mirror sports 3-10-10

Sports irror Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Johnson picked as district MVP

Photo by Alex Riley/The Mirror

Midlothian senior Eddie Johnson was named District 16-4A MVP after helping lead the Panthers to a share of the district championship and a trip to the regional quarterfinals in the UIL playoffs. Johnson will play fooftball for Baylor University next fall as a wide receiver.

Senior caps high school careerwith top indvidual accolade

The entire basketball sea-son was a bit of a surprise for the Midlothian boys team. It was only appropriate it end with one as well.

After claiming the District 16-4A title and advancing to the regional quarterfinals of the playoffs, the Panthers picked up some major hard-ware from the district super-lative list, none bigger than the biggest player on the court.

Senior post player Eddie Johnson was selected by the other seven coaches in the district as the district’s most valuable player.

“It was a surprise to me because I was doing my role on the team. I thought pretty much it was going to Blaine

(Blackburn) or Trent (Mor-gan) that would get it or someone else in the district would get it. But it’s a great honor that I got it,” Johnson said. “I think it’s more of a team effort that got me into this position. It wasn’t noth-ing that stood out it was all the team. I’m thankful for it.”

On a team loaded with guard play, Johnson was

By ALEX RILEYMirror sports writer

See MVP, Page 2C

Passion, desire create story of redemption for Johnson

Call it redemption. Call it atonement. Call it pride or ego.

Call it whatever you want to. At the end of the day, Eddie Johnson’s final days in a Midlothian uniform were pretty close to perfect. He made sure of that.

When the final District 16-4A team lost in the playoffs and the post-season awards were distributed, it was no surprise that a mem-ber of the Panther roster got the MVP honor. It was fitting that it was Johnson.

A few months ago, there was the 6-foot-4 senior on the sideline of the final Panther football game. Just a jersey, no pads. Like eight of his teammates, the senior would not see the field in his final football game.

Unable to help, John-son pleaded with team-

mates, tried to offer ad-vice and played the role of cheerleader. In the end, it wasn’t enough.

Maybe that was the moment it all turned. Maybe it was when

Alex Riley

MIrror SPortS WrItEr

See RILEY, Page 2C

For a look at which Midlothian

basketball players made the all-district boys and girls teams,

see page 2C

Season finale goes awry


Joseph Dancy fields a pass from teammate Blake Parker during the Panthers’ 5-4 loss to Keller to end the regular season.

Rally effort comes up one goal short in regular season finale

FARMERS BRANCH – Blake Parker knows that the stat sheet will read he had two goals and two assists. He’s OK with that.

On a night when Midlothian’s three senior players were honored for their ef-forts throughout the past few years, Park-er’s final goal of the night was attributed to senior Matt Bassett who officials say deflected the slapshot into the net.

Despite the stats, it was the win the Panthers craved the most and that is where they fell short. Three early goals by Keller created a sizable deficit and de-spite a great rally it was Keller who came away with the 5-4 win.

“It always feels good to come out and score some goals but it’s a team sport and I wanted to get the win. That team beat us 7-1 last time so it’s all about the win for me,” Parker said.

Two games ago, the Panthers (17-5-1) were lit up for a slew of early goals in a 7-1 loss to the division leaders. This night started off in a similar fashion.

Six and a half minutes into the game, Keller’s Kasey Womble had already re-corded a hat trick with three goals for the fast 3-0 lead. That’s when Parker went to work.

A hard shot off a Micah Koutros pass by Parker during a powerplay got the Midlothian offense started with around four minutes left in the first period. That hot shooting carried over in the second as Parker hit teammate Joseph Dancy with a pass for a powerplay goal to cut the lead to one.

Less than two minutes later, Parker tied the score firing a Brent Jones pass into the net as the Panthers rallied all the


See HOCKEY, Page 3B

MESQUITE – Maybe it was the sun-shine and clear skies. Maybe it was the fact the team is getting used to being back on the diamond. Maybe it was the fact players hadn’t taken the field in a week.

Whatever it was, the Midlothian baseball team hopes to keep it coming.

Over the course of the David Crump-ton Invitational Tournament in Mesquite, the Panthers posted one of the most domi-nating performances imaginable on the

diamond, starting off 4-0 while scoring 52 runs. However, the weekend ended with Mesquite pitcher Justin Canales solving the batting success as he limited the Pan-thers to just one hit for a 3-0 win and the championship.

“I really felt like we were seeing the ball real good. We had like what 30 runs in two games. But obviously in the game, good pitching takes care of good hitting. And

Bats come to lifePhoto by Alex Riley/The Mirror

Kyler Brown, 3, is congratulated by teammates at home plate after hitting a grand slam during the Mesquite tournament last weekend. the Panthers scored nine runs or more in four straight games.

Offense produces huge run totals during weekend eventBy ALEX RILEYMirror sports writer

See HITTING, Page 4C

March 11vs. tBD (2010 Playoffs)@ StarCenter in Euless8:45 p.m.

