sports coverage #2

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2012 www.thealbanynews.net THE ALBANY NEWS PAGE 1B SPORTSPORTS BSECTION

SEE FOOTBALL, PG. 8B

SEE BASKETBALL, PG. 5B

Rematch with Munday to decide title

By Donnie A. LucasThree of the high school

basketball teams were busy last week in tournament ac-tion, with the JV girls earning a consolation trophy.

The Lady Lions hosted Highland on Tuesday and are preparing to host the Action Sports Holiday Classic on Thursday through Saturday.

A total of 16 girls teams are on the schedule, with the Lady Lions set to play Throckmor-ton at 10:50 a.m. Thursday. Albany’s second round will be Friday at 8:00 a.m., followed by a 12:05 p.m. third round.

On the boys side, the Lions haven’t fi elded a varsity team yet due to players still involved in football playoffs. While Al-bany will not have a team in the tournament, 10 area boys teams are scheduled to start on Thursday as well.

Ticket prices for the tourna-ment are $4 for adults and $2 for students each day of the tourney. A full concession stand

will be available all three days.The fi nals are set for 3:00

p.m. Saturday.Lady Lions Results

Albany lost to Highland on Tuesday, 62-50, however, com-plete results were not available at press time.

The Lady Lions beat Roby 39-36 in a close game held Nov. 26 to improve to 5-1 for the season.

“We played great defense, but our shots wouldn’t fall,” said coach Paul Johnston.

The team hit only 24 percent from the fl oor, but 79 percent

at the line.Kami Norton, Abbey Head

and Heidi Horneck were named offensive standouts.Albany 8 17 10 4 - 39Roby 8 7 10 11 - 36PLAYER PTS. AST. REB. STL.A Owen 2 1 3 4R Sanchez 2 2 2B Vickers 2 10 1C Wilson 7 5 2M Jones 2 1 7A Head 6 8K Norton 17 3 23 5H Horneck 8 2 3 2

The Albany girls played in the Santo tournament last week, winning one of three games.

Albany lost to Lipan 62-42 in the fi rst round.

“Lipan was a very good team,” said coach Paul John-ston. “We did a lot of things right, but they also showed us what we need to work on.”Albany 14 6 6 16 - 42Lipan 11 18 15 18 - 62PLAYER PTS. AST. REB. STL.R Sanchez 4 1B Vickers 4 5 8C Wilson 5 2 2 3M Jones 3 2 7 3A Head 6 1 6 1K Norton 19 4 21 2H Horneck 1 4

Albany lost to Springtown in the second round, 57-36.

♦ Holiday Classicto start Thursday

Albany teams to host tourney

DONNIE LUCAS / ALBANY NEWS

A jump shot leaves the fi ngertips of junior Kami Norton during the Lady Lions’ varsity basketball match with Highland on Tuesday. The local teams will host their annual Holiday Classic this week.

TOURNAMENTINFO

DATES: Thursday-Saturday Dec. 6-8LOCATION: Albany High School main & ancillary gymsSTART TIMES: 8:00 am all three daysADMISSION: $4 adults, $2 studentsFINALS: 3:00 pm Saturday

SEE PLAYOFF PLANS, PG. 5B

♦ Lions win 31-14for regional trophy

By Donnie A. LucasA hard-fought win over the

Muenster Hornets last week set up a rematch 10 weeks in the making as the Albany Lions face the top ranked Munday Moguls Friday in the Class 1A Division II re-gional quarterfi -nal championship.

The Lions (11-1) will take on the top ranked Mo-guls (12-0) at 7:30 p.m. at Clyde’s Bulldog Stadium. The Lions will take the home side of the fi eld. Ticket prices were set at $7 for adults and $5 for students, with senior and district passes honored.

Munday is certainly no stranger to the Lions, having handed Albany a 55-28 loss in Week 3.

“Both teams know each other pretty well, and we know how good they are,” said coach Den-ney Faith. “We will have to play an outstanding game, but that loss was 10 weeks ago and we are both different teams now.”

