The Bridgeport Bulls will begin their playoff run tonight with a Class 3A Division II Region I area game against the China Spring Cougars.
Kickoff for the clash is at 8 p.m. at Burleson Stadium. Sports Editor Richard Greene will be blogging about the game live at the stadium.

The Decatur Lady Eagles basketball team was forced to switched opponents for its game Friday night.
The Lady Eagles were scheduled to play the Aubrey Chaparrals, but will now play the Nocona Lady Indians at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Only the varsity will play.
Aubrey had to cancel its game after its volleyball team made this weekend’s state tournament in San Marcos.

The Chico School Board unanimously approved a resignation agreement with Athletic Director and football coach Pete Hart Monday night.

After a brief executive session and comments from eight members of the public, including four students, the board approved the agreement to cut ties with Hart effective Monday. The school district will pay Hart $75,000.

The Chico School Board entered executive session shortly before 7 p.m. Monday night to discuss the resignation agreement with Athletic Director and football coach Pete  Hart.

Before the board left the cafetorium to go to its chambers to discuss the matter in executive session, eight people addressed it, including four students.

“Coach Hart is the most inspirational person I’ve met in my entire life,” said Chico football player Lincoln McNabb. “Coach Hart has been there when I needed him. He’s always been there when his players needed someone to talk to.”

The Bridgeport Bulls have a date set for their playoff opener.
Bridgeport, who had a bye through bi-district, will open the Class 3A Division II playoffs Friday at 8 p.m. in Burleson against China Spring. China Spring earned the trip to the area round with a 31-20 victory over Fischer Canyon Lake Saturday in Georgetown.
Tickets for the game will be presold at Bridgeport High School with prices set at $6 for adults and $5 for students. All tickets at the gate will be $8.

By Richard Greene
After eight seasons, Athletic Director Pete Hart and Chico ISD could be parting ways.
Chico ISD Superintendent MIke Jones said Wednesday afternoon that the school board would consider a resignation agreement with the athletic director at its regular meeting Monday. No details of the agreement were released.
Jones said no opening would be advertised until the board takes action at Monday’s meeting that is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the Chico Elementary Cafetorium.
Hart, who coached the football team in addition to his athletic director duties, did not wish to comment on his future with the district.
Chico, which had District 9-2A’s smallest enrollment, finished a winless season Friday with a 46-22 loss to Jacksboro.
In Hart’s eight seasons at Chico, the Dragons are 12-68.

Photos by Joe Duty
By Richard Greene
Playing the fifth-ranked volleyball team in Class 3A, Burnet coach Bethany Grissom knew it was going to take a special effort from her team to get past the Decatur Lady Eagles.
The Burnet Lady Bulldogs delivered what she called best match of the year, taking down Decatur in four games Saturday at Glen Rose High School. Burnet won the Class 3A Region I area match 25-22, 25-22, 14-25, 25-20.
“That’s the best we’ve played all year,” Grissom said. “That’s what we need to beat teams like this.”
The loss ended a historic run for Decatur. The Lady Eagles finished the season 36-7 and won their first outright district title, going 10-0.
“It was an unbelievable season,” said Decatur coach Claire Rose. “To get 15 girls to stay together for three and half months is remarkable. It says a lot about the senior class. I can’t be more proud of them.”
A tearful and choked up Rose struggled to find the words to describe what the four seniors — Holly Harrison, Fleming Smurthwaite, Carmen Cash and Claribel Trejo — meant to her.
The match closed a four-year career for the Decatur setter, Smurthwaite.
“It’s a tremendous feeling, knowing all four years has worked up to this,” Smurthwaite said. “Then as a senior, you have the best team you can ask for. We all worked as hard as we could.”
Trying for its first area title, Decatur never found its rhythm against a Burnet offense that mixed up its hitting between the hard-hitting of outside hitter Laura Servise and the off-speed tipping from the rest of the team.