Upcoming schedule

2C Midlothian Mirror, Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Sports

asked to be the primary force in the paint for the Panthers. At 6-foot-4, he was by far and away the tallest player consistently in the Midlothian line-up but often times the smallest post player on the court.

None of that deterred the veteran from doing what he did best.

With his vertical leap and physi-cal presence, Johnson basically averaged a double-double for the

season with 9.9 points per game and 10.0 rebounds. He added about a block and a half and close to two assists per game.

His stats were impressive. But according to coach Glenn Hartson, those numbers pale in comparison to the leadership and emotion fac-tor Johnson brought to the Panther locker room.

“He’s a great kid. Great competi-tor. Someone who is always posi-tive, has a smile on his face and al-ways gives it his all,” Hartson said. “He’s done a great job in basketball, he was a force on the boards and it

just showed in the district with his being chosen by the coaches in the district as MVP. That speaks vol-umes for a kid when I don’t have anything to do with it and I put his name out there but that’s how much respect he got from those coaches.”

In a season of unprecedented turnaround, Johnson’s individual honor capped his athletic career at Midlothian in near perfect form. A Baylor signee to play wide receiver next fall, Johnson looked to erase the memory of a 1-9 football season with a strong year on the hardwood.

Admittedly, the Panthers fell

short of their ultimate goal to ad-vance to the state tournament and contend for the state title. Johnson says in his time at the school, no team has been as close together as this year’s group was.

Though his days on the hardwood might be over, the ending to his se-nior season was about as close to perfect as it could be.

“I was a basketball player before I even became a football player, I didn’t even think about playing football at first. I grew up in the pro-gram as a freshman and many peo-ple thought I was just going to get

out there and quit but I was like, I’m not going to do it because I love it so much,” Johnson said. “That was every freshman’s dream, to make it to that varsity level and I took into my sophomore year so I could pro-duce and get better. And coming into my junior and senior year on varsity I really did have fun and did it for the love of the game. This year just blew the top off for me. It was probably one of the best years of my life.”

Contact Alex at [email protected] or at 469-517-1456.

Blaine Blackburn, JuniorFirst-team All-District

trent Morgan, SeniorSecond-team All-District

Cameron Lowman, SeniorSecond-team All-District

Zach Hofstad, SeniorHonorable mention All-District

Coach Glenn Hartson District coach of the year

Basketball program brings home honors

Natalie ruud, SeniorFirst-team All-District

Lauren Daniell, SeniorSecond-team All-District

Hannah Miller, JuniorSecond-team All-District

Samantha Jackson, SeniorHonorable mention All-District

trisha Dupree, SeniorHonorable mention All-District

MVPContinued from Page 1C

he put on his basketball jersey for the first time. Maybe it was five games in. Ten games in. A month. After the holiday break. Only John-son knows when his mission began.

Like a man possessed, the senior star refused to let a 1-9 football campaign with a bitter ending mar his legacy as an athlete at the high school. He would not let that moment be the last thing people remembered about him.

With a scholarship offer locked up to Baylor for football, it would have been easy for the standout player to step away from the hardwood and work on his foot-ball skill set in the off-season.

That was never an option. Did the end of the football season

fuel him for basketball? Maybe. Does it matter? Probably not.

All that did matter was what Johnson left behind.

Playing with aggression, pas-sion and a motor that refused to stop running, the undersized

center refused to leave Pan-ther country without the one thing he wanted most -- to be remembered as a champion.

There were plenty of nights when Johnson was outsized by the opposing player he faced off against. You never would have known it. He showed no fear in fighting for rebounds, bat-tling for position and making his presence known in the paint.

His work ethic showed up on the stat sheet as he averaged a double-double. Some nights he would score big points. Others he would grab countless rebounds and lead the defense. Most times, he did both.

That alone might have been enough to warrant being named district MVP. But that was far from the only thing Johnson did.

No one will argue that Trent Morgan was the leader on the floor from the point guard posi-tion. His ability to create for teammates propelled the Pan-thers throughout the season.

But when the team needed that extra energy or someone to get in their face, it was Johnson. He wore his emotions on his sleeve and it

was contagious. His energy infected his teammates, his coaches and the fans that filled the arena each night.

Johnson was the first to congratu-late a teammate on a well executed play. He was the first to ask for crowd support when the Panthers needed it the most. What he un-derstood was energy and emotion because he had a lot of it to give.

After the team’s bi-district victory, you could not pry the trophy away from his hands. A few months ago, Johnson was a man who had little to smile about. Now, he couldn’t stop grinning.

Despite the loss in the regional quarterfinals, Johnson said he and his teammates still have plenty to yell about. The group still does their ceremonial fist pump and yell when they pass in the hall-ways. The season may be over, but the energy has not diminished.

You can call it redemption, atonement or whatever you want. Just be sure to call him MVP.

Alex is a sports writer covering Midlothian athletics. Contact him at 469-517-1456 or at [email protected].

rileyContinued from Page 1C


Eddie Johnson averaged a double-double with points and rebounds during his senior season for Midlothian.