Albany advanced to the quarterfinals after a 31-14 win over Muenster last Friday, while the Moguls defeated Hamlin 66-13 in the regional round on Saturday.

“Anytime you are playing in December is a great oppor-tunity,” said Faith. “There are only eight teams left in each division at this point, and this is a chance for our kids to play the only team that beat them all season and change the outcome.”

The winner of the bout will move on the semifi nal playoff to face the winner of the Wel-lington vs. Sudan game for the Region I title.

“I know one thing for sure,” said Faith. “Our kids will play hard and leave everything on the fi eld Friday.”

LIONS

31MUENSTER

14

ALBANY MUENSTER21 1st Downs 1556-394 Yds Rushing 32-136

3-6 Passes Comp., Att. 11-28 2 Passes Int By 0 38 Passing Ydg. 145 432 Total Offense 281 54 Return Yds. 81 2-27.0 Punts, Avg. 3-30.0 1 of 2 Fumbles Lost 0 of 1 6-35 Penalties, Yds. 6-40 27:00 Time of Possession 21:00

RUSHING: Pleasant 35-249, Bumguardner 16-135, McCree 5-10. RECEIVING: Kelly 2-28, Hamilton 1-10.

GAME AT A GLANCE

SCHEDULE/RESULTSAug. 31 Hawley W28-14Sept. 7 Jim Ned W56-32Sept. 14 Munday L55-28Sept. 28 Ranger W63-15Oct. 5 Gorman W63-6Oct. 12 Roscoe W69-12Oct. 19 Roby W54-19Oct. 26 Baird W62-0Nov. 2 Cross Plains W73-23Nov. 9 Hamlin W55-14Nov. 23 Iraan (area) W49-25Nov. 30 Muenster (reg.) W31-14Dec. 7 Munday@Clyde 7:30

QUARTERFINALPLAYOFF FACTS

ALBANY LIONS

VS.MUNDAY MOGULSFriday, Dec. 7

7:30 pmBulldog Stadium

ClydeHome Side • $7 & $5

Times set for pep rallies, send-off By Melinda L. Lucas

As one of eight elite Class 1A Divi-sion II teams left in the 2012 playoffs, the Albany Lions (11-1) will take on the Munday Moguls (12-0) in the state quarterfi nals this Friday night, traveling the short distance to Bulldog Stadium in Clyde for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

The winner of this Friday’s game will play the winner of the Wellington-Sudan quarterfi nal.

Planned ActivitiesSeveral activities have been planned

this week by the AHS cheerleaders and the Albany Athletic Booster Club, with a Thursday night community gather-ing kicking off the schedule of events.

All parents, students and other fans are urged to gather at the Bank Park at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday for the brief


Reginia Freasier keeps a close eye on the game as she and several elementary students make some noise with the spirit drums during last week’s regional championship.


Senior Ryan Pleasant, who racked up 249 yards on the ground last week, steps through a couple of Muenster tacklers with the help of his offensive line as the Lions grind their way toward the goal line. Albany claimed the regional championship by a score of 31-14, earning a chance to move on to the regional quarterfi nal round against Munday this Friday night in Clyde.

2B PAGE THE ALBANY NEWS www.thealbanynews.net THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2012

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Jr. high teams win 5 of 6 against Stamford♦ Albany teams to face Haskell Dec. 10

The Shackelford Coun-ty Youth & Livestock Show board of directors and superintendents will meet Monday, Dec. 10 at 6:00 p.m. in the Albany FFA Classroom.

Business will include discussion and fi nal plan-ning for the 2013 Livestock Show, according to Rocky Vinson, county extension agent.

Stock show assn.to meet Monday

By Donnie A. LucasThe Albany Cubs and

Lady Cubs won fi ve out six games against Stamford on Monday, with the boys hosting at home while the girls were on the road.

The girls will travel to Haskell on Monday, Dec. 10 for a set of games starting at the 5:00 p.m., with the boys staying at home to host Haskell at 5:00 p.m. as well.

