SportsSports Thursday, October 17, 2013 13A

• THIS WEEK’S AREA FOOTBALL GAMES •Athens (6-0, 1-0) at Van (1-5, 1-0)

7:30 p.m. Friday, Vandals StadiumLAST YEAR’S MEETING: Van 42, Athens 27LAST WEEK: Athens 50, Canton 26; Van 50, Mineola 14.HARRIS RANKINGS: Athens is No. 23 in Class 3A with a

Power Rating of 226. Van is No. 90 in Class 3A with aPower Rating of 203.

HARRIS SAYS: Athens by 22.NEXT WEEK: Mabank at Athens, 7:30 p.m.

Brownsboro (2-4, 0-1) at Mineola (3-3, 0-1)7:30 p.m. Friday, Yellowjackets Stadium

LAST YEAR’S MEETING: Brownsboro 40, Mineola 21LAST WEEK:Mabank 17, Brownsboro 6; Van 50, Mineola 14.HARRIS RANKINGS: Brownsboro is No. 140 in Class 3A

with a Power Rating of 185. Mineola is No. 137 in Class 3Awith a Power Rating of 187.

HARRIS SAYS: Mineola by 6.NEXT WEEK: Brownsboro at Van, 7:30 p.m.

Canton (1-5, 0-1) at Mabank (2-4, 1-0)7:30 p.m. Friday, Panthers Stadium

LAST YEAR’S MEETING: Canton 48, Mabank 7LAST WEEK: Athens 50, Canton 26; Mabank 17,

Brownsboro 6.HARRIS RANKINGS: Canton is No. 121 in Class 3A with

a Power Rating of 194. Mabank is No. 152 in Class 3A witha Power Rating of 180.

HARRIS SAYS: Canton by 14.NEXT WEEK: Mabank at Athens, 7:30 p.m.

Kemp (0-6, 0-2) at Malakoff (6-1, 2-1)7:30 p.m. Friday, Tigers Stadium

LAST YEAR’S MEETING: Malakoff 70, Kemp 8LAST WEEK: Kemp observed a bye week; Lone Oak 45,

Malakoff 27. HARRIS RANKINGS: Kemp is No. 105 in Class 2A

Division I with a Power Rating of 164. Malakoff is No. 15 inClass 2A Division I with a Power Rating of 218.

HARRIS SAYS: No line.

NEXT WEEK: Quitman at Kemp, 7:30 p.m. Malakoff ob-serves a bye week.

Eustace (3-4, 1-2) at Winnsboro (4-2, 2-0)7:30 p.m. Friday, Red Raider Stadium

LAST YEAR’S MEETING: Winnsboro 40, Eustace 16.LAST WEEK: Quitman 21, Eustace 0; Winnsboro 78, Grand

Saline 21.HARRIS RANKINGS: Eustace is No. 86 in Class 2A

Division I with a Power Rating of 182. Winnsboro is No. 48in Class 2A Division I with a Power Rating of 201.

HARRIS SAYS: Winnsboro by 25.NEXT WEEK: Grand Saline at Eustace, 7:30 p.m.

Italy (2-4, 1-0) Cross Roads (2-4, 1-0)7:30 p.m. Friday, Bobcats Stadium

LAST YEAR’S MEETING: Italy 49, Cross Roads 2LAST WEEK: Italy 46, Itasca 6; Cross Roads 36, Dallas

Gateway 16.SIXMANFOOTBALL.COM RANKINGS: Italy is No. 46 in

Class 1A, Division I with a Power Rating of 184. CrossRoads is No. 74 in Class 1A, Division I with a Power Ratingof 155.

SIXMANFOOTBALL.COM SAYS: Italy by 28.NEXT WEEK: Cross Roads at Kerens, 7:30 p.m.