Photos above by Alex Riley, Chad Wilson, Lezley Norris and Gary Puckett/The Mirror

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Midlothian Mirror 3C

Sports

way back to tie the score. “We definitely learned they give

up. After they scored those three goals they thought they had it in and they definitely gave it up af-ter that and we caught them on it a little bit,” Parker said.

The rally came to a screeching halt there as Keller scored its fourth goal of the night with just seven seconds left in the second period to break the deadlock and take a 4-3 advantage into the locker room while the ice was resurfaced.

That momentum continued when the Indians tacked on another goal near the 10-minute mark of

the third period that seemed to put the game away.

Unfazed, Parker responded just two minutes later with the slapshot that was said to have deflected off Bassett and into the net. That trimmed the gap back to one goal giving the Panthers a shot at tying the game with less than three min-utes remaining.

A strong push late gave the team a shot at forcing a shootout but it wasn’t meant to be as solid goalten-ding and defense kept Midlothian out of the net.

With the regular season over, the Panthers will enter the playoffs with two losses in the last three games. The postseason tournament begins on Thursday with an oppo-nent to be determined by opening round matches played on Tuesday.

While losing wasn’t the result the Panthers were looking for, the team believes that seeing Keller twice late in the season will give them an advantage if the two teams meet in the playoffs.

“If we get to see them again we’ll be all right. 7-1, 5-4 and you think about the first four goals we give up it’s something I can live with,” coach Ryan Pfeiffer said. “I think we got sloppy at certain mo-ments, I think we could have done a better job of putting them on their heels instead of staying even keel with them in things like penalties and stuff like that but it wasn’t any-thing to write home about.”


Midlothian ISD Sports roundup

Freshman baseball updateThe freshman Panther baseball team fin-

ished in second place at the Ennis tournament two weekends ago.

The team defeated the Ennis Lions in game two by a score of 12-1. The Panthers recieved solid pitching from Garrett Ayala and Dylan Higdon. Ayala pitched three innings and only allowed one run. Higdon came in and closed the door with one solid inning as the Panther completed the run rule. The Panthers were lead offensively by Sean Rodarte and Shane Lunday who both hit balls off the wall in a deep Ennis ballpark. The Panthers were led defensively by Tower Wilson and Kyle Lumpkin.

Midlothian entered the championship game with hopes of winning the tournament but ran into a very good Forney team. The boys came up short and lost the game 12-3. Bryce Fau-sett pitched very well and kept the team in the game for the first four innings.

The Panthers also recieved good perfor-mances on the mound by Chad Anders and Shane Lunday. The Panthers were paced of-fensively by Tanner Dickerson and Dustin Martin.

That strong start to the season continued as the freshman boys went 2-1 in the Red Oak sub-varsity tournament over this past week-end. The boys bounced back from an opening round loss to Waxahachie with a pair of wins to improve to 4-2 overall on the season.

Varsity baseball updateKyler Brown stepped into the batter’s box

knowing Midlothian needed two more runs to be up by 10. If the Panthers could get three outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, the game against Royce City would end via the 10-run rule.

So with the bases loaded, Brown was look-ing for a hit anywhere in the field of play. Instead, he ended up going a couple hundred feet further.

The pinch hitter’s fifth inning grand slam, the first of his career, capped a big offensive day for the Panther baseball team in the North Mesquite tournament as it picked up a 15-2 over the Bulldogs.

That fastball over the heart of the plate was one of many pitches the Midlothian batting order made the Royce City pitchers regret

over the course of the day. The Panthers notched a season-high 15 hits

for those 15 runs while also drawing seven walks and having a batter hit. Of the 15 hits, 12 were singles as both Brown and Brian Du-Pont hit home runs. DuPont’s two-run shot in the second inning was part of a five-run re-sponse to Royce City tying the game in the bottom half of the first.

DuPont finished the day 2-for-3 with two RBI while Justin Shealy went 2-for-2 with two singles, a walk and a hit-by-pitch with two RBI.

While the offense was flowing, pitcher Devin Rogers settled into a groove, throwing all five innings while allowing just one earned run and seven hits. He struck out two while inducing four rollers to short, including one that teammate Alec Humphries turned for a double-play to end the third.

For the second straight day, the Midlothian offense brought its A-game to Copeland Park as the bats belted out 10 hits for 15 runs in a 15-1 win over North Mesquite.

Seven of the 10 hits were for extra bases as Alec Humphries, Blake Lunday and Kyler Brown each had a double while Zach Walker had a pair of doubles. Connor Roberts and Colton Clanton each hit home runs as the Panthers (4-3) scored 15 runs for the second straight day to improved to 2-0 in the North Mesquite Tournament.

That hot offense carried over into the fi-nal day of play in Mesquite as the Panthers upended Dallas Skyline 9-4. Connor Rob-erts and Brian Dupont each had a double and Zach Walker added a home run. Pitcher Brad Younts picked up the win.

