KFDM COOP's Content - Page 1085 - SETXsports.com- Your Source for Sports on Southeast Texas

Boys hoop teams start tonight Van Wade The Orange Leader Local boys basketball action starts in full throttle tonight while area girls teams look to continue to gel with their second week of action. West Orange-Stark, Bridge City, Orangefield and Vidor will all get their feet wet at home tonight while Little Cypress-Mauriceville hits the road. The Mustangs look to snag first-year head coach Zach Quinnâ€™s first career victory when they welcome Milburn Academy. Bridge City and first-year head coach Tony Knight will play host to Pat Abelâ€™s Port Neches-Groves Indians. In Orangefield, Coach Rea Wrinkleâ€™s Bobcats will tangle with the Tarkington Longhorns and Vidorâ€™s Lance Robertson will entertain the powerful Silsbee Tigers. LC-M third-year head man Darin Harley will bring his veteran-led Bear squad to Beaumont to face an always tough Beaumont Kelly unit. On the girlsâ€™ side of the ledger there will be three intriguing games. There will be an Orange County batttle at the Bear Cave as the LC-M Lady Bears will welcome the Bridge City Lady Cardinals. The Lady Bears (0-1) fell to a tough Kountze squad in their opener last week while the Lady Cardinals (0-1), who were minus several starters dur to the volleyball playoffs, dropped their opener to Beaumont Kelly. The Orangefield Lady Bobcats (1-1) will head to Beaumont to face Beaumont West Brook while the Deweyville Lady Pirates will entertain the Kirbyville Lady Wildcats. The Nederland Tournament will keep the girls teams busy Thursday through Saturday as LC-M, WO-S and Bridge City will all compete in the event. Also on Friday, Orangefield will host Kountze while Deweyville welcomes West Hardin. In boys basketball action Friday, LC-M will travel to Huffman, Vidor will entertain Milburn Academy and Bridge City will host Lumberton. The Deweyville Pirates will open their campaign Thursday at High Island and the Pirates will turn around and visit Hamshire-Fannett on Saturday.

November 13, 2007

Memorial-Ozen rivalry building

KFDM COOP posted a topic in SETXsports Archived Threads

Memorial-Ozen rivalry building By Cody Pastorella The Port Arthur News Maybe tonight's 7:30 p.m. game between the Memorial Titans and Ozen Panthers isn't that important in the big picture. It's just the first game of the regular season and will have little impact on either team's year. Maybe it is not yet the rivalry that Port Neches-Groves and Nederland share. The one thing tonight's game does have is a lot of history, great coaches and great players. For the most part, Memorial is still a new program, trying to find its place in the history of Port Arthur basketball. For years it was Lincoln High School that was the areaâ€™s dominant basketball force. In 1997, Ozen emerged on the scene as a new school with an old touch. A touch of Port Arthur's James Gamble and Beaumont Hebert's Fred Williams. Add the two legendary coaches together and you have the blueprints for Andre Boutte, who won state titles as a player at Hebert High School in 1980 and '81. Boutte led Lincoln to championship titles in 1991 and '95 as the Bees head coach. Then Boutte took over at Ozen and led the Panthers to a state championship in 2001 and finished second in state in 2002 and 2003. Ozen, Lincoln and TJ never competed in the same district but all were successful programs in the late 90s and into the turn of the century. And TJ ended Ozen's 1999-2000 season at the Montagne Center in Beaumont in the third round of the Class 4A playoffs. The next year, coach Boutte and current Port Arthur head coach Turrul Henderson met in the season opener for the 2000 season. Ozen beat Lincoln in that game and went on to a perfect 36-0 season. Memorial and Ozen did not meet in 2002-03 (Memorial's first season). Since then, the Panthers and Titans have squared off seven times, with Ozen being the victor in four of those meetings. The two teams met twice in the 2003. Memorial won the first meeting 46-45. The second meeting came during the YMBL tournament. Ozen came out on top with a 51-40 victory in that game. The Panthers won both matchups in 2004, including a 65-58, overtime victory and a 51-43 win in the YMBL tournament for the second consecutive year. The teams played their 2005 game at the Beehive on Dec. 14. The Panthers won that game 53-49. Last year, Henderson's first year as Memorial's head coach, the Titans won both meetings with the Panthers.