Athens Christian Preparatory (0-7) at Killeen Memorial (3-4)

2 p.m. Saturday, KilleenLAST YEAR’S MEETING: Did not playLAST WEEK: Fort Worth THESA 59, Athens Christian

Preparatory 13; Killeen Memorial 55, Longview Trinity 50. SIXMANFOOTBALL.COM RANKINGS: Athens Christian

Prep is No. 16 in Independent with a Power Rating of 115.Killeen Memorial is No. 19 in Independent with a PowerRating of 103.

SIXMANFOOTBALL.COM SAYS: Athens ChristianPreparatory by 11.

NEXT WEEK: Legacy Bible vs. Athens Christian Prep atTrinidad Trojans Field, Saturday, 11 a.m.

By Jayson LarsonSPECIAL TO THE REVIEW

It’s a phenomenon base-ball legend Yogi Berracalled, “Déjà vu all overagain.” The AthensHornets know it well.

As the Hornets (6-0) pre-pare to hit the road to face theVan Vandals this week, it’shard to ignore the similari-ties to last week’s gameagainst the Canton Eagles – agame the Hornets won, 50-26.

Van, the reigningDistrict 15-3A champion,hadn’t won a game untillast week, when it manhan-dled Mineola, 50-14.

The same was true for theHornets last week, whenthey faced a Canton teamthat had been winless untilthe previous game. Athenswas a one-win team headinginto the Canton and Vangames a year ago, and thistime around, Canton andVan are the one-win teams.

It’s been a far differentrun for the Vandals thus far,who are 1-5 a season aftergoing 9-1 and 5-0 in district.

Another similarity is

that, once again, Athenshead coach Paul Essary isn’tthe least bit convinced histeam has an easy task athand despite the opponenthaving just one win.

“Van put it on Mineolapretty well last week,”Essary said. “Stats-wise,they’ve got one of the bestrunning backs in the dis-trict, a huge offensive lineand their defense takespride in shutting down therun. They’re young in someplaces, but they’re gettingbetter every week.”

If Van is, indeed, setagainst stopping the run, itshould provide an interest-ing battle against a teamthat’s dead-set on riding itsrushing attack.

Through six games, theHornets have scored 32touchdowns (26 coming viathe rush) and compiled 2,514offensive yards (of which2,207 have come on theground).

Sophomore fullbackLogan Fuller leads the teamwith 802 rushing yards and12 touchdowns, and junior

Devin Hall isn’t far behindwith 648 yards and eightscores. Hall had a careergame against Van in last sea-son’s 42-27 loss to theVandals, running for 267yards — the third-best sin-gle-game rushing total inschool history.

Essary said the successof the running game has alot to do with what his ball-carriers are doing whenthey don’t have the ball.

“All of our backs do agood job running their fakesout,” he said. “If they don’tdo that well, our offense isn’tvery good. They’re also do-ing a great job blocking, andthat’s a key factor.(Offensive coordinatorKevin) Hayes isn’t going tolet one of those guys on thefield if he can’t block.”

Van has a solid runningback of its own in MattSavis, who is the second-leading rusher in East Texaswith 1,025 yards to go alongwith nine touchdowns.

Quarterback PeterMaddox, who replaced 2012unanimous district MVP

Garrett Smallwood, hasthrown for 744 yards andfive touchdowns, whileLuke McGowan has caught26 balls for 250 yards andthree touchdowns.

One thing the Hornetsdon’t want to see a repeatof this week are the mis-takes that plagued them

last week. Athens lost a season-

high five fumbles (after thefirst-team offense had justone through the first fivegames) and was penalized12 times for 105 yards.

“When you’re doing welland getting better everyweek, and then you play af-

ter an open week, it canbreak your momentumand focus,” Essary said.“It’s hard to get back yourfocus, and I think Cantongave us a wake-up call. ButI was proud of our kidsovercoming the turnovers,the penalties and the ad-versity.”

