Friday, April 19, 2024
Sports Roundup
Tolar High School’s football teams have accomplished a lot in their history, but this season’s squad did something no other team has done in the program’s 11-man history. The Rattlers concluded a perfect 10-0 regular season record (6-0 in District 5-2A Division I) with a 63-0 road thumping of San Saba (6-4, 2-4) Thursday night.
The district-champion and state-ranked Rattlers will face Whitewright (4-6), the fourth-place team from District 6-2A Division I, Thursday night at 7 in Springtown in the bi-district round of the playoffs.
“I’m happy for our kids. They are a fun group to coach and be around each day,” said THS head coach Jeremy Mullins. “They’ve done a great job of positioning themselves for an opportunity to do something special.”
Peyton Brown rushed for 154 yards and six touchdowns to pace the Rattlers. He has 1,887 yards and 34 touchdowns this season.
Dillon Soileau added 94 yards and a touchdown on just three carries, while quarterback Jackson LeCluyse completed nine of 13 passes for 160 yards with a pair of TDs and an interception.
Matthew Behrens (four catches, 60 yards) and Cade Moody (2-38) were the TD recipients.
The Rattlers’ defense posted a third straight shutout. They were led by Isaac Blessing with 11 tackles (2 for a loss), Brock Owens with 9 (1 for a loss) and Cash Clark with five (2 for a loss). Mason Berry had four tackles — all for a loss — and Braylen Rice intercepted his third pass of the season.
Wyatt Jones was a perfect 9-for-9 kicking extra points.
Whitewright is led by the dual running threat of Kenneth York (573 yards, 9 TD) and Jackson Evans (496 yards, 6 TD). On defense, 29 of Brett Waller’s 33 tackles have been solo with six for a loss. He also has two quarterback sacks.
The Tolar defense has 93 tackles for a loss this season, including 18 by Luke Willmon, who also leads with four of their 18 sacks.
“It’s now win or go home time,” Mullins said. “Whitewright will look similar to us in what they do on both sides of the ball. We are looking forward to the challenge and the opportunity to win another gold ball.”
GRANBURY CROSS COUNTRY
It’s official, no cross country runner in Granbury High School history has ever had a better season than Bryan Hailey.
The freshman solidified that status Saturday, Nov. 5, by finishing 20th at the Class 5A State cross country meet at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.
Hailey ran a time of 16 minutes, 8.1 seconds, overcoming both nerves and a muddy course to find his way into history.
“I was nervous as all get out,” Hailey said. “But about 100 meters in I settled down. I feel like today was my best race of the year.
“It was slick in a lot of spots. I tried to avoid the puddles while some others just ran through them.”
He also got some last-minute advice from his coach, Amber Ward.
“I told him he’s a freshman at state, and not that many freshmen make it this far, so there’s zero pressure,” she said. “I told him just get out and run. He’s been training for so long, he knows what he’s capable of.
“I was thinking a top-25 finish would be awesome. This is fantastic. And we’ve got him for three more years.”
During those three years, Ward believes Hailey can accomplish two things — breaks the school time record, and win state. The current school record is 15:38, run by Clayton Smith at regionals in 2019 on his way to state — the only other GHS runner to reach state.
“I think he can take another minute off his time,” Ward said of Hailey, whose best time was 16 minutes earlier this season in Hico.
“I wanna go for it next year and drop it every single year after that,” Hailey said.
GRANBURY FOOTBALL
The Pirates’ (4-6 overall, 2-6 in District 4-5A Division I) season came to an end Thursday with a 60-22 home loss to Killeen Shoemaker.
Stats were not available at press time.
“We are very proud of this team. They continued to play hard throughout the entire season despite the adversity we continued to face,” GHS head coach Chad Zschiesche said. “We had great leadership from our seniors and promising play from our underclassmen. We know our seniors will become productive citizens of this great nation, state or community.
“We look forward to seeing what the many returning lettermen will accomplish next year.”
The junior varsity lost to Shoemaker 27-15, Freshmen Purple fell 52-0, and Freshmen Gold lost 40-6.
TOLAR VOLLEYBALL
After a slow start to the season the Lady Rattlers came on strong late to finish second in District 8-2A. They followed with a 3-1 bi-district victory over Archer City in before the season ended with a 3-0 second-round loss to Water Valley in Brownwood this past Saturday.
“We saw a huge improvement from Aug. 1,” coach Misty Rhodes said. “We lose three seniors and gain from a strong JV.”
GRANBURY GIRLS BASKETBALL
The Lady Pirates began the season with a 40-33 home victory over Decatur Saturday. The win moved GHS head coach Alan Thorpe to within three victories of 600 career wins.
Ella Hamlin topped Granbury with 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Kate Hamlin scored nine points with seven rebounds and three blocks, while Madison Black added seven points.
The freshmen won 31-23, while the JV lost 48-34.
The Lady Pirates are scheduled to play at Burleson on Nov. 15.
GRANBURY SWIMMING
Pirate and Lady Pirate swimmers won their home tri-meet recently, besting Grapevine and Colleyville Heritage.
"Grapevine and Colleyville Heritage have traditionally strong swimming and diving programs and have won multiple regional championships over the last decade," said GHS head coach Charles Overton. "To be able to walk out of the meet saying that we decisively won in both divisions speaks volumes to how far we have come as a program and only is scratching the surface of the potential this team has from top to bottom."
Granbury swims at Lewisville Saturday.
Top finishers for the GHS girls were:
Individual
Rebecca Dixon, third, 100 free.
Madison Erezo, third, 50 free.
Mylie Erezo, first, 100 fly; first, 100 back.
Tessa Fox, second, 100 back.
Brenna Haynes, second 200 free; second, 50 free.
Kensington Loving, second, 100 free.
Bailey McDermott, third, 100 breast.
Avery Young, third, 200 IM.
Relays
200 medley, third, Loving, Remi Chastain, My. Erezo, Young.
200 free, second, Young, Ma. Erezo, Dixon, McDermott.
400 free, second, Haynes, Erezo, Erezo, Fox.
Boys top performers were:
Individual
Jack Barefoot, third, 500 free.
Preston Beauchamp, first, 200 free; third, 100 free.
Jordan Buchanan, second, 100 free; third 100 breast.
Tyler Guidry, third, 50 free.
Braxton Heffernan, second, 50 free.
Hunter Jones, third, 100 back.
William Power, second, 500 free.
Ryan Solisz, second, 100 fly.
Relays
200 medley, second, Solisz, Bodie Chastain, Buchanan, Guidry.
200 free, first, Solisz, Beauchamp, Colin Lindsey, Guidry.
400 free, second, Beauchamp, Power, Jones, Solisz.
