Canadian hits the Wall in UIL Class 3A Division II state quarterfinals

WOODROW – The Wall Hawks took out two years of frustration of blowout losses to Canadian by repaying the favor with a lopsided win of their own taking the Region I crown from the Wildcats in a 49-3 thumping on Friday night during a UIL Class 3A Division II state quarterfinal Friday night at Patriots Stadium on the campus of Lubbock-Cooper Liberty.

In a third matchup in as many years, Canadian had handled the Hawks by a combined 78-22 count before the Hawks earned a measure of revenge with the convincing victory.

The Wildcats, playing in their 12th state quarterfinal in the past 13 years, end another solid season at 10-4 overall. Wall (13-1) now advances to the UIL state semifinals for a matchup with defending UIL state champion Gunter (12-2) at 4 p.m. next Friday at Abilene Christian’s Anthony Field.

The Hawks dominated the Wildcats in every facet of the contest putting up 514 total yards while holding Canadian to 214. Wall also held Canadian out of the endzone as the Wildcats didn’t score a touchdown in a game for the first time since 2006.

Canadian took its opening drive and marched right down inside the Wall five-yard line, however, had to settle for a Julius Gonzalez 22-yard field goal giving the Wildcats a 3-0 advantage at the 9:06 mark of the first quarter.

It would be Canadian’s only lead of the night and it lasted three minutes of game time.

Wall answered in a hurry taking the ball right down the field and taking the lead for good on a fourth down touchdown toss from quarterback Landon York to Kellan Oliver off play action putting the Hawks on top for good 7-3 with 6:06 left in the opening stanza.

The second quarter was the difference. Wall established its dominance scoring three touchdowns on a fury of five plays.

The momentum shifted midway through the second quarter when Wall’s Briggs Jones busted loose on a handoff and went 76-yards for a score putting Wall up 14-3 at the 7:33 mark of the second quarter.

After a Canadian drive stalled, the Wildcats pinned the Hawks inside their own 10-yard line but on the second play of the drive, York hit a dart to Evan Bohle who raced 89-yards for the touchdown and all of a sudden it was 21-3.

Wall punched one more score in before half that put the game out of reach for Canadian with a York to Jones 54-yard connection giving the Hawks a 28-3 lead into the Break and the Wildcats never recovered.

York torched the Canadian secondary going 16-of-23 for 351 yards with five TD passes. Jones was the main weapon for Wall snagging four catches for 135 yards with a score and added the 76-yard rushing TD.

Slayden Dickinson led Canadian rushing for 103 yards on 18 carries and quarterback Clay Kendall finished 8-of-16 for 78 yards.

This was also the final game for Wildcat senior linebacker Wyatt Davis. Davis ends his illustrious career with over 600 career tackles.