Cedar Park's Black Rain defense as stout as ever ahead of state final

Photo Credit: Scott W. Coleman

The Black Rain is still the Black Rain.

Every single time the Cedar Park defense was asked to step up this season, especially in the playoffs, the defensive unit has responded, and they’ll need to be as stout as ever as the Timberwolves go up against top-ranked Denton Ryan in the state championship on Friday night.

“It’s easy to look at our offense and all the athletes they have over there and think we’re a one-sided team, but the Black Rain is a tradition,” senior defensive back Josh Bretz said. “We’ve just gone out and done what we’ve had to do.”

Cedar Park gave up 17.9 points per game this season, had one shutout and allowed fewer than 20 points in seven of 13 games. The offense, meanwhile, averaged more than 54 points per game.

When the Timberwolves won the state title in 2015, they had the highest-scoring offense in school history at the time, which scored more than 40 points per game. But a defense allowed less than 14 each time out and remained the top story every week.

“This season is the first time in a while that people realize the offense is pretty good too,” Cedar Park head coach Carl Abseck said. “Offense sells papers, and defense wins championships.”

The Timberwolves held rival Vandegrift to seven points in the season opener this year, but when the points allowed started to creep up, the unit made it a goal to pitch a shutout and did just that against Anderson.

In the regional finals, after Manvel made a second-half surge to take the lead, the Cedar Park defense recovered a fumble and made a key stop on 5th down to shift momentum regain control.

“Once you get to the playoffs, they’re all good, so you’ve just got to stop them,” senior linebacker Shelby Battles said. “They’re going to make big plays, but if they make a mistake we’ve got to capitalize on it and go forward from there.”

Friday night figures to be their toughest test of the season.

Denton Ryan quarterback Seth Henigan, a Memphis commit, has thrown for 3,558 yards and 43 touchdowns. His favorite target is Oklahoma pledge Billy Bowman, who has 2,223 yards and 29 touchdowns.

“Our goal all year has been to execute our game plan and come out and do what we’re supposed to do,” Bretz said. “If we do that, we’ll be alright. It has to be a nameless, faceless opponent.”

The Black Rain has been a family within the Cedar Park football family for more than a decade, but just because this year’s group made it to a state title doesn’t make them better than the rest.

“It makes it exciting, but it’s still the normal Black Rain,” senior defensive end Hunter Hewitt said. “We’re not going to change anything up just because we’re going to state. It’s still a tradition. It’s been that way since they’ve been putting it on us as kids.”

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Originally published at https://www.hillcountrynews.com/stories/cedar-parks-black-rain-defense-as-stout-as-ever-ahead-of-state-final,83797?