Sports

   Bay City Blackcats made a strong start to the 2020 football season by a hard-played 20-15 victory over the Sweeny Bulldogs there last Friday night.
   The Sweeny game was the inaugural appearance of the Blackcats under former Blackcat and present Bay City Head Coach Robert Jones.
   And this Friday night, Sept. 4, the team will launch the new Memorial Stadium.
   Judging by Bay City’s impressive turnout at Sweeny, Friday ought to be exciting with a team opening with a win.
   “It was great to get the first one for the kids and the community,” Jones said in an interview Monday.
   “You could feel the excitement and hear the joy as those final seconds ticked off the clock,” the coach said, describing Sweeny’s last seconds in launching a long pass that fell incomplete.
   The jubilant Blackcats rushed to greet each other and the coaches following the play. 
   After a winless 2019 campaign, the players’ exuberance was understandable.

   Tidehaven opened its new season with a 27-0 shutout on the road against Weimer last Friday night, Aug. 28.
   “I thought our offensive and defensive lines did well. They both dominated like we expected them to,” said Head Coach David Lucio.
   The Tigers had 173 yards rushing and 107 passing and held Weimer to 38 ground yards and 95 in the air, in a bad weather-truncated second half. 
   “A lot of our inexperienced players played well, so we were glad to see that. 
   “That was our quarterback’s (Logan Crow) first official start at the position. Crow was 5-16-107 yards with two scores and one pickoff.
   Crow had five carries for 45 yards rushing and a touchdown.
   “For a first time starter, he played great. “That being said, I still think we could have been a little more proficient. 
   “Once we got a little tired we had too many dropped passes, and missed a few blocks. 

   Van Vleck Leopards tried to erase Hitchcock’s sizable first-half lead with a strong fourth quarter, but lost to the host Bulldogs 28-18 Friday night, Aug. 28.
   The game initially was cancelled because of inclement weather, but went on as planned under uncertain weather conditions.
   In their first game of the season, the Leopards fell behind the Bulldogs 22-0 at half, but tried to put things together with an 18-point fourth quarter.
   “Offensively the Hitchcock game revealed that we cannot start the game slowly,” said Leopard Coach Robert Blackmon.
   “I was proud of our team and coaches for fighting for four quarters and not giving up when we were down by 22 at the half. 
   “We had a few guys step up,” he added.
   “It was tough on us the first game condition wise, with the amount of players we have playing both ways, but we fought hard. 

   The numbers look feasible for Wellness Matagorda County proposed multi-purpose natatorium and outdoor family waterpark, members of City Council and Bay City Community Development Corporation (CDC) were told last week.
   Council and CDC are project partners with Wellness Matagorda and its Co-Director, Loy Sneary, explained the ambitious $19 million plan and ways to fund and to maintain it at a special meeting at Schulman MBG Wednesday, Aug. 19.
   Wellness Matagorda has worked with its team of consultants on the feasibility study to get a close projected size and cost for the past 18 months, Sneary said.
   Wellness Matagorda intended to introduce the study in April, but that effort was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Sneary added.

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Bay City at Sweeny
Head Coach Robert Jones  

   VAN VLECK - The Lady Leopard volleyball team has been under the leadership of coach Amy Kile since last season and is looking to improve drastically in year two of her tutelage. 
   “We did not have the season we hoped for last year in my first season as Head Coach here in Van Vleck.”  
   With a year under her belt and a senior class that packs a punch Kile and the Lady Leopards will have a better idea of how to navigate a season where expectations are higher than the norm for the program. 
   “We have a great group of girls and it is my job to bring them together and make them gel. We have to come together as a team and program, if we do that the rest of the stuff will take care of itself.” said Kile. 
   Seniors Trinity Fields, Maria Van Zandt, Michaela Bormes, Destiny Zuniga, Emma Garrison and Kylie Junek will be the tone setter for the entire program as the numbers for volleyball are high in Van Vleck.

   Bay City ISD trustees unanimously approved the limitation in appraised value of property application with Roehm America during their regular meeting Monday, Aug. 17.
   Roehm proposes building a $500 million, 70-employee, world-scale plant to produces methyl methacrylate, an important raw material for applications in a variety of industries that include automotive and construction, among others.
   The plant will be on an 18.641-acre site on the OQ Chemical (old Oxea) campus, Roehm documents show.
   Roehm’s tax abatement agreement with the county faces the vote Aug. 31.
   Board members also unanimously approved an increase to the stadium bond project’s price point by over $501,000 for several updates including:

   Tidehaven High School should have an offensive line that looks to be a strength for the 2020 Tigers, along with four seniors starting - Keagan Carrillo, Kyus Saha, Nick Rodriguez, and Micah Coleman-Longoria.
   “This group of boys has been some of my hardest workers over the past four years,” said Head Coach David Lucio.
   But his freshmen class is another strength that Lucio sees.
   “Our freshmen were very dominant in junior high. So far it seems that momentum has carried into their first year of high school,” Lucio said.
      “We could have as many as six freshmen contributing to the varsity team by the end of the season.
   “Joseph Dodds and Ricky Rubio will probably be two-way starters to start the season. 
   “Alex Cisneros will be the starting kicker,” Lucio added.
   He said a few other freshmen are competing for starting positions on varsity at middle and outside linebacker.