KFDM COOP

Good stuff.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 27, 2007 Lamar State Seahawks set for UT-Dallas Tournament The Lamar State College-Port Arthur Seahawks return to intercollegiate play this Saturday at the University of Texas-Dallas Fall Tournament. The Seahawks played five exhibition games against high-school-age Select Gold teams this past weekend in the Lone Star Classic Invitational Softball Tournament in Beaumont. This weekend, Lamar State (1-4-1 this fall) will play Cisco Junior College, Paris Junior College and UT-Dallas. The Seahawks were shut out 11-0 by Paris on Sept. 15 at the Bossier Parish Community College Tournament in Bossier City, La. Lamar State head coach Vance Edwards' team got a good workout this past weekend with five games in two days. "It was very hot, especially Sunday. But the team really had a great weekend with lots of offense and some very good defensive plays," Edwards said. "The more live games we can have in the fall, the better prepared we will be in the spring when conference play begins." After this weekend, the Seahawks won't compete again until Saturday, Oct. 12, when they host Louisiana State University-Eunice in a doubleheader that begins at 2 p.m. at Martin Field, 1000 Lakeshore Drive on the Lamar State campus. Lamar State travels to the University of Houston Fall Tournament on October 20. The Seahawk begins their spring schedule Feb. 7, with a home doubleheader against the Temple College Leopards, who were ranked No. 14 in the nation at the end 2007 spring campaign. The first conference game will be March 2 at Blinn College in Brenham.

Gosh i can't wait until Friday!

[Hidden Content]

Hooks didn't dodge anything! No one played down here after Rita for a few weeks.

ROC was excited about this as well!

Here's the Tuesday Sportscast video from Channel 6..Shows shot of State Championship Program from 57. Click on Sports on the right then Wednesday sportscast to see. [Hidden Content]

[Hidden Content]

The excitement begins Friday!

[Hidden Content]

Nederland to celebrate 1957 championship NEDERLAND - As surprising as it may seem today, when Bum Phillips departed as Nederland's football coach after a highly-successful 1956 season, there was no sinking feeling as if the ship had been suddenly left rudderless. "I know Coach Phillips went on to bigger and better things, but the way we looked at it back then, what could be bigger and better than Nederland High School?" asked Everett "Tootie" Litchfield Wednesday morning as he sat around the breakfast nook in the kitchen of his Nederland home with a few old high school cronies and a couple of the former Nederland coaches from the 1950s. Litchfield, now 68 and retired from the construction business, played outside linebacker for Phillips' Bulldogs, who ended their 13-1 season in 1956 with a 3-0 loss to Garland in the Class 3A championship game. With Emmett McKenzie as Phillips' successor in 1957, Litchfield and his teammates did, indeed, achieve bigger and better things. They swept to the state championship in awesome fashion, outscoring their 14 opponents by a 431-54 margin (average of 30.8-3.9 per game). With every surviving member of the team committed to being in attendance along with some of their former coaches, the 1957 Bulldogs will be honored during halftime of Friday night's homecoming game against Vidor. Robert Richey, who played offensive guard and inside linebacker in 1957, came from Salt Lake City where he recently retired from the National Weather Service and participated in Wednesday's lively yarn-swapping session along with other teammates Mike Johnson (halfback/cornerback) and Billy Perkins (backup quarterback) and former assistant coaches Neal Morgan and Joe Sibley. While many of the former Bulldogs still live in Southeast Texas, others are coming from as far away as California, Montana, Nevada and Arkansas to attend the first truly-organized reunion of the team. "Our goal was to make 1957 a continuation of the 1956 season," said Litchfield. "Everyone was eager to get started, and we thought we were bullet proof. That's pretty much the way we performed throughout the season." The Bulldogs capped their championship run with a 20-7 victory over Sweetwater on the night of Dec. 21, before a packed house in Bulldog Stadium. "Coach McKenzie had a great staff that year," said Litchfield. "We think a lot more of those guys now than we did when they were coaching us. They had us prepared to the point where every time we went onto the field, we didn't think there was any way we could lose. "I remember how proud we were to get the game ball from the Sweetwater game into our possession. We still have it today, and we're going to get every player from the team to sign it Friday night." While the Bulldogs pitched seven shutouts during that season, they didn't exactly go untested. They held off Tyler 6-0 in their second game and Lake Charles 13-6 in their fifth. The Bulldogs' sternest challenge, however, came in the championship game. Nederland led 6-0 at halftime, but Sweetwater went up 7-6 midway in the third quarter. The score remained 7-6 until midway in the fourth quarter when the turning point came. Sibley, who coached the offensive linemen, remembered it thusly: "Sweetwater was lining up to punt, and if they (the Mustangs) got off a good one, we probably would've had about 80 yards to go to score. They had us scouted well, and they knew Herbie (Adkins) had blocked two punts in our semifinal win over San Antonio Edison the week before. "They used what we used to call an elephant punt formation. They put their three biggest guys back to protect the punter. Herbie came charging up the middle and jumped up to try and block it, but all three of those guys took him out. "If their punter had just kicked it straight up the middle, he would've gotten it off, but he turned a little bit to his right. That left it open for Street (James) to come from the left side and block it." The Bulldogs capitalized on the blocked punt by scoring on a 2-yard plunge by fullback Gary Thacker, and they added an insurance touchdown on a 1-yard sneak by quarterback Roger Rienstra in the final minute. "When Coach Phillips got to Nederland (in 1953), he organized a system that was based on teaching the same offensive and defensive schemes from the junior high level through the sub-varsity teams and on to the varsity," said Litchfield. "We had a team that had been knocking at the door for four years but had never quite gotten through the threshold. "Well, we got through the threshold in 1957, and we've been bragging about it ever since. We believe in what Coach Neumann (current Bulldog coach Larry) and his staff are doing now, and they've had some good teams that have knocked on some doors. "They have another good team this year, and we're hoping they'll go all of the way through the threshold. Then, 50 years from now, those guys will be still celebrating a championship, just like we are." NEDERLAND'S 1957 TITLE RUN 25 Orange 6 6 Tyler 0 25 South Park 7 14 Baton Rouge Istrouma 0 13 Lake Charles 6 41 Beaumont High 0 37 French 0 40 Port Neches 14 42 Vidor 0 39 Silsbee 0 49 El Campo 7 41 Brenham 7 39 San Antonio Edison 0 20 Sweetwater 7

