WAKE UP (AND EAT LUNCH) ON ETBLITZ.COM | An exciting time for everybody as we head full-speed to a new school year
EDITOR’S NOTE: Wake Up! is presented each and EVERY day here on ETBlitz.com by Cozy Coffee Station. Go by and see the folks at CCS in Kilgore at 110 Midtown Plaza, or in Gilmer at 755 Highway 271 North, and before you go, take a look at their menu and their fantastic website here: Home | Cozy Coffee Station.
Yeah, Wake Up! is normally a LOT earlier than this, but this is a special day here on the site.
So… thoughts on our additions to our coverage area?
Let me explain our thinking behind adding Carthage, Beckville and Pine Tree.
It’s not really complicated.
All three of them are, to use an old phrase, no-brainers. All three of those athletic programs have strong fan bases across the board, in every sport, it seems. All three have great parental support. All three have rivals that we were already covering. All three have strong leadership within their athletic programs
Now, taking it individually…
Carthage obviously has had such a strong football program for almost two decades, and that was a major consideration, but it was far more than that. A.) The Bulldogs don’t appear to be slowing down. B.) They are competitive in everything that’s classified as a sport included at their high school. C.) They have strong extracurricular programs in addition to their sports teams, like their band, their cheerleaders and the Bulldog Belles. D.) They’re at the southern end of the ETBlitz coverage area, a place we wanted to strengthen our readership.
Easy-peasy.
Beckville for many of those reasons: strengthening the southern end of the area, and competitive across the board. The Bearcats are particularly strong in girls sports, something that was a major factor in adding them, and then there’s this: we only had one school, Overton, in Class 2A. We needed another. They’re like nine minutes from Carthage, if that, so it made the most sense to pick up Beckville.
And finally, maybe the one most people seemed to be surprised about, Pine Tree High School.
Let me tell you why that one is actually the LEAST surprising.
After being re-classified as a 4A-Division I athletic program, Pine Tree already competes against our three other 4A schools (Kilgore, Gilmer and Henderson) in just about everything, and they’re district rivals in most everything (Gilmer is in 4A-DII for football).
The Pirates’ parental support, quite frankly, has been on my radar screen for 22-plus years, having watched them play Kilgore in so many sports – I know better than most that if the Pirates or Lady Pirates sports teams are playing something, ANYTHING, their fans are going to turn out strong, and mom and dad will be leading the charge. Their student section is also very strong at their games. The Precision, their drill team, is fantastic, as are the Pirates’ band, cheer and so many other programs at PTHS.
Another reason: it puts ETBlitz.com in the Longview market. In fact, Pirate Stadium is exactly 12 minutes from my house.
See what I mean when I say Pine Tree was actually the easiest decision?
So when the school year starts, here’s the official coverage area, now, for ETBlitz.com, the official-official, in alphabetical order:
Arp High School
Beckville High School
Carthage High School
Gilmer High School
Gladewater High School
Henderson High School
Kilgore High School
Leverett’s Chapel High School
Overton High School
Pine Tree High School
Sabine High School
Tatum High School
Troup High School
West Rusk High School
White Oak High School
…As well as Kilgore College, the Southwest Junior College Football Conference and the Region XIV Conference.
You can see the countdown clock on the ETBlitz.com home page. That’s counting down the days, hours, minutes, seconds until football practice begins.
Volleyball practices will actually begin before that.
We’ll be visiting coaches, doing our previews, and you’ll see schedules and all sorts of things coming on ETBlitz.com over the course of the coming weeks.
But I’d like to say this: welcome to our new readers. We’re glad you’re here. We average about, oh, I don’t know, 600,000 to 750,000 of you guys a month. And we’re so proud that Carthage, Pine Tree and Beckville will be a part of our coverage area now.
Get ready – it’s gonna be a fun ride.
