Sports

Graham and Newcastle athletics saw another week of success across a number of sports.

For this week, The Graham Leader is recognizing Sophie Terrell of the Ladycats and Jace Gill of the Steers as this week’s Athletes of the Week. 

Sophie Terrell, Ladycats Volleyball

The Newcastle Ladycats varsity volleyball team made quick work of the Gold-Burg Lady Bears this past week Tuesday, Sept. 16. 

The team won in dominant fashion in three sets 25-8, 25-15 and 25-12. 

With fall sports underway, it’s easy to forget even more teams at Graham High School will be kicking off their seasons going into winter soon. The Steers will march one step closer to that with the start of their fall basketball league. 

The league will stretch across four Mondays from Monday, Sept. 22 to Monday, Oct. 13. There will also be an additional day of play Saturday, Oct. 4, for the Steers Saturday Hoops Shootout. 

The Graham tennis team once again fought hard against Vernon, the latest opponent of their district schedule, however the team couldn’t get the job done as the Steers and Lady Blues teams lost 17-2. 

On the doubles side of things, there were some bright spots. A few teams on both the boys and girls side of things were able to put up a sufficient fight against their opponents, just coming up a bit short. 

The Newcastle Bobcats continued their hot streak to begin the year, defeating the Gold-Burg Bears and remaining undefeated at 3-0. 

For the third straight week, the Bobcats also held their opponent to a shutout. 

As has been the case frequently for the Bobcats to start this season, the defense set the tone throughout the contest. 

The team scored multiple defensive touchdowns off of players like Mikey Soito and Keegen Voyles. 

The Lady Blues found themselves in a wild ride this past weekend against Legacy High School. However, Graham ultimately picked up the three-set victory over the Lady Leopards. 

This was a match that Lady Blues head coach Marci Faulk described as purely driven off of momentum. 

“I don’t know who had the bigger momentum swings, us or them,” Faulk said. “There were definitely momentum swings.”

Kaden Atwood got things started off in set one with a solid dig which led to a Graham point, giving them the early lead. 

The Steers made up for their home-opening loss against Springtown last week with a dominant win over the Whitesboro Bearcats to pick up their first home victory of the season. 

The game took place Friday, Sept. 12, in a matchup that head coach Clay McChristian said was sloppy, but resulted in a victory. 

“You work too hard to not enjoy the win. That’s why you’ve got to have good people around you,” McChristian said to the team after the game. “We put a lot into this to not enjoy a 35-7 win, but a good team is never satisfied.” 

Another busy week has come and gone for Graham and Newcastle athletics. 

This week, The Graham Leader is recognizing Mikey Soito of the Bobcats and Tara Dawson of the Lady Blues as this week’s Athletes of the Week. 

Tara Dawson, Lady Blues Volleyball

Dawson is a senior defensive specialist for the team and her impact so far has been immeasurable from both an on and off the court perspective. 

The Graham junior varsity Lady Blues picked up their second straight non-tournament win. This Bowie Lady Rabbits win comes following their victory over the Iowa Park Lady Hawks. 

The match took place Tuesday, Sept. 9, and coach Courtney Wright believes that the team officially entering their tournament season aids them greatly in forming team chemistry to help pick up effective wins like this. 

The Lady Blues continued riding high this week, picking up a victory over the Bowie Lady Rabbits in four sets. 

This is their second consecutive victory after defeating the Iowa Park Lady Hawks. 

The match took place Tuesday, Sept. 9, after the junior varsity team was also able to secure a victory. 

Lady Blues head coach Marci Faulk also said the team should be grateful to both the freshmen and junior varsity teams for their continued support during the team’s matches.

The Graham Steers and Lady Blues varsity cross country runners continued their season this past week participating in the Glen Rose Invitational. Once again runners across the team saw strong performances. 

The meet took place Wednesday, Sept. 10, where Graham competed against teams like Stephenville, Gatesville, Glen Rose, Brownwood, Comanche, Mildred, Valley Mills, Frost, Italy, Rio Vista, Rice, Blum, Abbott, Godley, Fort Worth Benbrook, McCamey and Covington.