Sports Activities
While I was in Phoenix playing Senior Softball, two of my friends and neighbors were taking advantage of some excellent hunting and fishing opportunities.
Warren Blesh, owner of RRR Ranch, bagged this excellent 5X5 mule deer in Colorado.
And, James Crumley caught this 42″ redfish along the jetties at Port O’Conner, Texas. The estimate was that the fish weighed 30pounds! Some guys have all the fun!
Stumpy, and his team The Texans, just finished playing in the Senior Softball World Championships held in Phoenix.
Stumpy’s ready to hit!
The Texans finished second out of sixteen teams, falling 11-4 to a very strong team from Syracuse. In the Texan’s defense, before playing Syracuse for the championship, they had unluckily fallen into the losers bracket, and that day, had already played three games, all in 90 degree, heat. The Texans ended with a 7 and 4 record and in the three National Championship tournaments, finished first once with two seconds. The Texans have qualified for the Tournament Of Champions to be held in Winter Haven, Florida in mid January, 2009 and, as of this writing, haven’t committed to it. About this, Stumpy says, “We’re all still to tired and sore from eleven games in four days, in 90 degree temperature, in Phoenix, to worry about Florida this winter!
This past week my Grandkid’s football teams scored impressive victories. Austin’s, San Marcos Diamondbacks walloped Kyle, Wallace Middle School, 48-8 and Sara’s, Copperas Cove Bulldawgs scored an impressive win over a stubborn Bryan High School 30-10. Number 7 in the state’s class 5A ranking, Cove’s record is now 6 and 0.
The highlight game last weekend was the Goldthwaite Eagles and the Evant Elks, with Goldthwaite streaking to a 75-42, yes 75-42, win. Evant ran an unbelievable 80 plays and Goldthwaite scored on each of its 11 possessions. The 5 and 1, Eagles have a high powered offense but their young defense need to get experience quick as the ‘meat’ of their schedule is approaching.
This week Colton and his Eagles host a tough, fast, Chilton team, while The Dawgs visit Belton. Austin’s, 3 and 2, Diamondbacks are finally at home versus San Marcos Miller Junior High.
Austin’s San Marcos Diamondbacks and Sara’s Copperas Cove Bulldawgs had big wins this week, while Goldthwaite, now 4-1, fell to a big, fast, 2A, team, the Merkel Badgers. Cove hammered Kileen Ellison, 45-0, running their record to 4-0.
Austin’s team beat Kyle, 14-6, and yes the Diamondbacks, now 1 and 1, did pass, and yes, Austin snagged it for a nice gain. Next week they travel to Austin, and maybe we can expect more passing.
Here, Austin, 82, is going after the ball on a kickoff.
Goldthwaite was another story. They jumped off to a 7-0 lead and made a valiant goal line stand at the end of the second quarter.
Just before kickoff, Colton, number 65, comes charging out of the smoking Eagle.
However, after halftime festivities, Merkel came out breathing fire, caused a fumble on the Eagles first possession of the second half and turned it into a score. Then came a pass interception that Merkel turned into a score, followed by another fumble and another score, and it was all over! Final was 28-7, and it appears that the Merkel Badgers chose this game to ‘find’ themselves.
The 3 freshmen on the varsity defense, Colton, Tyler and Sergio, can only watch as the Eagle’s offense is stymied in the second half.
Having just returned yesterday from Las Vegas after participating in a national championship, Senior Softball, tournament, this past week has been a busy one for me. Luckily my Granddaughter, Sara and her Copperas Cove, Bulldawgs, had a week off so last Friday night I was in the stands to watch the Goldthwaite Eagles take on the Mason Punchers. Goldthwaite, ranked 19th in the State in Class 1A, entered the game with a 3-0 record while Mason, also class 1A, was 2-1.
Most high school games take around 2 hours to play, but at the end of this 3+ hour, marathon, Goldthwaite finally prevailed, 49-41. The game produced 2, 200 yard rushers, 2, kickoff returns of over 70 yards, 45 first downs, 854 yards total offense and 3 touchdowns scored in a 33 second period! For a complete summary of this record setting game, go to The Goldthwaite Eagle.
All of this happened to a Goldthwaite defense that, in their first 3 games, had allowed an average of 186 yards in total offense and only 6 points per game. With 11 minutes remaining, Goldthwaite held, what we thought then, was a safe 42-19 lead. In the last 11 minutes the Eagles scored once and Mason tallied 3 times. I believe the entire crowd was ‘sweatin’ as the game ended with a failed Mason on side, kick. Whew!
Early last Sunday I headed off to ‘Vegas to play softball and my team, The Texans, came up short and finished second in the tournament to a Nevada team. This team, ‘D99’, didn’t play against us in Dalton, Georgia and they told us they weren’t going to play in Phoenix. We had never heard of this team and didn’t know any of the players, so I guess we got what we deserved – we lost to an ‘outlaw’ team in a non sanctioned, ‘national championship’ tournament.
Here, The Texans are pictured in a pre-game, prayer.
The Texans are off until October 20th, when we play in the Senior Softball world Championships, in Phoenix. This week, on the road, State ranked 18, Goldthwaite takes on a tough, Class 2A foe, Merkel, while Copperas Cove celebrates home coming and hosts Killeen Ellison
Late Tuesday afternoon I was driving to Lockhart to watch my Grandson, Austin’s, first middle school football game. Kickoff was scheduled for 7:00 PM, but since the first game, B-teamers, finished early, Austin’s game started early and I didn’t get there until half time. Austin’s team, the San Marcos Diamondbacks, were on the short end of an 8-0 score. Just before half time, the Lockhart Lions had driven one in to take the lead..
