The Whataburger Basketball Tournament starts today as 48 boys’ and girls teams compete for top ranking high school teams. Argyle and Liberty Christian are among the teams participating.

More than 30,000 fans and spectators will attend the tournament today through Wednesday at three venues. The Argyle and Liberty Christian boys’ teams will complete at the Chisholm Trail High School arena while the Liberty Christian girls’ team competes at the Saginaw High School arena.

The tournament, which began in 1957 as a fundraiser for Fort Worth’s West Side chapter of the Lions Club, the tournament now has become a national competition with some participants advancing to careers in the NBA and other national sports leagues.

College scouts from across the U.S. will attend the conference to watch for potential recruits.

Whataburger will award a $500 scholarship to the winning team in each division, according to a news release.

“Whataburger is proud to support these outstanding student-athletes and give them a place to showcase their abilities while competing against both Texas and out-of-state talent,” said Whataburger Director of Operations Kelvin Buggs, in a news release. “We know how much hard work, drive and dedication goes into making it here, and Whataburger couldn’t be happier to see these athletes succeed.”

The tournament offers competitors an opportunity to test their skills against other top-ranked schools.

“We’re excited to bring back so many talented players from across Texas and beyond to take part in a little friendly competition,” said Tournament Director Tom Rogers in the news release. “The Whataburger Basketball Tournament continues to set the standard and we hope everyone is ready to end the year with some great basketball.”

Anyone interested in attending the tournament can buy tickets at each of the tournament’s three venues at $8 for a day pass, $20 for a three-day pass at one venue or $35 for a three-day pass at all venues.

For more information including brackets, rankings and specific player statistics, visit http://www.whataburger-bbt.org. Updated scores and game schedules will be posted in real time on Facebook and Twitter @WhataburgerBBT.

Local participating teams include:

Blue Boys’ Teams:
Argyle
Liberty Christian

Blue Girls’ Teams:
Liberty Christian

The post Argyle, Liberty Christian to compete in tournament appeared first on Cross Timbers Gazette | Southern Denton County | Flower Mound | News.

Navasota came out in the first quarter firing on all cylinders, grabbing a 14-0 lead thanks in large part to the play of their quarterback, Shelton Eppler.

“This whole week we’ve been talking about how he’s a good passer,” Linebacker Taylor Sweatt said. “Our defensive front was going hard and it was just a battle the whole game.”

Once the Eagles were down however, Running Back Nick Ralston began to once again put the team on his back by scoring two touchdowns in the second quarter to tie the game.

“We had a little bit of a slow start,” head coach Todd Rodgers said. “For us to get the offense rolling there and get the score tied at halftime was a testament to the kids. The defense was hanging on by a skin of their teeth against some really good players.”

Navasota had an incredible amount of success against a very stout Argyle secondary, led by Wide Receiver Tren’Davian Dickson who had 177 yards receiving and four touchdowns to add to his records.

“We tried to put another safety on top, but down after down after down he’s a hard one to stop,” Rodgers said. “You gotta look at it from two perspectives: You either design the coverage to cover him or you try to pressure the quarterback, try to get the ball launched in his acceleration phase, you can get an inaccurate pass. That’s essentially what we tried to do.”

The Eagles had their own offensive weapon in Ralston, who carried the ball a career-high of 54 times for 229 yards and four touchdowns. As they’ve done all season, every time Argyle faced an important down-and-distance, they trusted Ralston to get the necessary yardage.

“When you have a good racehorse you ride him until the very end,” Rodgers said. “We have a great offensive line and we’ve got a great running back. We had some opportunities to run the ball during the game, and we took advantage of those, but down after down it’s not a defense you can throw the ball on successfully. They’re very athletic in the secondary. We just didn’t feel like we could get open and execute with that.”

This game was the last one of the Arizona State commit’s high school career, so while he cherishes his teammates and the memories, this was not how he envisioned his final game.

“We executed our game plan and, when it came down to it, they just made more plays than us,” Ralston said. “In the end, we couldn’t get that fourth down conversion. The whole team played really hard and I’m proud of my guys. I’ll miss high school football.”

Argyle led by a touchdown with the ball with less than three minutes to play, but an interception by the normally clutch Quarterback Cooper Rodgers gave Navasota the ball and a chance.

