KFDM COOP

Wycoff big factor in Titans defense By Cody Pastorella The Port Arthur News In Friday night’s 50-18 win over Atascocita, Memorial’s defense scored 23 points, all of which came in the third quarter, and in about six minutes of play. Linebacker Earl Hines scored on a fumble recovery, linebacker Cody Hebert scored on a fumble recovery, cornerback Desmond Gardiner scored on an interception return and the defense scored a safety when Atascocita was flagged for intentional grounding while in the endzone. On a night when Memorial put up 50 points on the scoreboard, there were just a handful of people on the Titans’ sidelines who didn’t find the endzone. Strong safety Richard Wycoff never scores, but the senior was very much a part of the five turnovers Memorial forced against Atascocita. Wycoff stands just shy of 6-3 and weighs right at 200 pounds. He has long arms, deceptive speed and runs a 4.5 (second) 40-yard dash. “We use him all over the field,†defensive coordinator Curtis Viola said. “He is one of the main ingredients to this defense. He gives us a lot of favorable matchups with his size, strength and speed. He played outside linebacker for us last year and then we moved him to safety this year. “A lot of times, we still use him like a linebacker. He’s big enough to play up on the line, big enough to use against the run, big enough that he can cover tight ends and he has the speed to run with just about anyone. The kid is just a great player. He can be five yards behind a receiver and just stick his long arms up in the air and knock a pass down.†In Friday night’s contest, Wycoff tackled everything that moved, even a towel boy from his own sideline. He forced a fumble and recorded three sacks, three quarterback hurries and three quarterback knockdowns. Wycoff graded out at a 95, the third time in five games he’s been above 90. For the season, he has 47 tackles, including 13 assists, 11 tackles for loss and four sacks. He has seven quarterback hurries, five quarterback knockdowns, one pass deflection, one interception and two forced fumbles. As a junior, Wycoff started the final three games of the season for the Titans at linebacker before moving to safety in the spring. Wycoff missed some spring workouts because he was taking advanced courses to prepare for college.

Lady Bears fought off Lady Broncos Van Wade The Orange Leader LITTLE CYPRESS — When the going got tough, the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Lady Bears reached deep down inside and also turned to senior hitter Morgan Blohm against a hard-nosed Dayton Lady Broncos at the Bear Cave Tuesday night. Blohm blistered Dayton with perhaps her best performance ever in a Lady Bear uniform as she notched a whopping 23 kills to power the Lady Bears to an important 25-21, 20-25, 25-15, 25-13 District 22-4A victory. It was a much-needed victory for LC-M (17-14, 7-4), which entered the contest tied with both Beaumont Ozen and Lumberton for second-place in the 22-4A standings. It was a refreshing win for the Lady Bears, who dropped back-to-back matches against first-place Port Neches-Groves and Ozen last week. The Lady Broncos (14-15, 4-7) played awesome defense throughout the match, digging up a ton of hard Lady Bear shots but LC-M found its groove in both Game Three and Game Four. “We really needed this one and we dug deep down and went out and got it,†Blohm said. “We struggled last week, so we got together and decided that we were not going through another week like that.†As far as Blohm’s performance? “I felt like I was in a good groove and my teammates set me up with some beautiful placements and I was able to put a bunch away. Dayton kept digging everything up, but we remained patient and pulled through.†Sophomore Christine Sicktich had another strong performance for the Lady Bears, notching 13 kills to go along with 11 points and an ace. Maci Wilcox had one of her best performances of the season, finding her way to nine kills. Kaci Olson was strong off the bench, claiming five kills while Jordyn Davis and Kristi Trahan added four kills apiece. Brittany Wiegand collected nine service points. Alexa Humble served up six points and two aces while Shayna Sheppard and Carly Gauthier added six points apiece. Long-time LC-M coach Vicki Castino was proud of the effort the lady Bears displayed. “Last week was a tough week but the kids regained a lot of focus and were determined to come out tonight and play well and they accomplished that,†Castino said. “Dayton has a tough little team and their defense was awesome all night. We really got things going though in that third game and the kids were able to pull away.†Castino was thrilled with the way the Lady Bears hung in there. “Morgan put on a big display tonight,†Castino said. “She’s awesome when we give her that short set. Wilcox had one of her better matches of the season and Olson gave us a big spark off the bench.†Paige Wilson had a superb outing for the Lady Broncos, posting 11 kills. Deanna Tousant, who was not available when LC-M defeated Dayton at Dayton in the first half off 22-4A play, finished with nine kills. Iris Moss collected seven kills for Dayton while Casey Strickland added five. Jenny Wilson and Courtney Morse tallied seven service points apiece for the Lady Broncos. LC-M closed out Game One by tallying five of the last seven points and Blohm iced it with a booming kill on the back baseline. The Lady Broncos returned the favor in Game Two, racking up five of the final seven points as Wilson and Moss teamed up for four kills down the backstretch. In Game Three, LC-M went on a mini run, scoring four straight points as Sicktich and Wilcox teamed up for four kills to put the Lady Bears up 16-11. Dayton got as close as 17-13 but LC-M rattled the Lady Broncos with an 8-2 spurt with Blohm once again finishing off that game with a nice dink shot. Dayton jumped out to a 5-2 lead in Game Four only to watch Sicktich serve up nine straight points while Blohm, Wilcox and Olson were joining for six kills in a run that put the Lady Bears in control at 11-5. LC-M put the match in cruise control, tallying 14 of the finals 22 points to put away the victory. The Lady Bears are looking to finish the regular season in style, with destiny certainly in their own hands. LC-M hosts Nederland Friday with the varsity starting at 4:30 p.m. The Lady Bears actually close out the regular season at the Bear Cave three straight matches. They also will host Lumberton next Tuesday and will close by hosting Vidor Oct. 19. Each match will have serious playoff implications. “The kids really like the way things are set up for us and they also realize that they need to take care of business at home,†Castino said. “One thing for sure, anything can happen in this district, so they will have to be on their toes.â€