“They were very prepared for us,” Rose said. “We had a hard time blocking the ball and made a lot of mental errors. The mental errors came back to haunt us.”
Servise put down a match-high 21 kills. She was fed constantly throughout the match by setter Anastasia Bingham, who recorded 39 assists.
“[Servise] is the one that can get up and terminate the ball,” Grissom said.
Servise opened the match with four kills, helping Burnet to a 7-1 lead. Decatur inched back to within a point at 16-15. After a Decatur error, Servise put down the first of three kills to help Burnet keep the lead. Eden Sultimeir’s tip and then kill off the Decatur block won the game for Burnet. Sultimeir finished with 12 kills.
Decatur jumped out to 5-1 lead in game two, but could not hold it. Sultimeir’s block tied the game at five. The two teams traded leads until Servise’s kill put Burnet in front for good, 21-20. Burnet took the game on a Decatur service-receive error. Decatur had three errors in service receive and three service errors in game two.
“The first two games, we weren’t clicking,” Smurthwaite said. “All the errors in the first two games seemed to wear us out.”
Decatur took a 5-4 lead in game three and never slowed. A Sara Oxford kill put Decatur up 19-12. Kortney Tompkins put down the game-winner.
Oxford finished the match with 15 kills. Tompkins added seven.
Game four went back and forth until a Decatur service-receive error put Burnet in front 17-16. Burnet went on a 7-2 run to build a 24-18 lead. Two kills from Smurthwaite kept Decatur alive. Then after a long volley, Burnet’s Kati Maldanado put down a kill to end the Lady Eagles’ season.

Photo by Joe Duty

By Richard Greene
The Boyd Yellowjackets are hoping Friday the 13th is not a night of horrors, but the start of dream title run.
Boyd, which closes the regular season Friday, has set its Class 2A Region II Division I bi-district tilt with the Pilot Point Bearcats for Nov. 13 at Springtown’s Porcupine Stadium at 7:30 p.m.
The game will be a rematch of last year’s first-round playoff game, which Pilot Point rallied to win 32-28. Pilot Point scored 19 points in the fourth quarter to earn the victory.
Both teams said last year’s game will help during next week’s preparation.
“It won’t give any more advantage to us, but when we start breaking down film next week we will spend some time looking at last year’s film,” said Boyd coach J.G. Cartwright. “They have a lot of the same people.”
Pilot Point coach Blake Feldt added: “We’ll prepare a lot like we did last year. We both have a lot of the same guys. It’ll be an interesting matchup.”
Pilot Point enters the final week of the season undefeated and ranked No. 5 in the latest Class 2A Harris Poll. The Bearcats play undefeated Aubrey this week in a showdown for the District 10-2A title. Pilot Point is coming off a 30-20 victory last week over Callisburg, the league’s other playoff team.
Including next week’s showdown with Boyd, Feldt said it’ll be a tough three-game stretch for his team.
“No doubt it’s a tough stretch; but at the same time, we’ve played good teams all year,” Feldt said. “We beat Lake Worth, which beat Dallas Madison. We beat Ferris, which beat Kennedale. Sanger also has a good team.”
Pilot Point is led by running back Jarmen Johnson, who has 1,581 yards on 132 carries. Pilot Point’s quarterback Seth Tilley has added 1,256 yards through the air, completing 89 of his 143 attempts with 15 touchdowns and only three interceptions.
“Pilot Point will be a really tough game,” Cartwright said. “When you get in the playoffs, you are going to play some good teams. Pilot Point is one of the top teams in the state.”

Boyd closes the season with Millsap Friday. Boyd can claim the District 9-2A title outright with a win. After losing four straight games against Gunter, Glen Rose, Godley and Grandview just before the start of district play, Boyd has rolled to four straight victories. Cartwright said the team is playing better.
“We are peaking, but I’m not sure if we have reached our peak,” Cartwright said. “That non-district schedule was tough, but helped us.”
Boyd quarterback Tim Fleming is nearing 1,000 yards rushing. He has 839 yards on 138 carries. He has thrown for 724 yards, completing 50 of his 111 attempts.
The Boyd defense has allowed only 29 points during district play.
“Cartwright always does a great job,” Feldt said. “They’ve won two state championships and in the playoffs they always pick it up a notch.”

