
Hayden Dubois 3 14
McGuire Johnson 4 14
Canyon Lake would rush all three backs the rest of the way until a motion penalty took a third down and 2 yards needed for a score…to a third down and 7 yards needed to break the tie.
DeVries got the 5 yards back assessed by that penalty but was still left needing 2 yards to reclaim the lead.
Enter Sophomore Mike Thorpe who had one attempt for a field goal blocked for the season in a varsity game against Boerne two games earlier.
Jen Crownover lives here and supports Canyon Lake
Thorpe had proven his worth in his first game of the season when he came on in the fourth quarter to kick a 37 yard field goal to beat Blanco for the Junior Varsity.
In fact, that was his first field goal try ever as Thorpe had been playing Soccer growing up.
So a 19 yarder would be a piece of cake. And Thorpe would go ahead and make enough cake for the whole team after sailing the ball through the upright and giving Canyon Lake what would the final score, 24-21.
The Hawk defense would keep this game in hand by holding Pleasanton with two completions out of 7 tries with their last play sacking their quarterback.
Every facet of this game was vintage and Canyon Lake would raise some eye brows with their fourth win being over a team that had counted up 9 victories for their season.
Pleasanton has a hard time with the slot-t and this would be the second year in a row where they were derailed showing only one loss on their ledger sheet.
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1 2 3 4 Final
Pleasanton 0 6 8 7 21
Canyon Lake 14 0 7 3 24
Scoring Summary:
Hawks-McGuire Johnson 8 yard run (Mike Thorpe kick), 4:42, 1st
Hawks-Hayden Dubois 27 yard run (Mike Thorpe kick), 1:50, 1st
Eagle-Jacob Arevalo 2 yard run (pass failed), 4:31, 2nd
Hawks-McGuire Johnson 3 yard run ( Mike Thorpe kick), 4:51, 3rd
Eagle-Grant Jackson 11 yard pass from Arevalo (Oliver from Arevalo), 0:40, 3rd
Eagle-Jackson 37 yard pass from Arevalo (Jason Mills kick), 9:04, 4th
Hawks-Mike Thorpe 19 yard field goal, 1:45, 4th
Game Stats Eagles Hawks
Total Yards 294 323
First Downs 14 14
Rushes/Yards 36/130 46/304
Comp/Att/Int 16/24/1 1/1/0
Passing Yards 164 19
Punts/Average 2/29.5 1/45.0
Fumbles/Lost 1/1 4/2
Penalties-Yards 6-45 4-15
TOP 22:54 25:06
Passing Comp Att Pct Yards TD Int
Skyler Tschoepe 1 1 1.000 19 0 0
Rushing Att Yards Ave Lg TD
Hayden DuBois 17 118 6.9 38 1
Josh DeVries 11 110 10.0 43 0
McGuire Johnson 16 76 4.8 18 2
Skyler Tschoepe 2 0 0.0 1 0
Receiving No Yards Ave Lg TD
Shane Relkin 1 19 19.0 19 0
