KFDM COOP

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Predictions?

Predictions?

Predictions for Friday?

La Marque planned to hire its new head football coach on or before April 10.

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Bears use big innings to beat Dogs By Cody Pastorella The Port Arthur News NEDERLAND — The Bulldogs game plan going into their Tuesday night District 22-4A matchup with Little Cypress-Mauriceville was simple. The plan was to play solid defense, keep the Bears' hitters off balance and find a way to come up with the key hits. After the first inning, Nederland picked up one run on three hits and seemed to be in control of the plan. But LC-M scored three runs in the third to take a 3-1 advantage and then added three runs in the fourth and one more in the fifth to claim a 7-3 victory over the Bulldogs on Tuesday night. With the win, the Bears move to 16-3 overall and 4-1 in league play while Nederland falls to 7-9-1 overall and 2-3 in district. The Bulldogs outhit LC-M 10-9 but left nine runners on base. Leaving runners on base, especially runners in scoring position, has been Nederland's problem all year. It was certainly the Dogs problem against the Bears. Nederland left two on in the first inning and then when trailing 7-2 in the fifth, the Dogs left the bases loaded. After getting a lead-off triple from Trey Terrancina in the sixth inning, the Bulldogs only managed one run. "It's the same thing we've talked about before," said Nederland head coach Cody Robbins. "We just didn't get the timely hits. I thought we played hard and I'm proud of our effort. I thought our pitching was alright and we didn't make but a couple errors. What cost us the most was never getting that hit. We never got that shot into the gap with runners on base." The one bright spot for Nederland's offense was sophomore Kirby Bellow who went 3-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored. Bellow hit two singles and doubled. The double came in the first inning with one out. Jordan Pitts singled to move Bellow to third and then Ryan Sampere drove Bellow in on a single. Nederland did not score again until the fifth inning when Sampere singled in Bellow a second time. Sampere's second RBI made the score 7-2. Meanwhile, LC-M had little problems scoring and had plenty of timely hits. Tim Berry got the Bears rolling in the third inning with a triple. Then John Gunn singled Berry in to tie the ball game at 1-1. Gunn later scored when Stefan Leger singled. Leger's hit also induced a wild throw from Nederland shortstop Jordan Pitts.

Tramain Thomas providing Gamble Game unique talent By Cody Pastorella The Port Arthur News Ever so often a blend of athletic talent and admirable qualities come together to make a truly special person. These people are rare gems who coaches, teachers, friends, foes, and family all respect and appreciate. It's that player on the field or court, who looks up at the scoreboard and sees losing by 10 with little time left as a fun challenge, rather than a lost cause. That person just smiles, takes the game over, wins and leaves the rest of us watching in speechless, screaming wonder. For East Chambers that person has been Tramain Thomas, a senior, do-it-all kind of guy. Thomas started making his impact for the Buccaneers even as a freshman and now, four years later, after a wall full of trophies and accolades and a football scholarship from Arkansas, there is very little this prep star has not accomplished. Perhaps the only thing left for him to do is star in the Port Arthur News/James Gamble Award game Friday night, then win the Gamble Mr. Outside Award Saturday night. Regardless the outcome of Friday 8 p.m. matchup between the Franchize All-Stars and the Gamble Award team, and regardless of who wins the Mr. Outside Award, Thomas' run as a high school athlete has been nothing short of "Tra"mendous. The 6-2 guard, quarterback and defensive back is a three-time all-stater in basketball and two-time all-stater in football. He has won MVP honors in District 24-2A in both basketball and football. Most recently, he won the Willie Ray Smith Defensive Player of the Year Award. He has been all-region this and all-region that. He has made the Port Arthur News Super Team two years in a row, and this is his second year as a Mr. Outside finalist. As a senior on the basketball court, Thomas averaged 22 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and four assits. A quarterback/defensive back in football, the EC standout accounted for 35 touchdowns while rushign for 1,352 yards and passing for 863. Perhaps what's most amazing about all that Thomas has done is that he has shined in such a small town that is surrounded by bigger schools and bigger districts. But nothing has stopped this young man so far; and if you ask all the new Arkansas football fans in Winnie, it's unlikely that anything will stop Thomas anytime soon. Count Gamble among the believers. “I guess I just see what everybody else see,†said the Lincoln coaching legend. “He is what that old saying refers to about a coach’s dream and an opponent’s nightmare. “There is no doubt he has earned all the praise that’s come his way. Just from the little time I’ve spent with him on the court, it’s easy to tell that he is a tremendous athlete. He was on the team last year but was injured, so I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with him.

Final?

Lamar Splits Twin-bill With UTPA Cards back in action at home this weekend against Central Arkansas March 25, 2008 Box Score The Lamar baseball team split a doubleheader with Texas-Pan American at Vincent-Beck Stadium Tuesday. UTPA won the first game, 3-2, and Lamar took the nightcap 11-1 in seven innings. Lamar is now 15-8 on the season while UTPA is 8-13. In the first game, UTPA starter Shane Janecka (2-1) threw a complete game and held the Cardinal bats to five hits and just two runs while striking out five. One of his few mistakes came in the bottom of the sixth when he gave up a two-run home run to Lamar catcher Ryan Saldivar which trimmed the Bronc lead to 3-2. From there he retired the final 12 men to keep Lamar off the basepaths. Matison Smith (0-2) took the loss for Lamar after he allowed a run on five hits in 2.1 innings. UTPA scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to open up its three-run lead. Lamar committed three errors in the game as well. For as much of a pitcher's duel the first game was, the second was all about the offense. Lamar knocked UTPA starter Phillip Rodriguez (0-2) out of the game after he allowed five runs on four hits and two walks in just one-third of an inning. The Cardinals added single runs in the second and third as they opened up a 7-1 lead. Two more runs in the fifth and seventh game Lamar its second `run-rule' victory of the season. Leftfielder Logan Pace made the most of his fourth start of the season by collecting hits in his first three at-bats while scoring once and driving in a run. He mashed his first career triple in the fifth inning and is now hitting .462 in 13 total at-bats. Every Lamar starter had at least one hit in the second game. In addition to Pace's big night, Anthony Moore, Steven Tucker and Wade Mathis each had two hits. With Mathis and Pace recording triples, it marked the first time since March 30 of last season at Nicholls State that Lamar had two triples in the same game. Six different players for Lamar had a hit in both games. Travis Dunson extended his hitting streak to seven contests, while Steven Tucker and Jeff Vickers have hit safely in six-consecutive ball games. The Cardinals tied their season-high with 15 base hits. The Cardinals used four different pitchers with none throwing more than 40 pitches or staying in longer than two full innings. Senior transfer Ryne Nelson (1-0) got the win after striking out two in 2.0 innings. Lamar will return to action this weekend when it plays host to Central Arkansas in a Southland Conference series. Friday's game will begin at 6:30 p.m., Saturday's at 2 p.m. and Sunday's finale at 1 p.m.