With the three wins in pool play, Midlothian advanced to the championship bracket with the first game against Mesquite Horn. The bats continued to swing well as the team post-ed 13 runs on 10 hits en route to a 13-5 win that advanced the team to the championship game of the tournament.

That’s where things went awry as the Pan-thers were held to just one hit by Mesquite High and fell 3-0 to claim a runner-up fin-ish. With the 4-1 record in the tournament, Midlothian improves to 6-4 on the season.

Varsity girls soccer updateThe Midlothian girls soccer team kept its

perfect record alive in district play as the

Lady Panthers earned a 2-0 win over Mans-field Legacy on Friday night.

Kaitlin Bush and Callie Bishop each scored a goal off Tori Adame assists to lead the of-fense as Lindsey Cisco recorded the shutout.

The Lady Panthers are now 14-5-2 overall with a 7-0-1 record in district and just two games left to play. The team will host Mans-field Timberview in the home finale on Tues-day with a trip to Everman on Friday to cap the regular season.

Varsity boys soccer updateMidlothian’s boys soccer team got a little

vengeance for a 2-1 loss to Mansfield Legacy at home earlier this season as the Panthers used a Chase Robertson goal on a penalty kick to eke out a 1-0 win over the Broncos to even the season series at 1-1.

Goalies Alec Martinez and Craig Able split time in goal to help pitch the shutout as the boys have now won five straight since that first Legacy loss. The boys improved to 6-1-1 in district and 10-4-6 overall. The Panthers will play two more regular season games with a home finale against Mansfield Timberview on Tuesday and a game at Everman on Friday.

Varsity softball updateIn a tournament game at Mansfield earlier

this season, the Lady Panther softball team was able to come back for a 5-4 win over Plano East.

On Friday night, they weren’t so lucky.The Lady Panthers were handed an 11-3

loss for their second straight defeat after a tough 3-2 game against Waxahachie on Tues-day.

Regan Luedtke provided the lone offensive highlight with her first home run of the season as Megan Spence took the loss.

Boys powerlifting updateFour lifters advanced to the regional

meet at Lindale over the weekend with one Midlothian athlete earning a trip to state. Vin-cent Sellers lifted 1040 combined pounds to finish second in the 132-pound weight class as he qualified for the state lift.

Sellers teammates also had good days but came up just short of the state meet. Peyton Adkins had a combined 815 pounds in the 123-pound class, just 10 pounds off the total

by the second place finisher in his class that advanced to state.

Justin Seeton lifted a 1040 in the 165-pound class for a sixth-place finish while Heath Lem-oine finished one spot out of state qualifying with 1290 pounds in the 275-pound class. As a four-man team, the Panthers placed eighth in a field of 16 teams that participated.

Boys track and field updateThe boys track teams traveled to a tough

meet at Mansfield Legacy on Saturday and competed well in the first meet of the season. Teams attending the meet included Mansfield High, Mansfield Legacy, Mansfield Summit, Red Oak, Everman, Arlington Sam Houston, Corsicana and Ennis.

The varsity squad finished fifth out of eight teams and the junior varsity team placed sixth.

Varsity standouts included the 4x200 relay team which placed third, Brent Middleton with his win in the 100m dash, Brandon Rus-sell who placed second in the 110 hurdles and won the 300 hurdles.

In field events Josh Sonnen placed third in the pole vault, Promise Jackson finished fifth in the high jump and Jaren Thomas finished 6th in the triple jump.

The junior varsity squad was paced by Chris Lampkins who won the 100 meter dash, the 4x200 relay which finished fourth overall and the mile relay team which finished fifth. Chris Zeptner also placed first in his heat of the 3200 and set a new personal record.

Girls track and field updateThe Lady Panther track program had a big

weekend to open the season as the varsity girls took third and the junior varsity team placed second at the Legacy meet.

The varsity distance medley relay team comprised of Brandi Spillers, Kim Collins, Ashley Cunningham and Carly Kitts and the 4x200 meter relay of Lauren Tryon, Ashley Cox, Jasmine Pitts and Ashley Cunningham both took home gold.

Kitts (1600m), Austyn Rapp (Pole Vault) and Ashley Cunningham (200m) all took first in their individual events.

The JV team all did well in the relays to score major points along with Marisa Ellis (triple jump) and Savannah Scarlett (3200m and 1600m) winning their individual events.


First baseman and pitcher Daniel tockhorn helped the Panthers pick up four wins in the Mesquite tournament over the weekend.


Callie Bishop scored a goal during the Lady Panthers’ 2-0 win over Mansfield Legacy on Friday.


Craig Able, above, and Alec Martinez combined to hold Mansfield Legacy scoreless in a 1-0 win between the two ranked schools on Friday.


Marissa Baltierra and the softball team had a tough pair of games last week, falling to Waxahachie and Plano East.