The junior high teams will be off for the Christmas break, resuming action on Jan. 7 against Anson.

Boys Win 3 GamesThe eighth grade Cubs

defeated Stamford 28-18 on Monday.

“The guys looked much better in transition this week,” said coach Ryder Peacock. “We were able to build a big lead going into the fourth quarter and got everyone a lot of time on the fl oor.”

The coach commended Roman Fuentes and Jordan Pleasant on offense, along

with Hunter Owen, Ethen Bernstein and Tristan Cauble on defense.

Scoring for the Cubs were Fuentes, 12; Pleasant, 9; and Owen, 7.

The 7A boys pulled off a 35-32 in a game that was close from buzzer to buzzer.

“Stamford’s 7A was very athletic, so this was a tough win for us. Brian (Hamil-ton) fouled out early in the fourth quarter and the guys rallied to pull off the win,” said Peacock.

Scoring were Hamilton, 18; Dax Neece, 9; and Adam Faith, 8.

“We played well on both ends of the court, but we still missed too many lay-ups that could have put the game out of reach,” said the coach. “Defensively, we cre-ated a lot of steals and held them out when we had to at the end.”

The 7B boys pulled off a narrow 13-12 win over Stamford.

“We looked a lot better moving the ball,” said Pea-cock. “The guys took more shots this week, which gave them more chances to score.”

Scoring were Weston

Vickers, 8; Kyle Manning, 2; Jorge Jimenez, 2; and Harvey Hinkle, 1.

“Defensively, we played very well, only allowing three free throws in the fi rst half. They took the lead late in the game, but we were able to get a basket and seal the win.”Girls Play in Stamford

The eighth grade Lady Cubs were victorious in Stamford, 33-18, to im-prove to 6-0 for the season.

“The fi rst quarter was close and our press was effective,” said coach Kim-berly Hill. “We were able to pull away in the second quarter.”

Albany led 20-7 at the half.

“The girls played hard and were able to adjust where needed.”

Scoring were Rachel Hill, 21; Alexis Munden, 9; and Kelci Smith, 3.

Offensive standouts named by Hill included Hill, Munden and Kaleigh Clevenger. Smith, Abbi Beard and Sydney Key were picked for defense.

The 7A girls lost to Stamford 35-8.

Scoring were Chloe

Fields, 5; and McKenna Wilkins, 2.

“We struggled to take care of the ball and make our easy baskets when we had the opportunity,” said coach Lauren Peacock. “We constantly turned the ball over and never were able to set up an offense.”

The 7B Lady Cubs won in Stamford, 22-9.

Scoring were Jesse Vega, 10; Leticia Cecillio, 6; Elise Brown, 2; Jaycee Overton, 2; and Paige Barnell, 2.

Vega and Cecillio were named offensive standouts, with Brown on defense.


Adam Faith dribbles around a Stamford player as the Al-bany seventh graders set up their offense during a close 35-32 win on Monday night. The junior high teams will play Haskell Monday before taking a break for Christmas.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2012 www.thealbanynews.net THE ALBANY NEWS PAGE 3B

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FOOTBALL - QUARTERFINAL PLAYOFFFOOTBALL - QUARTERFINAL PLAYOFFALBANY LIONS vs. MUNDAY MOGULS

Clyde’s Bulldog Stadium - Friday, Dec. 7 - 7:30 PM

BASKETBALLBASKETBALL

A month long renova-tion of the Albany High School tennis courts is complete except for the installation of new seating, according to superinten-dant Shane Fields.

“It had been over 10 years since any major work had been done on the ten-nis courts, and this was a big improvement,” said

Fields.The process involved

sanding old patches and fi lling cracks, pulling out the old wooden expansion point boards and replacing them with a safer product.

Once these items were completed, the courts were resurfaced and repainted.

“We installed a wind-screen, which we’ve not

had, and we will be replac-ing the old wooden bleach-ers with aluminum ones,” Fields added.

Cost of the project was approximately $19,200, which was f inanced through the Albany ISD Education Foundation and individual donors, along with funding from the Athletic Booster Club.

