5A State Championship Preview: Cedar Park vs Ryan

Jack Densmore

January 15, 2021 @ 03:00 PM

Cedar Park has advanced to the 5A state championship where the Timberwolves will take on Ryan at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington at 7 p.m. tonight. The Timberwolves come off of a dominant 61-28 win over Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial. Senior quarterback [player_tooltip player_id="60485" first="Ryder" last="Hernandez"] had one of his best showings in the season with 399 passing yards and seven touchdowns with no interceptions. He finished the night with a 151.8 quarterback rating and a 73.5 completion percentage. Hernandez has been dominant all season and has thrown for more than three touchdowns in every game besides the contest against Vandegrift to start the season. During the playoffs, Hernandez has thrown just two interceptions and has thrown for 24 touchdowns and 1,804 yards. In terms of the rushing game, junior running back Kevin Adams closed out last week’s game with 77 rushing yards and one touchdown. Both Adams and senior running back Cade Haught are the rushing duo for the Timberwolves, but it does seem Adams has gotten more carries during the playoffs depending on the defense and the setting. Against Manvel, Haught received more carries than Adams, so the load trades off between these two which does make it difficult to study Cedar Park’s rushing attack. Ryan will have to prepare for both Adams and Haught in order to not be blindsided by the running game. Both senior wide receivers [player_tooltip player_id="22569" first="Jack" last="Hestera"] and Josh Cameron have been a defense-destroying duo all season and are some of Hernandez’s favorite targets. Hestera had eight receptions for 123 yards and one touchdown while Cameron had five receptions for 120 yards and two touchdowns. Another receiver for Ryan to look out for is senior Gunnar Abseck, who had five receptions for 69 yards and two touchdowns against Corpus Christi Veterans Memorial. The famous Central Texas Black Rain defense is led by senior linebacker Shelby Battles, who has 151 total tackles on the season including nine tackles for a loss. Battles averages 12.6 tackles per game showcasing that he is always around the ball. Battles also has six sacks and 19 quarterback hurries, making him a threat in the backfield as well. Also, senior defensive lineman Hunter Hewitt leads the team with 12 sacks and 24 quarterback hurries, and junior defensive lineman Ian Ferguson follows behind with 11 sacks. The Cedar Park defense is a disruptive crew that is constantly in the backfield which explains the amount of success Cedar Park has had this season. Offenses simply struggle to score at all against the Black Rain.