San Jacinto County Sports

Write a comment

By Brian Besch
Polk County Enterprise

GOODRICH — The Coldspring Lady Trojans left the south end of Polk County Tuesday night with a 60-32 victory over the Goodrich Lady Hornets.

Behind a game-leading 19 points from Brianna Shaw-Rucker, the Lady Trojans spread the wealth amongst seven players, who scored at least four points each.

However, it was the Lady Trojan defense that made the difference in the game.

“I am confident in the defense right now and we were able to go in and out of half-court and full-court presses with ease,” Coldspring coach Thaddeus Gordon said. “They are young, but we are growing. Right now, we are 2-0, and in our scrimmages, I felt like we went up against some big schools like Caney Creek and Shepherd. We beat all of those schools in the scrimmages.”

The different types of press Coldspring applied kept pressure on Lady Hornet ball handlers, forcing many turnovers.

“Our strength is our defense,” Gordon said. “We go at it all day long. We change it up on defense and we’ll go from a 1-3-1, to a 2-3, and to a man. We are feeling confident. One of our weaknesses is getting in our half-court offense and setting it up. We know we can score off of setting up the press and stealing the ball, so what we are really working on right now and doubling down on is getting in our offense and running it.”

Defenses are generally ahead of the offense early in the season, and it is no different in Goodrich. The Lady Hornets showed well in slowing the larger Class 3A school.

“We did a good job on defense,” Goodrich coach Pinellafie Johnson said. “In the last period, we started giving up set shots. We got tired and worn out. They saw those girls shooting the ball and we didn’t go out there and meet the ball. Other than that, I was pleased with what we did.”

Goodrich was led by Aralyn Angel with 15 points and supported with 11 points from Breya Passmore, four by Latrina Morgan and Jamya Garrett had three. For Coldspring, A’lyvia Jackson had a dozen points, Alexis Moore added seven and Ella Phillips had six.

Goodrich dropped a close one 27-24 last week versus another larger school in Shepherd.

“We are doing really well,” Johnson said. “I told them that these games are just getting us ready for district. It counts when district starts. We’ve just got to do our best to work hard on defense, to rebound and make those little layups. Then, we will be in good shape. We need to work on boxing out, because we are giving up too many offensive rebounds.”

The Lady Trojans lost to the Navasota Rattlers 54-40 during a weekend tournament in Crockett.

Shepherd | Girls

CANEY CREEK — The Lady Pirates defeated the Lady Panthers 29-22 on Nov. 12.

Shepherd | Boys

LUMBERTON — The Shepherd Pirates were outclassed by the Lumberton Raiders 102-40 on Friday in their season opener.

Write a comment

Trojans Tavaress Chambers and Luke Monroe block for Easton Dean to gain yardage during the Bi-District game against Anahuac. Photo by Charles Ballard.

By Charles  Ballard
SJNT Correspondent 

 NEW CANEY — The Coldspring-Oakhurst Trojans finished the ’21 Football season with a winning record of 7-3, losing its first-round playoff game against Anahuac 30-6.

The Trojans other two losses were to Shepherd and Diboll. 

The Trojans managed to keep the Anahuac Panthers to only 3 points on their first set of downs. The first TD was produced by the Trojans, but the point after was blocked and the panthers managed to run back a 62-yard two-point conversion, Anahuac crept to within a point, and the momentum of the game changed. 

The Trojans just could not contain the Panther offense and could not penetrate through the defense either. The Trojans fought and tried to bring back a second half but just could not finish the fight. 

The final score was 30-6 giving the win to the Panthers and they will advance to the next round of play in the state playoffs.

Leading rushers were K.D. Bookman with 75 yards on 12 carries; and Easton Dean with 76 yards on 18 carries and 1 touchdown.

Quarterback Luke Monroe went 3 for 4 passing for 51 yards; Bookman had 2 receptions for 51 yards, and Dean had 1 reception for 20 yards

Write a comment

SNJT staff

SHEPHERD — Weather played havoc with the field and with Shepherd, handing the Pirates a 36-6 loss on Oct. 1.

Head Coach Miles Robison said a super muddy field led to a tough loss. 

“We had a couple of injuries early on that didn't help our secondary, and Splendora made big plays when they needed to,” he said. “We missed out on a couple of scoring opportunities because of penalties.”

Robison said Tanner Lacy has 95 yards rushing and the team’s only TD, and Landen Robbins also had some good carries from the fullback spot. 

“The defense played great at times, but gave up some big plays that led to TDs,” he said. “Our offense has been inconsistent and we have to be able to throw the ball some to loosen up the box.”

Robison said the Pirates will have to play mistake-free football to have a shot of competing in district. 

“Our kids continue to play hard, but miscues here and there have cost us a couple of games,” he said. “We have to make corrections because with Madisonville's speed, one mistake will be a touchdown for them. I believe we can be the more physical team, but that has to be proven on Fridays.”

Write a comment

Cam Shaw-Rucker (No. 4) slides off tackle for a nice yardage gain during the Friday night’s game against The Tarkington Longhorns, with a 51-0 win. (Photo by Charles Ballard.)

By Charles Ballard
SJNT correspondent

CLEVELAND — The Tarkington Longhorns never had a clue on how to handle the fast-acting Coldspring Trojans, and were held scoreless on Friday

The Trojans posted a 51-0 win over Tarkington.

The Trojans scored early and often. With just 9:45 on the clock in the first quarter, Eddie Brown rolled off-tackle for the first score of the night. The two-point attempt failed so the early score was just 6-0.

Later on in the first quarter, with just 2:43 left on the clock, the Trojans pushed another TD and this time the two-point attempt was successful, sending the score to 14-0.

Early in the second quarter the Trojans posted yet another TD, putting the score at 21-0. Coldspring scored twice more to send the teams into halftime with the Trojans leading 33-0. 

The second half was more of the same, leading to the final score of 51-0. Coldspring put up 423 rushing yards and 439 total yards on offense.

Leading rushers for the night are Eddie Brown, with 134 yards on 7 carries and 2 TDs; Easton Dean, 75 yards on 9 carries and 2 TDs; and Noah Vercher, 81 yards on 4 carries and 1 TD.

Other notable rushers were Luke Monroe, Andy Tyson, Jaden Sparks and Max Irving.

In the air, quarterback Luke Monroe went 1-of-2 for 16 yards

Next week is the district’s bye week, after which district play will start against Trinity.