WAKE UP! on ETBLITZ | All baseball playoff round 2’s are set; congratulations to several area athletes; Cowboys, Texans happenings
Most of the talk early this week was about what happened surrounding Henderson softball in the second round of the 4A, Division I playoffs, a correct call that was reversed into a horrible one, and forced the Lady Lions out of the postseason.
We won’t relive that with even more talk; instead, if anyone would like to know the latest, here are our series of stories, and at the bottom, a “What’s Causing All This?” by yours truly that pretty much tells it like it is.
- UIL DENIES HENDERSON PROTESTS | Upholds umpire’s reversal; Community keeps the ‘win’ – The story from Monday afternoon, noting that the UIL denied Henderson any protests.
- HENDERSON PROTESTING REVERSAL | Protests filed with UIL over softball decision / debacle in Athens – this is the confirmation that Henderson had, indeed, filed protests with the UIL, written Monday morning.
- HENDERSON SOFTBALL LOSES HEARTBREAKER… after officials reverse decision on 7th-inning play (w/ video) – this is the original story, by ETBlitz.com on Saturday.
- WHAT’S CAUSING ALL THIS? / By MITCH LUCAS | Officials made wrong call in Henderson-Community, and let’s not pretend there’s a real ‘protest’ policy – our opinion piece, what we thought about the entire situation, particularly the ruling that Henderson won the game, and then was overturned moments later.
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Congratulations to baseball teams at Henderson High, Tatum, and Overton for surviving the first round of the UIL postseason.
Round two is this week.
Here are the games and arrangements for each of the three.
Tatum: Yesterday, we didn’t have the final details for the Tatum High School Eagles’ second, or area, round matchup of the UIL Class 3A, Division I postseason against Liberty-Eylau.
We do now.
Game one will be Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Panola College in Carthage. The second game will be Friday, a 7 p.m. start at Pleasant Grove High School in Texarkana.
And if a game three is necessary, it’ll be Saturday at 2 p.m. in Winnsboro.
Tatum, the District 16-3A champion, knocked off Liberty Eylau on its way to the state championship game. Last weekend, Tatum (21-9) defeated Mineola, giving the Yellow Jackets the playoff booth.
Tatum or Liberty-Eylau, the series winner, the Tatum and L-E will meet Whitesboro (13-12) or Pottsboro (18-7-1).
Overton: The Mustangs, coached by Christopher Cook, are in the UIL’s Class 2A, Division I playoffs.
Overton will play James Bowie (20-6) in round two, or the area round. There’s been a change from the original plan. Instead of game one being played at Tatum High School, it will instead be played Thursday night at Bullard, at 5:30 p.m.
The second game is Friday in Atlanta, at 5. Overton is the visiting team for that one. Game three, if necessary, will be played 30 minutes after game two.
The Overton-Bowie winner faces either Lovelady (19-10-1) or Gary (14-7) in the regional semifinals.
Henderson: The Lions will try and break from the tough emotions of seeing what happened to the softball programs and lift themselves up over Pleasant Grove in round two.
The entire best-of-three-game series will be played at East Texas Baptist University in Marshall.
Game one is Thursday at 7 p.m. Game two is Friday at 6, and if a third game is necessary, it’ll be Friday night after game two.
The winner of the series advances to the regional semifinals to meet either Alvarado (16-9) or Panther Creek (17-9-4).
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A few congratulations to pass out from sports last weekend:
- Trent Wheat of Leverett’s Chapel represented the Lions at the University Interscholastic League’s State Track & Field Championships on Saturday, Wheat competed in the Class 1A boys shot put, finishing ninth in the state in that event, a best of 42 feet, 1 ¾ inches. The winner of the 1A boys shot put was Brice Roesler of Richland Springs, with a best of 51 feet, 3 inches. Trent wasn’t in our weekend coverage, and we apologize for that; we’re happy that he represented LC at the state track meet. Congratulations, Trent, one of the best athletes in the ETBlitz.com coverage area, regardless of the classification.
- Congratulations to West Rusk’s KeKe Murphy and to Tatum’s Aundrea Bradley for being chosen and for playing in the Azalea Orthopedics All-Star High School Basketball Classic. It was actually the 20th annual game. Both were members of the East All-Stars. The West, though, won the game, 64-47, played Saturday at Floyd Wagstaff Gymnasium on the campus of Tyler Junior College.Bradley scored six points.
- More congratulations to Tatum’s JaCorie Bradley, Sabine’s Hudson McNatt, Arp’s Landon Smith, and Overton’s Bryce Still for competing in the boys Azalea Orthopedics Classic, also at Wagstaff Gym. Bradley had eight points and six rebounds; Smith had six points; McNatt had four; and Still had two. They were all on the East All-Stars; the West actually won that one, too, 79-75.
Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer gets comfortable
There are all sorts of responsibilities that come with being one of 32 head coaches in the National Football League.
Did you ever think setting the order of lockers in the locker room was one of them?
Well, apparently it is, and Dallas Cowboys first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer has done so, and placed starting quarterback Dak Prescott beside edge rusher Micah Parsons.
And he’s also re-arranged seating in the meeting room.
This, all in an effort to change the Cowboys’ culture.
“In a business like ours,” Schottenheimer said, “where I’m going to be judged, we’re going to be judged on wins and losses, and that’s part of the deal. And believe me, no one wants to win more than me. No one wants to win a Super Bowl more than me. But at the end of the day, I’d not be doing my job if I didn’t make sure that both young and old players alike weren’t investing in one another.”
Schottenheimer moves from the offensive coordinator’s position to head coach this year, replacing the departed Mike McCarthey. Dallas missed the playoffs last season for the first time in a half-decade, and the Cowboys drafted for need, really, in the first round of the NFL Draft just over a week ago. They took offensive lineman (guard) Tyler Booker with the 12th overall pick.
The NFL’s schedule release for the 2025 season is May 14.
Dallas already knows its opponents in the upcoming season; they don’t know when.
They’ll play each NFC East team twice, of course – the New York Giants, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Washington Commanders, both at home and on the road. Also in conference, they’ll play the Carolina Panthers, the Chicago Bears, the Denver Broncos, the Detroit Lions, the Las Vegas Raiders, and the New York Jets all on the road.
It’s become a very sore subject, but Dallas, who has five Vince Lombardi Trophies for winning the Super Bowl, has not held one after winning the big game since the 1995 season, which ended in early 1996. The Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers that season, and haven’t returned to the big game yet.
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Presenting the Mall at Texans Center?
Got any land in Southeast Texas you’d like to sell to the NFL’s Houston Texans?
All kidding aside, the Texans are seeking, apparently, to build quite a multi-purpose facility in the “greater Houston area” in the next few years, so reported the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Alexander recently.
The Chronicle’s Jonathan Alexander first broke this news.
The Texans would be following in the steps of their NFC in-state rival, the Dallas Cowboys, who opened The Star in the Frisco area back in 2016. The Star, which is a good hour’s drive in traffic from AT&T Stadium where the Cowboys play their games, is 91 acres and has an indoor stadium that seats about 12,000 people.
The Texans, according to the Chronicle’s report, might be moving, but they do have a lease through NRG Stadium through the 2032 season.