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR. Photos by Joe Duty

By Richard Greene
Paradise’s Hannah Runnels watched anxiously to see which way the ball she served would fall after hitting the top of the net Tuesday night.
“I was terrified,” Runnels said. “I said to myself that I cannot miss this serve at game point. Luckily it went over.”
Runnel’s serve sealed the Paradise Lady Panthers’ four-game victory over the Bowie Lady Jackrabbits. The Lady Panthers won the match 25-14, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22.
It is the Lady Panthers’ first playoff since 2003.
Paradise will now get a bye through the area round. It will play the winner of the Colorado City and Nocona match in the Class 2A Region I quarterfinal Monday or Tuesday.
When Runnels went to the service line in game four, Paradise was trying to hold off a late Bowie rally. Paradise had led 17-12, but Bowie closed within one, 23-22. Meg Arthur kept Paradise in the lead with a kill to send Runnels to the service line at game point, 24-22. Her low serve tipped the top of the net and took dive to the floor. Three diving Bowie players could not keep it off the floor.
“Her serves have been like that all year,” said Paradise coach Susie Burt. “I’m glad it fell the right way this time.”
Paradise stayed on the offensive most of the match. Four different Lady Panthers finished with double-digit kill totals. Casey Fletcher led the way with 19. Hannah Johnson added 16. Setter Meg Arthur finished with 53 assists.
Paradise cruised through game one, building a 12-4 lead and never looking back. Fletched paced the Lady Panthers with four kills. A Runnels ace started a three-point run to close the 11-point win.
Paradise jumped out to a 12-5 lead in game two. It would not be able to hold the lead. Bowie tied the game at 18 and took a lead on a block for a kill by Rachel Austin. After back-to-back kills from Fletcher, Paradise knotted the game at 23. A Paradise service error and serve-receive error gave the game to Bowie.
With the match tied at one, Burt told hitters Fletcher and Johnson to keep hitting at the Bowie blockers. Johnson broke a deadlock at 12 in game three with a kill. It was the second of six kills for Johnson in the game. Her kill off a double block put Paradise up 24-21. Fletcher then ended the game with her 15th kill.
“I told them to start putting it into the block and see where it would fall,” Burt said. “They both hit the ball hard.”
Paradise jumped out to an 11-3 lead in game four before Bowie rallied to set up Runnels’ dramatic match-ending serve.
Paradise had a solid match defensively. Candice McDaniel finished with 39 digs. Baleigh Newman added 21 and Gabbie Von Heuvel 19. Fletcher finished with seven blocks.

The Decatur Lady Eagles volleyball team will begin the playoffs Saturday against Burnet.
The Class 3A Region I area match has been set for 5 p.m. in Glen Rose.
Burnet, the runner-up in District 8-3A, advanced to the area round by defeating Whitney Tuesday night in four games. Burnet dropped the first game and then rallied to win games two, three and four.
“It should be a good matchup,” said Decatur coach Claire Rose.

By Richard Greene
The Decatur Lady Eagles cross country team took its first step toward repeating as Class 3A state champions Wednesday, claiming the 5-3A title.
Decatur eased to a 32-point win, finishing with 21 points at the District 5-3A meet at Joe Wheeler Park. Iowa Park took second with 53 points. Burkburnett earned third place and the league’s final bid to the Class 3A Region I meet in Lubbock Nov. 7, scoring 67 points. Bridgeport was fourth with 86 points.
“District is the first step,” said Decatur’s Hanna Galloway. “We want another state championship trophy to go into the case.
“I couldn’t be more proud of [the team]. We worked really hard.”
The district title was the sixth straight for the Decatur girls. It was also the program’s 13th league crown since 1995.
Decatur coach David Park said the girls ran solid, even though they weren’t at full speed.
“We were very business like,” Park said. “Our focus was on training this week. The past two weeks we’ve been training hard, and they are a little dead-legged. But they were able to run about the same time as last year. We’re right on target — maybe a little ahead.”
Iowa Park’s Bethany Hale won the race, running an 11:59 on the two-mile course. Hale edged out Galloway by slightly more than second.
Galloway and Hale matched each other step for step over the first mile and half of the race. The two clipped the first mile in 5:43. In the final half mile, Hale surged ahead of Galloway and put a gap between the two. Galloway made a charge down the final hill. She came less than 10 meters short of catching Hale, finishing in 12 minutes.
“I wish it was a little bit longer,” Galloway said. “She’s a good 800 runner. She took off with 800 meters left. I got a little tired.”
Park said Galloway made a strong push at the end against Hale.
“We knew coming in Bethany would be great and tremendous competition,” he said. “Hanna ran great. Any time you’re around 12-flat, you’re doing well. She was at 12:18 last year.”
Galloway was followed across the finish by three teammates. Natalie Neighbors took third, running12:30. Zuleima Palomofinished fourth in 12:50. Bianca Morrrison was fifth, running 12:56. Decatur’s fifth runner was Veronica Torres, who finished seventh in 13:05. Rebecca Roose was 11th in 13:11. Sutton Young took 18th in 13:49.
Bridgeport’s top runner, Shaley Johnson, finished 14th in 13:29. Tiffany Hawkins took 15th in 13:30. Alyssa Holmes ran 13:40, taking 17th. Reina Mack was 19th in 13:50. The team’s fifth runner, Irene Amador, finished 21st in 14:10. Bin Na Kim was 22nd in 14:29. Sabrina Garza took 26th in 15:14.