HockeyContinued from Page 1C


Blake Parker, 2, is congratulated by teammates after scoring one of his goals during the regu-lar season finale against Keller. the Panthers start the playoffs on thursday.


Prior to the start of last thursday’s game, seniors Matt Bassett, tyler Hervey and Micach Koutros were honored for their years of hard work with the Midlothian program. the seniors, shown with family members, will head into the playoffs later this week.


Sports

WAXAHACHIE – Patience is a virtue. It’s also something Whitney Cowley is getting a first hand lesson in.

Selected as the staff ace, Cowley is the usu-al starting pitcher for the Midlothian softball team. She and teammate Megan Spence have combined to lead the Lady Panthers from the mound to start the season.

The good news is Midlothian’s pitching has been strong to start the season. The bad news is the team is having a hard time backing it up.

“Pitching has not been the problem. We’ve either had just bad errors and then can’t make up for it at the plate and if you’re on the bench for seven innings you’ve got to be ready to go in that seventh inning,” Cowley said. “We’re just not getting it done. We’re either starting out really good and not finishing or we’re starting out bad and then we’ll finish.”

Waiting for the offense to get into the swing of things has been a hard lesson to learn – it is one the Lady Panther pitchers are having to adjust to. Until an 11-3 loss to Plano East last Friday, the Midlothian arms had done a stand-out job of limiting what an opposing team’s offense can do.

In the first four games of the season, Spen-ce and Cowley combined to allow just three runs. During the team’s 8-5 start, the pitch-ing staff has given up a combined 36 with 16 of those coming in two games last week. The team has limited seven of the teams it has faced to one run or less.

Against county-rival Waxahachie last week, the Lady Panthers fell 5-2 but all five runs were unearned as they resulted from fielding errors. While the start has been up and down, coach Jennifer McFalls is pleased with what the pitching staff has been able to do.

“I’ve been very pleased. I think they’ve worked very hard,” McFalls said. “It’s about timing, coming in and filling your role. And it could have been the other way around. There

will be games when Whitney will come and Megan will start and I just feel like they have a little bit different styles and that’s a positive for us. We just have to be better. We have to be better on defense No. 1 and we can’t have two hits all game. We didn’t do our job at the plate either so that’s what we have to do to get better.”

And there-in lies Midlothian’s current problem. With the pitching staff doing its part, the hitters have been asked to step up their efforts at the plate.

Through the first 13 games, the Lady Pan-thers have amassed 61 runs with two games of double-figure scoring. The Lady Panthers notched 14 against Arlington and 10 against Mesquite in the Southlake Carroll tournament a few weekends ago.

The problem hasn’t getting runs across. It’s the consistency with which the team does it. The Lady Panthers have yet to post five runs or more for three consecutive games and do have seven games with three or fewer runs scored already this season.

While the squad waits on the batting order to come around, Cowley said the pitchers will continue doing their best to keep the Lady Panthers in games. Though it makes things a little harder, right now it is what they have do.

“A lot harder because the way we’re play-ing right now we could get up five runs but

we can’t let up because there’s no telling what will happen in that seventh inning,” Cowley said. “We’ve just got to be on at the same time.”


Pitchers keeping games in-check to startWith offense struggling to open season, effort from the mound becomes focal point of Lady Panthers’ success

Photo by Lezley Norris/Special to the Mirror/www.photosbylezley.com

Midlothian junior pitcher Whitney Cowley has gotten off to a solid start on the mound for the Lady Panthers this season. the pitching staff has limited oppos-ing offenses to just 36 runs so far in an 8-5 start. But the pitchers are looking for run support from the team bats which have scored 53 runs.


March 12-13@ San Marcos tournamenttBA

March 16@ Corsicana5 p.m./7 p.m.(JV/varsity)

March 19vs. Hewitt Midway5 p.m./7 p.m.(JV/varsity)

MESQUITE – Devin Rogers called the feeling relaxing. No de-nying that as the Midlothian bats exploded for 15 runs against Royce City, Rogers’ job on the mound was getting a little easier by the inning.

It’s a feeling the Panther hurler was finally glad to have.

“It’s still early in the season so I’m trying to get my arm in shape so it felt good,” Rogers said. “It’s really relaxing to know you have an offense that can score runs be-hind you. It’s just easy to go out there and throw with that.”

While the batting order searches for consistent hitting, Rogers and his fellow pitchers know their job is to keep the team in games from the mound. And so far, so good.

In 10 games this season, the Pan-thers are 6-4 but until last weekend none of the losses had been decided by more than four runs. In multiple games, the pitching staff has lim-ited the opposing team to less hits than they have runs but a few cost-ly errors have come back to haunt them. The most runs given up so far was a seven-run outing against Weatherford in the second game of the season and against Azle one

game later. The road hasn’t been as smooth

as coach Ray Hydes would have wanted it to start the season but the effort he is getting from the mound has been a pleasant surprise.

