| Sports
Highlights MHS girls advance to 3rd
round
Monitor Staff Reports
MABANK–In addition to winning the school’s first playoff game,
the Mabank Lady Panthers soccer team also won their second, and
are now three rounds deep in the state playoffs.
The Lady Panthers’ historic third playoff match was to be
against the District 31-4A champion Whitehouse Lady Wildcats at
6 p.m. Friday in Palestine.
Whitehouse handed the Lady Panthers their worst district loss,
5-1, March 4, as Mabank finished 6-4 in district play.
Now 10-12-2 on the season, the Lady Panthers defeated the
hosting Kilgore Lady Bulldogs 2-1 March 25 for their first
playoff win, and knocked off the Mt. Pleasant Lady Tigers 2-0
Tuesday night to advance to Friday’s sectional round.
At Kilgore, the hosting Lady Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the
first half, but the Lady Panthers came from behind in the second
half, with junior Ashton Norman scoring twice.
Against Mt. Pleasant in Tyler Tuesday, Norman gave the Lady
Panthers a 1-0 lead midway through the first half, with Natalie
Torres adding an insurance goal on a penalty kick in the second
half.
Norman has been the go-to player for the Lady Panthers this
season, scoring about half of their goals (11 of 21) to total 22
of the team’s 43 points.
Torres and Jennifer Pyle have four goals each, with Samantha
Gomez adding two goals and Maegan Olivarez and Samantha Saucedo
each contributing a goal.
MHS student turning pro (wrestling)
By Kerry Yancey
Monitor Staff Writer
MABANK–The names are legendary – Fritz Von Erich, Andre the
Giant, Jesse “The Body” Ventura, Hulk Hogan and Barrett Brown.
Who?
Barrett Brown is a Mabank High School junior who will make his
major pro wrestling debut at the first Germanfest
Wringen-meisterschaft Tournament (GWT), held in conjunction with
the 36th annual Germanfest in Muenster April 29-May 1.
As an independent tournament, the event will draw wrestlers,
referees, promoters, trainers and hard-core fans not affiliated
with one of the major pro-wrestling federations, such as the
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), tournament director Johnny
Mantell told The Monitor.
For Kemp native Barrett, the son of Staci and Jim Brown, the
opportunity to step into the ring in a major tournament is
literally the dream of a lifetime.
“I’ve been interested in (pro wrestling) since I was a kid,” he
said. “My acceptance into the GWT means I have a shot to show
everyone what I can do, why I am here, and why I love this
business ... This is my chance to make a name for myself, and to
prove that this exception was not wasted.”
Because he is still underage – he’ll turn 17 May 2 – Barrett’s
opportunities to fulfill his dream were extremely limited, but
he got a chance to show his stuff at Mantell’s Corral training
center.
“I went to the wrestling center, and he (Mantell) gave me one
shot, and I made it,” Barrett recalled. “It was a dream come
true. I started traveling around and getting bookings wherever I
could.”
“He’s an impressive young man, who is looking to learn all he
can from this weekend around such a wide range of participants
and judges,” Mantell said.
He started serious training Oct. 26, 2009, and started wrestling
Feb. 17, 2010.
Barrett hasn’t gotten into the regular high school sports scene,
but he works out every weekday.
“I lift weights with my trainer, work on the treadmill and do
other cardio stuff whenever I can,” he said.
He’s on a high-protein diet to help build muscle.
“I’m now around 155, but I would like to be around 180 or maybe
200 (pounds),” he said.
While he’s training hard, he’s not into bodybuilding – trying to
look like Ah-noldt – but he did briefly consider it.
“When I got into this, I found I didn’t have time for that
(bodybuilding),” he said.
It’s widely acknowledged that pro wrestling is first and
foremost entertainment – show business – but Barrett says his
biggest surprise was “all the politics in it.”
“There is a business side of this, too,” he said. “I never
thought of that.
“It’s interesting to see from the inside how different
promotions work,” Barrett added.
Although he’s trying to develop his own style, Barrett watches
matches on television and online to study other pro wrestlers’
moves and promotions, and his own matches are recorded so he can
study and correct his technique.
“I was a fan when I was little, and when I got into it, I
converted that into my passion and drive to do what I love,”
Barrett said. “I’m planning on going as far as I can with it.”
Palmer slaps Eustace, 13-1
Monitor Staff Reports
PALMER–The hosting Palmer Bulldogs handed the Eustace Bulldogs
their second straight loss Tuesday evening, 13-1.
Now 12-7 on the season and 1-2 in District 13-2A play, Eustace
was scheduled to host Red Oak Life (2-9, 0-3) Friday night.
Tuesday, April 5, Eustace will host the Malakoff Tigers in the
second-round opener, and Friday, April 8, Eustace will hit the
road to face the other district leader, Sunnyvale. Both
Sunnyvale and Palmer were 3-0 going into Friday’s district
games.
At Palmer Tuesday, the hosting Bulldogs opened a 3-0 lead in the
first two innings before blowing open the contest with an
eight-run third inning, helped along by three Eustace errors.
Up 11-0, Palmer made it 13-0 with two runs in the fourth. The
lone Eustace run came in the top of the fifth inning.
Alex Pharmakis led Eustace at the plate, going 2-for-3 with an
RBI double, bringing home Braden Strickland, who also had a hit.
The only other Eustace hits were by Blake Ward and Raymond
Shutak, as Eustace went 5-for-21 against Palmer’s Zach Hobbs,
who notched the complete-game win.
Hobbs had eight strikeouts and allowed one walk, throwing just
68 pitches against 21 Eustace batters, and also went 3-for-3 at
the plate with a home run and four RBIs.
Strickland took the loss for Eustace, allowing two runs (both
earned) on one hit in 1 2/3 innings. He had two strikeouts and
gave up one walk.
Pharmakis, Chad Barina and Ward also pitched for Eustace, with
Ward giving up seven runs (just two earned) in 2/3 of an inning.
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