Sports and Outdoors

 Lake Info

Normal Lake Level is 322.00 feet above Mean Sea Level.
Current level for Cedar Creek Lake is: 321.34 Water Temperature:
77  degrees - top
75 degrees - bottom

Panthers open District 15-4A play at Terrell
By Kerry Yancey
Monitor Staff Writer
MABANK–Starting Friday night, all the games count, as the Mabank Panthers open District 15-4A on the road against the Terrell Tigers.
The Panthers were off last Friday night, and head coach Jimmy Cantrell took the opportunity to watch West Mesquite hand the Tigers their first loss, 27-16, in the district opener for both teams.
Under a new coach (former South Oak Cliff mentor Chris Gilbert), the Tigers (4-1, 0-1) are much more organized and disciplined than last year, Cantrell said.
“This year, they’ve got a plan, and teams with plans are tough to beat,” Cantrell said.
The Tigers have a good running back (Ski Spencer) and their quarterback (Guy Kennedy) is a solid runner as well, Cantrell said.
“He (Kennedy) hasn’t had an exceptional year throwing, but they won their 7-on-7 league, so we know they can throw,” Cantrell noted. “I don’t think that’s what they want to do, though; they want to run the ball.”
It helps that the Tigers have a big and mobile offensive line to run behind, he added.
With that running attack, clock management becomes very important. “It won’t be a high-scoring game,” Cantrell said.
In the earlier games, the Tigers had a tendency to put the ball on the ground, but they didn’t fumble against West Mesquite, he added.
West Mesquite did block a Terrell punt, which set up a touchdown, giving the Wranglers a 21-7 lead late in the third quarter.
The Tigers scored early in the fourth quarter to make it a 21-13 contest, and added a field goal to make it 21-16 with 6:36 to play.
West Mesquite quarterback Trevone Boykin salted the game away with a 72-yard touchdown run.
“They (Terrell) had to step up,” Cantrell said. “They had their chances to win that game.”
Mabank’s defense, which shone so brightly against Van two weeks ago, will be put to the test again, Cantrell said.
“They’re going to have to provide a jump-start for our offense,” he said. “We need to win the battle of field position with our defense, because that helps our offense.
“It’s all about field position for us,” Cantrell added.
Defensively, the Tigers use a 4-2, but give several different looks in the secondary. They have a very athletic defensive line and secondary, so the Panthers can’t afford turnovers.
“We’ve done a pretty good job on that (turnovers),” Cantrell said.
“From here on in, every (game) will be dogfights, and the teams who cut down on mistakes will win,” he added.
It turned out last week’s open date came at the right time for the Panthers, because a lot of folks – including Cantrell – got bitten by the flu bug, with nearly half the team suffering some symptoms.
The Panthers are getting healthier, injury-wise, as well. All three of the linebackers hurt against Van, including standout Nolan Duncan, appear to be likely to return to the lineup.
Duncan, who suffered a frightening “stinger,” was still in rehab as of Monday, but is “probable” for Friday’s game, Cantrell said.
The game likely will come down to mistakes and field position, he added.
“They’re 4-1, and they’re not 4-1 because they’re not playing well,” Cantrell said. “They’re about a touchdown away from being 5-0.”

