Junior Varsity Natalia Mustang’s #17 and #18 set up a block.
By Noah Gilkey The Lady Mustangs Junior Varsity volleyball team played D’Hanis high school in Natalia on Tuesday, September 13th, and played hard in front of their energizing home crowd. Starting the game off with the first set the girls unfortunately couldn’t get enough points going and fell 15-25. The second set was then much too similar to the first, ending again in 15-25 to leave the Junior Varsity Ladies with a 0-2 loss. Highlighting the game was Abigail Firgueroa with 2 kills, Makayla Rodriguez with 2 assists and 1 ace, Aryana Ramirez with 6 digs, and Aracely Segovia with 5 digs. The ladies take a chip on their shoulder and will be back on Tuesday, September 20th to play Cotulla. Complete Stats: Kills: Abigail Figueroa 2 Assists: Makayla Rodriguez 2 Aces: Makayla Rodriguez 1 Digs: Aryanna Ramirez 6 and Araceley Segovia 5
Varsity Natalia Mustang #9 sets the ball outside Also pictured is #8.
By Noah Gilkey The Natalia Varsity Lady Mustangs volleyball team stayed at home for the second consecutive week and welcomed D’Hanis high school to their home court last week on Tuesday, September 13th to compete against a strong varsity squad. Starting the game off with a 16-25 first set, the girls kept their hopes up moving in to the rest of the game. Another tough set of 14-25 put the Ladies down 0-2. With one more chance to keep the game going and potentially come back from their deficit the Ladies unfortunately couldn’t pull together enough points to keep the D’Hanis squad at bay. With a score in the final set of 7-25 the game finished on a hard note for the Ladies. Leading their varsity squad throughout it all this game was Anaya Jones with 4 kills and 3 digs, Angelina Solis with 2 kills and 3 digs, Tommie Gunn with 7 assists Abigail Fulton with 2 aces and 3 Digs, and Angelina Duenes with 3 digs. The Lady Mustangs continue to work hard and look forward to playing Cotulla on Tuesday, September 20th. Complete Stats: Kills: Anaya Jones with 4 and Angelina Solis with 2 Assists: Tommie Gunn with 7 Aces: Abigail Fulton with 2 Digs: Anaya Jones, Angelina Duenes, Abigail Fulton, and Angelina Solis with 3
Eighth grade Filly #19 Lesslie De Los Santos swings on the ball. Also pictured are #25 Tucker Traylor and #11 Kyrie DuBose.
The 8th grade Fillys Volleyball teams had a full week of playing this past week. To start the week, the teams made the long trip to Carrizo Springs to face the Wildcats. The Gold team started the evening off in the first 8th grade game of the night. In the first set, the Fillys and the Wildcats battled back and forth. At a 3-all tie, the Wildcats jumped out to a 9-3 lead. But, when the Filly’s setter, Paige Barron, came into the game and served, the game took on an entirely new look. Paige served 18 straight serves, helping the Fillys go up on Carrizo Springs 21-9. A few minutes later, the game ended with the Fillys winning 24-11 as time expired. In the 2nd set, the Fillys dominated. Coming off of the first set win, Jacqueline Salazar served 10 straight Filly points, putting the team up 12-4. After that, Paige Barron, once again, went on a serving streak for her team, serving 10 straight serves as well. The Fillys found themselves up 23-5. After a side out point, Kenzie Schott came in and served for the game winning point. The Fillys won the game and pushed their season record to 2-1. The Maroon game followed the gold team’s victory. Starting out receiving in the first set, the Fillys found themselves down by 5. Slowly but surely, the Fillys started to come back against the Wildcats. After being down 8-17, the Fillys made a run, and before they knew it, the score was 23-24. With the game on the line, the Wildcats were able to side out and score the winning point. The Fillys dropped the first set 23-25.
Early in the 2nd set, the score was 10-9 in favor of Carrizo Springs. The back and forth battle continued 8-9, 10-11, 12-13, 16-16, and 19-19. After that, the Wildcats made it 19-22. The Fillys stood their ground, fighting for each and every ball, and each and every point. In the end though, Carrizo won the 2nd set 25-20, capturing the win. On Saturday, the Fillys hosted their home tournament. In the first game of the morning, the Fillys took on Hondo. In the first set, the Fillys jumped out to a 8-2 lead, but the Owls came up even at 13-13. After that, Devine took the edge 20-19. Hondo then earned their way to a 21-24 lead. The Fillys did a great job holding them off, but Hondo ended up taking the first set, 21-25. In the 2nd set, it was a point for point battle through 8-8. It was then that Hondo scored 7 straight points. After gathering themselves, Devine sat in good position at 19-21. From that point Hondo took the set 19-25. In the second game for the Fillys, they met up with Pleasanton. Devine was up early 11-7. Just a few minutes later, Devine still led 23-22. Unfortunately, Pleasanton took the next few points in this tight battle, winning the set 25-23. The second set was almost as close with the two teams tied at 16-16 and 17-17. PLeasanton was able to hold their serve 23-19. They were then able to score two more points, winning the set 25-20 and taking the game. In the afternoon game, the Fillys came up against the Poth Pirates. In, once again, a point for point battle, the Fillys held strong early. After leading late in the game at 21-16, the Pirates took the first set 25-16. In the second set, Poth jumped out to an early lead. The Fillys fought back and continued to battle, the team from Poth was too much for them, and they took the set 25-17, winning the game. Even though the day was full of struggles for the Fillys, there were many bright points. They have grasped the concept of hit defense and played well against all three teams that solidly hit against them. They fought back again and again in every game. Serve receive and passing were much improved from the game just a few days earlier in the week. Hitters were getting hittable set, and were able to put many of them down. It was definitely a good showing for the Fillys, even though they did not end up victorious.
Last Friday, September 16, Devine’s freshman Arabian volleyball team traveled to the home of the Pleasanton Eagles for their third district game of the season. It was a hard fought and big win for the girls in three sets. ” We had a tough start to the game in the 1st set. Our hitters struggled a bit as we weren’t able to finish points. After talking between sets we were a new team the next two sets. Our energy was up and we did a much better job finishing plays like we should. Bella Flores and Gabby Mendez stepped up for us in the front row the next two sets. This helped us get into a rhythm and keep up our intensity. I’m so proud of the girls for not giving up and fighting for every single point as it was a battle till the end. I do want to give a shout out to the back row, that did a great job for us in serve receive and defensively the entire game. That being said, everyone stepped up and played a role in this big win for us. It was an exciting game to be a part of! One step closer to being district champs,”- Coach Stacey. As a team the girls had a total of eight digs, sixteen assists, nine aces, and sixteen kills. Leading in digs for the night was #6 Bella Flores with three digs and six kills. Gabby Mendez had a total of nine assists as well as three aces. Set points were as follows; 18-25, 25-19, and 15-12. Digs: Bella Flores-3, Aimee CArr-1, Payton Applewhite-1, Jaylynn Hernandez-1, Cami Carroll-1, Macie Grubb-1. Assists: Gabby Mendez-9, Cami Carroll-7. Aces: Gabby Mendez-3, Cami Carroll-2, Bella Flores-2, Payton Applewhite-1, Aimee Carr-1. Kills: Bella Flores-6, Gabby Mendez-5, Cami Carroll-2, Macie Grubb-1, Aimee Carr-1, Brilee Carroll-1.
Freshman Arabians vs Carrizo Springs
Devine Freshman Arabians celebrate a point.
Last Tuesday night the Arabians traveled to Carrizo Springs on September 13 to face the Wildcats for their second district game of the season. Fortunately the girls came out on top 2-0. Set points were as follows; 25-8, and 25-11. “Officially 2-0 in District. The girls did a great job staying together and maintaining focus the entire time. I saw great things from everyone tonight however I do have to give a shout out to Brilee Carroll who took over in the front row. She led the team with 4 kills for the night. Cami Carroll had 9 aces and Aimee Carr with 5 did a great job serving for us as well. Stoked for the good competition on Friday in Pleasanton,”- Coach Stacey. As a team the girls had a total of seven assists, twenty-four aces, eight kills, and one block. Assists: Cami Carroll-4, and Gabby Mendez-3. Aces: Cami Carroll-9, Aimee Carr-5, Gabby Mendez-4, Bella Flores-3, Lilly Owen-2, Brilee Carroll-1. Kills: Brilee Carroll-4, Aimee Carr-2, Gabby Mendez-2. Blocks: Taylin Herrera-1.
Devine Junior Varsity Arabian #2 Oakley Malone sends the ball over the net.
This past week the Devine Arabian Junior Varsity volleyball girls competed against Carrizo Springs and Pleasanton for district play. They were able to defeat Carrizo but struggled with Pleasanton. They are now 2-1 in district with the loss to Pleasanton last Friday. Stats for Pleasanton Game: JV went 3 games losing the 3rd set 11-15. Kynedie Cruz had 2 digs, 7 Assists , 4 kills and 1 block ; Oakley Malone; 4 digs 8 Assists 3 kills; Charlee Rangel; 4 digs, 1 assists, 1 ace; Yaya Rodriguez: 2 digs, 7 kills;Katie Rios: 3 digs 1 assits 1 ace; Lynn Lawler: 1 dig 1 ace; Mckenzie Savage: 4 kills ; Sarah Stodal: 2 kills; Savannah Parker: 1 kill; andBrooke Thompson: 1 ace, 2 kills, 1 block.
Devine Varsity Arabians #3 Rylee Esquibel and #16 Hannah Brumage set up a block. Photos by Amber DuBose.
Last Tuesday, September 13, Devine’s varsity Arabian volleyball team traveled to Carrizo to face the Wildcats for their second district game of the season. The girls won in three sets; 25-16, 25-21, and 25-15. This officially makes them 2-0 for the season. As a team the girls had a total of thirty-one kills, eleven aces, three blocks, forty-three digs, and twenty-nine assists. Leading in kills was #3 Rylee Esquibel with thirteen as well as three aces. Kate Featherly had a total of nineteen assists as well as three aces. Skylar Blanton took control of the net with a total of four blocks. Avery Cruz led in the number of digs with a total of thirteen. Kills: Esquibel-13, Miller-10, Blanton-5, Morales-2, Oropeza-1. Aces: Esquibel-3, Featherly-3, Kelsey Dishman-3, Cruz-1, Kaylee Romano-1. Blocks: Blanton-3, Morales-1. Digs: Cruz-13, Esquibel-7, Moralez-5, Featherly-5, Morales-4, Oropeza-3, Dishman-3, Miller-2, Blanton-1. Assists: Featherly-19, Dishman-5, Miller-1, Morales-1, Moralez-1, Esquibel-1, Cruz-1.
Lylte Pirate #4 Connor Martin soars up to try and secure a catch as Natalia’s #9 Paul Zapata closes in. Photos courtesy of Mike Quintero/Texas Sport Shots, www.texassportshots.
Eric Smith Staff Writer The Lytle Pirate offense came out and looked sharp in their opening drive last Friday night vs. rival Natalia. They used a 10 play, 70 yard drive before settling for a field-goal. Natalia made adjustments defensively, and this would be the only three points for the Black and Gold. Natalia on the other hand reeled off 47 points en route to a 47-3 win. “I felt like we finally got into a rhythm for the first time all year and we didn’t put ourselves in bad situations,” Natalia Head Coach Ilyan Martinez said when asked about his team’s first win of the season. The Pirates received to start the game and got the ball at their own 30 yard line. Lytle used a nice mix of runs by Connor Martin and passes by Freshman QB Toby Davila to players like Darren Martinez and Rudy Cepeda to get down to the Natalia 11 yard line. Unfortunately for the Black and Gold, they had to settle for a 28 yard field goal by Marcos Alvarado with 8:15 to go in the 1st quarter. Natalia got the ball at their own 42 yard line and went to work quickly. Jaieden Burford came out with a nice pass to Josh San Miguel for a 33 yard gain to set the tone. Two runs in a row by Luis Buentello was capped off with two runs by QB Burford and a Natalia touchdown with 6:38 to go in the 1st quarter. This capped off a 5-play 58 yard drive. The PAT by Miguel Sanchez was good, as Natalia led 7-3. Lytle came out with their second drive of the evening, but unfortunately could not get anything going as the Natalia defense rose to the occasion forcing a 3 and out punt. Natalia got the ball at the 50-yard line with 5:58 to go in the 1st quarter and went to work. Natalia used 15-plays of a good pass and run mix to score as Burford found Elijah Banda to score his first of four touchdowns on the night on a 23 yard receiving touchdown. The PAT by Sanchez was good, as Natalia extended their lead to 14-3. Things only got worse for Lytle in their opening quarter, as their third drive of the game went south quickly. Freshman Davila, who had shown lots of positives early with his arm and mobility, threw up a long ball for a receiver over the middle, but Natalia’s Paul Zapata soared into the air and intercepted it. Natalia got the ball at the Lytle 14 and needed one play to strike. Burford found David Silva for a 14 yard play to give the Stangs a 21-3 lead with 11:32 to go in the 2nd quarter following a Sanchez PAT. On