“For us to turn the ball over there late, it’s unfortunate,” Rodgers said. “They went down and scored, and that’s what put it in overtime.”

Regardless of how this game turned out, Rodgers believes that the significance of this season shouldn’t be diminished.

“I’m very proud of the kids,” Rodgers said. “It has been an amazing season and it’s tough. It’s tough, especially when your kid’s playing quarterback. It’ll be happy grounds some time later. But I’ve spent as much time with these kids these past 20 weeks as I have with my own child, so it’ll be good.”

This team still has a lot of young leaders, including defensive MVP Taylor Sweatt, so the entire Eagles football team is looking forward to getting back to work for the 2015 season.

“We work together so well,” Sweatt said. “It’s sad we have to see the season go, but we still have that same bond. Some younger kids will step up, make plays and we’ll be back.”

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Nick Ralston will take the field Friday for his 53rd varsity game as an Argyle Eagle. In his football career at Argyle High School, Ralston has rushed for more than 6,000 yards, scored just under 700 points and has made eight school records.

The Argyle Eagles (15-0) will face the Navasota Rattlers (15-0) for the Class 4A Division I state championship title at 4 p.m. at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium. The game will be aired on Fox Sports Southwest.

Others making the All-State roster include: Offensive lineman Matt Hiter, who earned a spot on the APSE 2014 1st team All State; defensive lineman David Bearden, who has 23 tacles for loss and 12 sacks, was chosen for the APSE 2nd team All State; and four on the team were named to the APSE All State Honorable Mention including Matt Waggoner, offensive lineman; Drew Estrada, wide receiver; Taylor Sweatt, linebacker; and Dane Ledford, defensive back.

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Over the last three games, the Eagles have won by a combined 9 points. The team will say, however, that that’s just how they win games.

“It feels really natural,” Defensive End Hudson Speed said. “I feel like the reason we’ve gone so far as a team is we’re tough, we can fight harder than the other schools.”

The Eagles 23 points was a season low, and they only scored 3 points in the first half. Graham focused on shutting down Running Back Nick Ralston and forcing QB Cooper Rodgers to beat them through the air.

“They’re a very good defense,” LT Matt Hiter said. “They are very fundamentally sound; they know what they’re doing, they hit hard and they’re a bunch of good football players.

One thing the Eagles have thrived at this season is making second half adjustments. The jump in points between the first half and the second half showed once again the impact of the coaches on the team.

“Like I’ve said before the coaches are great and they made some great adjustments.” Wide Receiver Drew Estrada said. “They called some plays that got us big gains and touchdowns, so I give the credit to the coaches for making the adjustments at halftime.”

Though the offense picked up the pace in the second half, it was the defense that was responsible for helping to push this team to the state championship.

“Everybody was scared about our defense; they thought ‘Our offense is going to carry us through it,’ but this week we came out hard,” Line Backer Taylor Sweatt said. “We knew we had to step it up this game and we kept us in there.”

Last week with the game on the line, it was Corner Back Zach Zembraski who came up with the interception to win the game. Different week, same storyline as Zembraski picked off a deep Graham pass to seal the victory with 19 seconds left.

“It’s crazy right now, I can’t even believe it,” Zembraski said. “To make a play like that to send us back to the state championship, it’s all I could ever dream of.”

Zembraski made the final play, but it was the whole team that showed resilience to once again pull out a close win over a good team.

“I think we’ve shown that if you put us up against any team, we can beat them,” Estrada said. “We’re a great second half team, we’ve got a lot of fight in us and it showed tonight.” 

The team knows they need to have a great game plan for Navasota next week and they’re excited for the work ahead.

“We’re going to be ready,” Hiter said. “We’ve played in a bunch of big games and we know how to win them. We’ll be ready for it; don’t worry about that.”

This is the second straight year the Eagles have advanced to the state finals, so while the players know the atmosphere will be familiar, they feel that this season has been a completely different journey.

“It feels better this year because I’m a little more involved than I was last year,” Zembraski said. “Back then there were all these expectations going into state, but this year nobody really thought we would make it this far. As a team, we just got here on our own.”