The second half started with the Diamondbacks driving in for what looked like a score, but a fumble stopped them on the Lions 20 yard line. The Lions then ran 2 plays and then, their big (and fast) tailback exploded around end for a long score. The extra point was missed and we were now down 14-0. No one could catch the big back so Austin was moved from linebacker to free safety, but the big guy never broke another long one
The Diamondbacks then started another long drive and on second and short, the quarterback lofted a long pass for the split end, Austin, who had run a perfect ‘corner’ pattern, freezing the safety, and was all alone for an easy score, but he missed the pass. Three plays later the Diamondbacks scored with Austin getting a clearing block and the extra point was run in making the score 14-8.
After the game I told Austin, “Sometimes you miss a pass, but not to worry, you’ll catch a lot more than you miss!” We’ve all been there; a fumble, an out with the bases loaded, a missed serve, the ball rims the bucket, the world record fish throws the hook or buck fever attacks! He’ll learn from this one and only get better!
Despite the threats from Hurricane Ike, this past Friday night, September 12, both Goldthwaite and Copperas Cove scored impressive victories.
Copperas Cove traveled north of Dallas to play McKinney and rolled over them 49-14, bringing their record to 3-0. At lunch on Saturday, Sara told me that she got back to Copperas Cove at 2:00 AM and that it was a long trip! Because of the hurricane and its uncertainties, the game was started one hour early. This coming Friday, Cove has an off week, but will crank it back up on the 26th.
In the annual “Battle of the River”, Class 1A, Goldthwaite rolled over traditional rival, Class 2A, San Saba, 35-0. The offense ‘rolled” and the defense was outstanding.
Pictured are the 3 starting freshmen, Colton – 65, Tyler – 11 and Sergio – 70. They played solid games. Sergio stopped up the middle and besides making a lot of tackles, Colton recovered a fumble and Tyler intercepted a pass!
This coming Tuesday, September 16, I’ll be in San Marcos, watching another Grandson, Austin Bryan, play in his first middle school game. He is a running back, another “hitter” and plays on all the special teams. Mikayla “cheers” again on the 18th and Austin, like Colton and Mikayla, is a gifted athlete and an outstanding student.
It’s mid-August, football, two-a-days, are on us, every town’s team is going to ‘State’, but by December, only a few will make it to the big game.
One of our Grandkids, Sara, a sophomore, was selected to be a varsity cheerleader for the Copperas Cove Bull Dawgs, a Class 5A school. Quite an accomplishment! The ‘Dawgs’ have been to ‘State’ the last 2 seasons.
Goldthwaite is no different and last Friday night, held in the high school gym in deference to the heat, was the official start of their season Meet The Eagles!
Layla and I had two of our Grandkids introduced.
Mikayla, who had just had her braces applied that day, was introduced as a 7th grade cheerleader.
Colton, on the left, was introduced as a varsity, defensive line backer and offensive guard. He made his goal of making the varsity team as a freshman. Colton, and his friend, Tyler, both being freshmen, were introduced first.
On Saturday morning we drove through a driving, rain, storm, out to Bangs, for a controlled scrimmage between the Class A, Goldthwaite Eagles and the Class 2A, Bangs Dragons. Fearing the season opener would be postponed, we arrived in Bangs, and to our surprise, the scrimmage was being held in an indoor practice facility. I would expect this at Katy or Southlake-Carroll, both big Class 5A, schools, but not small, Class 2A, Bangs.
Colton, in the middle, and Tyler, left outside, both started at linebacker for the Eagles and after a few stuttering plays, settled in and played excellent football, especially for freshmen. A wall of the indoor facility is in the background. I wonder why they played crossways to the stripes?
The longer the scrimmage lasted, the better the Eagles performed. If the team builds on this early success, maybe they’ll be a December team?
Layla and I spent this past weekend in Hillsboro, Texas watching our Grandson, Colton and his team from Goldthwaite play in the Texas Teen-Age Baseball-Softball Association’s, High School Eligible, State Championship, Tournament. Colton just finished the 8th grade and will be a freshman soon, but he was eligible to play.
There were 21, Class A, AA and AAA teams in the tournament. Goldthwaite (Class A) tied for third with West (Class AA). Rosebud-Lott (Class AA), beat Goldthwaite 4-3 in the semi-finals and later on won the tournament, with Vanguard, a Christian High School in Waco coming in second. The smaller high school, Goldthwaite, did very well!
Colton didn’t play a lot and wasn’t a star, but it was a good experience for him and here, against Italy (Class A), he is “pulling the trigger” on a fastball that he drove into left field for a base hit, driving in a run.
Here he’s finished his swing and is moving on to first base.
Football, 2-a-days, start next Monday and Colton, 5”9” and 185, with 5.0 or 4.9, 40 yard speed, is rarin’ to go! We’ll follow his progress closely.
July 10 and 11, Stumpy and his team, The Texans, played in the Mid American Senior Softball Championships in Liberty, Mo, just outside of Kansas City. They came up short in their bid to add this championship to their laurels.
In what turned out to be the deciding game, The Texans came out flat and lost to The Oklahoma Blast, 13 to 10. What makes the loss even more frustrating, going into this tournament, their record against The Blast this year, was 7 wins and 1 loss! Later, talking about the game, Stumpy said, “We play on a square field, with a round ball and a round bat, and you just never know what will happen!”
In the picture, Stumpy shows off the team’s “purse” full of Snicker Bars. Notice his pose and modeling skill!
The Texans, sporting a record of a record of 34 wins and 12 losses, will play next, Sept. 3 through 7 in the SPA National Championships in Dalton, Ga.