Lady Cats fight off Lady Horns in 4 Gabriel Pruett The Orange Leader ORANGEFIELD — Hustle has always been a big word around the Orangefield Lady Bobcats athletic program. Hustle came up huge Tuesday evening as the Lady Bobcats came up with their biggest win in District 21-3A play. Orangefield was all over the place in Bobcat Gym and came away with a four-game victory over Hamshire-Fannett to keep the Lady Bobcats in the playoff race. The Lady Bobcats won 25-11, 28-30, 25-12 and 25-23. Now the Lady Bobcats sit a game back of third place in the district standings with a 6-4 record while the Lady Longhorns are sitting at 7-3. Orangefield is 13-14 overall while Hamshire-Fannett is 21-8. “This is definitely the biggest win of the year,†Orangefield Coach Linda Riddick said. “I told them that we knew we have to win here on out and have to have them all. They are finally starting to believe in themselves.†Having belief in being able to win came in to play in Game 4 as Orangefield built up a substantial lead only to see H-F climb back into the mix. The Lady Bobcats were able to build a 12-2 in the fourth as junior Allie Beach and senior Kaylin Little did what they had been doing all match long — serving Orangefield to victory. Beach and Little teamed up to hit for seven service points and six Lady Longhorn errors aided the early Orangefield lead. Hamshire-Fannett did what good teams do and fought back and behind the serve of Macy Howerton took a 20-19 lead later in the game. The Lady Bobcats did not help the cause with seven errors as the Lady Longhors took the lead. Orangefield’s Laura Riddick, who had a match-high 16 kills, turned from hitter to setter to send the Lady Bobcats to victory down the stretch. With Orangefield up 23-22, Riddick set junior Olivia Wagner for a kill before an Orangefield serve found the net making it 24-23. Riddick then set Little, who had a match-high 17 assists, for the match-winner as Orangefield won Game 4 25-23. Beach got things rolling for Orangefield in Game 1 as the junior led the match off with five straight points, including four straight aces. Beach would later hit for three straight aces as Orangefield jumped out to a 17-10 lead. After a H-F serve found the net, Little did her part and closed the game out with seven straight service points to give Orangefield a 25-11 win in Game 1. Riddick pounded out two straight kills to end the first game. Game 2 was a long affair as neither team could pull away yet Orangefield did have a shot late at closing the deal when the Lady Bobcats held a 24-21 lead. A serve went out of bounds and Hamshire-Fannett’s Yvonne Vega struck for three straight points giving the visitors a 25-24 lead. The two squads battled shot for shot until a final Orangefield error gave H-F a 30-28 win. Game 3 was all Orangefield behind strong serves again as it was Jessica Maass and Kayla Moore’s turn to get into the action. Maass gave Orangfield a 9-5 lead with five straight points and Moore put the game on ice later with five straight to end the game as Orangfield won 25-12. Moore’s second ace of the night finished the deal in the third game. Aimee Scales, Maass and Wagner each had four kills in the match while Riddick chimed in eight assists. Beach finished the night with nine kills. The Lady Longhorns were led by Kindra Wright who had 12 kills and Kayla Dotson who finished with 12 assists. Danielle Johnson had nine assists and Ariel Stevenson finished with six kills. The Lady Bobcats will travel to Kirbyville on Friday.

