TIE IN TROUP! | The Tigers, Lady Tigers share the Goudarzi & Young / ETB Team of the Week Award!
When ETBlitz.com presents awards, there’s a lot taken into account: statistics, of course, as well as win-loss record over the given time period, opposition, coaching, home-road equation, etc. All kinds of things go into our process of picking award-winners.
The team-of-the-week-award concept began early this school year, and then in mid-October, the good folks at Goudarzi & Young, the fantastic law practice in Longview and Gilmer, offered to sponsor the award (who better?). It was obvious that – just like the Whataburger / ETBlitz Players of the Week awards – this had to be above reproach, a standard of excellence.
That’s why there have been a handful of repeat winners in these categories: some people are very dedicated in what they do, and they love it. And at ETBlitz.com, we’re going to reward that.
We’re doing so again this week, but this time, we couldn’t in good conscience give the team award to just one team when there were two, from the same high school, that really deserve it.
No more drama. The Goudarzi & Young / ETBlitz.com TEAMS of the Week for January 20-25 are the Troup High School Tigers and Lady Tigers basketball programs.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers are each on four-game winning streaks, each going on those streaks after slipping to Tatum back on Jan. 10. District 16-3A is no joke – it’s tough, night-in and night-out. The fact that Troup’s Tigers, coached by Darin Harley, and the Lady Tigers, led by coach David Minnix, are within shouting distance of state-ranked teams in Tatum is a testament to how hard they’re working.
Harley’s Tigers have not only won four straight: they’ve won eight of their last nine games, and in addition to 16-3A play, with Arp pushing to get up the ladder; a West Rusk team that’s always got athletes; a scrappy White Oak squad; a Sabine team led by Hunter McNatt that might drop 38 on you on a given night – there is absolutely NO room for error.
This award is for the 20th to the 25th, though, and in that time frame, Troup came back at home to hold off rival Arp, 50-45, and then got out of Gladewater with a 41-36 win.
At press time for this story, the Tigers – who are 20-6 overall, as best we can tell, and 6-2 in 16-3A – were to host West Rusk Tuesday night, and will be off on Friday before visiting Tatum for a rematch next Tuesday, Feb. 4.
Caden Graves and Braxton Barton each had 14 points in the game against Arp, and Troup also got eight points from Carter Graves, six from Keenan Foster, five from Carson Davenport and three from Bryce McElroy. That was to hold off a very-good Arp team full of athletes, as well, that had three (Landon Smith, Cade Ward and AB Martin) in double figures.
But Troup escaped and then faced Gladewater on Friday.
Now, Gladewater isn’t having a season in boys basketball to write home about. In fact, they’ve lost 19 straight.
That doesn’t mean they don’t have athletes and aren’t trying. And they gave Troup one heck of an effort.
Troup escaped with a five-point win. Carter Graves, this time, was the leader with 12 points. Caden had 11, and Davenport chipped in eight. Barton had five, Keenan Foster had four and Logan Chambers hit a free throw at the line.
Brayson Woods (13 points) and De’Ashton Mills (nine) led the Bears’ near-upset effort.
Point: it’s a grind.
Ask Minnix, whose Lady Tigers are also seeing it up-close, night-in and night-out.
Last week, they beat Arp, 42-32, on Tuesday, and then Gladewater, 39-31 in Gladewater on Friday, to run their record to 22-6 on the season – they’re 8-2 in district play, and are in second place, solid, behind Tatum in the standings with just three games left in the regular season: Tuesday night against West Rusk; Friday night, also at home, against the Tyler H.E.A.T.; and then at Tatum on Tuesday.
In the win Gladewater, Qhenja Jordan, no stranger to ETBlitz.com readers, finished with 23 points, 14 rebounds, and five steals. Teammate Jakeira Davis – the reigning, defending Whataburger / ETBlitz girls Player of the Week from the previous week – had 11 points and five steals.
Also for coach Minnix’s Lady Tigers, Paisley Skinner added four and ZaQuirah Jordan had one. And as we said in the roundup last week, Paytin Thompson led Gladewater with 12 points.
Going back to that win over Arp, Jordan led all scorers with 20 points (she hit four three-pointers). Qhenja Jordan and Amari Shepard each had seven. Skinner and Davis each had three, and Hanna Cearley had two.
With Tatum and Troup coming out of 16-3A – and who knows who else, such a hard district – and the 4A teams, then Overton in 2A, it’s sure to be a fun basketball postseason.
And we’d like to thank our sponsors, as mentioned, Goudarzi & Young, for helping us recognize these kids, their coaching staffs and their programs.
As has been mentioned, the Goudarzi & Young practice knows about teams, and they know about winning. They do a lot of it. They’re the nation’s No. 1 firm in their field, and that’s not bragging. Paul “Bear” Bryant said that, right? “It ain’t bragging if you can do it”?
Well, at Goudarzi & Young, they do it, every day, in categories of law involving product, property, burn or oilfield injuries, 18-wheeler and vehicle accidents, insurance claims, and even wrongful death.
They boast the top three settlements in the history of this country for 18-wheeler accidents. Brent Goudarzi, who founded the practice in 1997, was the National Trial Lawyer of the Year last year.
And he and Marty Young mince no words when it comes to facing them in the courtroom: better to be with them, than against them. When it’s all on the line, no one wants to be represented by an inexperienced law firm, and why do that when you can be represented by the best?
Don’t even take a chance. Call Brent Goudarzi and Marty Young.
Their website is very user-friendly, and you can find it here: Goudarzi & Young, L.L.P. – Tyler & Longview Personal Injury Lawyers. They still have offices in both Gilmer (at 301 North Titus Street) and Longview (at 3522 Fourth Street).
Contact them by phone at (903) 843-2544, or toll-free at (800) 256-5169, or email at goudarziyoung@goudarzi-young.com.
And the team at G&Y, as well as the staff at ETBlitz.com congratulate once again Troup’s Tigers and Lady Tigers, the Goudarzi & Young / ETBlitz Team(s) of the Week!