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Tag: Cedar Park Timberwolves

Cedar Park defeats Hutto

Written by Steven Ryan on . Posted in HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

Cedar Park’s 20-16 win over Hutto Friday night at John Gupton Stadium in Leander, TX, was far from a masterpiece. But as the Timberwolves have shown many times before, grit goes a long way in the game of football.
Cedar Park hung around with defense while its offense had an off night. Then, when it mattered most, that same offense flipped the switch with a decisive late touchdown to win the game and put the Timberwolves in the driver’s seat of District 11-5A Div. I.


“They just stuck with it,” Cedar Park coach Carl Abseck said of his team. “It’s a game of ebbs and flows. You’re going to have some good things happen and some bad things happen, but our guys stuck through it and fought until the end… We did enough at the end to pull it out but I couldn’t be more proud of them.”


Going into its final drive, Cedar Park had just 140 yards of total offense on 49 plays for less than three yards per play. The run-game was nonexistent and junior quarterback Ryder Hernandez was misfiring left and right. But with less than three minutes left, no timeouts and the game on the line, Hernandez fired darts of 15, 11 and 20 yards to juniors Josh Cameron, Gunnar Abseck and Preston Scott. A facemask penalty on the last of those got Cedar Park into the red zone, where Hernandez broke through the middle on a quarterback draw for the 15-yard game-winning touchdown.
“We just had to overcome a lot of adversity. (Hutto had) a great squad over there. It was a great game throughout the four quarters. We just came out on top at the end. It’s just a testament to what our coaches are about there. We just had to finish the game out,” Hernandez said. “Their front came after me the whole game. They did a great job of that, and I think on that last drive we were just getting out quick, letting the playmakers make plays.”

The Cedar Park defense did a magnificent job throughout, holding the Hippos to 271 yards on 57 plays for 4.8 yards per play and 4-of-15 on third downs. They also forced back-to-back three-and-outs before the game-winning touchdown drive, ensuring the offense got the ball back with enough time to score.


The unsung hero of the game was senior defensive back Caden Combs, who chased down Hutto senior wide receiver Dajon Harrison on a long pass play to prevent a touchdown in the third quarter. The next play, senior Ronald Caldwell got around the edge for a strip-sack fumble that was recovered by sophomore defensive lineman Murray Robinson and returned to almost midfield. Without that sequence, the Timberwolves almost surely would’ve taken a loss.


“Defensively, I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Abseck said. “(Harrison is) one of the fastest players in Williamson/Travis County, and Caden’s pretty fast, too, but what he didn’t do was give up. To chase him down and make them snap it again and get the turnover, that’s huge… A lot of people don’t remember that. They just think, oh, the fumble happened right after that. But they don’t realize that that kid ran 60 yards to catch one of the fastest guys around.”

Vipers shut out Timberwolves 17-0

Written by Steven Ryan on . Posted in HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

No. 2 Vandegrift started its season right where it left off. The Vipers delivered a dominant defensive performance, just like they did so many times last year, in a 17-0 shutout of No. 6 Cedar Park at Monroe Stadium on Friday in Austin.

“It’s impressive,” said Vandegrift coach Drew Sanders. “My defense surprised even me tonight because we replaced a lot of guys. We didn’t have everybody back. We replaced several guys on the defensive line, both corners, replaced a safety and replaced a linebacker, and for us to come out and play like that is just total belief in our system, and they really played with great effort.”

Vandegrift held Cedar Park to 140 yards on 49 plays for 2.9 yards per play and completely stuffed the ground game for two yards on 24 carries. Going back to last year’s matchup, the Vipers have kept the Timberwolves off the scoreboard in seven of eight quarters.

Cedar Park didn’t even cross midfield until the fourth quarter and needed a fake punt to do so. Junior defensive back Kaleb Lewis had two interceptions, the second of which came in the end zone late in the game to extinguish the Timberwolves’ best scoring threat.

