highsky

Lazeek is correct when he says that the officials did not lose the game for the Hawks, it is a team thing and missing shots/free throws can hurt you (see Hardin/Kountze game) but having been around Hardin sports going back to my high school days, EC does have the homecourt advantage when it comes to the officials. It has always been that way ever since I can remember so it is old hat for me to hear that officials did this or that at EC. EC fans...please do not take this as a slight against your school because it is not. During the same aforementioned years, EC has always had great athletes (something in the water ;D) and they are good and well-coached regardless of officiating. I realize that I go out on a limb when I say this because I know someone will take offense, but EC and, lately, Buna have been bad spots to go to for a well officiated game. This really disappoints me because why would a team as good as EC need "homer" officials?? Like I said, EC has some really good athletes and they are well coached to boot especially as they went really deep in the BBall playoffs last year (and I think the year before as well.) That being said...I wish EC and HJ good luck in 2008!!!!

Good to see district 24-2A represented here...Hardin, Buna and EC..(sorry if I missed any other school) Good job guys!

I know who Deaver is..it was #11's name I couldn't remember. She is a guard. BTW, I forgot to write in my earlier post...the Ktz coach is a bit intense (Knight style...lol) but there is no doubt that the guy can coach. That team I saw that night was a very good well oiled machine. I wasn't happy about the 30 pt deficit, but the ball was definitely dropping for Kountze so props to them.

in this day and age, it does surprise me a bit that a 2A school was able to give a 5A school fits (not a knock on Kountze). It is just that a 5A school has a larger talent pool to pick a varsity team than a 2A school does. That being said, I congratulate Kountze on what was obviously a well-played game against a much larger opponent. I had the opportunity to watch the Ktz girls against Hardin the other night and they looked very, very good. They have a nice combination of outside shooting with a complementary inside presence. Too bad K. Johnson got hurt early in the game; I would have liked to have seen what she could do. The Deaver girl really hustles a lot. I can't remember her name but #11 was really on that night with 25 points and the other outside shooter (#24 I think) had some nice threes. I can see this team doing really well in district and playoffs.

who are you talking to?

I agree with whsalum...all of the teams have a chance to go to the playoffs, but my choices are: Kountze, EC, Hardin, or Warren. Those four will most likely fight it out for the top 3 spots. I feel that Kountze will be District Champs with a tossup between EC and Hardin for second place.

Somehow, I knew you were going to bring that one up...I saw the same play and it looked like Bray stumbled as he got close to Nolan. Nolan didn't even see Bray coming b/c he was in a zone defense and watching the ball. The ball was on the left side of the court near the baseline. Bray was closer to the right side of the key then darted into the lane to set up. He either tripped over his own feet or stumbled over Nolan's foot. The point is that I had a fairly good view of the play as it unfolded and Nolan did nothing dirty. Now, I could have said that Kountze pulled a dirty play on Nolan on a fast break. Nolan got the ball, took off to the Hornet basket, a Ktz player was there with his hands up, Nolan pulled up and shot a jumper (made it by the way), and the Ktz player rang him up in the privates. I could have called that a dirty play if I was biased, but the way I saw it was when Nolan came down from the jumper, the Ktz player was in a position with his knees bent and facing Nolan. As Nolan came down, he just happened to come down on the Ktz player's knee. Now, from my initial description... sounds like a dirty play doesn't it, but it wasn't. It was just an unfortunate collision. I believe the same could be said of the Bray incident.

Although I only got to see TT during the EC/Hardin game and he wasn't at full strength...I agree that with his stats, he should have been 1st string all state on defense.

whsalum...you may be right about the FTs...but it sure seemed like Nolan, Hall, and Davis made alot of their FTs. Marsh didn't hit too many of them though, if he had he would be closer to 30 pts for the game instead of just over 20 pts. Runitup and Topdawg...if you don't know Nolan or weren't at the game, then shut your yapping. District games like this one often have a lot of tension in them and some fouls may be construed as dirty playing but is really not. Officiating was good but they missed a couple of fouls (of the technical kind) against Kountze. Marsh (of Hardin) was slapped a tech for untucking his jersey on the court, but Bray was not and he did the exact same thing and he basically almost took his jersey off. Also, there was a foul called Kountze towards the end of the game that should have been called "intentional or flagrant" because the K-town player grabbed our PG pretty hard to stop the clock. 1 or 2 of the Kountze players had to be warned about running their mouths early in the game. Most of the Hardin players took their fouls (called against them) and didn't argue about it. Kountze seemed like "what foul?" for most of the game. Also, with a two man crew officiating, there were some other fouls not called, but I am chalking that up to not looking/being the right place at the right time for them. Yes, I am a Hardin homer, but if you look at my previous posts in general...I try to be as unbiased as possible when dissecting something. However, if I am wrong, I will apologize and take it like a man...Can you?

