San Jacinto County Sports

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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.”

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Tristen Cullum pushes his was to the basket against a couple of Longhorns for a district win.

By Charles Ballard
SJNT correspondent

SHEPHERD — The Shepherd Pirates moved the “W” needle with a 63-59 win over Tarkington on Dec. 19.

Head Coach Jeremy Bennett said following the game plan always works.

“We had a little trouble in the third but managed to get back to the game plan and take the win,” he said.

Brayden White said, “We played as a team and it was a good win for us.”

Brayden Mettlen said, “Our defense was superb tonight. We worked hard Monday to get it all together for this win.”

The Pirates led Tarkington 53-32 at the end of the third quarter, but during the fourth quarter the Longhorns managed to push up their score and threatened the lead. Tarkington advanced with 27 points to Shepherd’s 11 during the fourth quarter but it was not enough to take the win.

Shepherd now is at 1-1 in district.

Top scorers include Tristen Cullum with 21 points, followed by White hitting 19 points. Payton Burton had 9 points, Bryson Goodman had 2, Mettlen had 4, Darrian Matthews had 3 and Joshua Stowe had 6.

Coldspring

The Trojans were downed by the Crockett Bulldogs 64-49 on Dec. 19.

Girls

The Lady Pirates started strong but ended up falling to the Lady Longhorns 38-34 on Dec. 19.

Shepherd put 7 points on the board early and looked like a sure winner; however, Tarkington managed to gain a 24-21 at the end of the third. The Lady Horns continued to force Shepherd to try to find and answer to their defense.

Mckayden Nelson posted the most for the Lady Pirates with 14 points and three 3-pointers. Jaz Richardson had 6 points and Dakiyah Clark had 4. Tiana Clark had a lone 3-point shot late in the game and Maraya Davis had a lone trey in the second quarter.

Coldspring

The Lady Trojans fell to the Crockett Lady Bulldogs 59-33 on Dec. 19.

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Noah Bradford takes it to the paint for a jumper and 2 more points for Coldspring.

By Charles Ballard
SNJT correspondent

After tearing through opponents in the early rounds of the weekend Splendora Tournament, the brakes were put on by the tourney host to give the Trojans the runner-up hardware.

Coldspring defeated 74-73, downed Cleveland 54-48 and then crushed Hardin 61-15 on its way to the finals.

The Trojans fell victim to Splendora’s 3-point barrage; even though Coldspring managed to take the lead in the fourth, the Wildcats regrouped and started shooting treys almost exclusively to win the Gold Round of the Tournament 63-56.

Joshua Brimsey had 8 points with 2 3-point shots to his credit, and Luke Monroe posted 10 points for the night. Javious Parker posted 8 points with a 2 for 2 at the line. Bryan Douglas had 3 points, Karvar Hays had 10 points, Kelvin Harden had 7 points, Eric Sykes had 8 points, and Jayden Kelly had 2 points.

Prior to the title tilt, the Trojans overpowered Hardin 61-15, posting double digits before the Hornets even got a look at the basket.

Coldspring put up 22 points to Hardin’s 5 in the first quarter, and only answered with 3 to the Trojans’ 12 in the second, and the scoring did not get any better for the Hornets.

Offensively, Jacorrion Jackson had 2 points, Luke Monroe had 11 points, Javious Parker had 6 points. T.J. Johnson had 10 points, Noah Bradford had 4 points, Malachi O’Bryant had 4 points, Eric Sykes had 13 points, Bookie Barnes had 7 points and Jayden Kelly had 4 points.

In the same tournament, the Shepherd Pirates went 2-2, downing Splendora 40-39 and Hardin 64-27, but losing to Big Sandy 52-50 and to Santa Fe 53-43.

Against Big Sandy, top scorers were Tristen Cullum with 15, Brayden White with 13 and Braydon Mettlen with 12.

Against Santa Fe, Brayden White led all scoring with 21 points.

Against Splendora, Mettlen had 14 points while Cullum chipped in 13.

Against Hardin, Cullum had 16 points, Mettlen had 12 and Payton Burton poured in 10.

On Dec. 5, Shepherd fell to Hargrave 82-40. Cullum led scoring with 14.

Girls

Shepherd

The Lady Pirates basketball team went 3-1 this weekend in the West Hardin Christmas Tournament, taking home the third-place trophy.

Wins were over Diboll, Spurger and West Hardin JV, while the lone loss was to West Hardin Varsity.

The team was led by Dikayah Clark, who was named All Tournament, and McKayden Nelson.

The girls improved to 12-6 on the year.

Coldspring

The Lady Trojans won 46-36 overr Shepherd. Standouts were Shaniy’a Goffney and Ella Phillips.