Sports

   The Blackcat Homecoming game this Friday against El Campo – by several accounts the longest continual high school rivalry in Texas – has the markings of a classic confrontation.
      “We excited about this week,” said Blackcat Head Coach Lupe Florez.
   “We’ve been making improvements during the week,” he declared, in the wake of Bay City’s decisive 26-7 victory over Brazosport last Friday night in Freeport.
   “There will be lots of ex-Blackcats around” for the homecoming matchup, the coach pointed out.
   Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Memorial Stadium.  
   The matchup first began in 1911 and the Ricebirds and Blackcats have played every year since 1920.
   “It’s going to be ‘match your efforts’ to beat them,” Florez said, adding the Blackcats match up physically with any team in the district.
   El Campo’s offense is keyed by standout running back Kevin Dove, who has 1,596 yards rushing and 21 touchdowns this season.

   Had a great game against Danbury. I thought we played well throughout the entire night. 
   After last week, I thought our offense line came out and dominated the line of scrimmage. 
   When you rush for 446 yards the offense linemen are doing their job. 
   Also I thought our backs ran well and I thought they carried their fakes out well and blocked well.  
   In our offense, everybody has to do their job and this week in practice we challenged the entire group. 
   We made a few changes and I think it paid off. We threw the ball well at times but we have to become more efficient with our passing game. 
   We got a couple of big plays in the passing game. I thought Bryce threw the ball well, but we did not come up with the catch. 
   We have to be able to be multi-dimension on offense as we face the next three teams in district play (Boling, VV and EB). 

   After a 20-12 loss to Boling on Friday, the Van Vleck High School football team is now preparing for its next marque game of the district season: East Bernard has outscored opponents 274-74 this season and is set to bring its game winning streak to town on Friday.
   “This is going to be more intense. Any time you play a team of East Bernard’s caliber, you have to try to bring more to the game than you did the week before,” said coach Robert Blackmon. 
   “They play well across the board, they’re always tough on all three phases (offense, defense and special teams).”
   Van Vleck fell to 1-1 in district 13-3A play (2-5 overall) with Friday’s loss and East Bernard improved to 2-0 (5-2 overall) after a 76-14 win over Brazos. 
   Van Vleck will likely need to win at least two of its remaining three games to secure one of the district’s four play-off spots.

   The Van Vleck High School volleyball team will need a little help to make the 2015 playoffs.
   Before Tuesday’s game at Hitchcock, the Lady Leapords (4-6) were in fifth place in district 13-3A, one game behind Boling and Danbury (both 6-4) for the final playoff spot. 
   For Van Vleck to qualify for state playoffs, either Boling or Danbury would have to lose at least one of their final two games, and Van Vleck would have to win against Hitchcock (0-9) and on Friday night against East Bernard (9-0)
   Van Vleck’s game at home against East Bernard will be the team’s final regular season game. 
   The Lady Bulldogs have clinched at least a tie with Brazos (7-2) for the district championship.
   Van Vleck beat Hitchcock in three sets on Sept. 26 (25-8; 25-12; 25-7), and it lost to East Bernard on Sept. 29 (14-25; 12-25; 11-25).
   The Lady Leps find themselves in this must-win situation after two losses last week.

   Bay City’s loss to District 12-4A co-leader Stafford (1-0, 6-0) 34-14 last Friday would seem at first glance a lopsided match. 
      It wasn’t lopsided on the field, as Bay City had 13 first downs to Stafford’s 16 and total yards of 218 to 252 for Stafford.  
   Bay City ran 65 plays to the Spartans’ 63. 
   What was lopsided were the penalty numbers. 
   Bay City had eight penalties for 87 yards, while Stafford was called for four flags for 32 yards. 
   Those Blackcat penalties included two touchdowns that were called back.  
   Bay City (0-1, 2-4) trailed 13-7 at half and was a hanging with the undefeated Spartans at their home. 
   While Stafford extended its lead in the second half, the Blackcat defense did a good job of containing the Spartan quarterback Curtis Robinson, including five sacks on the night. 

   The Tidehaven Tigers came out on top in the opening game of district play with a 17-14 win vs Brazos.   
   Austin Hammons kicked a 14-yard field goal with two seconds left in the game to give the Tiger the victory.   
   Brazos lead 14-0 at halftime and carried that lead into the last play of the third quarter when a blocked punt by Tidehaven in the end zone gave the Tigers the evening’s first points.   
   The extra point failed.  
   The defense played great the entire night. 
   Tidehaven scored on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Bryce Galvan to Brandon Brune and Jeff Williams ran in for the two points.   
   The defense held Brazos once again and the Tigers drove the field to set up the winning field goal by Austin Hammons.
   It is great to be 1-0 in district play.   
   I was disappointed in our first-half play.  I thought we did a poor job blocking them and taking care of the ball.   

   The Van Vleck high school football team broke free for nine touchdowns in its district-opening 68-12 blowout of Danbury at home Friday. 
   But coach Robert Blackmon wasn’t necessarily in a celebratory mood after the game.
   “It was bittersweet,” Blackmon said. 
   “Any time you get a win, that’s great. But I said bittersweet because we need to define who we are. We came out and showed our potential tonight, but I want to see that every week.”
   Going into a tough two-game stretch against Boling and East Bernard – the two pre-season favorites in District 13-3A (2) – Blackmon said his team made too many mistakes in the game for his liking. 
   Specifically, he pointed to several penalties that canceled long gains by Leopard runners and wiped out two Van Vleck touchdowns.
   “Penalties are still a problem,” he said.

   Headed into a district match against Brazos on Tuesday, the Van Vleck high school volleyball team was 4-4 in district 13-3A play and thinking about the playoffs.
   “We were thinking about the playoffs since day one,” Coach Krystal Polk said in an email to the Sentinel before the game. 
   “The girls know to get there they have to be a team that plays together as one, communicates, and stays positive. 
   “Each one of them know that they will have to play their position hard for every match.”
   The final four games of the regular season will be crucial to the Lady Leps play-off hopes. 
   After the game against Brazos, the team will travel to Boling on Friday before rounding out the district season against Hitchcock and East Bernard.
   In its first meetings with both Brazos and Boling, Van Vleck lost in three sets. 

   Our district meet is Tuesday Oct. 13 at Royal.  
   Senior Joseph Colesio is the top contender in our district.
   Last year he was second in district - this year he wants to claim the gold in district and head all the way to the state meet.  
   He has a high chance to go all the way with the times he has been finishing with.   
   I have coached him all four years and just seen him get faster and stronger every year.  
   The year he made a big difference in our program was when he began high school and became one of the top runners in our district - a three-time regional qualifier.   
   A Bay City High School senior, he has stolen the spotlight every year and brought recognition to the program again.  
   He is determined in this sport. He’s not only part of the high school Cross Country, he also participates in the BCHS soccer and track teams, as he was district champion in the 3200 M run.