KFDM COOP

Tubbs impressed with what Roc’s Cards pulled off Bob West column for Wednesday, March 12 The Port Arthur News Once upon a time you pushed Lamar University athletic director Billy Tubbs’ hot button by mentioning the word referee. Until the day he retired, Tubbs fought a running battle with the striped shirts as a head coach who won big at Lamar, Oklahoma and TCU. The best Billy versus the officials story has been told over and over but it never gets old. Fans at Oklahoma were irate at calls going against the Sooners in a game with Missouri, and began littering the floor with whatever was handy to throw. One of the officials stopped the game, went to Tubbs and demanded that he tell the fans to stop throwing things or a technical foul would be assessed on the Sooners. Billy, who obviously agreed with the fans, refused. The official then said he would assess a technical on him if Tubbs’ didn’t make the announcement. In light of being threatened, the irate Sooner boss stomped down to the scorer’s table, grabbed the microphone and said, “No matter how bad the officiating is, please don’t throw things on the floor.†A technical quickly followed. These days, however, Tubbs and the referees have a running love affair. Before every Lamar home game, the officiating crew for that night comes over and exchanges pleasantries with the AD. They shake hands and laugh and lie to each other. When the Cardinals played Texas-Arlington on Valentine’s Day, I was fully expecting that night’s trio of referees to present Billy with roses. Anyway, now that refs are not the hot-button issue they once were — Billy says the calls don’t look as bad as they used to — the best way to get Tubbs stirred up is to get him started on the NCAA selection process. He’s basically repulsed by bubble talk and the fact that middle of the pack teams from power conferences worm their way into the NCAA field. “The Big East is going to get eight teams in,†he snapped. “If you are eighth in your conference, why do you deserve to be playing for the national championship? If you don’t win more than half the games in your conference, why should you even be in the conversation? “But it’s become the American way to reward losing, so that’s what we’ve got. It used to be you had to win your conference to get in the NCAA. Now you can be like Syracuse, never leave home for a non-conference game, go 9-9 in an overrated conference and you are on the bubble.†Lamar, of course, was abused worse than any team in history by the NCAA tournament committee’s big dog mentality. Pat Foster’s 1983-84 team finished the regular season 25-4, with two of the losses by one point at Wichita State and Utah State. A third loss for the regular season SLC champs was by three points to Karl Malone and Louisiana Tech in the championship game of the SLC tourney. Those Cardinals, with basically the same team that had routed Alabama by 23 points in the NCAA the year before, reportedly had an RPI of 19. They deserved to be about an 8 seed. Instead they got the shaft, so a seventh or eight place team from a power conference could be in the field. Broken hearted, they wound up in the NIT. The current Cardinals don’t have to worry about that kind of snub. Although they are Southland co-champs, their RPI is 146. Their only chance to play in the NCAA is to win the league tourney that begins Thursday in Katy.