Neumann is finalist at La Marque By Tom Halliburton The Port Arthur News The Port Arthur News has learned Nederland athletic coordinator/head football coach Larry Neumann is included in a list of four finalists for La Marque's vacant identical position. Multiple sources within a consulting firm contracted by the La Marque ISD have confirmed that Neumann is expected to be interviewed at some point this week, along with three other finalists, by La Marque schools superintendent Ecomet Burley. The News contacted Burley's office on Tuesday afternoon, but was not permitted to speak to Burley. The 53-year-old Burley did not return a phone call. Neumann declined comment to The News on his status for the La Marque position, other than to say that he has not been interviewed at this point by Burley or any La Marque ISD administration official. Port Arthur Memorial assistant football coach and head girls soccer coach Phil Mattingly also indicated on Tuesday afternoon that he had not been contacted by any La Marque ISD officials, either. Neumann and Mattingly were two of 34 names released by La Marque's ISD as applicants for the head coaching position which was vacated more than a month ago by Chris Jones, who was hired a year ago after a successful stint at 2A Refugio. One of the state's annual perennial football powers, La Marque went 9-3 in Jones' one head coaching season, losing to Lumberton 24-21 in the area 4A playoff round. The Cougars also lost to next-door district neighbors Texas City and Dickinson. At least four individuals have been involved with screening applicants for a consulting firm contracted by the La Marque ISD last month. Members of that firm have indicated that La Marque planned to hire its new head football coach on or before April 10. One of the state's true high school football meccas, La Marque annually has a number of major college signees from its program. The Cougars have won five state football championships in the past 12 seasons. It is expected that Neumann, 56, would certainly command a six-figure salary and probably would receive at least a 25 percent salary increase if he would be hired by La Marque. Neumann's base salary at Nederland is $78,000. Nederland was a frequent La Marque rival while Bryan Erwin served as head coach for five seasons, compiling a 65-8 record, which included 4A Division II state championships in 2003 and 2006. Erwin resigned a year ago from a $92,401 annual salary at La Marque to accept a more lucrative multi-year, six-figure deal at the wealthy north Dallas suburb of Flower Mound. Neumann confirmed to The News that he would meet with consulting firm members last week. He indicated on Tuesday that he believed his interview with the firm had gone very well last Thursday.

A school district too slow to learn By Heber Taylor The Daily News Published March 25, 2008 The Daily News recently sent a letter to the La Marque Independent School District saying the newspaper would sue the district unless it complied with the Texas Public Information Act. Shortly after the newspaper’s attorney sent the letter, the school district released information on the candidates for the job of head football coach and athletic director at its high school. As we’ve said before, we think the people in the school district have a right to see that information before the school district makes a decision. If people want to talk to their representative on the school board about filling such an important post, they should have the right to information that would permit an intelligent conversation. Here’s the remarkable thing about this episode. The Daily News sent the same letter to the same school district in February 2007. Thirteen months ago, the La Marque High School coach’s job was vacant. The Daily News had requested a list of candidates and eventually got the list after threatening to sue. In 2007, the school district originally said it would not release the information for 10 days. Of course, readers of this page know there is nothing in the law that allows a governmental body to sit on a request from any citizen for 10 days. That’s a common misconception. What the law says is this: An officer for public information of a governmental body shall promptly produce public information for inspection, duplication or both on application by any person. “Promptly†means as soon as possible under the circumstances — that is, within a reasonable time, without delay. If the district thinks the information is not public, it has 10 days to seek an attorney general’s opinion. But, in 2000, the Texas attorney general issued an opinion in a virtually identical case. The public is clearly entitled to this information. This year, when the head coach’s job again became vacant, The Daily News requested the information again. Nothing much happened until the newspaper again said it was preparing to go to court. The excuse this time was that the consulting firm conducting the search for candidates was late in reporting the names. That’s just hard to swallow. The district knew — or should have known — what the law required. All school officials had to do to comply with the law was pick up the phone, call their consultants and demand that they e-mail the requested information immediately. A year ago, when this same issue came up, the editorial said: “The Daily News takes no joy in suing local governments. But it was planning to be in court today for two reasons. “First, the public has a right to the information. “Second, the school district has a responsibility to follow the law.†A year later, what we’d like to see is something that people in the business of education should be familiar with: a learning curve.

Ozen wins.

Any final??

4-3 HJ wins!

3-3 bottom 7th

7-3 LC-M Wins

Hester HR, Vidor wins 4-3.

3-3 in the 6th.

3-3 in the 6th.

Harrington pitched through 8 3-3 Top of the 9th.

Horns win!