Parisian

Midlothian Heritage OC Cooper Crowell is the new head football coach. Interim AD Kendal Kirk becomes full-time AD.

The 2019-20 school year was officially over when state testing was waived. Districts will pretend to transition to online learning but the digital divide will make that impossible to enforce. I don't see anything approaching a normal graduation ceremony this year. We're all hoping for miracles, but for now, miracle thinking could be a return to normalcy in time to stage a 2020 football season which, if my math is correct, is on the clock as 133 days away.

Paris vs Van @ Mt. Vernon Friday 6 pm

North Lamar beat Pittsburg, 37-30, to decide the No. 4 seed from District 15. In other play-in and warmup games Friday: Canton 57, Van 56 (2 OT) ... Nos. 1 & 2 seeds from District 14 Quinlan Ford 60, Sunnyvale 35 ... Quinlan Ford 44, Community 37 ... Nos. 3-4 seeds from District 13 (Note: Ford elected to take the No. 4 seed, and Community-Sunnyvale will play tonight to decide the No. 3) Warmup game: Paris 62, Carthage 46 Warmup game: Van Alstyne def. Liberty-Eylau Warmup game: Krum 56, Crandall 45 Warmup game: Commerce 49, Chapel Hill 43 Here are the two Class 4A Region 2 East Texas brackets for the playoff ride to the regional tournament in Commerce. Paris will be trying for its 5th trip to regionals over the past 6 seasons. The survivor of the first bracket probably will meet Carter in the semifinals, while the second bracket would get Faith Family in the other semi. Save travels to everyone.

Thanks. I appreciate that.

Bi-district matchups: Paris vs. Tyler Cumberland, Tuesday 7 pm @ Sulphur Springs Liberty-Eylau vs. Kilgore, Tuesday 7:30 pm @ Hallsville Pleasant Grove vs. Chapel Hill Tuesday 7 pm @ Marshall Pittsburg/North Lamar winner vs. Henderson Paris' path to regionals appears to include the loser of Van-Canton in the area round, and Henderson in the quarterfinals. Henderson came on strong to win District 16 (11-1). L-E and PG are in the other quarterfinal bracket. To get to Commerce one of the Texarkana schools will have to survive a field that includes District 13 champion Crandall and the winner of Van-Canton.

OK, so to wrap this topic up... Tuesday's scores: Paris 66, North Lamar 40 Liberty-Eylau 70, Pleasant Grove 58 Final Boys standings: Paris 8-0 Liberty-Eylau 6-2 Pleasant Grove 4-4 (tie) North Lamar 1-7 & Pittsburg 1-7 NL & Pitt have a play-in game Friday at Rivercrest. Winner advances to bi-district vs. District 16 champion Henderson. PG plays runnerup Chapel Hill in first round. Kilgore & Tyler Cumberland tied for 3rd in District 16 and will have a play-in game. Paris gets the loser in bi-district, winner of NL-Pitt gets the winner.

None of the other Lamar County school districts were formed by "breaking away" from Paris ISD, which originated as a City of Paris school system back in 1884. The other districts have resulted from consolidation of smaller county schools plus PISD's decision long ago not to expand its base into serving those areas by pursuing annexation. We focus on the athletic side of school systems here on this forum, and I understand the political implications of "smaller is better" where school government is concerned. But the big disadvantage to having multiple independent districts in such a small area (overall population of Lamar County is around 50,000), is the inability to offer a variety of solid educational career tracks that are now mandated by the state of Texas. Education has advanced far past the 3 R's plus ag, homemaking, and woodshop. I wish there were more cooperation among the various schools towards that goal, but that seems unlikely. But, back to the original question of this post: Will NL ever be competitive again in football? I don't know, but I do suspect it will take time. Passing the new bond would be a big first step.

Just wondering if the upcoming bond election had any effect on this decision? It may have been coming regardless. I don't know.

Don't know any specifics, but I would suppose he didn't take the contract non-renewal very well. He's still under contract for another year.

Another update: Emeyabbi has been placed on administrative leave as reported just now by The Paris News (note: The Paris News access is normally by subscription, but they appear to have made this article free) http://theparisnews.com/article_8a947646-4e8a-11ea-899c-f7f26dc7a419.html#utm_campaign=blox&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

I believe that all NLISD facilities (administrative, HS, MS, elementary, stadium) are within Paris city limits with the exception of one elementary located in Powderly (about 10 miles north).

Update: Paris newspaper reports today that NLISD took no action on Emeyabbi's contract at their Monday meeting. Maybe this map will help those not familiar with Lamar County. Geographically, very little of NL's district resides within Paris city limits (basically, the red circle which denotes Loop 286). A half-century ago, Paris ISD had the opportunity to annex NL but chose not to take on the enormous busing obligations that much territory would require. As a result, Paris ISD is severely land-locked and has endured many years of financial strain. While the past decade or so has been kind in matters of proportional state funding, the political winds can change in an instant. Note: This is an old map. As previously mentioned, Roxton and Chisum have now merged.

There's actually 4 ISDs in Lamar County: 4A Paris, 4A North Lamar, 3A Prairiland, 3A Chisum. Chisum recently took in Roxton ISD. There hasn't been any recent consolidation talk among those four districts that I'm aware of, but NL could definitely benefit from a bond issue. Not many schools left with a natural turf field, and R.L. Maddox Stadium is a quagmire when it rains.