District 15-3AOverall Dist. PF PA

Athens 6-0 1-0 248 86Van 1-5 1-0 158 172Mabank 2-4 1-0 124 206Mineola 3-3 0-1 141 169Brownsboro 2-4 0-1 144 162Canton 1-5 0-1 116 230This week’s games: Athens at Van; Browns-

boro at Mineola; Canton at Mabank.

District 7-2A DIOverall Dist. PF PA

Lone Oak 5-1 2-0 247 174Winnsboro 4-2 2-0 152 139Malakoff 6-1 2-1 379 108Quitman 2-5 2-1 140 134Eustace 3-4 1-2 125 153Kemp 0-6 0-2 77 261Grand Saline 0-7 0-3 59 339

This week’s games: Eustace at Winnsboro;Kemp at Malakoff; Grand Saline, bye; Lone Oakat Quitman.

District 6-1A DIOverall Dist. PF PA

Cayuga 5-0 1-0 247 71Italy 2-4 1-0 107 181Cross Roads 2-4 1-0 128 225Kerens 2-4 0-1 168 203Dal. Gateway 0-6 0-1 100 236Itasca 0-6 0-1 79 238This week’s games: Italy at Cross Roads;

Itasca at Cayuga; Kerens at Dallas Gateway.

District 16-Six Man DIIOverall Dist. PF PA

Calvert 6-0 0-0 303 149Milford 5-2 0-0 405 203Trinidad 4-3 0-0 362 160Karnack 1-6 0-0 136 407

• AREA DISTRICT STANDINGS •

MICKEY GARCIA/SCOREBOARDPHOTOS.COM

Athens junior Raul Campa (68) takes care of a Canton defender during last week’s 50-26 victory over the Canton Eagles in the District 15-3A opener at NorrisBirdwell Stadium. The Hornets head to Van looking to take care of the defending district champions. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

AHS looks to dethrone defending champ Van

Sports CalendarFOOTBALL

Friday, October 18Athens at Van ..................................7:30Brownsboro at Mineola....................7:30Italy at Cross Roads ........................7:30Eustace at Winnsboro......................7:30Kemp at Malakoff ............................7:30Canton at Mabank ..........................7:30

Saturday, October 19ACP at Killeen Memorial ..................2:00Tyler at TVCC....................................3:00

Friday, October 25Mabank at Athens ..........................7:30Van at Brownsboro ..........................7:30Cross Roads at Kerens ..................7:30Grand Saline at Eustace..................7:30Quitman at Kemp............................7:30Trinidad at Milford............................7:30

Saturday, October 26Southeast Prep at TVCC ................3:00Legacy Bible vs. ACP ....................11:00

Friday, November 1Athens at Mineola ..........................7:30Canton at Brownsboro ....................7:30Cayuga at Cross Roads ..................7:30Kemp at Winnsboro ........................7:30Mabank at Van................................7:30Malakoff at Quitman........................7:30Calvert at Trinidad............................7:30

Saturday, November 2ACP at Tyler Heat ..........................10:00

VOLLEYBALLFriday, October 18

Athens at Van (9/JV/V)....................4:30Brownsboro at Mineola (9/JV/V)......4:30Eustace at Life Oak Cliff (9/JV/V) ....4:30Hampton Prep at Kemp (9/JV/V) ....4:30Malakoff at Faith Family (V/JV) ........4:30Canton at Mabank (9/JV/V) ............4:30

Saturday, October 19Cross Roads at Trinidad (V)............10:00TVCC at Tyler JC ..............................2:00

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14A Thursday, October 17, 2013

• 16TH ANNUAL REGION XIV BASKETBALL MEDIA TIP-OFF •

Craftsman Player of the Week

SUBMITTED PHOTO

Athens coach Paul Essary and his staff work hard to give players the tools theyneed for success on the field and for life off the field. This week's CraftsmanPlayer of the Week is: Adam Stallings (center). He received the award fromEssary (left) and Sears store manager Jonathan Carnes.

