IT’S THE EAGLES! | State champion Tatum, the Goudarzi & Young, LLP / ETBlitz.com Team of the Week!
Every time the team of the week award is announced, we feel like it’s special – but it’s not every time that a state championship can be attached to it.
This week, it is.
For their efforts in completing the run, and winning a boys state basketball championship, the Tatum High School Eagles are the Goudarzi & Young, LLP / ETBlitz.com Team of the Week for March 3-March 8.
And we know that’s a real shock to anyone who’s been paying attention. 😊
Not only are the Eagles the team of the week, they might just pull off team of the YEAR honors in December when it’s announced.
Last week, though, even though things were looking good, the games still had to be played – Tatum faced a 27-win Iowa Park team in Mansfield in the state semifinals, and then after overwhelming IP 77-38, the Eagles had to meet a Columbus team with the momentum of having just won a state football title in December, playing a shorter season and maybe with fresher legs. Oh, and Grayson Ligdon, who was averaging 35 points a game; that’s among the best per-game averages in the nation.
And the Tatum-Columbus game, of course, would be on the biggest stage possible in Texas high school basketball: The Alamodome, at the University Interscholastic League (UIL) State Basketball Championships.
Played on Friday afternoon, in front of a huge partisan crowd for both teams as well as just basketball fans in general, many were expecting a heck of a battle.
They didn’t get it.
Instead, Tatum did what Tatum had done throughout the playoffs: Mash people.
Hard.
JaCorie Bradley, the senior with a take-no-prisoners attitude who’s a leading candidate to be the ETBlitz.com boys basketball player of the year, came out hot, scoring the first basket and 14 points in the first quarter. And it didn’t really start well, with Tatum going 1-of-12 in its first 13 shots.
They recovered quickly.
Before long, Jordan Chambers and Luke Sigler heated up, connecting on assists and pulling down rebounds. Cayden Tatum and Cooper Whiteus started causing their usual havoc on the floor, and Rigdon and the Cardinals had no idea what was hitting them.
It’s hard to fight back against a whirlwind.
Chambers tied the game at 3-all with just under five minutes left and then Tatum went on a run, a 10-0 run. All five Tatum starters finished out the quarter with points, and suddenly, a 12-6 Tatum lead turned into a 28-8 Tatum stranglehold.
It wasn’t over, per se, but it was, for all intent and purposes, by halftime, when the Eagles led 50-19.
Rigdon only had nine points at halftime, and finished with 31, but they were arguably the most quiet points in the history of the state championship. Columbus (17-3) never really threatened after the early moments of the game.
Cayden Tatum, who plays with controlled chaos – and causes it for the opposition – finished with two points, three rebounds and two assists. Nalayus Boyd had six points, a steal and three rebounds. Whiteus, who apparently never met a sport in which he couldn’t excel, had 11 points, three assists and three rebounds.
Chambers finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and likely with big respect among Cardinals players who could not out-wrestle him for the basketball no matter how hard they tried on Friday.
Bradley had 26 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists, and Tatum as a team finished with 18 assists, by the way.
Sigler was everywhere from late in the second quarter until he hit what would be the game’s final point at the free throw line with 1:20 left, and came out to a great ovation. He finished with 26 points, seven rebounds, two assists and a block.
And coach Brett Carr? He got his state championship in his final game coaching, as he’s said on more than one occasion that this was his final year. That’s yet to be seen.
What’s not yet to be seen is how special this Tatum team is. Not only are they the best program in East Texas right now, they’re the best program in the state, as that UIL Class 3A, Division I trophy proves. And everyone else? They’re playing catch-up.
Others who aren’t playing catch-up – well, unless they’re the leader, which they are – are the staff at Goudarzi & Young, who are the nation’s best in cases involving oilfield injuries, burn injuries, personal and property injuries, wrongful death cases, insurance claims, and car and 18-wheeler accidents.
We’ve mentioned it before but not only do G&Y have the three highest settlements in the history of this country in 18-wheeler accidents ($150 million, $140 million and $125 million), but they also have earned verdicts in simply staggering amounts: $260 million and $730 million.
Brent Goudarzi founded the firm in Gilmer in 1997, and it now has two offices in Gilmer and in Longview. Brent was president of the National Trial Lawyers Association in 2024, and the year prior, he was named National Trial Lawyer of the Year.
So when you need a lawyer, who do you think would be best to have in your corner?
See the firm’s excellent website here, Goudarzi & Young, L.L.P. – Tyler & Longview Personal Injury Lawyers, and you can contact them at (903) 843-2544, or toll-free at (800) 256-5169.
Email them at goudarziyoung@goudarzi-young.com, and expect the best: they do not get paid unless they win.
Congratulations again to the Tatum Eagles for putting together a season they’ll remember for the rest of their lives, winning a state championship, and also for taking home last week’s Goudarzi & Young / ETBlitz Team of the Week.