By Richard Greene
Last year, the Decatur Eagles cross country team edged out a one-point victory over Burkburnett to claim the District 5-3A title.
Burkburnett reversed the roles Wednesday afternoon, taking the league title by a point at Decatur’s Joe Wheeler Park. Burkburnett finished with 27 points. Decatur took second and earned a trip to the Class 3A Region I meet in Lubbock Nov. 7 with 28 points. Vernon finished third with 82 points.
“It’s kind of disappointing,” said Decatur’s Cris Ortiz. “Next week is a different race and we’ll do better.”
Burkburnett and Decatur took every spot in the top 10. After the top eight runners crossed the finish line, they were even with 18 points each. Down the final hill, Decatur’s Eric Pedroza held a slight lead over Burkburnett’s Anthony Holland. Pedroza, who was battling illness, could not hold off Holland in the last 10 meters. Holland squeezed across the finish line in ninth place in 18:31, two seconds ahead of Pedroza in 10th, to secure the league title for Burkburnett.
“We were just a healthy Eric away,” said Decatur coach David Park. “Eric will be fine, and we’ll be fine. But that’s the way the season has gone. We’ve had the flu, floods and fog, like our shirts say, and ran through it.
“Last year, we beat them at district; but they won the region and ended up going to state. We ended up fourth by three points and didn’t get to go,” he added. “I told the boys, ‘the roles were reversed today. Let’s make sure they are reversed next week.’”
Burkburnett’s Christian Mendoza claimed the individual district crown, running 16:57 on the 5K course. He beat his teammate Brian Keksi by a second.
Ortiz took third, running 17:20. He said Mendoza and Keksi set a fast pace for the race. The Burkburnett duo hit the one-mile mark in 5:07. Ortiz clipped the first mile in 5:20.
“I went out too fast,” Ortiz said. “I think they were trying to burn me out in the first mile.”
In the final 1,500 meters, runners had to battle fierce winds with no shield from trees.
“When we hit the pasture, the wind hit [us],” Ortiz said. “I felt like my legs were dead.”
Ortiz led a quartet of Decatur runners across the finish line. Alex Forbis took fourth in 17:38. Gustavo Huerta was fifth, running 17:52. Chase Saunders finished sixth in 17:55. Pedroza ran 18:33. Remmington May took 12th in 19:14. Pablo Rivas finished 14th in 19:33.
Park said his team ran a solid race and did not get caught up with trying to run the fast pace set by Burkburnett’s top duo.
“Our race plan was not to get sucked into that [pace],” Park said. “We wanted to pack up and try to split them up and put five [runners] between their second and third runners. We almost did that.”