TVCC basketball coaches Kris “Bucket” Baumann (left) and Elena Lovatoaddress the media and coaches during the 16th annual Region XIV Conference Media Tip-Off Wednesday afternoon at Trinity Valley Community College. The

JAYSON LARSON/TVCC PUBLIC INFORMATION

TVCC women are picked to win the conference, while the Trinity Valley Cardi-nals are picked to finish fourth in the East Zone of the conference.

East Zone1. Kilgore (8) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

2. Navarro (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

3. Tyler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

4. Trinity Valley (1) . . . . . . . . . 51

5. Paris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

6. Panola. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

7. Bossier Parish. . . . . . . . . . . 15

1. TVCC (9). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

2. Blinn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

3. Tyler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

4. Angelina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

5. San Jacinto (1) . . . . . . . . . . 46

6. Kilgore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

7. Jacksonville. . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

8. Panola. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

9. Paris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

10. Bossier Parish. . . . . . . . . . 16

South Zone1. Lee (7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

2. San Jacinto (2) . . . . . . . . . . 64

3. Lamar State-PA (2) . . . . . . . 58

4. Jacksonville. . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

5. Blinn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

6. Angelina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

7. Coastal Bend . . . . . . . . . . . 17

REG

ION

XIV

CO

NFE

REN

CE

2013-14

COACHES POLLS

MEN

WOMEN

(First-place votes in parenthesis)Not voting: Bossier Parish, Coastal Bend, San Jacinto

(First-place votes in parenthesis)

Time to prove their caseTVCC women picked to win conference, TVCC men picked fourth

By Joe ElersonSTAFF WRITER

With the re-emergenceof former Trinity ValleyCommunity Collegewomen’s coach MichaelLanders back at TVCC, sec-ond year head men’s bas-ketball coach KrisBaumann had to make acomment about the formercoach.

“When I got a call thissummer and found ourJohnny (Estelle) was leav-ing, I was jumping up anddown and it was the besttwo weeks of my life,”Baumann said. “When Igot the call that they hiredMichael Landers, I said,“Are you kidding me?” Ofall of the people I didn’twant them to hire, hemade the rivalry thatmuch more.”

Baumann also men-tioned the new scoreboardshanging in Cardinal Gymand how Landers was oneof the salesman for thescoreboard.

TVCC decided to go withanother company and

Baumann said that mayhave added to the rivalry.

His Cardinals — 22-12 aseason ago in Baumann’sfirst year at the helm —were picked to finish fourthin the East Zone by his peersin the annual Coaches Pollreleased at the Tip-Off,which was held this year atTrinity Valley CommunityCollege and sponsored bythe Athens Daily Review.

Navarro — last year’s re-gional tournament runnerup — and the new home ofLanders was picked to finishsecond in the North Zone,receiving two of 22 first-place votes. Kilgore, witheight first-place votes, waspicked to win the East Zone.

“I spent a decade (atTVCC) finishing our gamesfirst and then standingalong the wall and thoughtto myself so many differenttimes, “you would have tobe a fool to coach in themen’s division and now Iam one of those fools,”Landers said.

In the South Zone, thecoaches picked last year’snational tournament team

Lee College as the favoritethis season.

On the women’s side,The two-time defending na-tional champion TVCCLady Cardinals once againreceived praise from con-ference coaches, claimingnine of 10 first-place votesto finish atop the women’spoll. Blinn was picked sec-ond and Tyler third.

The Lady Cards, who fin-ished 36-1 in 2012, are led bycoach Elena Lovato and re-turn six players from lastyear’s title team.

They will be led by co-captains Roddricka Pattonand Kyhonta Doughty,Adut Bulgak, Shlonte’Allen, Julianne Anchlingand Dominique Brooks.

“The 2012-2013 LadyCardinals had an amazingbond. Now with the addi-tion of six extremely talent-ed players, I think we haveour hands full,” Lovatosaid. It will be a ride andthis group will be special,”We have a lot of potentialand I think our roster is fullof experience and talent.”