Young Dogs click in shutout of Vidor NEDERLAND 3, VIDOR 0 By Tom Halliburton The Port Arthur News NEDERLAND -- Creating laughter for his listener's ear, Rob Bledsoe compared the likelihood of finding finishers in Nederland's offense to his chances of winning a lottery. When sunset arrived on Tuesday evening in Bulldog Stadium, several thousand Nederland fans gazed in amazement as the Nederland boys soccer coach deliriously waved $47 million in the air.... Not really, but at least Nederland's offense seemed to have a few finishing touches positioned in the right places. The Bulldogs clinched their 4A playoff berth with an impressive 3-0 victory over Vidor and the Nederland soccer empire appeared on the verge of a return to glory on this night. No, this 2008 edition did not win the District 20-4A title. It will not harken a trip to the state finals with players as skilled as Davy Arnaud and Lance Watson, either. But Bledsoe and his freshman-accented squad may grow together into something special. Vidor might agree that Nederland would grow a bit on Tuesday from the first to the second half. "We played a good opponent," Bledsoe said. "Vidor's definitely a very good team." Vidor badly needed a win for its playoff chances and the arrived with two of the league's better attackers -- Travis Greenway and Tim Reynolds. Bledsoe stationed junior Ian Barnett in Greenway's neighborhood and junior Jordan Landry marked Reynolds. Vidor would have felt as if it would have a point-blank shot at the Texas Lotto Jackpot if the Pirates would ever have a good, clean look at Nederland's goal. With the upper hand on at least a second-place 20-4A finish, the Bulldogs improved to 14-4-2 and 12-2-2. Whenever the Pirates had a chance to score, Vidor (12-5-1 and 10-5) had to deal with junior goalkeeper Tyler Vidrine after that. Vidrine took control of the defense and eventually his attackers gave him a bit of breathing room. A first-half Brent Salenga breakaway goal with 8:08 to play was assisted by Jared Willson as Nederland led 1-0 at half. But the need for more finishers caused Bledsoe to wonder if his hosts had any insurance in mind on this sun-drenched outing. Between Jake Kemp and Logan Soares, the Nederlanders may have two finishers to help their cause. Soares attempted four shots as his team dominated shots on goal, 19-8. Kemp moved to offense from sweeper about a week ago in order to add more athleticism to the attack. As well as Ryan Washburn played at sweeper, it looked as if both of Bledsoe's changes had worked. "Ryan doesn't let anything by him," goalkeeper Vidrine said. "This was one of my harder games but my defense did a real good job for me." If Vidor expected Nederland might sit on that 1-0 halftime lead, the Pirates had another thought coming. Hard-working freshman Bay Callaway hit the top of the post early in the second half after Landry's throw-in. Kemp and Soares finally discovered Nederland's insurance midway into the second half. Soares angled a perfect assist to Kemp in front of the net with 16:41 left in the game. The 2-0 cushion fattened to 3-0 with 10:55 to play as Soares and Kemp flip-flopped the assist and goal responsibilities after an excellent sideline surge from senior Hunter Turk. "We practice at shooting all the time and we have a good strong offense, but in the game, sometimes we fall apart," Soares said. "It's hard to finish. I had some good opportunities in this game and I should have scored more." A lot of it comes back to a lack of experience. But Nederland's soccer empire is having a resurgence... little by little. The Dogs will entertain Hardin-Jefferson on Friday in Bulldog Stadium at 5 p.m. Read m

Kountze should make it to Austin next year!!!!!!

8) Good luck!

Yes it could!! There have been some interesting discussions on this before.

[Hidden Content]

Good point and the new Coach's new may have been mentioned then again maybe not. I'm curious to find out who the head man will be, But yea 10 days that isn't very long to have that posted. I would also like to see who all has applied.

Bears mash Central, 21-0 Van Wade The Orange Leader LITTLE CYPRESS — Little Cypress-Mauriceville has been scoring runs in bunches for most of the season. The Central Jaguars, well, they found that out first-hand at Don Gibbens Field Tuesday night as the defending District 22-4A champion Bears slammed their way to a 21-0 win in four innings in the 22-4A opener for both squads. The Bears crushed four home runs as Chad Richard, Tim Barry and Wade Estes all cranked out three-run bombs while Ben Jones had a solo blast. All told, the Bears (13-2, 1-0) cranked out 14 hits and took advantage of nine walks and five hit batters by the Central (0-1 in district) pitching trio of Kenny Allison, Michael Wilkson and Josh Lindsay. LC-M coach Steve Griffith utilized a pitcher per inning as Dallas Brown got the start and he was followed by Taylor Thompson, Shane Waddell and Danny Briseno. They teamed up to allow just one hit, a triple by Keenan Allison in the fourth inning, while striking out seven and walking two. The Bears struck for eight runs on eight hits in the first frame. Johnson’s three-run blast over the right centerfield wall made it 4-0 and Jones followed with a solo shot over the leftfield fence to make it 5-0. Barry capped the frame with a three-run dinger over the leftfield wall after singling way back to start the inning. Jon Gunn and Phillip Richard also had singles in the inning. The Bears tacked on three runs in the second. Richard singled and Johnson and Jones followed with walks. Brown made it 11-0 when he laced a two-out, two-run single to right and Jones also scored on an error after a bad throw to third. LC-M stormed to eight more runs in the third as the Jaguar pitching went through a tough spot. Jones made it 12-0 with a single to right then Waddell drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk and Phillip Richard got hit by a pitch to force another run in. Joseph Viator continued the onslaught by ripping a Wilkson offering for a two-run single to deep right to make it 16-0. Estes put the finishing touches with his three-run “jackâ€. The Bears scored two more runs in the bottom of the fourth as the bases got loaded and Lindsay ended up hitting both Viator and Estes with pitches to bring those runs in. That’s when the Central coaching staff felt enough was enough and they waved the white flag to have the game called. Bears with two hits included Barry, Johnson, Jones and Stefan Leger. The Bears will face District 22-4A rival Port Neches-Groves in Port Neches Friday night. PN-G took down Beaumont Ozen 10-0 on Tuesday.

