ARP’S BIRDSONG, TATUM’S BRADLEY | Former winners back again as the Whataburger / ETB Players of the Week!

Arp High School’s Maddie Birdsong had a big night against Center last week — in fact, big nights are no stranger to Birdsong, who is now a two-time winner of the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Player of the Week Award, this time for the week of Feb. 17-Feb. 22. Joining her is another young man who already had an award this year: Tatum basketball standout JaCorie Bradley (below), the Whataburger / ETB boys Player of the Week, also for Feb. 17-22! Congratulations, you guys. (Photo above courtesy of MIKE ALZAMORA ARP ISD Facebook page; photo below of Bradley courtesy of MELODY BARBEE FORD of MELODYJEAN PHOTOGRAPHY, also available on Facebook).

Every now and again in selecting the Whataburger / ETBlitz Awards, we run into some special performances.

There were two of them last week – Feb. 17 through Feb. 22 – and as such, Tatum High School’s JaCorie Bradley and Arp High’s Maddie Birdsong are honored, as the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week!

Both have won the award before, and in this school year, in fact.

Who knows? They might very well win it again for what they’ve done THIS week: Bradley had another big performance Tuesday night in a 73-53 win over Ponder in a 3A third-round playoff game (TATUM WINS! | Sinks Ponder, 73-53, to advance to regional finals vs. Jefferson).

But this award is technically for last week’s performance, and it was in front of a huge crowd at Pittsburg High School gym, and against great opposition: 34-0 Liberty-Eylau.

Tatum High School’s JaCorie Bradley (above) and Arp High’s Maddie Birdsong (top) have been chosen as the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week for the week of Feb. 17-22! This photo is another from the excellent work of Melody Barbee Ford, of MelodyJean Photography. That’s how she appears on Facebook, as well as simply Melody Barbee Ford, if you’d like to see more of her work. (Photo by MELODY BARBEE FORD)

Bradley, who seems to be able to overcome whatever defenses other coaches try to scheme for him, was brilliant in the 69-53 victory.

He scored 33 points, 17 of them in the fourth quarter, darting in and out of traffic as the Leopards tried to find a solution.

There was none.

The ultimate solution was simply to get out of his way.

Bradley was sent to the free throw line time after time after time, especially late in the game, but he went 13-of-19 there, At one point, with seven minutes left in the game, L-E had whittled Tatum’s lead down to 50-39, far and away the closest since it was a tight game in the second half.

But the Leopards were called for a foul and a technical. Bradley hit four consecutive free throws, put the Eagles back in front by 15 (54-39), and that was pretty much L-E’s last grasp at a win they would not get.

Bradley had 10 rebounds, four steals and an assist in the game, as well, to help send Tatum on to round three (a playoff game they’d win at Caddo Mills over Ponder).

Now, if Maddie Birdsong’s name is familiar, it’s because she, too, has been a Whataburger / ETBlitz honoree this school year.

Birdsong, one of Arp’s best athletes without question, is back in the spotlight again today after a performance in last week’s 19-6 Lady Tigers softball win over Center High School.

Birdsong hit not one but two home runs, and also had a double and a single in the contest – she was the triple shy of hitting for the cycle – and finished with 5 RBI in the rout.

These are individual awards, but they’re sometimes affected by the team, of course, and vice versa. And if early returns are an indication, Arp may be in for a great softball season: the Lady Tigers already have eight wins and the season is just a two weeks old.

Whataburger and ETBlitz.com have partnered to announce a girls player of the week and a boys player of the week since shortly after the ETBlitz site was launched in October, 2023. Already, several athletes have been announced for the 2024-25 school year, and here are those stories, if anyone would like to go back and re-visit them:

Obviously, ETBlitz is thrilled to have Whataburger as an advertising partner, but we’re also thrilled because, quite frankly, our staff loves it. We practically live there.

On his way home from college just last week, one of ETBlitz’s photographers, Jacob Lucas, started the early morning in Tuscaloosa, Alabama with breakfast at Whataburger – which you can get, too, from 11 p.m. until 11 a.m. – rolled into town, and went and grabbed Whataburger for lunch.

They’re open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for your favorites, like their French fries, the classic Whataburger, and a chocolate milkshake, but also for new things, like the Whatawings, with several choices of sauce, or even an item that’s been brought back by popular demand: the Monterey Melt.

See the menu on the Whataburger app, where points can earn you free items or Whataburger merchandise, and the menu and all kinds of things, and information, is available right here at their website: Whataburger | Order Online with Curbside and Delivery.

Congratulations again to “repeat offenders” JaCorie Bradley of Tatum and Arp’s Maddie Birdsong, the Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Week!

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