Graham ISD recently released renderings of the baseball and softball field renovations that will be carried out this fall and winter.
Each field is being fitted with a specialized synthetic turf and should be ready by the time the Graham High School baseball and softball seasons start in the spring.
The Newcastle Bobcats finally met their match this year as they suffered their first loss of the season Friday, Sept. 15 at the hands of the Jonesboro Eagles 50-38.
It was the first time this season the Bobcats played a game that required all four quarters as in their previous wins the games were over by halftime due to the high scoring margin. But the Eagles brought their A-game and the Bobcats moved to 3-1 on the season.
The two athletes selected for this week’s Athletes of the Week each helped their respective teams earn wins in big ways. Lillian Noble of the Lady Blues volleyball team and Jayton Hearne of the Steers football team are The Leader’s Athletes of the Week.
After taking losses three matches in a row, the Graham Lady Blues are back on a two-game winning streak thanks to their clean sweep of the Abilene Christian Panthers. Graham won in three sets by scores of 25-21, 25-19 and 25-23.
With so many of their recent matches requiring four or five sets, a three-set win was a welcome sight for Graham. While the home-team Panthers were no pushover, the Lady Blues excelled in all facets of the game and finished the win with a major come-from-behind victory in the third set.
Last year, the Graham Steers faced off against the Glen Rose Tigers twice — once during the regular season and once in the first round of the playoffs — and came away with losses both times by scores of 49-14 and 55-14, respectively.
This year, the Steers avenged those losses by handing Glen Rose its second loss of the season and moving Graham to 3-0 with a dominant 45-21 win Friday, Sept. 8.
Playing in their first home game of the season, the Newcastle Bobcats showed off their winning dominance in front of the home crowd as they defeated the Azle Christian Fighting Crusaders 53-6.
For the third time in a row this season, Newcastle’s game ended at halftime due to the Bobcats’ huge scoring margin. In six-man football, if a team is ahead by 45 points at any time during the game it ends.
It took five sets but Graham’s Lady Blues volleyball ended their three-match losing streak with an impressive victory over the North Central Texas Academy (NCTA) Lady Pioneers. Graham won 3-2 with set scores of 23-25, 25-17, 22-25, 25-19 and 15-11.
Not only were the Lady Blues in a downward funk recently, this match provided a separate challenge as the NCTA is a boarding school out of Granbury with players from foreign countries who have come to study in the U.S. Foreign volleyball utilizes some different play styles than typical U.S. teams.
The Graham Steers and Lady Blues participated Thursday, Sept. 7 in the Mineral Wells Ram Invitational and both the girls and boys took sixth place in their races.
In the 5K race for the boys, the Steers placed sixth out of eight teams with a point total of 155. For the girls team in the 3.2K, the Lady Blues took sixth out of seven teams with a score of 149. This was the cross country team’s third meet of the season and their next comes when they compete Wednesday, Sept. 13 in the Hawley Meet.
Steers 5K
Out of 68 total runners
Last week’s edition of The Leader’s Athletes of the Week featured a pair of seniors who play leading roles on their respective teams. This week, a couple of juniors received the honor for their recent performances.
Braylee Mayes from the Lady Blues volleyball team and Rylan Monsey from the Steers football team were selected as Athletes of the Week for their performances from Thursday, Aug. 30 through Wednesday, Sept. 6.
Braylee Mayes, middle blocker, volleyball
For the second week in a row, the Newcastle Bobcats played a team on the road and for the second week in a row, the game was over by halftime with a Bobcats win.
After demolishing Rule to start the season, Newcastle traveled to Woodson to take on the Cowboys and left with a convincing 54-0 victory after just two quarters of play. The win put Newcastle 2-0 on the season and looking for more.