“I feel like our pitching staff has done a good job. We’ve lost two or three games not by very much but our staff’s done a good job for being as early as it is in the year,” Hydes said. “We’ve had them on pitch counts, trying to control what they do and trying to stretch it out

a little bit more. Anytime you get good pitching you’ve got a chance to win and our guys have worked really hard and I’m extremely proud of them.”

Colton Seeton, Kyler Brown, Brad Younts, Daniel Tockhorn and Rogers comprise a potential list of arms who will look to lead from the hill.

Getting that group of pitch-ers ready for the battle of a tough district schedule is a big reason why tournament play and non-district opponents have been key for Hydes and his team. While the pitchers work out the kinks in their game, the batting order will keep hammering away at the plate to find the right swing that keeps the runs coming.

When that happens, Rogers be-lieves the Panthers will be a force to be reckoned with.

“As a team when we get both sides of the ball working we’re going to be a tough team to beat. We’ve just got to get both sides of the ball worked out at the same time and we’ll be all right,” Rog-ers said.


Arms race off and running for baseball squadBy ALEX RILEYMirror sports writer

March 11-13 @ rockwall Heath tournamenttBA

March 16 vs. Cleburne7 p.m.

March 18vs. Aledo (Ballpark at Arlington)3 p.m.

Pitchers find early groove as offense starts to come around


Pitcher Devin rogers has been a solid arm to start the year. over the weekend, rogers picked up a win in the Mesquite tourney.


Connor roberts and the Midlothian offense exploded for 52 runs in the Mesquite tournament over the weekend. Prior to those five games, Midlothian has scored just 18 runs in five prior outings.

Upcoming schedule

Upcoming schedule

that kid played a heck of a game,” coach Ray Hydes said. “We had a lot of punch outs and he did a great job. That’s what I told the kids, ‘You can’t expect our guys to go out there and shut peo-ple out. You’ve got to score more than one run or you’ve got to get more than one hit or you’re not going to win many games.’”

While the tournament may have ended with a tough loss, there was no doubt the course of the weekend had reenergized the Midlothian line-up.

The Panthers (6-4) opened play by scoring 15 runs in a pair of run-ruled games Royce City, 15-2, and North Mesquite, 15-1. That momentum car-ried on with a 9-4 win over Dallas Skyline and a 13-5 win over Mesquite Horn in the first round of championship bracket play.

How important was the offensive output over the weekend? In the previous five games to open the season, Midlothian had scored 18 runs en route to a 2-3 start. By the end of game one, the Panthers had nearly eclipsed that.

“It feels good out here. The last tournament we didn’t do very good. So we just stepped it up a notch in this one and did what we did,” junior out-fielder Connor Roberts said.

The offensive barrage capped a strange week of activity for the players who did not have a game scheduled during the week due to TAKS testing. A large portion of the team was at Mansfield Legacy last Monday night as the cheering section for the basketball team’s playoff game.

That weeklong break allowed the Panthers to take the practice field rather than worry about playing competition. Obviously, it worked.

“We’ve been kind of struggling so it was good for some of these guys to get their bats juiced a little bit,” Hydes said. “They’ve been putting in the work and when you look at the season with the weather and everything, everybody’s a little behind and we’ve just got to keep getting better and working at it. But it was good to hear that ball jumping off the bat for a change.”

Though the offense was rolling through the first three games, the team was unable to overcome what Canales was offering in the Mesquite game. The Panther lineup struck out 14 times as Colton Clanton’s first inning single was the only base hit of the game. Cameron Sissom and Devin Rogers each drew a walk as the only three base runners in the game.

While the final game was a struggle, the players all feel that the weekend was a major success in building confidence for the future.

With the offensive outburst, the Panthers were able to run-rule two teams and had three games with just one pitcher used. Factors like that are something the Panthers think can help in the long run.

“Pretty much everyone in the whole line-up can swing it, it (makes it) worry-free, you just do it and get on a roll and keep on going,” Roberts said. “We pitched one pitcher a game for three games in a row by run-ruling them in five innings. It saves a lot of arms for later on in the ball games.”


HittingContinued from Page 1C

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 Midlothian Mirror 5C

Sports


Dillon Wilson works as a spotter for teammate Victor Gonzales during the weight room portion of the class football players are going through at Midlothian. the camp is comprised of three stations designed to test the players both physically and mentally.

Becoming mentally tough


Made up of three different stations across the school, players take part in drills involving weights (top), jump rope (middle) and agility drills (bot-tom) as part of new football coach Lee Wiginton’s boot camp. the drills promote team unity and mental toughness, two things the coach is trying to instill in his team before next season.


Midlothian players wait for the push-up command for the coaches during the work-outs. Push-ups are a punishment for failure to complete a drill in perfect unison and are issued when just one player falls short.

Wiginton using boot camp to ready team for road ahead

Run, full steam ahead to the small gym. Grab a jump rope. Get in formation. Start jumping on the whistle. Stop, run around. Back to your spot. Someone messed up, down on the floor. Push-ups, on the whistle. Back to your feet. Repeat the process for about 20 minutes. Time’s up. On to the next station.

