WAKE UP! ON ETB, SUNDAY EDITION | New coaches throughout the area; Rangers resurgence; Classic ’80s SUNDAY (w/video)!
EDITOR’S NOTE: A confession: Mitch has been under the weather for a few days. I’m hoping to be back on my feet soon. Writing Wake Up! is a kind of medicine, and helps me feel better. Glad to be back in the driver’s seat after a tough Saturday. And Wake Up! is presented by Cozy Coffee Station, where Oscar, Ashley and their staff – in three locations (Kilgore, Gilmer and Athens) – are ready to make you something that will get YOU back on YOUR feet, whether it’s something stout, like their Red-Eye coffee, the Cozy Camper Cold Brew (with marshmallow and white chocolate – oh, man), or even a fill-you-up, like their bacon, egg & cheese croissant sandwich, you CANNOT go wrong. And Cozy Coffee Station caters, too! Go see them in Gilmer at 755 Highway 271 North, or in Kilgore at 110 Midtown Plaza, both as part of Credit Union of Texas. You can’t try their menu online, but you can see it there, in fact, here: Home | Cozy Coffee Station. And there’s more: look ‘em up on their socials. On Facebook, two different pages: Cozy Coffee Station-Kilgore, and Cozy Coffee Station-Gilmer. And on Instagram: @cozycoffeestation_kilgore, and (of course) @cozycoffeestation_gilmer.
New coaches
So I mentioned in Friday’s Wake Up! that Brian Malone, formerly of Arp, Tatum and a couple of other stops in a 20-plus-year career, has been named Kilgore’s new head boys basketball coach by the administration at KISD.
We’re going to have a lot of new faces around the ETBlitz.com coverage area. In fact, as you’ll remember, we’ve added to our coverage area Beckville, Carthage and Pine Tree. So we now have 15 high schools, plus Kilgore College, Tyler Junior College, Panola College and their conferences in those sports.
I don’t want to leave someone out, so forgive me if I do. Let me try and go ‘round the horn and name coaches who will be in their first year at any of our schools.
- Ricky Meeks, head football coach at Henderson High School.
- Spencer Terry, head boys basketball coach at Henderson.
- Brian Malone, as mentioned; head boys basketball coach at Kilgore.
- Will Kollet, head girls basketball coach, Kilgore.
- Jermaine Lewis, head football coach / athletic director at Gladewater.
- Jayme Bradley, head boys basketball coach, Tatum.
- Kit Kyle Martin, head girls basketball coach, Carthage (and a member of the school’s Hall of Honor)
- Madison Fite, head volleyball coach, Gladewater.
- Kiara Jordan, head volleyball coach, Gilmer.
- Casey Falgout, head volleyball coach, Beckville (a return; she’s been in that role before).
- Kaitlyn Orren, head volleyball coach, Pine Tree.
- Chelsea Mayfield, head volleyball coach, Sabine.
- Kolebi Spikes, head volleyball coach, Overton.
- Braden Robey, head baseball coach, Overton.
- Dusty Weaver, head baseball coach, Sabine.
- Robert Rollinson, head men’s basketball coach, Panola College.
- Conner Weeks, head boys basketball coach, Arp.
Hopefully, I didn’t leave anyone out. Every single one of these coaches will, at some point in the upcoming school year, be featured here on ETBlitz.com. Some of them are familiar faces; some of them are completely new. But we welcome all of them to their new roles, and our staff is excited to cover their sports.
Bulletin Board material, literally
The newest feature here on ETBlitz.com is our bulletin board. Now, it’s not flashy, it’s not sexy. But it is necessary. It’s news from the schools in our coverage area, and if you guys need to get something in, there’s this: IT’S FREE. Find things in there like upcoming high school football season ticket sales, fundraisers, golf tournaments and more. And if you need to get something in, email little ol’ me (or BIG ol’ me, actually) at mlucas@etblitz.com. By the way, here’s the current version of The Bulletin Board, updated today: ETBLITZ BULLETIN BOARD, presented by CLOWER MEATS | Sunday, July 27 edition. The Bulletin Board is presented by Clower Meats of Kilgore, and they’re closed on Sundays. BUT THEY’RE OPEN TOMORROW! Get by there at 2705 Highway 42 in Kilgore and see why they’ve been making East Texans happy with their meats since 1969.
Rangers Report
OK, that post-All-Star-Game turnaround? It looks like it might – might – just be happening.
Texas, at home at Globe Life this weekend against the Atlanta Braves, won again on Saturday. Now, it took the Rangers 10 innings, but seriously, who cares?! (Well, maybe the people who were there and ready to go home).
The Rangers are 55-50 overall this season, and they’ve won five straight games. That’s the current second-best streak in baseball. Only the New York Mets, with six straight, have won more consecutive games.
They’ve closed the gap in the American League West, too. Texas is 8-2 in its last 10 games, and is only one game back from second-place Seattle in the AL West. They’re five games behind the division-leading Houston Astros (60-45). And they’re at home again today, at 1:35 p.m., against Atlanta again. Jack Leiter starts on the mound for Texas, and Bryce Elder for the Braves.
On Monday, the Rangers hit the road to California, where they’ll try to keep the winning ways going against Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels have fallen off, going 3-7 in their last 10 games, and behind Texas for fourth in the West. Monday’s game time is 8:30 p.m. East Texas-time.
That’s a three-game series (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday), and then the Rangers go to Seattle to start a huge series against the Mariners on Thursday night.
Classic ‘80s SUNDAY
There was no Wake Up! on Saturday, I’m sorry to say, because I was ill. But we can’t just miss our Classic ‘80s Saturday without a make-up. Here it is, the first Classic ‘80s Sunday edition. It’s the great Phil Collins – and I don’t throw ‘great’ around, either; Collins was great with Genesis and even better as a solo act – with the remake of the Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love.”