After offseason talk of this team’s talent falling off with notable graduations such as Ian Sadler and Connor Wilson, the 2014 Eagles have used that motivation to get them to this point.”

“No one thought we were going to do it,” Sweatt said. “No one thought we were going to do it, that we were going to suck this year and we showed everybody.”

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After an intense game last week versus Kennedale, the Argyle Eagles defeated the Liberty Eylau Leopards 45-42 on Friday, Dec. 5, at Royce City Stadium. The Eagles overcame adversity with a consistent ground game and clutch defense.

The Eagles started off the game with their trademark power running attack, matched with some deep passes.

“We’re really confident that we can go down and score every single drive,” Wide Receiver Hunter Markwardt said. “Especially with Nick running the ball.”

Running Back Nick Ralston was responsible for five of the teams’ touchdowns, four of which came in the first half as the Eagles grabbed a 38-21 lead heading into the break.

“We just had to keep answering them,” Ralston said. “In the first half we did that; in the second half we struggled a bit more. I just have to give the credit to the play of the offensive line. They were making holes, kept fighting and we squeezed out a win.”

After scoring 38 points in the first half, the offense struggled in the second half, only putting up one additional touchdown. Despite this, the Eagles still boast an offense that can pound away yardage at any time or go over the top of the defense, as evidenced by J.C. Chalks’ 68-yard touchdown catch in the first half.

“Our offense looked good,” Markwardt said. “It’s looked good throughout the playoffs. No one can stop our offense lately, so we’ve been doing great.”

Quarterback Cooper Rodgers has been a big reason for that offensive success, torching teams so far in the playoffs. This week however, Rodgers had two momentum shifting interceptions on an otherwise solid day that kept the Leopards within comeback distance.

“He’s going to be fine,” Ralston said. “He’s going to come out next week against Graham and play really well. He’ll shake it off. Sometimes things like that are going to happen but he’s going to play great next week.”

With their defense stepping up, Liberty was able to get some spark from their offense on some long pass completions, prompting some halftime adjustments for the Eagles.

“In the second half we started jamming them off the line to slow them on their routes,” Cornerback Zach Zembraski said. “They’re fast wide receivers so we had to do something to slow them down.”

With 1:40 left in the game, Liberty was down three points with a chance to drive for a game-winning touchdown. On their first set of downs, they gained zero yards on the first three downs.

“We’ve done that a lot this year,” Zembraski said. “Whenever we’ve needed to make plays we’ve made plays because the offense has done their part all day long. The important thing is when we needed stops we got stops. As long as we can keep doing that, we’ll be good.”

On fourth and ten, the Liberty pass flew off target and was picked off by Zembraski, sealing the victory.

“We had just switched to Cover 3 on that last drive,” Zembraski said. “It was fourth down, and we knew we had to keep them from getting those ten yards. We had to play our coverage right, and we did.”

Next week, Argyle will face Graham in the state semi-finals, a huge rematch after Argyle defeated Graham earlier this year.

“My focus is on Graham next week, and that’s my only focus,” Ralston said. “We’re going to watch film, focus in practice and be prepared to face Graham.”

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Austin McDaniel, a right-handed pitcher, has signed to play for the U.S. Air Force Academy (Division 1 Mountain West Conference) and outfielder Logan Sepanek has signed to play for Dallas Baptist University (Division 1 Missouri Valley Conference).

McDaniel is a graduate of Flower Mound High School and Sepanek graduated from Flower Mound Marcus High School.

“Austin has been a tremendous student-athlete here at PJC,” said PJC Baseball Coach Deron Clark. “He has a 4.0 GPA off the field and has been dominant on the field. Austin is a sophomore leader on this team and plays a vital role in our success.
“Logan is a power hitting outfielder with a big arm and great speed. His talents are a key to our success and he will bat in the middle of our lineup and start in centerfield. Logan was All-Conference as a freshmen and played in this year’s All-Star game.

“Both young men have been more than good ballplayers, they are tremendous people with a work ethic that is at the highest level. They are leaders for our team and we are extremely proud of them.”

Margaret Ruff is director of marketing and public relations for Paris Junior College.

