San Jacinto County Sports

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Tristen Cullum jumps over Kelvin Harden for a layup during the district game on Wednesday night. Photo by Charles Ballard

By Charles Ballard
SJNT correspondent

SHEPHERD — The Lady Pirates embarrassed Trinity on Friday with a 37-11 win that saw the Lady Tigers maintain a single-digit score until the end of fourth quarter.

The Tigers only had 9 points until the fourth quarter almost ended; the second quarter was a blank for Trinity, while the Lady Pirates scored almost at will, with 13 points in the first, 14 points in the second and a pair of 10-point quarters in the second half.

Kiona King had 8 points for the night, and Dakiyah Clark posted 4 points. Mckayden Nelson was the high-point lady for the night with 24 points. Aaliyah Thomas and Elizabeth Coyle combined for 5 points on the night.

On Wednesday, the Lady Pirates lost to the Lady Trojans 44-20.

Shepherd’s Kiona King posted 1 point for the night and Jaz Richardson had 10. Dakiyah Clark had a point, while Mckayden Nelson and Tiana Clark each had 4 points.

For Coldspring, Efreauna Bains had 2 points while Ella Phillips posted 11 points for the night. Shaniyla Goffney led both teams with 21 points and went 2 for 4 at the line.

On Friday, the Lady Trojans were downed 61-52 by Onalaska.

Boys

Shepherd crushed Trinity 66-37 in Friday’s district matchup.

After The Trinity Tigers stunned the Coldspring Trojans earlier in the season, they were looking for another win to help secure a seat in the playoffs; however, the Pirates captured that win as Payton Burton was shooting the lights out, hitting six 3-point shots to steal the show.

Brayden White, Tristen Cullum and Burton teamed up to post an overwhelming 50 plus points to secure the win over the Tigers.

Burton said, “I quit counting after the fourth trey fell in the basket. It was a great win for the team.”

Coach Jeremy Bennett said, “We were ready for this game it was a must win and we got the ‘W.’”

Shepherd fell to Coldspring to set up a three-way race for district champion on Wednesday night.

Entering the gym on Wednesday, the Shepherd Pirates were sitting on top of the district by a game, while Coldspring and Crockett were knotted with 3-2 records.

Coach Kerry Bryan of the Coldspring Trojans said, “We shot ourselves in the foot, not once but several times playing against Trinity last week.”

Trinity upset the Trojans 56-52 during a previous matchup.

Bryan stated, “We just need to keep our focus and get back on track here tonight, and we will be fine.”

The first quarter was not very kind to the Pirates as they were only able to muster 8 points while The Trojans were at full throttle, posting 27 points of their own.

Coldspring’s Luke Monroe had 9 of the 27 points scored and ended with a total of 22 points, and Kelvin Harden posted 14 points for the night.

Shepherd’s Braydon Mettlen had 9 points, and Payton Burton and Tristen Cullum each had 10 points.

On Friday, the Trojans downed Onalaska 76-73.

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Kiona King steps just inside the paint for a 2-point jumper against the Lady Bulldogs. Photo by Charles BallardBy Charles Ballard
SJNT correspondent

SHEPHERD — The Lady Pirates fell to the Anderson-Shiro Lady Owls 79-45 on Friday and to the Lady Bulldogs of New Waverly 43-42 on Jan. 9.

Against the Lady Owls, he first quarter set the pace for the night with Anderson posting 23 points to Shepherd’s 11. Shepherd accumulated 15 total fouls for the night, and Shepherd went to the foul line 13 times and hit 7 baskets.

Jaz Richardson had 22 points, followed by Dakiyah Clark with 10 points, Mckayden Nelson with 8 points including 2 treys, Tiana Clark had a 3-pointer and Maraya Davis had 2 points.

Against New Waverly, the final score came in the last 2 seconds of the back-and-forth game when Shepherd sent the ball out of bounds and gave the Lady Bulldogs the ball under the goal. With 2 seconds on the clock the ball was tossed in, and the Lady Bulldogs managed a quick toss to the bucket and the score rolled over for the Lady Bulldogs.

Kiona King had 6 points for the night along with Jaz Richardson’s 5. Angeline Garland had 1 point, Dakiyah Clark and Mckayden Nelson each had 12 points. Tiana Clark, Elizabeth Coyle and Maraya Davis combined for a total of 6 points for the night.

Coldspring

The Lady Trojans were downed by the Anderson-Shiro Lady Owls 65-25 on Jan. 9, but came back on Friday for a 54-26 win over Trinity.

Boys

Shepherd moved to 4-1 in district play with Friday’s 62-56 win over Anderson, the capper to the week’s play which also saw the Pirates down New Waverly 62-39 on Jan. 9

Against Anderson-Shiro, the game was close until the Owls lost all composure during the final quarter, which saw a double technical foul and an Owl ejection that changed the game momentum completely.

Shepherd never fell behind and kept control of the game.