PN-G vs. Nederland: A rivalry unlike any other By Tom Halliburton The Port Arthur News Call it the longest continuous high school football rivalry in Southeast Texas... or Mid-County Madness.... or Braggin' Rights... or the Mid-County football championship of the world. Nothing quite compares to the matchup of these friendly but highly competitive next-door neighbors -- Nederland and Port Neches-Groves. The 84th version arrives Friday night in Nederland's Bulldog Stadium at 7 o'clock with a share of the District 22-4A lead at stake, plus an enormous amount of pride. It's a matchup that enters the minds, hearts and tongues of refinery and factory workers year-round. It never truly vanishes the thought processes of an area football mind much the same way that Army-Navy, Texas-Texas A&M, USC-UCLA, and Harvard-Yale consumes the subconscious of college football followers. "They've all been very important," said Matt Burnett, a former all-state defensive lineman at PN-G, a former assistant coach at Nederland and PN-G and an Indians' chief for the past 14 seasons. "Every one of them is very important." The 50-year-old Burnett earned all-state Class AAAA defensive end honors during the glory years of Indians' football under Doug Ethridge. Matt never played on a PN-G team that lost a varsity football game to Nederland. Nobody in history has compiled a greater Mid-County Madness coaching mark than Ethridge, whose 11 PN-G teams collected a perfect 11-0 record in the Mid-County series. By winning 15 consecutive games -- 1969 through 1983 -- the Indians established a stranglehold on the Mid-County series that they have enjoyed to this day. Counting a couple of ties before that 15-game win streak, the Indians actually went 19 straight years without tasting defeat against the Bulldogs. They enter the 83th bout with 46 wins, 30 losses and 7 ties in the previous 83. While Nederland finally halted that PN-G streak at 15 in 1984, the Bulldogs have struggled to produce a streak anywhere close in longevity to that stretch during Matt Burnett's playing days. Nederland's longest MCM win streak extended four straight years, with the last of those four occurring in the Bulldogs' memorable 1957 state AAA championship year under head coach Emmett McKenzie. That string of four straight Nederland wins can be duplicated this week if NHS head coach Larry Neumann's unbeaten squad can keep its unblemished record. Neumann enters this week with a three-game win streak over PN-G for the third time in his 15-year head coaching run at NHS. With more wins than any head coach in Nederland history, Neumann has presided over 10 wins and 4 losses in his 14 previous seasons. Neumann never has tried to disguise the fact that a different tempo, a more intense atmosphere has prevailed within his football program each year on the week of this game. "It's just different from any other week," Neumann acknowledged after last year's game. "I know our coaches and players embrace it." Even more important than reversing a 4-9 career record against Nederland, PN-G's Burnett would like to see his son Clint be able to go out a winner in the Nederland series. Just like his father, the younger Burnett also is a standout defensive end for PN-G. "Of course, I have more of a personal interest this year because my son is playing and I would like for him to win in his senior year against the Bulldogs," Burnett said Tuesday.

