Sports

The Newcastle Bobcats got district play off to a good start defeating the Perrin-Whitt Pirates. The Bobcats dominated 53-14 in a blowout victory.

Despite this though, head coach Isiah Archer believed that the team overall played an uneven game and that there is still another level the team has yet to reach.

“I think they see it too,” Archer said. “They know they’re not where they want to be. They want to be more proficient and more consistent.”

The Steers started off district play on the right foot with a big road win over the Burkburnett Bulldogs. However, they didn’t just win, they dominated. 

Despite the win, head coach Clay McChristian still feels the team has more potential and that there are levels to their play that they haven’t reached yet. 

“I think they’ve still got five gears,” McChristian said. “I don’t think we’ve scratched the surface of what we can be. We’ve shown glimpses of it.” 

After a long season of competing all across north central Texas, the Graham Steers and Lady Blues finally turned the tides on the season to the next portion of their year, being the playoffs. 

That kicked off this past week at Brock High School for the District 6-4A meet. While Graham finished in last place as a team for both varsity events, they still had some promising performances on the day. 

The Steers came out once again representing their hometown fans for their third straight week of fall league basketball. 

The team bounced back in a big way after going just 1-2 in their weekend shootout tournament. 

That tournament was held Saturday, Oct. 4, and despite not having a positive record, head coach Quinton Fossett said it was valuable to get a good dose of new competition in teams like Bridgeport, Graford and Whitney. 

The Lady Blues had one of their strongest performances yet in district play with a complete sweep of the Mineral Wells Lady Rams. 

This matchup took place the Lady Blues “pink out” night Tuesday, Oct. 7.

“I think our confidence is growing,” head coach Marci Faulk said. “I think they know they played tough teams and they battled them. It prepped us for tonight and so I was happy that the girls handled that.”

The JV Lady Blues got things started off on Graham’s “pink out” night strong with a win over the Mineral Wells Lady Rams. 

While the team faced some adversity it ultimately got the job done and the results was something that made coach Courtney Wright proud.

“Some of them were visibly frustrated but they didn’t let that wreck their day. They kept their composure, they kept doing what they needed to do to score,” Wright said. “At this point in the season we should be able to handle stuff like that.” 

Another week has come and gone in Graham athletics and that means another slate of athletes to be recognized. 

This week, The Graham Leader is recognizing Emily Hughes of the Lady Blues and Obed Trejo of the Steers as Athletes of the Week. 

Emily Hughes, Lady Blues Volleyball

The Lady Blues continued district play this week with their victory over the Mineral Wells Lady Rams. However it wasn’t just a win, it was a three set sweep. One of the key players that facilitated that victory was Hughes. 

The Lady Blues were not able to secure a victory over the Brock Lady Eagles during their match despite the team putting up a good fight throughout the match, losing in three sets by scores of 25-16, 25-10 and 25-17. 

Despite the team leading at points throughout all three sets and having moments of fight even when trailing, head coach Marci Faulk said the team was beaten by Brock’s fast hitters and aggressive play style.

The Newcastle Ladycats had a big weekend in district play by overcoming the Bryson Cowgirls, the team picked up a clean sweep in three sets to help make an early mark in the district. 

The team won set one in dominant fashion picking up a victory 25-16. The team had to fight a little more over the Cowgirls in set two but ultimately picked up the victory 25-20 to take a 2-0 lead. 

One set away from victory, the team picked up another victory by the same score as set one 25-16.

The JV Lady Blues fought well in their district matchup against the Brock Lady Eagles but ultimately couldn’t come out with the victory, dropping the match in two sets. 

Despite getting swept, the score was close in both sets with the Lady Blues narrowly losing 26-24 in extras in set one, and only fell by three points in their set two loss, 25-22.