Roller coaster fall sports season concludes
This season has been a tumultuous one for all the sports teams I follow closely.
The Bulldawgs’ football team and Lady Dawgs’ volleyball each made a return trip to the playoffs but had to overcome some obstacles to do so.
Both teams graduated most of the players from their playoff teams from a year ago and both teams had some really high highs and really low lows in their 2015 campaigns.
The Dawgs overcame a brutal non-district schedule and the injuries that resulted from that brutal schedule to earn their 12-straight playoff appearance with a 3-3 district record.
Senior Antonio Lealiiee was one of the brightest spots for the Dawgs. He blasted through arm tackles all year for 16 touchdowns and nearly 1,800 yards in 9 . games. He averaged 8.7 yards per touch on 201 carries. Junior Kylan Herrera added 752 yards and nine scores on 103 touches. The offensive line also showed much improvement through the year, led by Baylor-commit J.P. Urquidez.
It was another rough year for the Dawgs defense. They surrendered 43.5 points and 479 yards of offense per game, including the 67 points and 517 yards to Rockwall in the 67-35 playoff loss to the Yellowjackets in the opening round of the playoffs.
Despite the struggles, a few players stood out among the crowd. Senior Shamad Lomax had to split time at cornerback and safety due to injuries and other struggles across the defensive secondary. The senior was also fourth on the team in all-purpose yards with 665 yards. He had 564 kickoff return yards and seven pass break ups to lead the squad and was second on the team in tackles with 45.5.
Junior Tyson Curry was another bright spot defensively. He had 64.5 tackles to lead the team from the linebacker position. Senior Bradley Lawson and junior Jordan Speights also made some big contributions after being thrown in the defensive mix mid-way through the season.
The Lady Dawgs volleyball team had some major ups and downs as well.
Two losses in four games to end the regular season and begin District 12-6A had the Lady Dawgs reeling.
After that disappointing loss to Robinson and
Midway, both state-ranked at the time, the Lady Dawgs went on a roll winning eight-straight, including the rematch with Robinson that earned their third District title in four years and a trip to the playoffs.
With just three returners from the previous year’s regional quarterfinalist squad, the Lady Dawgs had to overcome nerves. The nerves showed in their opening round win over Lakeview Centennial but they couldn’t overcome those nerves in their round-two loss to Lake Highlands.
Senior Katy Ranes had a team-high 839 assists running the offense while senior Raeven Dickerson’s 360 kills lead the attack.
Defensively, junior Chyanne Chapman and senior Bailey French led the way. Chapman had 283 termination blocks to lead the front line and French notched 706 digs to lead the back line.
Thoroughly disappointing are the Longhorns and Cowboys. The Longhorns are just plain disappointing and the Cowboys’ dropping seven-straight games with Dez Bryant sidelined with injuries since week one and Tony Romo since week two after starting the season 2-0.
The Longhorns are done with pride the only thing left to play for. The Cowboys, however, are still alive despite history being against them. They lost their seventh-straight game but still have a chance to win the NFC East with New York and Philadelphia also losing on Sunday. The Cowboys (2-7) are just two games behind the Eagles (4-5) and Redskins (4-5) and 2 . games behind division leaders New York (5-5).