By Richard Greene
A new season will begin for the Decatur cross country teams Wednesday — the championship season.
Of the three seasons that the teams’ coach David Park divides the year into, it’s this stretch that includes the district, region and state meets that matters. The first action in this new season is at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the District 5-3A meet at Joe Wheeler Park in Decatur. The meet was moved up a day from Thursday to try to beat storms are in the forecast.
“We have the longest preseason of any sport,” Park said. “Up until next week, nothing we do means anything.
“We work all summer and fall to get to these three races,” Park added. “We don’t hang banners for winning the Haltom Stampede.”
Park’s message has hit home with his runners.
“The meets we run in are just preparing us for this,” said Decatur’s Cris Ortiz.
The Decatur runners will compete on a Joe Wheeler course they know well. It’s one they expect to win on.
“It’s our home ground,” Ortiz said. “We should be able to win. If we win, it’ll show we worked pretty hard.”
Both Decatur teams will be trying to defend district titles. The Decatur boys will be running for second straight district crown and seventh since 2000. The Lady Eagles, the defending Class 3A state champions, will be running for their sixth straight league crown.
“We’re just carrying the torch for the ones that came before us,” Park said.
The Decatur boys are expected to face a stiff challenge Thursday from Burkburnett. The Eagles edged Burkburnett for the 5-3A title last year by one point. The two are 1-1 this year in the two meets they have competed against each other. In both meetings, neither team was at full strength.
“We’ll battle them,” Park said. “Burk and us took the top 14 spots last year. We beat them at district, and then they beat us at regionals. It’ll be a good little race with the boys.”
Individually, Ortiz will be battling Burkburnett’s Christian Mendoza for the district gold medal. Ortiz said he hopes to catch Mendoza to win the district title.
“He’s tough,” Ortiz said. “I’ll try to beat him in the last 100 yards.”
He said he has good metal approach and believes he can win the race and achieve his goal.
“My goal is to win district as a team and individual,” Ortiz said.
The Lady Eagles eased to a district title last year, scoring 22 points. Park said it was not because of a weak district.
“We won district, and Iowa Park was second,” Park said. “Iowa Park ended up third at regionals and went to state. That tells me the district was really strong.”
Park expects Hanna Galloway and Zuleima Palomo to battle for league’s individual crown.
“Hanna has been our bell cow, but never underestimate Zuleima,” Park said.
While those two top runners have put together impressive performances this year, Park said the team’s strength lies with its third through seventh runners.
“We have our top two, but our runners three, four, five, six and seven are really good too,” Park said.

Graham swept Bridgeport in three games Friday as the Sissies played defense much of the match.
Bridgeport managed just 10 assists and 14 kills, while the defense had to dig out 34 shots.
Graham took the first game 25-14, the second 25-12 and the third 25-18.
Jordyn Hulsey set up 10 assists. Haley Meekins had eight kills and two blocks. Lauren Richey contributed eight digs, Jessica Hartsell six with an ace and two kills, and with four digs each Lindsey Zachary, Katie Cook, Alicia Erwin, Hulsey and Meekins. Erwin added two kills and a block.

The following are results from the Decatur High School rodeo team at the NTHSRA rodeo in Saginaw this past weekend:
Shelby Argo placed second in pole bending.
Dusty Humphrey placed second in chute dogging.
Tyler Lisby and Parker Slate placed fifth in team roping with Tyler heading and Parker heeling.
In the prior week’s event, Cody Pollard tied for fourth in bareback.
Shelby Argo placed second in breakaway roping, second in pole bending, sixth in barrel racing and she got all-around-cowgirl for the most points won in the rodeo.
Jordan Johnson was seventh in barrel racing.

Chico played it close but lost Friday’s district volleyball match to Jacksboro in four games.
“I was very disappointed in the effort that was given,” Coach Brent Hand said. “We need to find better focus and elevate our game to accomplish our goals this season.”
After dropping the first game 25-19, Chico rallied to even things with a 25-19 win. But Jacksboro secured the match with consecutive 25-20 wins.
Molli Umphress (22) and Kim Workman (18) put up 40 assists, resulting in 37 kills, led by Shelby Collins with 12, Hannah Avants with 10 and Alyssa Bowyer with eight.
Collins had 17 defensive digs, Melanie Gates and Bowyer nine each, Mallori Moss and Avants six each and Umphress five.
The loss dropped the Lady Dragons to 0-3 in district play.

Paradise remained unbeaten in district volleyball, 3-0, with a three-game sweep of Boyd Friday, Sept. 18, 25-12, 25-6, 25-5.
Boyd, in its first year to return to volleyball competition in many decades, remains winless in the district chase.
The Lady Panthers spread the offense around. Hannah Johnson scored six kills. With five each were Meg Arthur, Casey Fletcher and Courtney Andrews. Slamming four apiece were Hannah Runnels and Baleigh Newman. Arthur set up 29 assists and Fletcher 10.
Gabbie VonHueval scorched the Lady Jackets for six aces, and Arthur added three.
Arthur and Flecther each blocked eight shots. Candice McDaniel dug out 14 tries, Fletcher 10, Runnels and Newman eight each and Andrews seven.

FRONT LINE BATTLE  – Chico’s Alyssa Bowyer (12) and Paradise’s Candice McDaniel (13) battle at the net in Friday’s district opener between the county rivals. Paradise emerged as victor in a hard fought contest.
Messenger photo by Julie Duty

Paradise got the best of Chico when the two kicked off district volleyball play Friday.

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