gdickert

Find Lumberton-Barbers Hill scrimmage photos here ... [Hidden Content] And Kountze-Woodville scrimmage photos here ... [Hidden Content]

Find Lumberton-Barbers Hill scrimmage photos at this address ... [Hidden Content]

See Lumberton-Barbers Hill scrimmage photos at ... [Hidden Content]

From Kountze: Chad Morrison at defensive end (99 tackles in 2007) Thomas Wolcott (safety, big-time hitter, three picks in 07) Dontae Barnes (running back, nearly 700 yards in 07)

Transfer kid from Norway booted a 50-yard FG for Kountze in the Lions' scrimmage against Colmesneil last week.

By GERRY L. DICKERT The Bee Coach Tasha McAdams showed up last year as a first-year head volleyball coach and immediately found out what it meant to be busy as she faced putting together a big 16-team tournament. Now, a year later, Coach McAdams finds herself a little better prepared but no less busy as she prepares for the Evadale Lady Rebels Volleyball Tournament, which will start this Thursday at Evadale High School. "I kind of inherited it from the coach who was here before," said Coach McAdams, whose Lady Rebels reached the area round of the Class A playoffs this past season. "It's a great tournament." Sixteen teams from around Southeast Texas will compete in four pools on Thursday and Friday, resulting in the top eight teams reaching an eight-team bracket competition on Saturday. Pool games will be best two-out-of-three to 25 with a 30-point cap. Thursday's tournament schedule is: Pool A (old gymnasium) 9 a.m., Kountze vs. Hardin 10 a.m., Kirbyville vs. Deweyville 11 a.m., Kountze vs. Kirbyville Noon, Hardin vs. Deweyville 1 p.m., Kountze vs. Deweyville 2 p.m., Hardin vs. Kirbyville Pool B (new gymnasium) 9 a.m., West Hardin vs. Burkeville 10 a.m., Warren vs. Community Christian 11 a.m., West Hardin vs. Warren Noon, Burkeville vs. Community Christian 1 p.m., West Hardin vs. Community Christian 2 p.m., Burkeville vs. Warren Friday's tournament schedule is: Pool C (old gymnasium) 9 a.m., Evadale JV vs. Cathedral Christian 10 a.m., Jasper JV vs. Buna 11 a.m., Evadale JV vs. Jasper JV Noon, Cathedral vs. Buna 1 p.m., Evadale JV vs. Buna 2 p.m., Cathedral vs. Jasper JV Pool D (new gymnasium) 9 a.m., Evadale vs. Spurger 10 a.m., Jasper vs. Woodville 11 a.m., Evadale vs. Jasper Noon, Spurger vs. Woodville 1 p.m., Evadale vs. Woodville 2 p.m., Spurger vs. Jasper The bracket play on Saturday starts at 8 a.m. with the consolation championship starting at noon, the third-place game at 1 p.m. and the tournament championship taking place at 2 in Evadale High School's new gymnasium. "There are some good teams in this tournament and we'll get a good look at all of them," said Coach McAdams. "This gives the smaller teams a chance to play against some bigger schools. It's a real test early in the season."

I'm happy to post pics of the local kids. I'm the editor at The Silsbee Bee. We do our best to cover Lumberton as much as possible. This year, we're planning to do more than we have in the past. I used to work at the Hardin County News back in the late 80s and early 90s and I used to wander the sidelines with a camera when the home side was on the OTHER side of the field! Lumberton folks always treated me right ... and I'd like to return the favor now that I'm back in Hardin County working for the Bee. Gerry

I didn't think Lumberton looked so bad ... had some good offensive movement while I was there, but like a few have mentioned... seems like the defense was not quite where it needs to be just yet. I was particularly impressed with Kountze today. They had a good defensive showing, but they were playing Class A Colmesneil. We'll see how they do next week when they travel to Woodville. The Lions went from 0-7 to 4-6 under Coach Stan Hodges. In his third year, I think they have a real shot at breaking .500. If the teams picked to win District 24-2A this year beat up on each other enough in district play, a team like Kountze could possibly sneak into the playoffs with a lucky break here and there.

Find Nederland-Silsbee scrimmage photos from this Saturday at ... [Hidden Content]

Here are links to three Saturday scrimmages: Silsbee/Nederland [Hidden Content] Lumberton/Hamshire-Fannett [Hidden Content] Kountze/Colmesneil [Hidden Content] Anyone else have photos? Gerry

Sorry it took so long, but the Lumberton-Hamshire-Fannett photos are online now ... Go to ... [Hidden Content]

I think you're right ... seems like the coaches were yelling "Chris" when he was playing quarterback ...

