Sports

In Graham’s final run before the district meets next week, the cross country teams participated Wednesday, Oct. 4 in the Thrill of the Hill event in Stephenville.

The event was one of the largest of the year for the teams in terms of how many runners ran in each race. Both the boys and girls varsity teams had strong showings and the junior varsity runners had success as well, despite not having enough participants to qualify for the team scores.

The Newcastle Bobcats have done it again. After suffering their first and only loss of the season a couple weeks ago, they’ve now won two games in a row, this one a 48-0 shutout of the Aspermont Hornets.

Through six games this season, the Bobcats have shutout the opposing team three times. The most points they’ve given up in a game excluding the loss is 18, and in that game the offense scored 72. Newcastle is winning on both sides of the ball and crushing opponents in the process. The Friday, Sept. 29 win over the Hornets was no different.

The hype had been built up all week, and frankly, all season for the Steers leading up to their homecoming game Friday, Sept. 29 against Old High of Wichita Falls. It was the last time the two teams would square off against each other as Old High will close its doors at the end of this school year.

It was certainly not the ideal outcome for their homecoming game, as the Graham Lady Blues got swept Friday, Sept. 29 by the Glen Rose Lady Tigers. The Lady Blues played each set close but couldn’t overcome the visitors as they fell 23-25, 21-25 and 18-25.

The outcome didn’t go their way but there was a lot to like and build off of from the loss according to head coach Marci Faulk. The two teams came into the game with similar records and the Glen Rose team tested themselves with a tough non-district schedule much like what Faulk tried to do for hers.

Newcastle volleyball took on Chico at home Thursday, Sept. 28, and while the Ladycats put up a fight, they fell to the visiting Lady Dragons in four sets by scores of 22-25, 17-25, 25-10 and 18-25.

It was an up-and-down game for the Ladycats with a few more downs than ups. The two teams traded points back and forth to start as they tried to figure out how best to attack each other. Midway through the first set the Ladycats and Lady Dragons found themselves tied at 12-12 with a fair amount of kills and errors on both sides.

The Graham Junior High School cross country teams competed Wednesday at the Brock Invitational. The seventh grade girls team finished 3rd overall, with the eighth grade boys finishing 4th and seventh grade boys finishing 8th. The eighth grade girls did not have enough runners to qualify for team scores.

As the regular season winds down and the playoffs loom closer, the Graham tennis team met the challenge head-on and came away with a 15-4 win Tuesday, Sept. 26 over Hirschi.

The Steers and Lady Blues kicked the team match off with their doubles matches against the Huskies. The duos went nearly perfect in those matchups as between the girls and boys, Graham won five of the six games.

Fall sports are in full swing as the calendar nears the end of September and Graham’s teams are all in the thick of things. The homecoming football and volleyball games were this week and tennis and cross country had events, as well.

The Graham cross country teams participated in the Brock Invitational on Wednesday, Sept. 27 as just one meet remains before the district cross country meet.

The teams battled the heat and had mixed results in their races. The varsity boys finished seventh out of 11 teams with a team point total of 153. Varsity’s girls put in a strong effort but finished ninth out of nine teams with a point total of 216. Both junior varsity teams performed well but neither had enough runners to qualify for the overall team scores.

Varsity Boys

It’s not often a football team puts up 67 points in one week and then comes back and puts up 55 points in the next, but that’s exactly what the Graham Steers have done the last two weeks.

The Steers traveled to Mineral Wells to put their undefeated season on the line and rolled to a 55-7 win Friday, Sept. 22 over the Rams. Graham is now 5-0 as the team hits the halfway point of the regular season. The team has one non-district game remaining before the pressure kicks up a notch with the start of district play.