Sports

Graham’s tennis team opened their district schedule this past week on a road trip against Iowa Park. However, it wasn't the team’s best day as they lost 17-2 across their matches. 

That isn’t to say that there weren’t bright spots on the day however. Keigan Garland was able to pick up the lone win for the Steers’ side of things with a victory over his opponent in a tight 8-6 contest. 

Garland came into this season as the number four player on the boys side of the bracket and has consistently grown into an every week match winner for the team. 

It was a long evening for the Lady Blues this past weekend in their match up versus Iowa Park. 

However, Graham was able to grind out a thrilling five set win over the Lady Hawks. 

This is the second time this season the team has gone to five sets in a non-tournament match and head coach Marci Faulk credits the team for keeping their cool during times of adversity. 

For the first time this season, the Graham community got to experience the return of Steers football at Graham High School. 

Unfortunately for the Steers, it was a long and muggy night as the team ended up losing to the Springtown Porcupines 36-7. 

Right from the start of the evening it wasn’t ideal conditions. The clouds dampened an otherwise exciting evening and as the teams got deeper into the opening quarter, the rain came down like a mini monsoon. 

The community of Newcastle had a lot to celebrate with their homecoming festivities last week capped off with the team’s annual homecoming football game. 

The team made sure the community went home with smiling faces as the Bobcats picked up their second straight blowout win over the Crowell Wildcats 73-0. 

The game took place Friday, Sept. 5, in what started out as a muggy weather game for the Bobcats. 

Clouds and heavy rain plagued spurts of the game throughout, but that didn’t faze the Bobcats one bit. 

Another week has gone by in Graham and Newcastle sports which means there’s a new slate of athletes who made their marks across the county. 

This week, the Graham Leader is recognizing Kya Cooper of the Lady Blues and London Martinez of the Bobcats as this week's Athletes of the Week. 

Kya Cooper, Lady Blues Volleyball

The Lady Blues varsity volleyball team has had some of their best moments during tournament play so far this season. 

After traveling to Nocona for a tournament last weekend, the Ladycats had a home matchup and picked up a win over the Eastland Lady Mavs. 

Coming into the matchup, Head Coach Ashley Archer hoped to see continued fight from the team after they swung for the fences at the Nocona tournament finishing in the silver bracket. 

The Lady Blues traveled out to Denver City this weekend for another dose of tournament season volleyball. The team came out with a plus .500 record and some standout performances. 

The team participated in the Fillie Festival Tournament Friday and Saturday, Aug. 29-30, and finished the weekend with a 6-2 record, picking up wins over Pecos, Midland Classical, Levelland, Friona, Shallowater and Kingdom Prep Academy. 

It was a long and hard fought day for the Graham Steers, but they got the job done and pulled out a victory against the Midland Christian Mustangs. 

The Steers won by a final score of 17-7 in what ended up being a very unorthodox contest. 

The team already had a long day of travel on their hands to open the year with a three and a half hour drive out to Midland for the matchup. To add onto this, the game got delayed approximately an hour and a half due to lightning strikes in the surrounding area. 

The Newcastle Bobcats started the season off in style with a blowout victory over the Iredell Dragons. 

Despite the triumphant win, the team believes they haven’t played their best game yet, according to head coach Isiah Archer. 

Newcastle traveled on the road to Iredell and despite it being the start of a new year, Archer said that coming into the game, the team’s energy actually wasn’t where they wanted it to be. 

The Steers and Lady Blues kept things going on their cross country season competing in the Brownwood invitational this past week. 

The Lady Blues placed 19th overall out of 30 teams and the Steers placed 17th overall out of 26 teams.

The Steers competed in a three-mile run while the girls ran in a two-mile run. In both events, 216 runners, including Graham’s athletes, competed. Overall, the runners had strong performances. 

Each of the Steers runners finished within the top 150 and the Lady Blues runners finished within the top 200.