Welcome to the off-season football class known as boot camp.

That laundry list of activity is just one of the three stations devised by Midlothian football coach Lee Wiginton as part the class period train-ing program for the football team.

Devised as a method of improving mental and physical toughness, Wiginton says the program is a combination of many different boot camps he has seen through his years of traveling around to what he calls “successful programs.”

After watching coaches like Larry Hill at Smithson Valley, Jim Rackley at Judson, and Danny Padron at O’Connor put their teams through similar workouts, Wiginton knew it was something he needed to do with his programs.

“We’ve been this for pretty much my whole head coaching career,” Wiginton said. “I’ve taken exactly what they do and feel like it’s become the backbone and foundation of our program. We do four days of just solely classes before we do this and they’re the most important days.”

Football is an afterthought in the program as the players have yet to even see what the first-year coach’s playbook really looks like.

With three stations set up throughout the school, players start the exercise in the trip from class to the field house. The players are required to run from the class just before the time they ar-rive to the locker room. The group is divided into

three sets and once your entire group arrives you run from the locker room to the first station of the day.

Each spot uses different exercises as run by the coaching staff. The jump rope area has players line-up for jump roping for a short period with running mixed in. Another area is all about agility drills with players rolling, jumping and tumbling on mats doing things like bear crawls, belly flop-ping and up-downs. The final area uses a weight bar as added pressure while players jump, squad and kneel on commands.

All three stations are designed for endurance and overcoming adversity, something Wiginton was eager to address with his new team.

“I understand last year there were a number of games that were close but we just didn’t finish. What we’re trying to convince them is that it’s not all right just to play well for three quarters,” Wiginton said. “You’ve got to continue that same intensity, that same enthusiasm all the time and we know we want respect, we want to be good but it’s not going to be given to us. Some of the hard work has got to take place and the hard work is going to pay off.”

Coupled with the drills, players are then taught the value of teamwork as failure to execute the activity results in punishment. If even one of the players is off on his timing or doesn’t complete the drill perfectly, the entire group is forced to do pushups on the command of coach’s whistle.

That mindset is increased by the common man-tras of “hard work pays off” and “all out, all the time” that players chant during the workouts.

While not executing is punished with more physical work, success is equally rewarded. If the entire group of players completes the drill in per-


See CAMP, Page 6C


Sports

fect unison, players are given the opportunity for a group celebration in the center of the room as a jump-ing and cheering mass. Even that is watched by the coaches as non-heart-felt celebration is punished.

All those aspects combined are helping the team solidify as one. It has also helped players learn to count on one another, specifically in the agility station. Individual players are asked to repeat drills until they are executed to the satisfaction of the coach running the area. The catch – a player cannot go through the drill alone as three athletes must be pres-ent for the exercise to be done. That forces some players, who have done their part already to get back in line and help out their teammate. This has helped signal out leaders according to Wiginton who sees guys stepping up to help even when they are tired themselves.

All that, plus positive encourage-ment from team leaders, is building a unified team that Wiginton hopes has one mindset – working together for the common good.

“I don’t really know where they were, I don’t really know where I thought they were, but what I do know is I like where we are right now,” Wiginton said. “I like how they’re progressing, I like how they’re work-ing together and I’m just excited about how things are looking.”

With the season still months away, Wiginton and his coaching staff are in the process of deciding whether or not to have spring football camp or just continue doing off-season work.

While that decision is still yet to be made, the new man in charge is see-ing his team develop the desire and hunger to become winners and cham-pions. The hard work they are putting in is a good starting point.

“I’ve learned that they’re not afraid of working for sure and they want to get better. They want discipline, they want to get respect, they want to be-come a mentally tougher team, they want to come together as a family,” Wiginton said. “That’s something that throughout this process it forces upon us and everything I could have hoped they were doing and getting from it has occurred. It’s just going to be a process where we keep on push-ing.”


When Austyn Rapp entered the hallowed halls of Midlothian Mid-dle School for the first time in the fall of 2003, her thoughts rested excitedly on being at a new school, new beginnings, new dreams and great possibilities. Not for a mo-ment did the spritely 11-year-old re-alize she was taking the first step to-ward a future soaring with potential.

On Thursday, March 4, Rapp took a giant leap in her stellar athletic ca-reer when she signed a national let-ter of intent and a scholarship con-tract to compete for the College of William & Mary located in scenic and historic Williamsburg, Va.

Rapp initially gained local atten-tion at the middle school when she became interested in pole vaulting. That interest became a passion and soon she was soaring over the bar like no other Midlothian girl before.

Under the tutelage of coach Don-nie Conner, Rapp set a new school record as a seventh-grader clearing the bar at 9’3”. She reset the record in her eighth-grade year, clearing 9’6”. Both records stand today as the school’s benchmark bests. Her seventh-grade year the school was still Midlothian Middle School and her eighth-grade year it had become Frank Seale Middle School.