AHS tennis courts get facelift

MELINDA LUCAS / ALBANY NEWS

Several Albany High School tennis players, as well as a PE class, get the feel of the new surface on the local courts after a major overhaul was completed recently. Still left on the list of improvements is the installation of new bleachers.

Schkade signs with Missouri

Albany senior Kelli Schkade recently signed her National Letter of Intent to play softball for the University of Missouri on a softball scholarship.

Schkade, who has al-ready earned numerous honors during the fi rst three years of her high school year, has played softball since she was eight years old, and has always dreamed of play-ing Division 1 softball, according to her father James Schkade.

Missouri is now a member of the SEC, gen-erally thought to be one of the strongest conferences in America.

The Mizzou softball team has been to the Col-lege World Series two of the last three years, and won the Big 12 Confer-ence in 2011.

Schkade is part of a Missouri signing class of six for the Tigers and

will join the team in the fall of 2013.

She has garnered special district awards for the past three seasons, including Newcomer of the Year after her freshman year, Offen-sive MVP as a sophomore, and overall MVP last year.

A three-time all-regional team selection, she earned the title of Sportswriters Player of the Year last

spring and has been on the all-state team after the past two seasons.

In her junior season she batted .620 and boasted a .968 fi elding percentage.

In addition to her softball career at Albany High School, Schkade also plays with the Texas Glory travel squad.

— —

♦ Local seniorto play softball


Witnessed by her parents, coaches and administra-tors, Kelli Schkade (seated, c) signs a letter of intent to play softball at the University of Missouri.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2012 www.thealbanynews.net THE ALBANY NEWS PAGE 5B

Playoff plansCONT. FROM PG. 1B

ALBANY TASK FORCE ON DRUG & ALCOHOL ABUSEALBANY TASK FORCE ON DRUG & ALCOHOL ABUSE

LIFE...LIFE...You only get one...You only get one...

Don’t waste itDon’t waste it

BasketballCONT. FROM PG. 1B

“We allowed this team to get to us, but after the half we played much more physical.”Albany 6 12 8 10 - 36S-town 17 11 20 9 - 57PLAYER PTS. AST. REB. STL.A Owen 4 2 5 1R Sanchez 4 1 10B Vickers 1 4C Wilson 6 4 4M Jones 2 8A Head 4 1K Norton 16 3 13 3H Horneck 2 1V Gandara 2

The Lady Lions won the third round on Saturday, beating Dallas Gateway 58-29.

“We played very well for a great team win.”Albany 14 20 10 14 - 58Gateway 8 3 10 8 - 29PLAYER PTS. AST. REB. STL.A Owen 9 3 3 2R Sanchez 2 1 7 1B Vickers 13 1 2 2C Wilson 6 5 1 3M Jones 7 1 2 1A Head 4 1 5 2K Norton 15 7 12 1H Horneck 2 2 2 6JV Takes Consolation

The JV girls played in the Woodson tournament last week, bringing home the consolation trophy.

Albany lost to Vernon Northside in the first round, 36-19.

Scoring were Chelsi Freasier, 2; Curry Wilson, 2; Abby Reed, 1; Lori Davis, 4; Thalia Dudley, 4; and Tobi Nall, 6.

Albany beat Lueders-Avoca’s varsity 40-32 on Friday in the second round.

Scoring were Reed, 11; Freasier, 10; Wilson, 7; Sara Taplin, 6; Kelsey Tollett, 2; Nall, 2; Davis, 1; and Dudley, 1.

The JV won the third round on Saturday, beating Paint Creek 29-26.

“We did a good job shoot-ing the ball,” said coach Sara Wilson. “We still need to block out and rebound better.”

Scoring were Reed, 10; Taplin, 8; Freasier, 8; Wilson, 2; and Dudley, 1.

Prior to the tourna-ment, the JV narrowly

defeated Roby in an 18-14 win.

Scorers included Nall, 7; Valerie Gandara, 5; Davis, 4; Dudley, 2; Wil-son, 1.