[Hidden Content]

He tore Carlito up!

Biggio to catch for Astros on Saturday CINCINNATI — Craig Biggio will start for the Astros at catcher on Saturday against the Atlanta Braves at Minute Maid Park, marking his first appearance behind home plate since 1991. Biggio began his career at catcher and moved to second base, the outfield and back to second base. Biggio, who will play the final game of his career Sunday, will catch one or two innings before returning to second base. He had originally hoped to catch when Roy Oswalt pitched, but with Oswalt missing his final start Biggio will catch Brandon Backe instead. "I'll catch one inning, and if it goes well I'll catch two," he said. Biggio had the catcher's gear on prior to Wednesday's game when he caught Backe in the bullpen at Great American Ball Park. "I thought that was pretty cool," interim manager Cecil Cooper said.

LCM was picked 4th Lumberton 5th PNG 6th Ozen 7th Vidor 8th

Hard to explain. You may hear both games going at once. Need a Dayton fan to explain.

Yes they may do a spilt broadcast with Liberty on one side and Dayton on the other.

[Hidden Content]

Bump

Dayton still picked to win league DISTRICT 22-4A FOOTBALL PREVIEW By Tom Halliburton The Port Arthur News Even with quarterback Cody Green out for the season with a broken ankle, Dayton has remained the coaches' pick to defend its 22-4A district football championship. Dayton received 46 of a possible 49 total votes and claimed five of a possible seven first-place nods in The News' annual poll of 22-4A head coaches conducted prior to this Friday's district openers. Green sustained a broken ankle on the first series of the second half when Dayton visited Nacogdoches on Sept. 7. Already heavily recruited by many of the state's major college football powers, the talented junior passer has undergone season-ending surgery to repair two ankle-area fractures. Green led Dayton to a perfect 7-0 league mark as a sophomore. Dayton head coach Jerry Stewart certainly did not downplay the importance of losing Green before he attempted to vote in the coaches' poll Wednesday evening. "I'll tell you, not too many Division 1 quarterback types can be replaced that easily," the colorful 12th-year head Broncos boss said. "Before we played Friendswood, somebody said that losing Cody wouldn't hurt us that much. Well, losing a Division 1-caliber quarterback does hurt you that much. "I wish I could tell you that we're better than everybody but we're not. There is really not much difference in this whole bunch, between No. 1 and No. 7, but Central may be more talented than any one." By the most paper-thin of margins, Nederland nipped Beaumont Central for second place in total votes with 38.5 to 37.5, as one head coach preferred to divide his first-place selection between those two schools. That's the extent of the first-place votes, but a blanket could be heaved over the next three teams in the vote. Little Cypress-Mauriceville edged Lumberton and Port Neches-Groves with a gap of two total votes separating the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place finishers. This arguably constitutes the lowest ranking in a pre-season poll for PN-G since the poll's initiation. Another surprisingly low pre-season finisher, Beaumont Ozen dipped to 1-9 last year. Even with a coaching change, the Panthers of first-year mentor Ishan Rison were pegged at the bottom of the list in this week's coaches vote. Friday night's league openers have Vidor at Nederland, Dayton at Lumberton, PN-G at Ozen and Central at LC-M. It's probably no coincidence, in that case, that Vidor boss Jeff Mathews liked Nederland atop the league powers. The absence of Dayton's Green at quarterback definitely could not prevent Lumberton coach Alvin Credeur from placing the Broncos in the favorite's role. "Dayton can be just as dangerous in some ways, by moving their receiver (junior A.J. Dugat) to quarterback because he's faster than Cody Green," the second-year Raiders mentor said. "We've got a real talented