baller

Pine Tree has an academic tradition they are proud of. Annual success in Math-Science (won state this year,) UIL Academic Team (won regionals this weekend and has 33 going to state; a huge number,) One Act play (winning regionals and going to state,) several students this year going to state in art competition, the list goes on... It would be nice to build a winning tradition in football, but not at the expense of academics. I would not go as far as the school board and hire someone at all cost.

Kilgore should be very proud of how they did this year. Their improvement has been dramatic. But I still have to say Sulphur Springs in 2 games. Make them good games Kilgore.

I agree with what you are saying. Wasn't at the game so I am only getting information from what I read on here. Sabine was not dominated, but they also did not try to take charge of the game. I appreciate your response giving credit to both teams where it is deserved. Just think Sabine could have avoided this by working on things they knew they were weak at during those blowout games. Doesn't make sense to let a whole quarter go by unless you know you can't compete by coming out of your zone. It was incumbent on Sabine pressing the issue not Waverley. So those criticizing Waverley for the stall seems like they are speaking just from sour grapes. And the Sabine fans wishing Waverley lose at state is poor sportsmanship, regardless of what parents of the other team might have said or done. They seem like they were evenly matched, but in the end the better team usually wins. Sabine should learn from this, beef up their weaknesses, and they should find themselves in a better position next year.

You are right longview did make it to state this year because they did work on their passing during their district games unlike years past. They did not make it very far in the past years becuase they did not do so. They learned from their mistakes. Sabine should learn from theirs. So if Sabine played man defense against Newton, why not against New Waverley? Because they knew they could not win playing New Waverley's game. If they had worked more on their man defense in their blowout district games then Sabine could have pressed the issue and forced the action. Sabine never led until the very end, and only because New Waverley went ahead and played against the zone defense in the 4th quarter, which seems like a mistake on their part. If Sabine were a more rounded team defensively this would never been an issue. Sabine has an outstanding, well disciplined team. But New Waverley exploited their weakness, and the better team is going to state.

Hard to declare a winner anyway. Seems like noone dominated. Looks like everyone lost as much as they won.

From a neutral observer with no dog in this hunt, New Waverley led all game in the first half and dictated the play in the the game. Why should they change anything they were doing? It was Sabine who trailed all game up to the 3rd quarter and were being outplayed that should have come out to force the action. There was no reason for New Waverley to change what they were doing to that point. I have seen games where teams have stalled with the lead, and the team behind had to come out to force the action. It is the team with the lead that dictates the action. If Sabine were the better team they would not have been afraid of the other teams atheticism. I agree with a previous post that Sabine should have worked on their man to man defense while they were blowing out their district competition. New Waverely just exploited a weakness in a team that did not adequately prepare for such as situation. I am surprised they did not hold the ball for the 4th quarter also and took the easy win. Sabine showed why they should not make it to state. You need more than a one defense. It is like Longview in football. Great in district in their running game, but can't make it deep in the playoffs because of their lack in passing ofense.

Forgot to mention Casey Hammons at Arkansas Tech. Already has 17 strikeouts in 2 games pitched.

Congrats to Kayla. Saw her stats online for the weekend and they looked great. So did the stats for Sandy James at Angelo State University. These two teams could meet in the DII playoffs. Other ET players I saw stats for had slow starts bur expect them to pick up. Lets hear from others about players they know. I know we have some at LSU and other Louisiana schools that had teriffic years last year.

I'll take a shot at this one. 1. Sulphur Springs - best talent all around in the district 2. Texas High - has been a decent team for awhile now, and should continue to do well in a weaker district this year 3. Mt. Pleasant - don't know much about this team other than what someone else had already said about having select players; have seen players from there play in the past and was impressed The north teams should take the top 3 spots having not lost as much to graduation as the south teams. Now the rest. 4. Marshall - coaching and good core of players should get them the next spot. They surprised me last year with how well they did so I won't be surprised again (unless they beat the north teams!) 5. Pine Tree - should finish in this spot whch is about where they seem to finish around here each year. Lost a little good talent but got some decent players left. Just not enough to get over that hump. 6. Hallsville - lost their pitching; need I say more. Pitching has carried them in the past and not alot of talent left. 7. Longview - will be lucky to even win a district contest; only made playoffs in 5A in a 6 team district with 2 of the teams from Tyler (need I say more) and 4 teams making playoffs. Won't happen tis time Overall graduation last year has taken its toll. Despite combining these teams from two good districts last year, the new district will only be average and 4A and 5A in East Texas is not that strong. The talent seems to be more in the lower classifications which is nice to see. Should see alot of 3A and 2A schools beating 4A and 5A schools in pre-district games.

Another freshman on the UT squad, Amy Hooks from Mesquite, is also tearing it up with the bat. Savony's accomplishment is impressive since she only started one of the three games and pinch hit in the other two. After she pinch hit a double in the second game the coach figured out she needed to put her in the lineup. Will be interesting to see how they do against better competition.

Jr High softball will never happen. No school will spend the money on it, and if any did, they wouldn't have anyone to play against! Maybe private schools might, but I doubt it.

4A state runner up Denton Ryan and 5A state runner up Katy did not have any players make the all-state team. There are many, many deserving players who did not make this list but will go on to do bigger and better things.

Here is my question: what does the TGCA do for a coach? I imagine it costs the coach to join, which is probably why most coaches don't. And why would anyone put stock into any all-state team that does not consider all players? I do think you are overstating when you say it will rob a kid of a scholarship. Plenty of kids get scholarships without any state recognition. My experience has been that TGCA all-state means very little other than to those kids that have the coaches who can influence the vote the most. I could name you plenty of all-state players who will never play softball after high school. Again, what does TGCA do for a coach?

DePaul looked really good beating Oklahoma today. I look for them to be the cinderella story of the series.

Is this even worth commenting on?:unsure: