With the final state championships being decided today, the high school sports year is coming to a close. It seems like only yesterday that football and volleyball practices were starting in Scurry County and across Texas.
In just a few weeks, we get to start all over again. People will be happy that they can talk about how the Tigers, Bulldogs and Cardinals will be doing in 2019-20.
But before we do that, let us take a look back at the 2018-19 athletic year. Five stories caught my attention this year, including one that many readers may not have realized happened. More on that in the top sports story of 2019-20.
5. The Ira football team went undefeated in the 2018 regular season and won the District 4-1A Division I title. The Bulldogs were 9-0 in the regular season and claimed their first district title since 2014.
After beating Crowell in the first round of the playoffs, Ira lost to White Deer in the regional semifinals.
With many key players returning in 2019, look for Ira to make a return trip to the playoffs. Maybe 2019 will be the year Toby Goodwin and his Bulldogs break through and play for a state championship.
4. The Snyder and Ira girls’ golf teams made history in 2019. The Lady Tigers qualified both the varsity and JV squads for the Region 1-4A tournament in 2019. That has not happened since 2003. While the teams did not make it to the state tournament, senior Cylie Velasquez did qualify for the state tournament and finished 11th overall. Ira’s Teagan Price became the first golfer from her school to qualify for state.
She won the district tournament in Sweetwater and was among the top finishers at the Region 2-1A tournament in San Angelo. She finished tied for 20th in the Class 1A state tournament.
3. Ira’s Karson Valentine earned a bronze medal at state track meet. “Consistently better” may be the best way to describe Karson Valentine’s 2019 track season. He improved his best jump throughout the season and finished third at the state meet. On the same day he jumped to a bronze medal, Valentine finished fifth in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 40.87 seconds, which was his best time of the season. Hermleigh’s Makia Gonzales finished fourth in the Class 1A girls’ shot put.
2. The Hermleigh Lady Cardinals returned to the state basketball tournament. For the second straight year, Hermleigh advanced to the Class 1A state basketball tournament, losing in the state semifinals to Nazareth. The Lady Cardinals finished the year at 30-6 and head coach Duane Hopper has built a program that has dominated not only District 13-1A, but West Texas. With leading scorer Makia Gonzales coming back in 2019, the Lady Cardinals could be primed for another run to the Alamo City.
1. Snyder made playoffs in every team sport in 2019-20. The University Interscholastic League holds playoffs for football, basketball, softball, baseball, volleyball and team tennis each year.
This past school year, Snyder qualified at least one team for each of the playoffs. The boys’ basketball team and the volleyball team each won first-round match-ups before losing in the second round.
Also qualifying for the playoffs this year were baseball, softball, football, girls’ basketball, boys’ soccer, girls’ soccer and team tennis. That is an accomplishment that all of Snyder can be proud of.
Ben Barkley is the managing editor of the Snyder Daily News. He has covered news and sports for more than 25 years in Louisiana and Texas. Comments about his column can be emailed to barkley@snyderdailynews.com.