Sports Department

Houston County

The Waco Methodist Children’s Home and Crockett First United Methodist Church sponsored a basketball workshop for the young people of Houston County on June 27-28.

Coach Charles Wilson, the second-year head coach of the Christian Life Center Academy in Houston, volunteered his services in leading the workshop. This event was facilitated under the direction of James Berry, Crockett Youth Services Program Coordinator.

Youths from all over Houston County attended the motivational two-day sessions and reaped the benefits of his exuberant personality.

Coach Wilson shared his knowledge of the goodness of God, the need for further education, and a wealth of college-level basketball drills he has learned over his tenured coaching career.

Participants were: Lonnie Bacon, Nigel McCullough, DeMarcus Griffin, Ariel Mumphrey, Kennard; Montario Richard, Kennard; Randall Griffin, Kennard; Jurmond Wooten, Devone Hadnot, Coby Berry, Cordell Wooten, De'Marcus Berry, Alphonse Phillips, Chase Stewart, Latexo; Derrick Jones, Corey Hall, Kiana Anderson, Lufkin; Jay Anderson, Oklahoma; Antonio Chimney, Zhane Anderson, Lufkin, Victor Wooten, Chris Williams, Cedgadrick Harris, Andujawn Smith and Tevin Collins.

Crockett

Football

Crockett’s championship quest slipped away in the first round of the 7-on-7 State Tournament in College Station Thursday, July 10.

Competing in Div. II (class 1A through 3A), the Bulldogs opened pool play with a 38-13 loss to Gatesville before falling to Lovejoy 14-13 and Houston Second Baptist 21-20.

Then in the first round of the single elimination bracket, the Bulldogs fell as Marion rallied 27-26 with a last-second touchdown and two-point conversion.

The Bulldogs started off strong, taking a 14-0 lead over Marion, a 3A school in South Texas. Marion answered with two unanswered touchdowns but missed a conversion to trim Crockett’s lead to 14-13 at halftime.

The Dogs scored first in the second half but the conversion failed, leaving them with a 20-13 lead.

After Marion cut the lead to 20-19, Crockett countered with another six-pointer but the conversion pass was incomplete for a 26-19 lead. With time running out, Marion scored on the final play of the game and made a two-point conversion to continue in the championship bracket Friday.

Playing on the Bulldog squad were Lonnie Bacon, Derrick Evans, JaGared Davis, Nick Jones, Buck Mc-Cullough, Kwamee James, Napoleon Dennis, Dominique Wheeler, Zack Johnson, NaQuan Lee, Tevin Riley, Anthony Harris, Jonathan Wolf, C.J. Wheeler, Devonte Riley, Tyler Tabor and Mark Leediker.

The FSN Southwest 7-on-7 State Championship began in 1998. Crockett also competed in the 2001 the state tournament, which then only had one division for all schools.

The 7-on-7 program was designed as an off-season workout program for Texas high schools to promote the quality of quarterback, receivers, secondary players and linebackers.

Baseball

Crockett Junior League All-Stars (ages 13-14) were eliminated in the third round of the Section 1 Texas East Tournament at Brenham.

After opening the tournament with an 8-1 win over Elgin on Friday, July 11, Crockett suffered back-to-back losses to Washington County 15-5 on July 13 and Bryan West 8-3 on July 14.

Members of Crockett’s District 10 Championship team were Cameron Boyd, Jake Barnhill, Taylor Rich, Cody Pierce, Dillon Shupak, Lonnie Steele, Dominique Wheeler, Nick Jones, Will Yeager, C.J. Wheeler, Paul Morrison, J.J. McPherson, and Seth Maxwell.

They were coached by Brian Shupak and Clint Boyd, and managed by Clayton Smith.

Lovelady

Lovelady kicker places high in state competition

Lovelady senior gridman Miguel Antonio is poised for another phenomenal season kicking for the Lions.

Antonio, a first team all-district performer since his freshman season, participated in the Lone Star Kicking Challenge in San Marcos and a mini-camp at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville.

Competing at San Marcos on Friday, July 11, Antonio placed fifth in the preliminary round of kickoff competition and finished fourth in the finals. He was third going into the finals of field goal competition.

The competition included athletes from schools in classes 1A through 5A. Antonio was one of just three kickers from class 1A and the only one to reach the finals.

“I thought he was fantastic competing in that setting against all those kickers from bigger conferences. Most were from 4A and 5A schools,” said Lovelady head coach Kerry Therwhanger. “He did an exceptional job. We’re excited about him.” Each contestant made four kicks in the prelims and then the top eight finishers out of more than 100 advanced to the finals for head-to-head competition.

“Miguel kicked off seven times and five of those were for 70-plus yards. He’s about as good as there is around,” said Therwhanger. In addition to handling kicking duties, Antonio will take over punting duties for the Lions, taking the reins from older brother Victor, who has graduated from LHS in the spring.

Therwhanger said Antonio didn’t compete in punting at San Marcos since he hasn’t had much experience in that phase of the kicking game and that event was scheduled for the following day. In the kickoff finals, Antonio went head-to-head against the fourth-place finisher in the prelims. “Miguel stepped up and kicked a 78-yarder against a 5A kicker,” said Therwhanger. “This was the cream of the crop competing at San Marcos. The man who organizes the competition runs a recruiting service. A lot of the big schools subscribe to his service, so this gets the player’s name out there.”

In June, Antonio went to a mini-camp at Sam Houston State University where he caught the eyes of recruiters.

“They were impressed and offered him a scholarship on the spot. I think every kickoff he made went out of the end zone and he didn’t miss a single field goal,” said Therwhanger. “Miguel has to have a good year and stay healthy,” the coach said. “If he has a great season, he could receive additional college offers.”

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Grapeland

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Latexo

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Kennard

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