“Our coaches really drilled it into our head to stay in coverage and a lot of those two plays were (Cedar Park quarterback) Ryder (Hernandez) scrambling around and I just kept my eyes on him and read his eyes, and when he threw it I was just sinking into place,” Lewis said. “It was just super exciting because I get to trust all those guys and I really trust them and you can tell with how we all play and communicate and I was just in the right position because we trust the coaches and they gave us good play calls.”

Vandegrift leaned on two players for almost all of its offensive production with junior running back Bowen Lewis and senior wide receiver Trey Mongauzy combining for 252 of the Vipers’ 275 total yards. Mongauzy broke the Vipers out of an early funk by breaking free for a 59-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter and finished with 10 grabs for 125 yards. Lewis iced the game with a 54-yard scoring burst in the final minutes while posting 127 yards on 23 carries.

“That’s a play we ran against Klein Collins in the second round (of the playoffs) last year and I caught it for a lot of yards. (Cedar Park) is super aggressive and they tried to undercut, so just putting a double-move corner-post on them, we knew it was going to work,” Mongauzy said of his score. “Just a lot of studying. Throughout the game, we were finding holes in their defense and we kinda just attacked them. We found good rhythm and were just hitting everything.”

Vandegrift follows its resounding season-opening win with a Thursday night road game at Killeen Ellison next week. Cedar Park will hope to rebound with a home game against Round Rock Cedar Ridge on Friday.

Westlake at Cedar Park: Friday Night Lights are back.

Written by Steven Ryan on . Posted in HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

Westlake and Cedar Park went toe-to-toe in a competitive scrimmage between two of the area’s best teams Friday at John Gupton Stadium in Leander, TX. Cedar Park scored more points with three touchdowns compared to Westlake’s one touchdown and three field goals, but the Chaparrals seemed to move the ball better, especially when the first-teamers were on the field.

Westlake split reps evenly between three quarterbacks who combined to complete 33-of-46 passes for 317 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Head coach Todd Dodge may very well continue the quarterback rotation into the season as senior Kirkland Michaux (15-of-20, 196 yards, one touchdown), senior Drew Willoughby (7-of-12, 133 yards, one interception) and sophomore Cade Klubnik (11-of-14, 88 yards) all showed strong command of the offense while sometimes leaving a bit to be desired.

“We threw the ball a bunch tonight and… I can’t wait to get to the video to look at it,” Dodge said. “There’s going to be some really good things that were done by all three of these kids, and obviously some mistakes that were made. A lot of that has to do without getting out in front of somebody for the first time. When you play the position of quarterback, sometimes it feels like you’re in a blender, and for all of them it’s about making things slow down.”

No matter who’s throwing the ball, Westlake’s group of pass-catchers will make them look good as Friday’s scrimmage showed just how deep the Chaps are out wide. Westlake’s first six completions went to six different receivers. Senior Mason Mangun led the way with five catches for 105 yards and a touchdown, but senior Ryan Lindley (10 catches, 100 yards) and senior Jack Hoover (five catches, 101 yards) made it clear that defenses can’t key too much on Mangum without getting burned somewhere else.

“I was really pleased with the receivers,” Dodge said. “That’s the strength (of the offense). Our returning wide receivers and the depth that we have there… that’s where we have the most experience, and from a receiver standpoint, we want our offense to be a spread-the-wealth kind of offense.”

Cedar Park was able to contain Westlake’s offense, however, with some timely defensive play. The Timberwolves forced three turnovers (while committing zero) and held the Chaps to field goals on all three of their trips to the red zone. The best defensive play came from junior safety Joshua Bretz, who stripped and stole the ball from a Westlake receiver to set the Timberwolves up with a short field from which they scored one of their touchdowns.

“Defensively, I thought we played outstanding,” said Cedar Park coach Carl Abseck. “(Westlake is) huge up front, they got a phenomenal receiver core and they made some plays, but we made some plays, too… and we were very basic, so I really pleased with how we played with a very basic gameplan… To see our defense stand in there and stop them inside the red zone multiple times was fun and encouraging and give us a lot of confidence going forward.”