Tuesday's scores: Paris boys 68, Pleasant Grove 59 Pittsburg boys 53, North Lamar 49 PG girls 67, Paris 27 Pitt girls 55, NL 30 Boys standings: Paris 7-0 Liberty-Eylau 4-2 Pleasant Grove 3-3 North Lamar 1-5 Pittsburg 1-6 Girls final standings: PG 8-0 L-E 6-2 Paris 3-5 NL 2-6 Pitt 1-7 Boys synopsis: Paris has now won 18 straight district games and 9 district titles in Billy Mack Steed's 13 seasons at the school. L-E can take the No. 2 spot with a win next Tuesday vs. PG. NL and Pitt appear headed for a play-in game unless Pitt can upset L-E Friday.

If they end up in a tie, I assume they could either have a playoff or flip for seeding. Realistically, there's not much difference in the playoff bracket for the Nos. 2 & 3 seeds. Unless they want a rubber game match with each other, they might just flip it.

Friday's scores: Paris boys 82, Pittsburg 50 Liberty-Eylau boys 53, North Lamar 38 Paris girls 49, Pitt 48 L-E girls 53, NL 43 Boys standings: Paris 6-0 Liberty-Eylau 4-2 Pleasant Grove 3-2 North Lamar 1-4 Pittsburg 0-6 Girls standings PG 7-0 L-E 6-2 Paris 3-4 NL 2-5 Pitt 0-7 Tuesday's games: (regular season ends for girls) Paris at PG, NL at Pitt Boys synopsis: Paris has clinched no worse than a championship tie and will clinch outright with one more win (vs. PG or NL) or a PG loss. The Feb. 18 PG @ L-E game will likely determine the Nos. 2-3 seeds, while the Feb. 14 NL @ Pitt game will likely decide 4th place. Girls synopsis: PG and L-E are 1-2. An NL win over Pitt creates a tie with Paris for 3-4, while a Pitt win makes Paris 3rd and NL 4th.

Final: Paris 71, Liberty-Eylau 45. Cats used a 22-6 second quarter to take control. The Leopards' big men got in early foul trouble, and the Paris defense and fast break took over. A win Friday vs. Pittsburg would clinch at least a tie for the 6th district title in the past 8 years for Paris. It would be Billy Mack Steed's 9th in 13 seasons at PHS and 16th overall in his 25-year coaching career.

PG beat Crandall and Paris beat Spring Hill to advance to last year's regional tournament.

Paris 2020 schedule: Scrimmage 1 Henderson - H Scrimmage 2 Denison - A Week 1 Arkansas High - A Week 2 Celina - H Week 3 Pleasant Grove - TBA Week 4 Wylie East - TBA Week 5 Melissa - A Week 6 Anna - H Week 7 Carrollton Ranchview - A Week 8 Terrell - H Week 9 Kaufman - A Week 10 Bye Week 11 Argyle - H

Actually, Pitt kept it close with an incredible 3-point shooting performance in their new gym until Paris blew it open in the 2nd half. Paris has, by far, the best starting lineup in the district but if any of the starters is missing or gets in foul trouble, they're vulnerable. L-E has the athletes to challenge if the Cats aren't on their game.

District 15-4A teams will not face any DFW teams until the regional tournament. The two regional quarterfinal brackets are composed of Districts 13-16, and right now it looks like District 15 could send 2 teams to Commerce, just like last year. And, just like last year, the road ends in the regional semifinals. It looks like Faith Family and Carter will provide the roadblocks to state.

Final: Paris 61, North Lamar 28 It was over after one period (22-2). That makes 15 straight district wins by Paris since the end of the 2017-18 season. Standings: Paris 4-0 Liberty-Eylau 3-1 PG 2-2 NL 1-3 Pitt 0-4 Tuesday's games: Paris @ L-E, PG @ Pitt If Paris wins Tuesday, Cats will have a 2-game lead with 3 to play and a virtual lock on the title. An L-E win makes the race interesting.

Friday's game: Liberty-Eylau 60, Pleasant Grove 58 . . . L-E led throughout but PG made a late run and missed a 3 at the buzzer North Lamar plays at Paris Saturday. In girls play, PG beat L-E 65-52 to clinch another district title. Paris beat NL 63-47...updated girls standings: PG 6-0, L-E 4-2, Paris 2-3, NL 2-4, Pitt 0-5

Friday's games: Boys: Paris 81, Pleasant Grove 58 & North Lamar 60, Pittsburg 50 Girls: PG 81, Paris 37 & NL 63, Pitt 46 Boys standings: Paris 3-0, PG-NL-LE all 1-1, Pitt 0-3 Girls standings PG 4-0, LE 3-1, NL 2-2, Paris 1-3, Pitt 0-4 Tuesday's games: PG @ NL, Pitt @ LE Paris-PG boys game summary: Paris got its running game going early on turnovers and defensive blocks, while two key PG players got in foul trouble in the first half to help Paris to a 36-21 halftime lead. Cats stretched the lead to 28 points in the second half before some 3-point shooting by Brett Carmony (15 points on 5 treys) trimmed the margin to 16 at one point. T'Vondrick Henry led PG with 25 points and Marcus Burris scored 8. For Paris, Jameon Mitchell scored 20 (4-3s), Jaelyn Lee 19, Trevon Dennis 14, Trae Johnson 9, and Gavyn Hollje 8. Hawks were missing two of their big men (one with ankle sprain, one on grades), so maybe it's different in the rematch on Feb. 11 in Texarkana. But the Cats certainly had the edge in quickness in this meeting and are in better basketball shape at this point and time.