Nicholas Singletary had 2 points for the night and Darrian Matthews went 1-for-2 at the line. Braydon Mettlen had 13 points for the night. Payton Burton had 20 points with 3 treys along with Tristen Cullum’s 17 points. Brayden White had 7 points and was the top producer of the 44 rebounds for the Pirates.

Against New Waverly, the only close quarter was the first, which ended with a 1-point margin, but from there it was all Shepherd.

With the score 51-31 at the end of the third quarter, Coach Jeremy Bennett started resting the starters, and still the Pirates grabbed the win.

Darrian Matthews had 3 points, Braydon Mettlen posted 8 points, Payton Burton had 10 points, Rogelio Covarruias had 11 points, Tristen Cullum had 20 points, and Brayden White posted two 3-point shots on the way to 10 total points.

“They are a good team and we stuck with our game plan and again it worked for us,” Bennett said.

Coldspring

The Trojans overpowered the Anderson-Shiro Owls 75-65 on Jan. 9, but lost a squeaker to 56-54 squeaker to Trinity on Friday.

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Jacorrion Jackson hits a layup during the district game against the New Waverly Bulldogs. Photos by Charles Ballard

By Charles Ballard
SJNT correspondent

COLDSPRING — The Trojans downed the Bulldogs of New Waverly to open district play and the new year with a 77-47 win on Friday.

The Dogs just could not get anything going for them as the Trojans managed to take control of the game for the first jump ball till the last game buzzer; the opening toss produced 2 points for the Trojans in just seconds after the game clock started. Coldspring would outscore New Waverly 24-8 in the first quarter alone.

Jacorrion Jackson and Luke Monroe posted 12 points each during the first quarter and had limited play the entire game. T.J. Johnson had two 3-pointers for a total of 6 points, and Bryan Douglas contributed 17 points including two treys. Noah Bradford had a 3-point shot while Karvar Hays had 8 points for the night. Kelvin Harden, Eric Sykes, Jayden Kelly and Bookie Barnes combined for a total of 20 points.

Shepherd

The Pirates stunned Crockett 65-62 in overtime on Friday.

Senior Center Tristen Cullum said, “They came to town expecting to dominate the Pirates, but we wanted to show we could compete with the best, and we did just that.”

The first half ended with the Pirates on top 26-22, but the Dogs got to within 2 points of catching the Pirates during the third quarter. As the fourth quarter came to a close, the Dogs were ahead by only a few points and with only seconds left in the game the Pirates tied the score at 58, forcing the overtime.

Braydon Mettlen had 7 points, and Payton Burton shot the lights out with three 3-point shots along with 6 additional points. Tristen Cullum had 14 points, while freshman Brayden White poured in 22 points.

Coach Jeremy Bennett said, “After we got down in the fourth quarter we kept pushing forward and we never quit. A close one but we won.”

Cullum said, “We never give up, we play till the final whistle is blown, it was a good win in spite of what everyone was saying we were going to get blown out of the court.”

Burton said, “We never quit, even if we are down by 5, 10 or 20 we can always come back. Our game play worked very good tonight as well.”

Girls

The Lady Trojans fell to the New Waverly Lady Bulldogs 46-40 on Friday.

The Lady Trojans in the first quarter were outshot 17-7 and fought against that deficit throughout the game. The half ended with Coldspring down with a score of 31-15.

Shantel Goffney had 4 points for the night and Ella Phillips had 6 points. Mariah Major had 6, but Shaniyla Goffney led the pack with 19 points.

Shepherd

The Lady Pirates downed the Crocket Lady Bulldogs 40-38 on Friday.

Coach Eldridge McAdams said, “We are a short team and we had to keep them from grabbing the rebounds against us.”

The rebounding game plan that the Lady Pirates drew up allowed them to tie the game at 31 in the third; McAdams, which meant keeping the Lady Bulldogs out of the paint and taking bad shots from outside.

Avi Patterson had 6 points, Kiona King had 10 points, Jaz Richardson had 7 points, Dakiyah Clark had 2 points, Mckayden Nelson had 6 points, Tiana Clark had 6 points and Kaci Roberts had 3 points.

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There has got to be a half time show at any football game and Shepherd Powderpuff Game did not disappoint their fans

By Charlie Ballard
SJNT correspondent

SHEPHERD —On a bright Friday morning, Lady Pirate athletes came together to raise funds in the second annual Shepherd High School Powderpuff Football game.

The competition was fierce, almost as rigorous as a state playoff game, with freshman girls pitted against seniors, followed by juniors against sophomores in a “friendly” match.

The Championship game pitted seniors against juniors; many of the Lady Pirates displayed skills on the football field, meaning a Lady Pirates flag football team is a possibility.

The seniors won the day with a score of 24-20, but the competition was fierce. Student Coach Tristen Cullum said, “I told ‘The Blue Devils’ to play hard and just have fun.”