It looked like Westlake’s defense will pick up where it left off with its newly found tradition on that side of the ball. Former defensive linemen Braden Cassidy and David Neil helped fuel the Chaps to back-to-back district titles that last two years, and on Friday it was 6-foot-5, 230-pound Bobby Duncem who led the way as Westlake registered nine-touch sacks and regularly had the quarterbacks desperately running away on pass plays that didn’t call for a quick release. 

“The one unit I said I’ll go ahead and praise right now without looking at the video was the effort of our front on getting pressure,” Dodge said. “We were running a lot of people in there, and I think before it’s all said and done, we’re going to have some good depth on our defense line, and that’s something we’ve been blessed with over the last three or four years.”

Despite all the pressure, junior quarterback Ryder Hernandez showed out well by completing 14-of-24 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown. An average quarterback would’ve done a lot worse.

“He’s a competitor, and he’s a good athlete and that’s part of the game,” Abseck said. “You’re going to get pressured at times, and there’s going to be times where we hold in there better and just let him sit in the pocket, but him getting out of the pocket is a good things for us, too, because that opens up passing game gives people a little opportunity to get open sometimes.”

Two of Cedar Park’s three touchdowns came when Westlake had its second-team defense on the field.

Hutto Thrash Cedar Park in Rain Game

Written by Steven Ryan on . Posted in HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

Cedar Park’s 28-game district winning streak came to a resounding end Friday as it became the latest victim of Hutto’s deadly offense in a 65-21 thrashing at Hippo Stadium in Hutto.

Hutto senior quarterback Chase Griffin threw for 480 yards with six touchdowns and no turnovers on 23-of-29 passing in a game that was basically over at halftime.

“This isn’t just your average ballclub over there,” said Hutto coach Brad LaPlante. “This is Cedar Park. You’re talking 2012, 2015 state champs.”

Small but dynamic senior running back Chux Nwabuko scored four touchdowns (two rushing, two receiving) and had 131 total yards (70 on the ground, 61 through the air) on 19 touches (14 runs, five receptions). 

Senior wide receiver D.J. Baptist had his best game of the year with 227 yards and three touchdowns on five grabs. Fellow senior receiver Caleb Forrest added seven catches for 70 yards. 

“For Coach Kirklan, our offensive coordinator, it’s just a matter of time. We can dink and dunk and then finally we can get a matchup that we like, and then we can go for the home run ball,” LaPlante said. “Who are you going to defend? If you’re man-to-man over here, you might be zone over there. Fortunately, we’re good enough that we’re going to find that matchup.”

As good as the skill guys played, LaPlante made sure it was known none of it would’ve happened without some stout play from the offensive line.

“It starts with all that protection. There were a lot of passes over 50 yards tonight. You don’t do that without time,” LaPlante said. “At times they did a good job of catching us on a protection where they sent too many to one side, but we didn’t miss a lot of blocks up front.”

After trading touchdowns on their opening possessions, the Hippos went on a  38-7 run to finish the first half that sent most of the Timberwolves fans scrambling to their cars to get out of the rain and avert their eyes from the carnage.

Jacob Berry scored Hutto’s first defensive touchdown of the season with an interception return in the opening stanza off Cedar Park sophomore quarterback Ryder Hernandez. The Hippos held Hernandez to just 12 completions on 38 attempts as Cedar Park failed to reach five yards per play.

“I know the potential of this defense because I play against them every day,” Griffin said. “Going up against an offense, we’re sharp in practice, I feel betters them, and going up against a defense with a great front seven and defensive backs who have speed is a great test for us each week. So we get better. Iron sharpens iron, and it great walking out with that defense.”

It was a far cry from last year’s matchup, where Cedar Park sacked Griffin six times in a 35-25 win.

“We spent a whole another year working and that showed,” Griffin said. “We had confidence out training. As long as we rely on that each game and got out and execute a good gameplan, which we’ve been doing each week, we’ll come out victorious.”