league as usual. "You're going to have to get some breaks and beat some good teams in this league. There's going to be some good teams staying home." Donald Stowers does not intend for his Beaumont Central Jaguars to be one of them. The determined Central coach just might possess the most gifted athlete in this district. He's 5-11, 200-pound senior running back Derrick Hall -- an early Texas A&M pledge. Hall missed much of last year with an ankle fracture. Stowers has pronounced Hall to be healthy and ready for the 22-4A wars. "Derrick looks good," Stowers said. "He had 180 all-purpose yards last game (143 rushing and 38 receiving yards vs. Houston Sterling)... I think the two biggest things for us are that we need to make sure that grades don't have an effect on us and to keep from turning the ball over."

Going to be a good one!

Nederland’s ‘57 state champs are treasure chest of memories Neal Morgan column for Thursday, September 27 The Port Arthur News When I began my teaching/coaching career at Nederland High School in 1956 — recently graduated from Stephen F. Austin State — I was 22-years old. Which made me some four years older than the NHL seniors. It seemed like a very large age difference at the time, but when I see those football players now — as I often do — I feel we are the same age. It’s just another sign of growing old, of so many things being hard to remember. But I’ll hardly forget going to the state final football game in ‘56 and winning the Texas state championship in ‘57. To have that kind of success coaching football in Texas your first two years out of college is an experience few ever have. It’s extraordinary, but there are other things I experienced the that same era which were just as unusual. Two of my Nederland High football teammates in 1950, Charles Thomas and Joe Sibley had the very same experience. Both were coaching right there in ‘56 when it all happened. But there’s still more remarkable things which happened to the three of us, unbelievably serendipitous things. Events that would change the direction of one’s life are easily remembered, of course. Charles Thomas, Joe Sibley and I were present the first time Bum Phillips walked into the Nederland High football dressing room. It was a moment that instantly altered the future for all three of us, and Nederland, Texas, though we didn’t know it at the time. It was 1950, and I was 16. “dang,†Charles Thomas whispered to me when Bum walked in, “did you see that? When he walked through that door, somethin’ walked ahead of him.†But, you understand, we weren’t into auras back then. Coach Phillips’ arrival —history will show — not only changed our future, it change the future of Nederland, Texas. The number of young men who went to college because of Nederland football isn’t over yet. And it is my carefully considered opinion that most of it dates back to 1950 when Bum first walked into that field house. When Bum became the head coach, Emmett McKenzie was his assistant. Bum was the head coach in ‘56, when we went to the final game and lost 3-0. And McKenzie was the head coach when we won it all in ‘57. Legacies are sometimes hard to grasp and harder to explain, but Nederland’s at the that time and since, is because of a community that cares about its schools, and because of Bum Phillips. Dr. Emmett McKenzie is easily in the top two or three most intelligent people I’ve ever known. His integrity was impeccable, his honesty unquestioned, and his ability to grasp football’s intricacies and to motivate players conclusive. His being there was a gift to us all. Football is fun. Winning is fun. And that ‘57 tam went 14-0, won the state championship and will enjoy being honored - rightfully so — Friday night at Nederland’s homecoming game.

SETXsports.com has introduced our new Classic Posts and Thread forum. It's located toward the bottom of the HS section. Here you can view posts from the past that were funny or classics. It's still a work in progress but some posts are there.

Pretty darn fast!

8)