By Joe ElersonSTAFF WRITER

The Trinity ValleyCommunity College LadyCardinals took care ofbusiness in their finalhome match of the seasonWednesday night atCardinal Gym.

The Lady Cardinalsbeat Navarro on sopho-more night in three gamesby scores of 25-23, 25-20and 25-20.

With the win, coachTosha Spain team is now17-13 overall and 3-3 in con-ference play.

TVCC has two more con-ference games against No.1-ranked Tyler on Fridayand No. 9-ranked Panolabefore ending the seasonNov. 4 against Hill College.

The match on Fridayagainst Tyler is scheduledfor 2 p.m. at WagstaffGymnasium in Tyler.

Against Navarro,

Navarro cut into the TVCCdeficit in Game 1 at 12-10on a kill from HaileeShowers off an assist fromKatie Billeaud.

TVCC then blew upGame 1 with eight straightpoints behind the servingof sophomore RyleighThompson.

During the run, theLady Cardinals had killsfrom Ariana Kaleo andKaitlyn McShan. Theyalso had blocks fromAshlynn Caldwell andBrittney Griffith.

At one point, TVCC heldan 18-10 lead in Game 1 be-fore Navarro stormed backto tie the game at 19-19 on ablock by KelsiScmidtberger and Billeaud.

With TVCC having a

chance to put the gameaway at 24-22, Navarro wasable to cut into the leadonce again as Showersblasted a kill down the lineto extend the game.

On the next play,McShan was able to endthe game with a kill of herown and the 1-0 lead.

In Game 2, TVCCjumped out to a 13-9 lead asCaldwell put down a kill offan assist from Thompson.

Later in the game,TVCC had two nice blocksas Griffith and Thompsongot in the way of Showers.The second block gaveTVCC a 21-17 lead.

Note: This was the fi-nal home game for Kaleo,Sara Cruz, Thompsonand McShan. AmelieGuinci could return nextyear if she used a medicalredshirt for her freshmanseason.

TVCC wraps up sophomorenight with sweep of Navarro

From Staff ReportsEUSTACE — The No. 12

ranked Eustace LadyDogscontinued their undefeatedrun through district playwith a four game win overRed Oak Life Tuesdaynight.

Eustace won by scores of25-22, 25-20, 19-25 and 25-15.

Caitlyn Culp led the waywith 16 kills, three aces and

two blocks, while teammatePeyton Dibari had 12 kills,seven aces and two blocks.

Meagan Gunter andTaylor Peebles added fourkills each in the match.Peebles also had threeblocks.

Eustace travels to LifeOak Cliff Friday night withfreshman action set to be-gin at 4:30 p.m.

Malakoff loses infive to Scurry Rosser

MALAKOFF — TheMalakoff Lady Tigers lostin five games to ScurryRosser Tuesday night.

Scurry Rosser won byscores of 21-25, 20-25, 25-17,28-26 and 17-15.

Malakoff travels to FaithFamily Friday night.

Brownsboro swept byCanton Eaglettes

CANTON — TheBrownsboro Bearettes wereswept in District 15-3A vol-leyball action againstCanton Tuesday night.

Canton won by scores of25-19, 25-10 and 25-16.

Leading the way forBrownsboro were Bailey

McDonald with five digs,LaDae Luqman with twokills, two blocks and twoaces, Amber Walker withfour kills and two blocks,Madison Montgomery witha kill and six assists andLexie Houston with fourkills and one block.

Devin Carver had five as-sists, Reagan had threedigs, Brittany Knippershad two kills and five digs

and Meagan Gailey hadthree kills.

In JV action, Brownsborowon by scores of 25-16 and25-13, while the Cantonfreshman beat Brownsboro16-25, 25-21 and 25-16.

Brownsboro travels toMineola Friday night fordistrict play.

The junior varsity gameis set for begin at 4:30 p.m.

Eustace remains undefeated in district volleyball play

JUNIOR COLLEGEVOLLEYBALL

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