Don't know the box score for the free throws, but when Hardin went to the stripe, they made the most of it, especially Nolan...I think he only missed one free throw out of like 6-8 free throws. I would guess (and this is a guess) Hardin made like 14 of 18 free throws and Kountze made like 8 or 9 out of 14 free throws. Their inability to hit the three helped the Hornets and they were smart to not try to press Kountze; they immediately went to a zone in the Kountze offensive court. Hardin gave us Hornet fans a bit of a scare a few times thinking they were going to be called for 10 seconds (before making it to halfcourt) but they seemed to pull it out when they needed it the most. Marsh had over 20 points and Nolan had about 13-15 pts, but Hunter Davis made some clutch FTs down the stretch. However, Bray is an extremely gifted athlete and I have to give props to him and Walker...they played well, but the thing that also helped the Hornets is that Kountze couldn't seem to get him (Bray) the ball in the 2nd half. (also, the Kounzte team doesn't seem as mature as Kountze teams of the past...seemed too aggressive and not willing to accept the blame as far as the fouls went...but I bet Joubert will have them calm and composed by the time playoffs get here...I know that guy...he demands alot of his players and they will respond in kind) Someone here mentioned that this Kountze team is not on the level of the Ashton Hall teams, but I figure they will go deep if every team they play tries to run and gun with them.

well, I find it odd that Marsh was credited with 17 tds, when I thought he had 21. Also, may be a homer pick here, but Nolan had better stats than the QB from Canadian. Nolan finished with over 3,000 yards passing along with 38 tds. I don't know...maybe if I had information on every player like the All-State committee does, then I could make a judgement. Plus, I agree with AggiesAreWe about the Riley kid from Muleshoe...very confusing...you would think that the Offensive POY would also be a first team selection, instead of a second.

No doubt, that Raymond kid is a hoss, but you have got to have another offensive threat to help shoulder the load. Thomas was big enough to do that, but who steps up for him now that he is gone. If you are one-dimensional, then for the most part, you will be easier to stop. However, I agree that losing Nolan and Marsh hurts, but we had them before Haynes came and I can honestly say that the 2006 and 2007 versions of Nolan and Marsh are 2 vastly different players. I think that Haynes and his coaching staff are smart enough to make the necessary changes and while it might be a bit much to duplicate the 9-3 season we just had, I do think that maybe we do enough to make the playoffs again (hopefully).

sorry, but EC didn't win without Thomas...he scored 2 of your TDs plus stopped a Hardin receiver short of the goal line before the half. EC perennially has a good team so I expect them to still be good, but not the same after losing all your top players with the exception of the big RB.

I do see what you are saying...however, officiating CAN be blamed for some games, especially at the JH level. How can players learn what they are doing wrong if the officials don't call it?

24 overpar...don't know if you have yet, but check your messages..

congrats from Hardin...(Johnson's dad played football for Hardin)

no problem at all, footballfan5261...let me know if I can help ya ;D

this game was a bit of a barn burner...Webster, the DVille PG, can play...just a very good, solid take-care-of-the-ball PG...I believe she only had 2 turnovers the whole game. It was a bit sloppy but a fun game to watch. There were a couple of other good players in the game. Golemon (#33) had a good night rebounding and at the stripe (free throws). Hardin got a good game from Carpenter (#32) and Johnson (#5) points wise with 18 and 12 respectively.

footballfan5261, 08softball is right. There was only one MVP Middle Blocker and it was Harwell from Hardin.

OK Hardin fans...no need to crow on here about "still in the playoffs, EC is not." Believe it or not, this thread is not about Hardin, so let's just congratulate EC on a fine season. Sorry it came to an end, but still, there are some fine athletes on EC's team and wish them luck in the future. Has TT decided where he is going to play college ball?

Funny thing about that historical tidbit is that Coach Haynes was the QB of that 1974 team.

Hardin will play Crawford, probably next Friday, either in Crosby or Dayton. This is what I heard. Hardin came out determined and ready to play. Hemphill plays an offense that reminded me somewhat of the Buna offense, but more sweeps and stuff like that. Hardin played great on both sides of the ball. They were the more physical team tonight. I saw some really nice hard clean tackles. Only thing I didn't like was the 3rd down conversions by Hemphill. It seemed like every time we stopped them on 1st and 2nd, they would convert a long 3rd into a first down. Oh, well...I can't complain too much because this Hornet team really brought their game tonight. I am proud of them!!!!

I don't believe that score is right b/c I was at the game and I believe the margin of victory was around 6 points. I will have to find out. Yes, Hardin lost a few seniors from last year so it is not the same team, but they do hustle very hard and pretty much don't give up. I wouldn't say Newton clobbered them. The score was back and forth through 3 1/2 quarters. About 3 minutes left in the 4th, Newton went on a run that included some really improbable layups (meaning layups were horrible but they went in anyway) ;D and a couple of really strange calls. Not to take anything away from Newton, they are very athletic and can play, but Hardin was with them neck-and-neck until mistakes did them in. #14 for Newton can play and score. Edit: I heard the score was more like 57-49 instead of the reported score of 56-41.

sorry, the play wasn't exceptional and it wasn't even a hit. Receiver slipped and DB covered him as he fell. Now if you had said that #15 ran wild and made some good yards after contact, I would have agreed. That boy is a hoss!! To me, he was the most impressive Buc out there. Give credit to him and not to TT.

I guess I am taking issue with them saying "obliterate" and "lit him up" when it was just a stop. The WR tried to dive and slipped so TT just covered him up. It was stretching it to say "it was a good hit." I do wish you luck in the playoffs.