Summer tournaments are continuing to roll on across Graham and the Big Country area. Following the conclusions of summer leagues for basketball and volleyball last month, the Lady Blues are hosting a summer softball tournament and Lady Blues volleyball is preparing for their annual trip to Abilene.
Rylee Hardin, a recent graduate of Newcastle High School, will represent her school one last time at the National High School Finals Rodeo taking place in Lincoln, Ne., July 18-24.
She earned a trip to the 73rd annual event with a third place finish in the Texas High School Rodeo in pole bending.
District 3-4A DII in football will have a lot of new faces when the district schedule begins on Oct. 8. Bridgeport, Iowa Park, Vernon and Mineral Wells all have coaches beginning their first year at their respective schools, with Steers coach Kenny Davidson being the only coach returning from last year.
Graham and Iowa Park will likely battle for the first and second playoff seeds, with Bridgeport, Vernon and Mineral Wells battling for the third and fourth playoff spots in the district.
The Steers open football’s regular season with a pair of home games on Aug. 27 and Sept. 3. Before that, the Steers will meet Burkburnett and Bowie in a pair of scrimmages. The Graham Leader has already looked into how last season fared for the Steers’ opponents. As we enter the final month of the year without Texas high school football, we will give a brief preview of each team on the 2021 Steers schedule. This edition will include the non-district schedule. The district schedule will be included in a future edition.
Steers football will have the opportunity to get streamed online for the 2021 season. The UIL ruled June 15 in a split vote to continue the 2020 ruling and allow live-streaming.
The UIL legislative council met last month to consider several rules and policy changes.
There will be several new faces in charge when the 3-4A DII football schedule opens on Oct. 8. All four district opponents have new head coaches entering the 2021 season. Before previewing the 2021 season, The Graham Leader is looking back on the 2020 seasons of the opponents the Steers will see in 2021. This year’s non-district schedule was covered in the June 23 edition of The Graham Leader.
Bridgeport - Oct. 8
Although practices have not officially started, preparations for the fall sports season are underway. Summer strength and conditioning started at the beginning of the month and formal practices for football and volleyball are just under six weeks away. The Steers’ first scrimmage in football is Aug. 12 and Aug. 6 is the first day the Lady Blues volleyball team may scrimmage.
Postseason honors continue to roll in for Graham High School athletes. Corey Ballew continues to get recognition for his play this baseball season and a list of softball honors was announced over the past two weeks.
Graham High School athletic director Kenny Davidson has found his guy to lead the Steers basketball team. Kris Hise, formerly of Big Spring, was selected for the job and started this week. On top of his duties with boy’s basketball, he will coach the Steers cross country team and will serve as an assistant in golf. Hise will teach special education at GHS.
Graham High School athletic director Kenny Davidson said Hise quickly “shot up” his list after talking to other athletic directors.
The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series will make a return this weekend after a one-year absence. Missing from the 2021 calendar is Possum Kingdom Lake and Hell’s Gate. The tour kicks off this weekend in Saint-Raphaël, France.
The tour had announced a return to Hell’s Gate in January last year after skipping the spot in 2019. It was to be the sixth year competing at Possom Kingdom Lake in the series’ 13 years. The 2020 tour was canceled in April of last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tour organizers cited fan support in what was supposed to be a return in 2020.
