It’s hard to believe that the books are now closed on the 2024-25 Wise County athletic year. But man, what a fun ride it was!
The 2024-25 sports season was absolutely crazy, mostly due to it being the first year of the UIL’s divisional postseason split for most team sports — creating two separate playoff divisions for volleyball, basketball, softball, baseball and soccer — and raising the total number of state championship teams in the five sports from 36 to 69.
I actually sat down and figured up some numbers tonight, and our crew at WCM Sports covered 105 teams/programs this year, including football, volleyball, cross country, swimming, girls basketball, boys basketball, baseball, softball, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls golf, track and field, tennis and powerlifting. Of those 105 programs, a total of 68 (64 percent) reached playoffs/postseason level of competition.
Wise County brought home team state titles in volleyball (Decatur), girls basketball (Decatur) and boys golf (Bridgeport), while Northwest (track) and Decatur (boys swimming) also claimed gold medals.
During this school year, several teams made amazing runs throughout the playoffs. Boyd volleyball made its first trip back to the state final since 2018, while Paradise boys and girls basketball teams both battled Kountze for state titles inside the Alamodome in San Antonio. The Paradise football, Boyd baseball and Bridgeport soccer programs also reached what used to be known as the state tournament by claiming state semifinal berths.
All in all, WCM Sports has dedicated thousands of hours since August 2024 covering our local athletes, including travel to games, interviewing players, coaches and fans, writing stories, taking amazing photos and building special sections.
With that being said, there are some people that I need to thank for their help this season — without them, we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.
Thanks to Messenger editor Austin Jackson, assistant editor Brendan Marchand and photographer Mack Thweatt for always being willing to help cover games and bear the load of the sports department. It gets crazy when there’s 10-15 games a night, but these guys are definitely key to the whole operation.
Thanks to Kristi Bennett for being a superb general manager and putting up with me and all of my gas receipts, work car mileage, oil changes and late-night adventure stories.
Thanks to all of our local athletes for being available for interviews and photo shoots at all times of the year. And thanks for letting me follow y’all as you make Wise County proud.
Thanks to all of the Wise County coaches who allow us to cover your teams. Sorry about all of the text messages and emails, but I do appreciate all of you working with us to shine a light on your programs.
Thanks to our readers who continue supporting what we’re doing. Undoubtedly, you can’t make everyone happy when you cover 105 teams, but we try our best to get everything covered. Your continued readership is the fuel to the engine that is WCM Sports.
Thanks to a host of contributing photographers, including Mike Hall, Chanci Nicks, Ashley Kyle, Chad Hunt and more. It’s hard to be at every game for every team, but having so many amazing photographer friends really helps to lighten the workload. Plus, you get to see other peoples’ photography skills, and trust me, they’re all really good at what they do!
Last, but definitely not least, thanks to my wife Tiffany for putting up with my crazy schedule, especially when there’s a lot of sleepless nights and days of travel/coverage. She’s the real MVP of all of this, and it takes a special woman to deal with all that she does. Love you, babe!
People always ask me if I get time off after the sports seasons end. Answer — yes, I’ll be taking some time off in June to decompress and relax.
However, we all know that August will be here before you know it, so starting after Wednesday’s deadline, it’s time to pull out a blank sheet of paper and start working on the first big project of the 2025-26 sports calendar — the WCM Sports Fall Sports Preview.
Personally, I learned a lot in the 2024-25 school year — some good things, and some things that happened to teach me lessons. Sometimes, the voices of the critics gets so loud, but I’m always reminded that there’s more people happy with what we’re doing than those that are upset.
Like the old story of The Little Red Hen, there’s not a lot of people who know about all of the hard work that goes into the loaves of bread — our sports coverage — but the bread still gets baked, and our local athletes still get their moments in the spotlight.
Thanks for reading this far down, and kudos to you if you did. Just a rambling sports editor taking a look back at a very successful year for Wise County. I can’t wait to cover another one next year!
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