“The girls really stepped up the defense,” said Wilson. “They played hard, and the fourth quarter our offensive game came together.”

JV Boys ResultsThe JV Lions also

traveled to Woodson last week to play in the varsity tournament.

The Lions lost to Ver-non Northside 61-21 in the fi rst game.

“In the first round we met up with the top team in the tournament and were unable to get our offense going,” said coach Ryder Peacock. “We missed a lot of lay ups early on, which hurt us in the end.”

Scoring were Drew Neece, 10; Dylan Petree, 6; Chandler Fields, 3; and Hunter Connally, 2.

The Lions defeated

Haskell’s JV in the second round, 48-28.

“In our first true JV match, the guys were able to use the experiences of the previous games this season and put Haskell away early,” said Peacock. “Defensively, we played well and got into a scoring rhythm about mid-way through and were able to get a lot of playing time for everyone.”

Scoring were Michael Cotter, 17; Petree, 7; Xavier Coronado, 8; Allen Gran-ville, 2; Alex Faith, 3; Connally, 5; Neece, 4; Levi Britting, 2.

Albany defeated Moran’s varsity 36-29 for the conso-lation title.

“The guys battled through this game and were able to fi nd a way to win.”

Scoring were Petree, 11; Faith, 9; Neece, 7; Tyler Morgan, 2; Connally, 5; Cotter, 2.

The JV will not be on the court again until Tuesday, Dec. 11 when they travel to Newcastle.


Abby Reed (r) gets control of the rebound during the JV girls game against Highland on Tuesday. The local team lost an extremely close match 26-25.

rally, which will begin the weekly beating of the playoff drum.

Included will be a high-light fi lm and community video.

Anyone who would like to sign up to beat the drum is asked to contact Ginger Bumguardner at 660-5420. There were still several slots available at press time.

The beating of the drum is a playoff tradition that will continue throughout

the night until the send-off on Friday afternoon.

Because of the local bas-ketball tournament taking place in the AHS gym, the regular pep rally will take place during a break in the action at 2:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon.

There will be an infor-mal send-off at 4:30 p.m. at the Bank Park.

“We are asking all Lions fans to line the streets in the downtown area while the Lions’ bus travels through, escorted by local law enforcement vehicles,” said Bumguardner.

She also urged fans to attend the game and sup-port the team.

Play-off DetailsTickets for Friday

night’s game will be avail-able at the gate at a cost of $7 for adults and $5 for students. District, senior citizen, and coaches passes will be honored.

No parking fee will be charged.

Lion fans will sit on the home side of Bulldog Stadium, just a 35-minute drive southwest of Albany.

Play-off t-shirts can still be purchased during the Thursday night pep rally, as well as at Prairie Star and the Albany News.

— —

Vickers helps team win nat’l titleMcMurry University

volleyball standout M.J. Vickers was named an All-Heartland Conference per-former for her outstanding play in 2012 on Friday, and her team was crowned NC-CAA national champion Sunday night.

For Vickers, this is her fourth all-conference laurel in volleyball as she already earned fi rst-team all-conference in the Ameri-can Southwest Conference three years in a row.

On the season, Vickers totaled 308 kills while hit-ting .263. She also fi nished the year with 281 digs and 38 total blocks. Vickers’ numbers ranked her fourth in the conference in kills per set (3.46) and second in hitting percentage. She broke the McMurry kill record before the regular season ended.

Over the course of the year, Vickers totaled 10+ kills 18 times and notched double digit digs fi ve times. Vickers captured her fi rst ever 20-20 game, totaling 22 kills and 21 digs against St. Mary’s on Sept. 15.

Vickers was also named to the NCCAA all-tourna-ment team. Vickers fi n-ished the three-day event with 88 kills and 69 digs.

PHOTO BY MELISSA VICKERS

Albany High School graduate and volleyball standout M.J. Vickers (sitting, 2nd from right) poses with the Mc-Murry team after winning the national championship.