(Top photo) Shown at his signing day is Paris Junior College baseball player Austin McDaniel, with Craig McDaniel (right) and Michelle McDaniel (left). Standing in back is PJC Baseball Coach Deron Clark (left) and Assistant Baseball Coach Bric Steed. McDaniel will go to the Air Force Academy.

(Bottom photo) Paris Junior College baseball player Logan Sepanek is shown signing with Linda and Rob Sepanek (left and right). Standing in back is PJC Baseball Coach Deron Clark (left) and Assistant Baseba ll Coach Bric Steed. Sepanek will play for Dallas Baptist University.

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The Argyle Eagles defeated Kennedale 52-48 in a thrilling come-from-behind victory Friday night in the Region II semifinals.

Juwan Washington got it started for Kennedale (12-0), with a 70-yard burst on the first play of the game. One play later, Ronald Hayes was able to punch it into the end zone, and after a missed PAT, the Wildcats led the game quickly 6-0.

Argyle (12-0) was able to respond quickly with a heavy dose of Nick Ralston, but ultimately had to kick a 33-yard field goal to cut the lead to 6-3.

Washington, the San Diego State commit, answered right back, with a 75-yard touchdown run to increase the lead.

The Eagles were able to cut into it quickly, after a lengthy drive led to a Drew Estrada jet-sweep touchdown run.

On the next Wildcat drive, the Eagle defense managed to slow down Washington, but he eventually found the end zone from 7 yards out.

The Wildcats kicked it short, and the Argyle kick returner could not take control of the ball, so Kennedale had the ball deep in Argyle territory. Ronald Hayes was able to score quickly after on a 24-yard toss for his second score of the game, and just like that the Eagles trailed 27-10 after one.

The Eagles marched right back down the field, and senior QB Cooper Rodgers hit Estrada for a 37-yard touchdown. The Eagles were able to hold Kennedale on fourth down, but they went three-and-out on the next possession.

Kennedale was able to drive all the way down the Argyle 1-yard line, but a fantastic goal-line stand by the Eagle defense stopped them cold. Argyle drove the field, but a late Rodgers interception kept the score at 27-17 at the half.

On the first possession of the second half, the Eagles fed Nick Ralston over and over, and eventually the Arizona State commit pounded his way into the end zone for a 6-yard score to trim the lead.  Ralston finished with 322 yards and 4 TDs.

Washington took the short kick, and sped down field for a 68-yard return. He would eventually find the end zone again to push Kennedale’s lead to 34-24.

Once again, the Eagles responded with a very nice drive led by Rodgers, and a short scoring toss to J.C. Chalk to climb back into the game.  However, on the very next play, Kennedale QB Jake Michener scored from 65 yards out.

The Eagles as always, had an answer. Another drive by Ralston, and eventually he scored from a yard out to make it 41-38 heading into the final period.

The Eagle defense got a much-needed fourth down stop to begin the fourth quarter, and Ralston once again found the end zone from 1 yard out to give the Eagles the lead.

The Wildcats had a response ready, and another long drive of runs, runs, and more runs ended on a Ronald Hayes TD run with exactly 5 minutes left to play.

Argyle avoided near disaster as Gage McCook couldn’t handle the ball on the jet sweep, but was able to fall on it. On the very next play, Ralston was able to bounce off the left side, running over tacklers, and going all the way for 57 yards to give Argyle the lead again with 3:59 to play.

Kennedale was faced with a 4th and 8 at the Argyle 49, and they were able to convert on a wonderfully called double reverse pass from Washington to Michener.

On the final play of the ballgame with 6 ticks of the clock left, Michener felt pressure and heaved it to the end zone where it was batted down, concluding a wild game.

“We kept fighting. They were very resilient and I am very proud of the kids who showed greatness from top to bottom.” said Coach Todd Rodgers after the game. 

Argyle will look for their 29th consecutive win as they face off with Texarkana Liberty-Eylau on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Region II finals at a location to be determined.

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The final score stood at 58-42, sending Southlake Carroll to face San Angelo Central in the regional playoffs next week.

Though Carroll put the first score on the board at AT&T Stadium in Arlington with a 36-yard field goal, Guyer quickly responded with quarterback Shawn Robinson completing a 6-yard pass to wide receiver Alex Honey for a touchdown with five minutes remaining in the first quarter.