Jake Hemmings needs 'nice' big game against Nederland By Tom Halliburton The Port Arthur News PORT NECHES -- Jake Hemmings lived on his reputation for a couple of games this season. But Jake ran a bit harder Friday night against Little Cypress-Mauriceville's defenders. Occasionally, the Bears' would-be tacklers got a peak at Jake's Shake and Bake... At other times, the Bears' pursuit tried to deal with Jake The Snake. It's still going to be difficult for 18-year-old Jacob Hemmings to become a repeat selection on The Port Arthur News Super Team this Christmas. That's because if Jacob and the Port Neches-Groves Indians wish to attain their desired level of success, Hemmings must do more than live on his reputation, or run hard some of the time. He readily admits to not playing as well early in the season as he did against LC-M. "It was the first game for me to play like I can play," he said. "I think I had to have one to get started.... I kinda didn't live up to the hype during the rest of the year." Starting slow hasn’t been the norm for PN-G's greatest backs over the years. They have run hard time after time and run mean. Mean, mean, and more mean. And since it would appear that the Indians would be committed to their more recent power-running tactics, it would be essential for these Indians to play with more of a mean streak. The kind of streak which Chris Gohlke had. The kind of mean which Justin Eicher displayed. That's a different kind of mean than anything so far from Jake Hemmings who is one of the nicest and most polite young men to ever grace Matt Burnett's football program at The Reservation. Come to think of it, Matt Burnett is a mighty nice fellow with a classy style about him. And Jake Hemmings is too. Yet when Matt and Jake visit Bulldog Stadium this Friday night, they inherit the role of underdogs against undefeated Nederland. As tough as Larry Neumann's 5-0 Bulldogs tend to conduct themselves, PN-G's nice approach may need a serious change of mindset. When the Indians' buses pull away from The Reservation, the purple hats will have to leave the "nice" part back at the Indians' Fieldhouse. Burnett did feel that Hemmings has delivered a few "nice" games lately for the Tribe. It was "nice" of Jake to rush over the 100-yard mark for the first time last Friday night in PN-G's 41-13 victory over LC-M. A review of the game video revised Hemmings' total to 114 yards on 16 carries -- the most yards by a PN-G rusher in a game all season. That's "nice" but Nederland should have other plans for Jake's numbers this week. Mid-County fans will get to see how "nice" Nederland's plans fit with Jake's on Friday. Jake has never carried for 100 against Nederland, not even 75. His career-best against Nederland was 67 two years ago at Pasadena. Last year the Bulldogs' defense had a real nice game against "nice" Jake. Hemmings rushed seven times for 18 yards. How important is Hemmings to PN-G's success? Well, consider this. Hemmings reached the end zone three times last week and PN-G had a real "nice" night against LC-M. Hemmings never has scored in a varsity game against Nederland and Hemmings never has departed with a victory against Nederland.

NM

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Congrats!

Predictions?

NM

Not going to happen!!

Yes which makes them more dangerous.

Ozark Hillibillies.

Golddiggers!

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West Brook searches other sports to find kickers, punters for gridiron BEAUMONT - Dean Lauher moved to Southeast Texas from another state, not another country. Advertisement Click here to go to JK Chevrolet His knowledge of football, however, might have suggested the later more than the former. An Illinois native, Lauher has played soccer since he enrolled at West Brook as a freshman. Now a senior, he's kicking another kind of ball. "Pretty much all I've learned this year is pretty much my entire understanding of football," said Lauher, among two West Brook kickers whose football IQ might have been lower than David Carr's quarterback rating. Some high schools are blessed with an experienced kicker to handle field goals, punts and kickoffs. Others, such as West Brook, do a bit of searching. "For this sized school, I don't know why that is," West Brook coach Craig Stump said. Lauher and Anthony Pileggi, both seniors, have shared kicking duties. Both were recruited in the spring from the boys soccer team by soccer coach Don Smith, also a special teams and defensive line coach. Lauher made each of his eight extra-point attempts in West Brook's 56-14 victory over Kingwood. He has made 20 straight since he missed four against Ozen in the season opener. Pileggi handles kickoffs, and both have been a work in progress. "The first couple times they kicked in practice, they'd forget the tee," Stump said. Stump said the kickers were unfamiliar with what squib, onside and pooch kicks were. Smith said each had to be taught all the markings on the field, including the hash marks and yard lines. Stump said Lauher has improved to a point where he makes kicks in games as consistently as in practice. As for Pileggi, Stump said he's gone from kicking line drives to getting the ball high and deep. "They've gotten better each week," Stump said. Smith said Lauher and Pileggi were attractive options for the football team not so much because of leg strength. "They have a lot of leg speed," said Smith, who linked the importance of leg speed for a kicker to bat speed for a baseball hitter.

My prediction is the next 4 years includng this one. Their 9th grade team is one of the best ever at WO-S.

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WOS' whole team is back next year, especially Defense.

: Please.

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Astros announcer Hamilton recovering from heart attack HOUSTON -- Longtime Houston Astros radio announcer Milo Hamilton suffered a heart attack this weekend and was recovering in a Houston hospital on Tuesday. Astros' senior vice president of communications Jay Lucas said the 80-year-old underwent an angioplasty and is doing well. Hamilton has been calling major league games since 1953 and has been with the Astros since 1985. He began calling only home games in 2006. He also has worked for the Cardinals, Braves, Pirates and both Chicago teams. He's called 11 no-hitters, but his most famous call is Hank Aaron's record-breaking 715th home run in 1974. He joined the broadcasters' wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.