Weekly sports report: Hello fall sports, let's get busy

Where did the summer go? That's a common question this time of year when schools begin their fall sports competitions.

From football to cross country to team tennis — with golf not too far behind — it is now a busy time for student-athletes, coaches, and, of course, parents and grandparents. Best of luck to all area teams as the games begin.

FOOTBALL

Pirates going many miles in search of more wins

The Granbury Pirates return four offensive and four defensive starters from a team that chased a playoff berth last season before coming up short with a 3-4 mark in league play and 5-5 overall record.

The offense will rely heavily on junior running back Jadon Rogers (1,235 yards, 13 rushing TDs) once again having a big season. It would help him and the offense greatly if receivers Halston Main (junior) and James Byrd (senior) also step into the spotlight. Anchoring the line is senior tackle Austin Taylor.

Along with 104 yards receiving on just four catches, Byrd is a standout in the defensive backfield (25 tackles, 5 interceptions), while senior Ryan Baker is also a player to watch.  Senior tackle Brayden Olthoff was a beast with 82 tackles, 11 for loss and two quarterback sacks, and junior Augie Zapata heads up the linebacking corps.

Drew Henderson and Brack Peacock — both returning starters and both senior placekickers will highlight special teams.

The Pirates will be competing in District 4-5A with Midlothian (8-5 last season), rival Cleburne (4-6), Killeen Ellison (4-6), Killeen High (2-8), Red Oak (2-8), Killeen Shoemaker (3-6), Waco High (0-10) and newcomer Lake Belton.

"New teams, new roads, new opportunities. We are looking forward to the unknown of this new district," GHS head coach Chad Zschiesche, also known as "coach Cheesy," said. "We control our own destiny.  We must get better every day.  We are excited about how this season could end up.

"With so many athletes without Friday night experience, the sooner our team can adjust to varsity speed, strength, stigma, the better off we will be. We have confidence our athletes will adjust sooner than later."

The Pirates have more than 200 football players in all, throughout the system — a program record — including 50-plus athletes on varsity.

They will open the regular season with the first of two non-district matchups on Thursday, Aug. 25, at 7 p.m. at Carrollton Creekview (6-5, bi-district) out of District 3-5A Division II.

Rattlers loaded with plenty of striking power

Coach Jeremy Mullins' Tolar Rattlers are loaded with talent, returning nine offensive starters and seven on defense from last season's 10-3 squad.

Back on offense are are senior quarterback Jackson LeCluyse; senior receivers Jeffrey Collie, Wyatt Jones and Cade Moody; senior linemen Jacob White, Mason Berry and John McClure; sophomore tight end Drake Owens and sophomore running back Peyton Brown.

LeCluyse has started 29 varsity games, while Berry is in his fourth varsity season starting.

The defense is likewise senior-laden, led by fourth-year varsity starter senior linebacker Brock Owens. He is joined in returning experience by seniors Luke Willmon (end), Berry (tackle), and Jones (cornerback), along with juniors Clayton Stembridge (free safety), Garrison Nation (safety) and Moody (cornerback).

The Rattlers are ranked 12th in the state in Class 2A Division I by Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine. They share District 5 with Coleman (11-1 last season), ranked ninth in the state entering this season, along with Hamilton (6-5, bi-district), Goldthwaite (5-6, bi-district), San Saba (2-9, bi-district), Bangs (1-8) and DeLeon (0-10).

"The new district is certainly that — new," Mullins said. "We have not really traveled that direction a whole lot since I’ve been here. There are a couple of familiar teams in there that we have played, though, in the last few years. Most all of those guys are traditionally tough football teams.

"We return some key guys and there are some obvious expectations to do well. Luckily, this group understands they don’t hand out anything in this sport for free, they’ve done a great job of showing up and going to work.

"We start the year out with a couple of road games and then we are home on Sept. 9 for homecoming. We look forward to seeing zero empty seats at the Snake Farm!"

The Rattlers are set to open the season Friday, Aug. 26, at 7:30 p.m. at Peaster (7-4, bi-district), which is in District 4-3A Division I.

VOLLEYBALL

The Granbury Lady Pirates are 8-11 at this point in the season and this past weekend hosted their own 32-team Granbury Classic tournament.

The team features the senior leadership of Welch (2021 stats: 44 total blocked shots, 3 digs per set, team-best 58 total aces and 0.4 aces per set, 408 total digs, team-best 1,036 total assists), Carly Barton (206 receptions, 0.3 aces average per set last season), Christen Nichols (1.7 kills per set, .053 hitting percentage, 196 total kills) and Kassidy Kirkpatrick (team-high 124 total blocks, .146 hitting percentage, 214 total kills).

Junior Rachel Poirer averaged 1.6 kills per set.

All together, they helped the Lady Pirates reach the postseason with a 19-26 record last season.

In the Granbury Classic, the Lady Pirates started strong with two-game sweep victories in pool play against El Dorado and Levelland before dropping the next four to Canyon Randall, Hereford, Amarillo High and a three-set thriller to Mansfield Timberview.

In bracket play on Saturday, the Lady Pirates fell 2-1 in matches to Euless Trinity and Denton Ryan. They were playing at Euless Trinity at press time Tuesday and host Everman Friday for a 7 p.m. varsity match.

Poirer received all-tournament honors.

Next weekend, Sept. 1-3, the Lady Pirates will be in Orlando, Florida for the prestigious Fall Classic Tournament featuring teams from all across America.

Lady Rattlers look to continue success

The last time the Tolar Lady Rattlers lost a district volleyball match was 2019, the next-to-last league match of that season. Since then they have reeled off 19 straight victories for back-to-back district championships.

Coach Misty Rhodes returned six varsity players, including three starters (though one is injured) from last season's 15-12 team that advanced to the playoffs and went 6-0 in district.

Back for Tolar are starters Trinity Rosseau, Maddie Rue and Ava LeCluyse, all juniors. LeCluyse is recovering from a knee injury. Also on the varsity a year ago as reserves were juniors Laney Henderson and Reese Tyson, along with sophomore Senne Imel.

The Lady Rattlers entered this week with a 4-11 record, coming off a rough weekend where they dropped a match against Godley this past Friday and dropped several matches in the Glen Rose Tournament. They lost to Brock on Friday. Tolar will be competing in the Rio Vista Tournament this weekend.

TENNIS

GHS road warriors

Granbury High School’s team tennis squad is off to a 3-2 start this season, heading into district play this week against Brewer. The first match was at home at press time, followed by a match at Brewer Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

The Pirates are 3-0 on the road this season and 0-2 at home.

GHS opened the season with a 14-5 home loss to Cleburne, traveled to Arlington High and won 14-5 over AHS and 12-7 over Arlington Lamar. That was followed by a 14-5 home loss to Brock and a 19-0 victory at Glen Rose.

“I am feeling good about how we competed in the pre-district; our boys are showing major growth, and our girls are playing very well,” GHS head coach Mason Connor said.

CROSS COUNTRY

Cross country season gets underway this week for Granbury and next week for Tolar. The Pirates and Lady Pirates will participate in the Milers Club Day meet this Friday, Aug. 26 at Brawner Intermediate School at 6:45 a.m. before going to Burleson for the Elk Run on Sept. 2.

Meanwhile, Tolar hits the road to the Keene Invitational on Aug. 31 for its first meet.