Carroll quickly responded with an 16-yard rushing touchdown to make the score 10-7 with three minutes remaining and, soon, scored another touchdown with a successful 12-yard pass to end the first quarter 17-7 in Carroll’s favor.

Carroll scored again early in the second quarter with a 3-yard rushing touchdown to widen its lead to 24-7 against Guyer. With under five minutes in the second quarter, Carroll scored another 7-yard rushing touchdown for a 31-7 lead. At just under a minute left, Guyer backup quarterback David Haynes threw a 6-yard pass to Anthony Taylor for a touchdown to end the first half at 31-14.

Just out of halftime, J.T. Ashcraft caught a 75-yard pass from Robinson to score a Guyer touchdown, shortening the gap to 31-21. With eight minutes to go in the third, Carroll completed a 2-yard rushing touchdown to take the score to 38-21. As seconds remained in the third quarter, Carroll completed a 4-yard rushing touchdown for a score of 45-21.

With 10 minutes remaining in the game, Robinson completed an 18-yard rushing touchdown to bring Guyer to 45-27. A two-point conversion attempt by Guyer failed.

Carroll scored another touchdown, returning a fumble 35 yards to up the score 51-27 with eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

Robinson completed a 13-yard pass to Taylor for a touchdown. A two-point conversion was good with a Robinson pass to Austin Luna, taking the score to 51-35 with just over six minutes left in the game.

Carroll completed a 5-yard rush for a touchdown with just more than four minutes on the clock and a score of 58-35.

Robinson completed a 7-yard pass to Haynes for a touchdown with under 3 minutes left and what would be a final score of 58-42.

Guyer ends the season with 10 wins and 2 losses.

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St. Thomas took a 14-0 lead into the second quarter before Liberty’s Kyleb Howell scored on a 2-yard run to cut the deficit in half.

St. Thomas was able to kick two more field goals in the second half of the game while holding the Warriors scoreless.

Liberty Christian was held to 164 yards of total offense in the game.

The Warriors finished up the season with a 7-4 record and 4-3 mark in district competition.

The defeated Tomball Concordia Lutheran 50-20 in the bi-district round to advance to the game with St. Thomas.

Nick Starkel finished the season with 1,609 yards passing and 19 touchdowns, and Justus Lee wrapped up the year with 825 yards receiving and 10 touchdowns.

The post Season ends for Liberty Christian football appeared first on Cross Timbers Gazette | Southern Denton County | Flower Mound | News.

The Eagles began the game with strong field position from a kick return by Scott Smith. Argyle wasted no time, as Nick Ralston found the end zone on a 16-yard rushing score.

After a Kaufman punt, Ralston had three more big runs of 45 yards, 18 yards and, finally, a 3-yard rushing touchdown. Kaufman quarterback Jackson Fritz was injured on the next drive, replaced by backup quarterback Austin Gomez.

Gomez could not move the ball against a tough Argyle defense, and the Lions turned the ball over on downs in Eagle territory. Ralston once again broke through defenders and sped for another score, this time from 52 yards out.

After getting the ball back via interception, the ball was snapped over quarterback Cooper Rodgers’ head and Kaufman was able to recover deep at the Eagle 31-yard line.

After getting the ball at the 1-yard line, the Argyle defense forced a fumble in the end zone, resulting in a touchback. The Eagle defense would soon be back on the field however, as Ralston once again found a hole and burst all the way for an 80-yard touchdown run to push Argyle’s lead to 28-0.

Late in the first half, Rodgers led a drive down field, concluding with a 19-yard touchdown strike to Gage McCook, giving the Eagles a commanding 35-0 lead heading into the half.

The third quarter was no different, as on the first possession for the Eagles, Ralston rumbled in for another score, this time from 48 yards out.

The Eagle defense once again forced a punt, and Rodgers’ threw a laser to Drew Estrada, who did the rest of the work on the ground, taking off for a 61-yard touchdown.

The Lions were eventually able get on the board, with a Desmond Williams 7-yard rushing score.

Ralston finished the game with 305 yards on 15 carries, averaging 20.3 yards per carry.

The Eagles will continue their quest for a second straight state title as they take on undefeated Kennedale next Friday at Mesquite Hanby at 6 p.m.

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