As a freshman, Rapp set her eyes on the Midlothian High School re-cord of 10’-6”, which she surpassed early in the season with a vault of 10’-9”, later raising the mark to 11’-6”. As a sophomore Rapp set the existing school record with a 12’-6” vault at the Big Green Relays in Waxahachie. She hopes to clear 13’ in her final season competing for the Lady Panthers. She also hopes to return to Mike A. Myers Track & Field Stadium in Austin to vault for the 4A state title.

After taking official visits to the universities of Hawaii, Southern Florida, San Diego State and Ten-

nessee Rapp was ecstatic to find a perfect niche at William & Mary. With a goal of entering the dental profession, she looks forward to the academic challenge as well as that of being a D-1 athlete.

“I chose William & Mary be-cause I felt like I belong there. It felt different than every other school I visited. I am excited about meeting new people, new experiences, com-peting at the D-1 level. Williams-burg is a long way from home. I am excited about that, but at the same time I know I will miss my family,” Rapp said.

“I still have some things to ac-complish in my last year of high school. I want to clear 13’ and go back to Austin to compete. Then I look forward to vaulting for Coach Fritz at college. He is very impres-sive, having coached the first high school girl that jumped 14’ and a vaulter ranked second in the world. Coach Fritz told me that we would continue along with what I’ve been doing, only take it to the next level.”

The talented senior who ranks near the top of her class of 476 stu-dents is the daughter of Brady and Lonnie Rapp of Midlothian and the sister of freshman Colton Rapp. “My family has been my strongest supporter. My mom took me to ev-ery practice and my parents were always the first ones to me after a meet to give me hugs and tell me how proud they were of me, no mat-ter how I did. My mom is my best friend.”

For the final two years in high school, Rapp has trained under head girls track coach Christina Gann, who is enthused about her choice of college.

“It’s real exciting for her to be go-ing to jump at college, it’s good for her and for our school,” Gann said. “Austyn is somebody that works re-ally hard. She has a fun personality and is a good leader to the younger kids. She should do well at William

& Mary.”The signing was a bittersweet

moment for Conner. With a tear in his eye he stated that he felt he was losing a daughter.

“Austyn is very talented. She is going to do well. I am very pleased she chose to go to school at Wil-liam & Mary. I had a couple of re-ally great moments with Austyn. The first came in her freshman year when she vaulted in the regional meet at North Texas to qualify to go to the state meet in Austin. The second came in Waxahachie when she set the school record at 12’-6”. I went onto the mat and tackled her, I was so excited,” Conner said.

William & Mary, the second old-est college in the nation and known for its rigorous liberal arts curricu-lum, competes in NCAA Division I

in the Colonial Athletic Association.Dave Fritz is in his third season

as the Tribe’s pole vault coach and in that short time has established one of the best programs on the East Coast. He has demonstrated his ability to coach the sport with senior Nicole Kazuba earning consecutive appearances in the NCAA Outdoors Championships. She is the holder of the school record in women’s pole vault at 13’-2”. He also helped de-velop Jennifer Stuczynski from a novice to become the reigning U.S. record holder at 16’-0”. He guided Mary Saxer to her national high school record of 14’-3.25”.

Fritz stated that he is extremely pleased to have an athlete with the talent and potential of Rapp.

“We’re incredibly excited about having her come to school here. She

will have an immediate impact at the D-1 level. All our athletes are looking forward to being on the same team with her. She has the po-tential to break the school record of 13’-2” the first time she steps onto the track. We put a lot of thought into who we offer scholarships to, it is a big screening process. She has the ability to succeed at the national level. Our freshman record is 12’-3”. I hope she breaks that early in the outdoor season. She will have to get used to a lot more snow than they have in Texas,” Fritz said.

Rapp is also a varsity cheerleader at MHS and is the immediate past Miss Teen Ellis County.

Contact Jim at 469-517-1453 or [email protected]

rapp ready to soar at next level


Surrounded by her family and coaches, Midlothian senior Austyn rapp signed her national let-ter of intent to join the William & Mary track program after graduating from high school. rapp, who is top contender for a state title this season, will pursue a career as a dentist at the college while working with nationally renowned coach David Fritz. Shown are front row from left, Coach Christina Gann, rapp, Kolby Hibbits, Coach Donnie Conner; back row, Brady rapp, Lonnie rapp and Colton rapp.

Pole vaulter takes skill set to William & Maryfor competition, educational opportunitiesBy JIM PERRYMirror sports writer

CampContinued from Page 5C


Midlothian football coach Lee Wiginton addresses the team following the boot camp activities for the day. Wiginton and his coaching staff are working to create a mentally tough attitude among the players he inherited with the rigourous workout regimne during the school day.


As a reward for completing an activity perfectly, players are given the chance to celebrate as a group. this stresses the impor-tance of team over personal success when accomplishing tasks.

mirror sports 3-10-10

Documents

final district

district mvpphoto

district championship

senior players

alldistrict boys

team effort

midlothian boys team

district superlative