the ensuing drive, Lytle began to find success as they started at their own 34 yard line. Lytle used eight plays to march down field to their own 48 yard line before the Natalia defense ended the threat again, this time with a David Silva interception. Natalia got the ball at their own 42 yard line with 7:31 to go in the 1st half and went back to work. Natalia needed just eight plays to march down field and score on a nice hard run by Elijah Banda. The PAT by Sanchez was blocked, but Natalia’s lead was now 27-3 with 4:36 to go in the 1st half. This is how the score would stand at the half. Natalia scored their first touchdown in the second half with 4:20 to go in the 3rd quarter, as Banda capped off a six-play 40 yard drive with a 3-yard run. The PAT was blocked again by Lytle, but Natalia’s lead was now 33-3. The Mustangs went on to score two final touchdowns in the game. One came as Burford found Justin Curiel on an 11 yard strike and the final touchdown was on a 37 yard run by Banda giving Natalia a solid 47-3 victory. “Everything we do starts up front and offensively we were physical and sound in our assignments,” Martinez said. “This allowed our RBs to have a big game on the ground and allowed for our QB to have time to make some plays downfield.” Coach Adrian Trevino was asked his thoughts on the loss vs. Natalia and had the following to say: “We felt that there were some things offensively and defensively that our team did well,” Trevino said. “There were also some things we didn’t do well enough to keep us in the game. Our kids continued to play hard and if we capitalized on some of the opportunities given, we feel we could have possibly changed the momentum of the game.” Final Team Stats: Natalia led offensively as they used 62 plays to account for 413 yards of offense which included 162 passing and 251 rushing. Lytle used 51 plays to account for 240 yards of offense which included 164 passing and 76 rushing. Rushing wise, Natalia ran 44 times for 251 yards for an average of 5.7. Lytle rushed 26 times for 76 yards for an average of 2.9. Receiving Natalia had 13 for 162 for an average of 12.5 as Lytle had 9 for 164 for an average of 18.2. Penalties- Both teams had too many as Natalia had 12-107 and Lytle 13-105. Lytle had 4 turnovers and Natalia had 2. Natalia dominated the 1st down mark with 21 compared to 11 by Lytle. Neither team was great on 3rd down, as Natalia was 4-11 and Lytle 3-12. Individual Stat Leaders: Burford led Natalia at QB and was 12-17-141-3TDs-1INT. Toby Davila was 9-25-164-4INTs. Rushing: Banda was 9-94-3TDs as Buentello was 18-94 and Burford was 14-90. Davila led on the ground for Lytle as he was 13-56 as Martin was 2-14. Receiving: San Miguel led Natalia was he was 3-71 as Silva was 7-55-1TD. Cepeda led Lytle with 4-112 as Martin was 2-32. Defensive Stat Leaders: Natalia: Assists: Simon Garcia 6, Austin Sutton 3, Luis Buentello 3, AZ Zapata 3. Solo Tackles- Sutton 6, Garcia 5, RJ Velasquez 3. Pass break-ups: Silva 1, Gerardo Colchado 1, Zapata 1, David Rodriguez 1. Interceptions: Silva, Zapata, San Miguel 1 each. Lytle: Albert Aguilar- 12 solo tackles/4 assists/1 forced fumble; Anthony Perdomo 7 solo tackles/4 assists; Roland Cordova 3 solo tackles/2 assists; Drew Gonzales- 4 solo tackles/1 assists/1 tackle for a loss/1 QB Sack; Luke Estrada- 3 solo tackles/ 1 assist; Jake Guevarea- 3 solo tackles/2 assists/1 QB sack. Coachs final comments “We need to continue to work on being consistent in all phases of the game,” Trevino said. “We feel if we could have executed better in the red-zone and in the goal-line areas, it would have given us more momentum early.” Martinez was asked his thoughts on winning 8 straight vs. Lytle. “We feel fortunate to be a part of that, but I am really proud of our player’s approach to the tradition that was built here and the importance of the game to the alumni and community,” Martinez said. “Our guys understand the significance of the game and we were focused on the task at hand. We enjoyed and are happy with the outcome, but we need to re-focus and get ready for a tough district.” Upcoming Games Natalia will have the week off as they enter the open week 1-3 in a tough four slate of contests ion non-district. Natalia opens district play on Friday, September 30th on their brand new turf field vs. the Comfort Bobcats. Lytle will prepare for their final non-district game at home Friday vs. Pearsall. See the preview story for further details.