Hicks, BC outlasts Jasper, 4-3 Gabriel Pruett The Orange Leader BRIDGE CITY — The year is different and some of the players are different yet not much changed Tuesday night when Bridge City played host to 3A defending state champion Jasper. Just like last season’s regional final between the Cardinals and Bulldogs there were errors, miscues and big hits Tuesday yet this time Bridge City was able to hold off Jasper, 4-3, in a key District 21-3A game. The win moved Bridge City to 10-3 on the season and 2-0 in district play while Jasper is now 12-3 and 1-1. The Cardinals led 3-1 heading into the top of the seventh with sophomore Matt Hicks on the mound and Hicks was pitching a stellar game. With one out though catcher Ty Parker took the first pitch he saw from Hicks over the left-center field fence to make it 3-2. After another out, Tyler Ernest drew a walk bringing Taylor Hart to the plate with two down. Hart slapped a ball into center field and Bridge City’s Dustin Breaux let the ball fall from his glove to give Ernest plenty of time to tie the score at 3. Unlike last season, when Bridge City committed 13 errors in a three-game series loss to Jasper in the regional finals, the Cardinals picked up Breaux and did not let the error decide the end of the game. Sophomore third baseman Joe Robertson led the bottom of the seventh off with a walk and took second on a wild pitch. After a Bridge City out, Jasper decided to put Cardinals’ catcher Casey Jackson on with an intentional walk to bring up Blake Hubbard. Hubbard did exactly what Bridge City Coach Billy Bryant expected out of the designated hitter by driving a RBI single into left to score Robertson and give the Cardinals a 4-3 win. “Casey is well established as a great hitter,†Bryant said. “Blake Hubbard came up with two huge clutch hits for us. That is going to make people have to pitch to Casey.†Hicks went all seven innings for the Cardinals and only needed 96 pitches to defeat the Bulldogs. The sophomore gave up three runs on five hits with just one walk and nine strike outs. “It feels great to start off this way with a win over those guys,†Hicks said. “Last year a few things happened that we could not overcome and this year already seems different. We were able to come back and beat the state champs.†The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth when Hart drove Parker in on a sacrifice fly. Parker had singled to reach first. The Cardinals went up 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth as Jackson led off with a walk and Hubbard followed with a single to right. Luke Rhodes came in to courtesy run for Jackson. Blake Snyder then reached on a bunt single and Jaden Dillon then plated Rhodes with a RBI single to center. Breaux then scored Hubbard with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1. Snyder, who was on third after Breaux’s sacrifice, came in to score on a wild pitch from Jasper starter Justin Parsons. Parsons went the distance for the Bulldogs and gave up four runs on five hits with six walks and six strike outs. Parsons threw 127 pitches in the contest. The Cardinals will now travel to face the Orangefield Bobcats this Friday in another District 21-3A showdown.

No Problem.

Lumberton..Schedule is posted at the top.

Fixed.

Final

Game moved to Wednesday.

Wednesday

Bottom of the 6th 6-2 Vidor.

5-0 OF wins..Statum 1 Hitter!

LC-M wins 21-0.

10-0 PN-G in 5. Harrington WP....Lott LP.

11-1 HJ wins.

listen to broadcast here [Hidden Content]

Details later from member who is there.

4-2 Vidor in the 5th.