WAKE UP! ON ETBLITZ | High school football schedules here later today; Tatum’s Fite on awards watch lists; Blue Sox update; Rangers Report
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Schedule release today
Yesterday, we placed all 15 of the schedules for the high school volleyball programs in the ETBlitz.com area on the website, where they’ll be all this fall in case you need to see ‘em; all in one place. And our all-encompassing volleyball preview will hit the site next week. We’re working on it now.
The link to the schedules: 2025 HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULES | Schedules for all 15 of the programs in the ETBlitz area, all in one click.
Today, we shift the focus to football. Later today, schedules for all 15 of the high school programs that we cover will be on ETBlitz.com. Yes, they’re out on other sites and other socials. But you have to hunt them down. On ETB, you can see them all with one click. And like volleyball, they’ll be up the entire fall, to help you plan your week, compare and contrast, or whatever other reason you guys need those things. You’ll see all 15 football schedules here on ETBlitz.com later today.
Henderson Blue Sox update
I somehow missed this in our messages, and I want to update everyone on the Henderson Blue Sox, who competed in the Dixie Youth Baseball World Series in Louisiana this past week.
From coach Bart Bradley:
“Thanks for the mention!!! Just an update. The Henderson Blue Sox went 2-2 at the Dixie Majors World Series. The Blue Sox lost the opening Game to Columbia Co. Georgia, 10-2. The entire Georgia starting lineup were 2024 graduates that had already played one year of college in various junior colleges in Georgia. The Blue Sox then beat host Sterlington, La., 13-8 and a Monroe team, 6-0. The Blue Sox then met Georgia again on Monday and lost a hard-fought game, 5-2, after being tied at 2-2 after the fifth.
Sounds like they had a great run and that Georgia team was stout. Congratulations to coach Bradley and the Blue Sox for making it back to the World Series.
Fite hard
Tatum’s own C.J. Fite, a defensive tackle for Arizona State University football, has been getting a lot of attention these days. In fact, he’s gotten quite a bit of attention since coming out of Tatum High School.
But the Sun Devils made their big splash by winning the Big 12 Conference title and reaching the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff last season, and it seems like Fite has been everywhere since.
And that’s a good thing.
Well, let’s add to it.
The big defensive tackle has been added to the watch list not just for the Outland Award, but also for the Bronko Nagurski Award.
The Outland is presented each year to the best interior lineman in college football, as named by the Football Writers Association of America. That award was named for John Outland, who played for Penn College all the way back in the late 1890s. Texas’s own Kelvin Banks won the award last year, and T’Vondre Sweat, another Texas standout, won it in 2023.
You might recognize some of these previous Outland Award winners: Lee Roy Selmon (Oklahoma, 1975), Dave Rimington (Nebraska, 1981 AND 1982), Bruce Smith (1984), former Dallas Cowboy Chad Hennings (Air Force, 1987), and Orlando Pace (Ohio State, 1996).
The Bronko Nagurski Award? Oh, that just goes to the guy deemed to be THE BEST FREAKING DEFENSIVE PLAYER IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL each year, also presented by the Football Writers Association of America.
It doesn’t have the long history that the Outland Award does, but some previous Nagurski Award winners include Warren Sapp (Miami, 1994), Charles Woodson (Michigan, 1997), Champ Bailey (Georgia, 1998), Brian Orakpo (Texas, 2008), Ndamukong Suh (Nebraska, 2009, and Suh also won the Outland), and Kyle Kennard (South Carolina), last year’s winner.
Go get ‘em, C.J. Rooting for you to have a huge year – we’d love for you to collect BOTH of these awards, and to get back into the CFP as a Big 12 champion for the second straight year.
Rangers Report
Well, that American League West showdown in Seattle between the Texas Rangers and the Mariners on Thursday night… It didn’t go very well for Texas.
After a scoreless first three innings, the Mariners scored six runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth, finished with nine hits and won in a shutout, 6-0.
Texas had only four hits (Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Rowdy Tellez and Adolis Garcia each had one), and Kumar Rocker didn’t have a good outing: 4 2/3 innings pitched, six hits and three earned runs allowed, just three strikeouts and two walks.
They play again tonight in Seattle, a 9:10 p.m. start here in Texas, and Jack Leiter will get the start for the Rangers; Logan Gilbert for Seattle.
The Rangers are now in third place in the West by a game – they’re 57-53, and Seattle is 58-52 – and again, this series is big. Texas NEEDS to get out of Seattle with no worse than a one-game lead.
It’s a long series, a four-gamer. So they play again tonight; they play Saturday at 3:10 p.m. Texas time; then again Sunday, also at 3:10 p.m. our time.