Varsity Devine Warhorses #64 Kolt Hackebeil, #54 Edwardo Gonzales and #10 Marcus Rodriguez sack the Hondo Owl quarterback. Photos by Amber DuBose.
Jerel Beaty Staff Writer Devine’s 16-play, 73-yard touchdown-scoring drive to open Friday night’s showdown against the visiting Hondo Owls set the tone for what kind of night the Warhorses were going to have as they mashed their way to a convincing 34-6 victory to run their record to 4-0 on the season with a matchup in the Honey Bowl versus Uvalde on tap this Friday night.
The JV Horses came out firing on all cylinders last Thursday in Geronimo as they defeated Navarro 5-1 in teach team’s final scrimmage. Below, Coach Poppe talks strategy with the team.
Jerel Beaty Staff Writer The JV Horses came out firing on all cylinders last Thursday in Geronimo as they defeated Navarro 5-1 in teach team’s final scrimmage before their season openers this Thursday. Devine takes on San Antonio Memorial. The JV and Freshman teams will combine for a single game at Veterans Memorial Stadium with kickoff scheduled for 5:30pm. “We were much improved this week after scrimmaging Pleasanton and getting another week of practice under our belt,” said JV Offensive Coordinator Heath Poppe. “The offensive linemen and tight ends created some huge holes for our running backs to get through.” Poppe was referring to Wyatt Stevens, Sam Diaz, Luis Jimenez, Robert Hernandez, Henry Ramirez, Adam Guerrero, and Ethan Appling as the studs of his offensive line group while the referenced tight ends were Gavin Socarras, Tate Wisenbaker, and Aidan Salazar. “Quarterback Jacob Rodriguez did an excellent job passing the ball the week,” Poppe continued with his post-scrimmage assessment. “His pocket presence has really improved and his arm strength has increased considerably.” Devine got things started quickly with Eli Contreras hitting paydirt from 4-yards out to put the first of five touchdowns on the board for the JV. Anthony Saldivar got the first of his two touchdowns on a 2 yard run to make it 2-0 Horses. Edward Perez made it 3-0 on a 1-yard run before Navarro flipped the script with their own 1-yard run to pull within 3-1. Contreras got his second touchdown of the evening on a 15-yard pass reception from Rodriguez to give Devine its three-touchdown lead back at 4-1. Saldivar scored the final touchdown for either team on an 18-yard run, providing the 5-1 final score. “I can’t wait for these games to start counting. Hopefully we can continue this offensive onslaught throughout the season,” Poppe said in closing. Give ‘em the D! Devine’s five-touchdown performance on the offensive side of the ball is well worth highlighting. However, with the type of offensive numbers Navarro has consistently put on the stat lines the last couple of decades one might have expected the Panthers to get more than just a single touchdown. “I feel like our kids really showed up on both sides of the ball,” said JV Defensive Coordinator Bart Oropeza. “Even that one touchdown took a lot of effort for them to execute. All of our players brought out their full intensity on their side of the ball.” According to Oropeza, spotlight players defensively were all the defense players. Tate Wisenbacker, Eli Contreras, Gavin Socarras, Adam Guerrero, Tony Saldivar, Jacob Rodriguez, Robert Hernandez, Ethan Appling, Aiden Salazar, Alfredo Ramirez, Edward Perez, Sam Diaz, and Trinidad Hernadez.