8B PAGE THE ALBANY NEWS www.thealbanynews.net THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2012

FootballCONT. FROM PG. 1B

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Lions Tame HornetsAlbany traveled to

Springtown on Friday to play Muenster, holding the Hornets to 14 fi rst-quarter points for a 31-14 win and the regional trophy.

“It was a tough game just like we expected,” said Faith. “Our kids played with a lot of heart and gave everything they had.”

The two teams played to a 14-14 tie at the end of the fi rst period, but the Lions stepped up to hold Muen-ster out of the red zone for the remainder of the game. Albany also picked off a couple of Hornet passes to end any comeback hopes in the fourth quarter.

“I was very pleased with the offense and the way we were able to move the ball,” said the coach. “Ryan Pleasant played an out-standing game at running back, and the offensive line really dominated the game by moving their defense back and giving our backs the chance to run the ball.”

Pleasant rushed 35 times for 249 yards and three touchdowns, followed by quarterback Jake Bum-guardner with 16 carries for 136 yards and one tally.

“Our kids really stepped up on the defensive side this week as well. We gave up a couple of big plays in the fi rst quarter, but other than that we played really well, especially in the sec-ond half.”

Faith said that Muen-ster ran a little different offense than showed on fi lm.

“They were hurting us

on the fl anks, but we made some adjustments at half to counter that.”

Faith credited the Hor-nets with being a “very respectful team that was well-coached. It was a re-ally good high school game, which is what you hope for at this point in the season.”

The coach said that senior back Samuel Ray-mond and junior lineman Javier Rocha both suffered sprained ankles in the game.

“We are expecting them both to play this week,” said the coach. “Jake (Bumguardner) is also really beat up after tak-ing a pounding the last two games. It gets tough on them this point in the season.”

How They ScoredThe Lions went three

and out on the opening drive, coming up a yard short on the third down.

Fielding the punt at their own 46 yard line, it only took the Hornets one play to score. Clint Sidwell found running room and ran 54 yards to the goal. Hunter Klement kicked the PAT.

It didn’t take the Lions long to answer the chal-lenge. Jake Bumguardner did some razzle-dazzle of his own on a 65-yard break-away run for the tally on the third play of the series. Bumguardner also kicked the PAT to knot the game at 7-7.

The Lion defense held the Hornets in the fi rst set of plays after the kick, with Muenster’s punter fumbling the snap back to their own three yard line to set up the next Lion touchdown.

Taking over the ball at

the Hornet three yard line, Pleasant scored on the fi rst play. Bumguardner kicked the PAT to put the Lions up 14-7.

Muenster marched down to the Albany 10 yard line on the next drive, but attempted a fake fi eld goal play that failed.

Albany took over the ball and moved out to their own 45 yard line only to fumble the ball away.

Muenster made good on the opportunity, scoring on a 31-yard pass from Kl-ement to Cole Waltersheid as time ran out in the half. Klement also kicked the PAT to tie the game at 14-14 to end the fi rst quarter.

The Lions scored later in the second quarter on a seven-yard run by Pleas-ant capping a 36-yard drive set up by a short punt. Bumguardner’s kick put Albany up 21-14.

With time running out at the half, Bumguardner booted a 38-yard fi eld goal to give his team a 24-14 advantage.

After a scoreless third period, the Lions mounted an eight-minute campaign kept alive with an intercep-tion by Bumguardner. The Lions eventually turned the ball over on downs after a fourth and one pass failed.

Muenster couldn’t rally for a score and also gave the ball back on downs with 2:34 remaining in the game.

Pleasant ran back to back plays of 23 and 24 yards to score with two minutes remaining. Bum-guardner’s kick was good.

Bumguardner also end-ed Muenster’s fi nal drive with an interception at the Albany 25 yard line.



Senior quarterback Jake Bumguardner (top

photo) keeps the ball and moves past Muenster’s defensive line for good

yardage as the Lions claim the regional cham-pionship title last Friday

night in Springtown. Andrew Hamilton (lower photo) pulls in a 10-yard pass for a fi rst down dur-

ing the fi rst half of play.

sports coverage #2

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