Postseason kicks off next week for both Graham High School soccer teams.
After finishing second in district with a 6-2 record, the Lady Blues are looking to push past the area round — the furthest either team has made it into playoffs.
Last season, the Lady Blues won their bi-district matchup 3-1 against Borger. The team had dropped an early season match-up with Borger 3-0 but were able to flip the script and secure their area spot.
After a pair of road tournaments, the Graham Steers came back home to host a hometown tournament and gained valuable experience while also showing fight.
Head coach Allen McGee spoke about how the offense was staying hot throughout the tournament and putting up quality production, but the real area he zoned in on that led to success during this tournament was the pitching staff’s ability to be sharp early in counts and getting the first batter of the innings out.
The Lady Blues played in the Jimmy Hogan Memorial Tournament and finished with a 3-1 record and some stellar performances.
For head coach Adam Arrington, the team has largely bought into the team’s philosophy and they are showing steady improvement in all the right areas.
The Graham Steers and Lady Blues traveled out to Holliday for their second track and field meet of the season at the Hero Relays.
Graham had their best performance yet with both varsity teams finishing in second place while both junior varsity teams came out as the meet winners.
The meet took place Thursday, March 5 and the Steers along with the Lady Blues competed against a total of eight teams.
Team Scores
Lady Blues JV: 1. Graham, 144.50 points
Lady Blues Varsity: 2. Graham, 128 points
Graham’s golf program had been off to a hot start this season and the Steers as well as the Lady Blues put on a show in their respective tournaments this week.
The Steers as a whole finished first in the tournament Monday, March 3 with veteran leaders on the team putting up stellar individual performances.
“We’ve played as well as you could hope,” head coach Michael Todd said. “We’ve played two tournaments and finished first in both of those tournaments.”
The Graham Lady Blues traveled to Mineral Wells and came home with a 1-0 victory over the Lady Rams.
Coming into the matchup Tuesday, March 3, the Lady Blues looked to get back on track after going on a two-game skid against Burkburnett and Decatur.
The star on the offensive side of things on the night was Adi Pinkston. The first half almost ended in a scoreless tie until Pinkston broke her way through the defense and scored the game’s only goal.
The defense for Graham showed up locked in as Taylor Lauster got back on track with her fifth shutout of district play.
With spring sports in full swing and winter seasons concluding, two Graham athletes are being recognized for their efforts at plate and on the soccer field.
Jansyn Louder, of the Lady Blues, and Timmy Thetford, of the Steers, are being recognized by The Graham Leader as Athletes of the Week.
Jansyn Louder, Lady Blues Softball
The Lady Blues captured their third win of the season earlier in the week against the Windthorst Trojanettes, rallying from a five-run deficit to take a thrilling 7-6 victory.
With the turn of winter into spring that also means a new slate of sports for Steers and Lady Blues athletes. One of those sports that kicked off this week was track and field.
The Steers and Lady Blues kicked off their season Friday, Feb. 27 in Mineral Wells for the Ram Relays.
After having several athletes across various events make it as far as the regionals last season, the expectations were high coming into this year to match and potentially top that success.
After their historic win in bi-district play, the Steers traveled out to Wichita Falls Memorial High School for their second round area matchup against the Burkburnett Bulldogs.
Despite the fact that the Steers did their best to put up a strong fight against the Bulldogs, they ultimately proved to be too much for Graham as the Steers fell in the game 98-59.
Coming into the contest, the Steers already had a tall task ahead of them in taking down the Bulldogs.
The Lady Blues continued their softball season with another weekend tournament, this time taking place at Iowa Park. The team was able to take this tournament as another valuable learning experience while also picking up valuable wins.
Head coach Adam Arrington spoke after the tournament about how the team was starting to find their footing as they advanced further into the season.