EHS girls knock off Wills Point in 14-3A loop opener
Monitor Staff Reports
EUSTACE–In a key first-round matchup Friday, the hosting Eustace Lady Bulldogs knocked off the Wills Point Lady Tigers, 3-0, in the District 14-3A volleyball opener for both teams.
Now 19-10 on the season and 1-0 in district play, the Lady Bulldogs were scheduled to host the Canton Eaglettes Tuesday night.
Friday, Oct. 2, Eustace will host the Van Lady Vandals in another key first-round contest, and the Lady Bulldogs will travel to Kemp next Tuesday, Oct. 6. Sub-varsity matches will open at 5 p.m. against Van and at 4:30 p.m. in Kemp.
Originally scheduled to be played in Wills Point, Lady Tiger coach Tracey Pierce agreed to flop the two teams’ home-and-home schedule to enable two Eustace players – junior starter Allie Cass and senior sub Tori Bynum – to participate in pre-game homecoming ceremonies as members of the Queen’s Court.
In another move to accommodate homecoming activities, the varsity match opened the evening’s slate, followed by junior varsity and freshman matches.
The Lady Bulldogs and the Lady Tigers are considered to be the two strongest teams in the district, and they engaged in a memorable slugfest, with Eustace narrowly winning each game, 25-17, 25-23 and 26-24.
The Lady Bulldogs, who have had a number of players out due to illness, were at full strength for the first time in a couple of weeks, veteran head coach Chuck Powers noted.
“It was a relief to have our full team back,” he said later. “The game between us and Wills Point was very enjoyable to watch, coach and play.”
The Lady Bulldogs’ veteran front line – Cass, senior Jenny McConathy, sophomore Catania Grant and junior Harmony Allen – dominated the net at times, helping blunt Wills Point comebacks during the tight third game.
Grant and McConathy were particularly effective, combining for 24 kills and 15 blocks, with Grant notching 13 kills and seven blocks, along with 12 digs and one serving ace, while McConathy had 11 kills, eight blocks, 15 digs, one assist and one ace.
Cass finished with 10 kills, two blocks, 12 digs and one assist, while Allen finished with five kills, 10 digs and two assists.
Senior setter Kim Austin had 22 assists, along with one kill, one ace and five digs.
Shelley Temple had one kill and 11 digs, Vanessa Lopez had three kills, three blocks and three digs, and Erica Sanchez added five digs on defense.
In sub-varsity matches, the Wills Point junior varsity took an equally memorable win from the hosting Eustace JV, 25-11 and 31-29, while the Eustace freshman won their contest, 25-19 and 25-18.

’Jackets looking to do some tweaking
By Kerry Yancey
Monitor Staff Writer
KEMP–Things are looking up for Kemp head coach Greg Anderson.
The Yellowjackets come into this week’s bye at 2-2, having run up more than 1,100 offensive yards in two straight blowout wins, the latest a 51-14 crushing of visiting Palmer last Friday night.
It could have been a whole lot worse, as the Yellowjacket starters didn’t play after the first series of the third quarter, and the backups finished the game taking a knee inside the Palmer 5.
“We got out of the game healthy,” Anderson said. “I thought we played pretty well on both sides of the ball.”
The Yellowjackets don’t have any major injuries to heal, and (so far) have escaped the flu bug that’s been going around the area.
“We’ve been fortunate,” Anderson agreed.
With no big problems to fix, Anderson and his staff will get a chance to do a little tweaking before Van comes to town Oct. 9 for the District 14-3A opener.
“We’ve got some things that we’ve been saving,” Anderson admitted Monday morning. “We’ll do what most people will do, and work on us this week. The kids know, like the coaches do, the first (district game) is a big one.”
Wills Point is the only 14-3A team playing this Friday night, and Anderson – like every other district coach – will take the opportunity to watch the 3-1 Tigers battle the hosting Kaufman Lions.
“I’ll be interested to see Wills Point,” Anderson said. “I know they’ve improved a lot from last year.”
Next week, the ’Jackets will start working to get ready for the Van Vandals, who will come into the district opener at 3-2, having crushed Spring Hill 35-14 last Friday night.
The Vandals reportedly have lost four starters to season-ending injuries, including quarterback Tyler Sharpe (knee) and running back Chase Rabe (broken foot).
“Van has a couple of kids hurt, but they’ve got plenty of others,” Anderson said. “I know everybody else is looking at that (injuries) bringing them back into the pack, instead of being the odds-on favorite.”
Other coaches noted this week that Anderson may be looking at developing a trick play or two to spring on the Vandals, and Anderson didn’t deny it.
“We’ve got a few things up our sleeve,” he said with a grin, “things that we’ve been working on that we haven’t had to use, that we wanted to kind of hang onto for district.”
Overall, the Kemp defense has been improving every week, he pointed out.
“That’s certainly what you want to see going into district,” he said.