I'm uploading Lumberton pictures right now ... will be online shortly. Gerry

Here are pictures from tonight's Silsbee-Nederland scrimmage ... [Hidden Content]

Here are pictures from the Silsbee-Nederland scrimmage tonight ... [Hidden Content]

Find photos of the Kountze-Colmesneil scrimmage at the address below. I just returned from the Lumberton-HF and Silsbee-Nederland scrimmages. I'll have those photos posted before too long. [Hidden Content]

I've interviewed so many coaches during my years working for newspapers around here that a lot of the quotes have faded into memory ... nice way of saying I'm getting old. One area coach in a quote for a story in The Enterprise: "He's so strong, he's got muscle in his sh*t ..." Of course, I didn't use it in the story ... Former Lumberton coach whose contract was non-renewed for a story in the Hardin County News ... "I was fired because of illness and fatigue. Two school board members and an administrator were sick and tired of me." A great quote from an Orangefield pole vaulter ... those of you who remember Enterprise sports writer Kenton Brooks will understand how this one would make it all the way to the sports editor before someone said HOLY CRAP ... "In order to get deeper penetration into the box, I had to get a higher grip on my pole." I swear to you ... I almost fell out of my chair when that one came across my desk. Had another coach tell me that he preaches to his kids every day that "There is no 'me' in team." Ummm. Ok.

Check out photos from Evadale's midnight scrimmage at www.gld-designs.smugmug.com ...

Check out photos from Evadale's midnight scrimmage last night at ... www.gld-designs.smugmug.com

The "longest" field goal in Southeast Texas history? The one Wally Whisenant kicked in 1982 to beat Kirbyville and end Kountze's then-nationally longest losing streak. Wally is now a successful businessman in Beaumont, a former Kountze school board member and STILL the guy who kicked the field goal to end the streak. I was a freshman in Kirbyville in 1982. Dark days. Seems that's when Kirbyville changed coaches and got Larry Grissom to serve as head coach the next several seasons. It might not have been the longest kick as far as measurable distance, but it sure does live in the history books in Kountze ... and sadly, in Kirbyville!

When I first went to The Beaumont Enterprise as a sports writer back in 1993, my job was to cover the small schools ... Class A, 2A and 3A. One of my favorite trips during football season was up to Burkeville. The kids were always down-to-earth and polite. It was a pleasure to deal with those kids. But most of all, dealing with Coach Harper was an honor. He and his kids earned every win they got over the years and all that hard work resulted in state championships. Not only will Burkeville miss him, but Southeast Texas will be less of a football community without him on the sidelines. There are only a few coaches which whom I've had this kind of respect ... Curtis Barbay, Dan Hooks, Kevin Johnson, Bubba McGallion ... and Roy Harper ... I hope Coach Harper enjoys his time in Jasper. If he returns to coaching, all the better for us all. If he's decided that retirement from the sidelines is what he wants, then I wish him the very best in whatever he chooses to do. Gerry Dickert The Silsbee Bee

One last note from me ... If you're unhappy with The Enterprise, then support your hometown paper. Pretty much every little town around here has its own paper. If you buy, subscribe and advertise, it helps the small paper staffs better do their job, and thereby offer better coverage of local issues. The Enterprise is what it is ... you can only stretch a rubber band so far before it won't stretch anymore. The Enterprise is stretched too far, has been for years. But, if they stop trying to be a regional paper, you're going to wind up without any coverage at all, even sporadic ...

During my days at the Enterprise, I made sure we covered Beaumont schools first. But PNG and Nederland, then Orange County teams, deserved and demanded coverage of their teams too. We were a regional paper and we tried to hold true to that responsibility. When I was there, it was me, and assistant sports editor (Rush Wood) and several writers (Kenton Brooks, Brad McBride and several others who came and went). We used stringers to cover the outlying areas ... Honestly, Brad McBride was our MidCounty writer. There is enough interest in the two schools in MidCounty, as well as enough money in the economy there, that we dedicated a specific writer to the task of covering those schools. There was also a matter of competition with Bob West and his crew over at the PA News. Honestly, we were never able to get in with MidCounty as well as Tom Halliburton, but he had quite a few years head start on us. One surprising fact? Guess which city has the greatest penetration as far as the Enterprise was concerned in the early 2000s? It's Vidor. By percentage, more people in Vidor took the paper than any other city we distributed to ... including Beaumont. There was a 90-plus percent penetration in Vidor as far as I remember. I'm at the Silsbee Bee now and we cover Silsbee first. There is seldom a Silsbee sporting event that doesn't get at least a write-up in the Bee. We also cover Kountze, Lumberton and Evadale, but our franchise is Silsbee. We make sure to take care of our hometown schools because the people who live and work here support their paper. I've told this before to many people ... I've been at a lot of newspapers in this region. The Silsbee Bee is the only one I've worked at where people line up for the paper before it ever even arrives in the office. I'm proud of my past and the knowledge I earned over the years ... even at The Enterprise. But, I've never been more happy with a job than right here in Silsbee. I plan to be here for quite a while.

