Sports

   The Van Vleck Leopards scored on their first six possessions of the first half and never looked back in a 45-20 thrashing of the Wheatley Wildcats here Friday night.
      Everyone who filled Burl McKinney stadium was nervously anticipating how the Leopards would respond exactly one week after the unexpected passing of defensive coordinator Paul Benien, but it didn’t take the crowd long to see that the orange and black was ready to go.
   The Leopards took the opening kickoff from their own 30-yard line and went to work. Van Vleck quarterback Josh DeLarosa and running back Sam Bree led the offensive down the field. 
   DeLarosa hooked up with Jalen Williams to set the Leopards up at the Wheatley 1-yard line on the 9th play of the drive, with Bree taking it in from there for the first touchdown of the night. The 2-point conversion was no good, but Van Vleck had an early 6-0 lead with 9:03 left in the first quarter.

 Tidehaven will test its momentum after a 48-30 convincing win over Rice Consolidated last week when it takes on a cross-county rival Palacios (2-0) this Friday.
   Senior Tiger Quarterback Blake Garcia paced Tidehaven’s win over Rice with 250 yards passing – and four touchdowns - and he had a team-best 108 yards rushing.
   Senior wide receiver Mason Perales was Garcia’s main target, with Perales’ five receptions for 108 yards and four scoring catches.
   Perales was 4-4 in PAT kicks, topped by a two-point conversion run.
   Senior Kaden Henry had four catches for 92 yards and senior Alex Hernandez had two for 50 yards.  
   Sophomore Jose Martinez had 10 runs for 84 yards - the longest for 16 – and a touchdown. Junior Kylan Sardinea had four runs for 38 yards.
   Senior fullback Ben Ruiz was effective at the goal line, punching in two touchdowns.

   The Bay City High School Aristocats attended the Crowd Pleasers Team Camp at T Bar M from July 15th-17th in New Braunfels.
   They worked extremely hard bonding together as a team, and also learned three new dance routines.
   While there, they received awards including Elite Dancers, All-Star Dancers, and various ribbons.
   Aristocats Director is Wendy Hankins, and Assistant Director is Klaudie Stone.

   The Van Vleck school community is pulling together in their grief over the death of well-liked Coach Paul Benien.
   The coach collapsed in the Van Vleck High School’s weight room during a routine he and another coach do every game day.
   Van Vleck was to play Boling Friday night, a contest that was cancelled.
   When the coach collapsed, Van Vleck’s crisis team of teachers, principals and other professionals joined in performing CPR until the ambulance arrived, said Superintendent John O’Brien.
   Students were coming from the pep rally to the field house, but were diverted by staff.
   No students were present in the weight room when the coach collapsed or when the crisis team went into action, he said.
   The death of Benien, who was 55, affected everyone, O’Brien said. An autopsy will determine the cause of death, the superintendent added.
    “I couldn’t be prouder of the crisis team who pulled together,” O’Brien said.

   Blackcat Head Coach Patrick Matthews plans to clean up some things that went wrong against Cuero – a 28-15 loss last Friday - before his squad takes on the Bellville Brahmas there this coming Friday. 
   “It’s definitely going to be a tough challenge,” Matthews said about Bellville’s Wing T offensive formation. 
   “Anytime you play the Wing T, you have to be very disciplined,” he added and that’s what the Blackcats are working on this week – better discipline in perfecting techniques. 
   “We’re always trying to get better. There’s a lot of things that have to be cleaned up to be the team we want to be by the time we get to district,” Matthews noted. 
   “Beeville is another opportunity to do that and come out with a victory for the Blackcats.” 
   Bay City had exciting offensive flashes against Cuero last Friday, but they were inconsistent against the Gobblers in the Blackcats’ home opener. 

   Tidehaven hopes to bounce back from its season-opening loss to Refugio when it hosts Rice Consolidated this Friday, Sept. 6. 
   Tidehaven’s season got off to a rough start last Friday, when it lost to Refugio 43-7 in a game marked by more than 150 yards of penalties. 
   Rice had an equally difficult season opener as it fell to East Bernard 23-6 at home. 
   “The Refugio game didn’t go as we had liked - too many penalties and mistakes,” said Tiger Head Coach David Lucio.   
   “You can’t have those against a team like Refugio,” he added.   
   “Rice has a good team too, so we will need to clean up the mistakes to have a shot at the victory.” 
   In their game with Refugio, the Tigers were penalized 84 yards and Refugio 75 yards. 
   After a scoreless first quarter, Refugio scored 21 unanswered points for a 21-0 halftime lead.