You can check out Kountze state basketball tournament photos at www.gld-designs.smugmug.com Click on Kountze High School Sports.

Perhaps I take my life in my own hands here ... I used to be the sports editor at The Enterprise back in the early 2000s. I replaced Joe Heiling after he had spent decades there after coming to Beaumont from the Houston Post. Joe is a great guy and had his staff covering sports with a passion. When new leadership came in at The Enteprise, the idea of covering "sports" changed. Joe was unceremoniously escorted into retirement and sports at The Enterprise changed forever. At one point, a managing editor relegated Lamar men's basketball winning over LSU to page four while putting ballroom dancing on the front page of the section. That's right ... I said "BALLROOM DANCING." I was in Baton Rouge with now-sports editor Michael Peters covering Lamar that night. When I got into the office the next morning, you can't imagine the phone messages and evil emails I had received ... and rightfully so, I thought. Before I left The Enterprise, I hired Michael because I knew he understood what sports really is and how to best cover it. Michael has taken the sports department back to a more game-oriented coverage standpoint. From having done that myself in the beginning of my tenure in sports, I can tell you that it's tough to cover everything all the time. We covered 32 different schools during football season, and that number increased dramatically when you added boys and girls basketball with several non-football playing schools thrown in. Our coverage area spanned from Anahuac and Barbers Hill (the coaches there always loved us because they said the Houston Chronicle didn't know they even existed), all the way up to Newton and West Sabine, west to Woodville and Chester and, at one point, east to Lake Charles. While the coverage area has pretty much stayed the same over the years, the "suits" at corporate headquarters in New York saw fit to cut staff, keep salaries the same and minimize resources in general. No matter how hard we tried to get everything covered -- at least with a linescore if not a story -- we had people call and complain that their school was not covered. (If I had a dime for every time I was called a racist because I didn't cover one game or another, I'd be rich!) I always felt bad that the information was not there, but always explained that it was a simple matter for coaches to call in the information. Heck, we even accepted collect calls! There was a time when editors were considering changing The Beaumont Enterprise to just The Enterprise in order to better convey the regional feel the paper was trying to achieve. That idea was nixed based on the fear of losing readership and advertisers in Beaumont. Regardless, as sports editor, I made sure that Beaumont schools were considered for coverage first, based mostly on the importance of the game and what other regional games were being played. If PNG and Nederland were playing ANYTHING, we were there. If West Brook and Central were playing ANYTHING, we were there. Same thing for WOS-LCM, Jasper-Silsbee, TJ-Lincoln ... really any major showdown rivalry that would bring out the fans. Lots of fans equal lots of readers the next day. I think the Enterprise sports department is struggling even more today with a lack of staff to get everything covered. We used to call every coach who was hosting a home game to let them know that we would be waiting for their call on Friday nights during football season or Tuesday and Friday nights during basketball and the spring sports season. Invariably, half the home coaches wouldn't call because they lost. I've got two clerks sitting there waiting for the phone to ring, having already called 30-some-odd coaches earlier that day, and we get 8 calls from home coaches who won or a few die-hard coaches who would call on the bus ride home, win or lose. (I never got to thank Coach Gordon Long in Lumberton who called me EVERY time I asked ... so, thanks!) Perhaps The Enterprise once existed in this area as a true regional news product. But that day is over. They can't advertise that they are a true regional newspaper anymore. The problem is, they'll keep crowing that story as long as they think they can pull an advertising dollar or two out of these smaller communities. I'm at the Silsbee newspaper now and wouldn't go back to The Enterprise or a Hearst paper again to save my life. The small-town community weeklies are where the real news is written and the only place it will exist on paper in 20 years. If you guys are true fans of your hometown teams, then grab a quick linescore from your coach (or learn how to keep a book ... it makes the game more fun to watch!) and call The Enterprise and let them know how your team did. They'll appreciate it and so will your kids.