Sports

Four Hedley High School athletes are advancing to regionals after placing at the Area Meet on Monday.

Cara Lambert is the only Lady Owl to advance after winning the 300M Hurdles with a time of 50.24 and finishing second in the 3200M with a time of 14.00.

Running for the Owls and moving on to regionals, Joshua Booth won the 1600M with a time of 5:12.85, and Tyler Harper was fourth in the 1600M at 5:23.00. Iziak Weatherread placed fourth in the 3200M with a time of 12:34.22.

Also running at the Area Meet were Emma Lambert in the 100M dash and fifth in the 200M dash; Weatherread also ran sixth in the 1600M, Hayden Alston was fifth in the 3200M, and Astin McAllister was eighth in the 3200M.

The big inning came in the seventh when Clarendon sealed their big win over Sunray on the road last week. The ladies had their bats swinging and brought an 8-3 win home.

Junior hurler Madi Smith was on the mound for the Lady Broncos and went the distance pitching the entire game. Smith only allowed four hits and three runs and struck out 11 batters.

It took three innings for the Lady Broncos to see some action at the plate as they were scoreless the first two. But they persevered and were able to put runs on the board in the third, while keeping Sunray from Homeplate until the fifth. Bayleigh Bruce, Madison Broussard, and Jade Benson all had big hits that resulted in RBIs. Overall, the Lady Broncos had 10 hits to only four for the Lady Cats. Big hits also came from Benson, Jentrye Bellar, and Bruce who also had multiple hits with Benson going three-for-five at the plate.

The Lady Broncos will travel to Fritch April 16 and play at 1:00 and take on West Texas at home April 20.

Clarendon’s Lady Broncos took off out of the gate in the opening innings of their game with Fritch last week and led by three out of the third. But Fritch was able to regroup in the fourth inning scoring three runs and holding the ladies at bay.

Early in the second inning, Ashlynn Crawford hit a triple that scored one run. She was joined by Jade Benson and Kaylin Hicks who both drove in runs in that inning. The Lady Broncos racked up 10 hits in the game and held Fritch to only five.

Madi Smith got the win for the ladies and pitched the entire seven innings with nine strikeouts. Despite allowing eight runs on five hits, Smith stayed strong until the finish.

Along with Benson, Crawford and Jentrye Bellar led the Clarendon offense with three hits in three at bats. The Lady Broncos made short work around the diamond as well racking up more than six stolen bases with Smith leading the way with two.

Later in the week, the Lady Broncos stomped West Texas High 20-8. It was a great team effort, but sophomore Jayde Gribble hit lights out at the plate. Gribble only posted two hits, but the bases were almost full each time, which allowed her 6 RBIs on the day. The ladies had eight total hits and only one error in the win.

Jentrye Bellar got things rolling in the starting inning when she singled that sent one run in of the 12 that they would score when the inning was finished. From there the ladies were able to coast and play fundamental softball behind the pitching of Madi Smith who got the win and struck out 10 batters.
Gribble and Bellar’s bats were not the only ones working against WT as Senior Jade Benson had several hits as well.

The Lady Broncos will travel to Sunray on April 10 and play at 4:00 and then April 13 they travel to Shamrock and play at 4:30 p.m.

The Bronco baseball team outlasted the Valley Patriots at home last week and put together a great team effort in their 13-3 win. Junior Brock Hatley got the win pitching four innings while only allowing three hits and two runs with three strike outs.

Jared Musick came in for relief and threw two innings. Koyt Tucek set up the Broncos’ offensive run early in the game with a single that grounded out, but scored one run. After going scoreless in the next inning, the Broncos posted six more runs by the bottom of the fifth before adding six more in the final inning.

Clarendon’s scoring frenzy came from hits by Jodee Pigg, Tucek, Easton Frausto, and Musick for RBI’s. The Broncos racked up 10 stolen bases in the game with three of them coming from Jordan Herndon.

The Broncos will travel to Kress March 26 and play at 4:00 p.m. with JV to follow. The JV will play at River Road on March 27 at noon.

Lady Bronco softball results were not available at press time.

Whether or not you are a basketball fan, you have to be a Bronco fan after witnessing history being made on the Alamodome hardcourt in San Antonio last Saturday.

The State Championship was the first for a team sport in Clarendon and Coach Boston Hudson, at 25, might possibly be the youngest coach to win a State Championship.

“The guys did what I asked. They bought in (to our plan), and I think we did it the right way,” first year head basketball coach Hudson said about the Broncos’ 2A State basketball win.

All season, the Broncos had a goal to reach; the State Tournament and a Championship. Their goal came to fruition last Saturday morning as the strong and determined team took to the court. With fans in the ‘Dome, at the Mulkey Theater, and at home, the Broncos flexed their muscles and made their dream a reality by defeating a good Grapeland team 64-60.

The Broncos had only four losses this season. Their last loss came at the hands of the Canyon Eagles who are a solid 4A team with only one game before their District opener. That loss spurred on the Broncos who faced off against Gruver to begin a 12-0 run in regular season. Their post-season play was stellar as well as they worked their way through Fritch, Farwell, Floydada, Christoval, Wink, and Lipan before punching their ticket to the Championship game in San Antonio.

Early on in the Championship game, the Broncos stormed to a 18-12 lead behind a 10-3 run before ending the first quarter of play. The Broncos fell off somewhat in the second quarter but regained the momentum after the break. There were 11 lead changes in the game and four times the score was tied.

Both teams were cold from behind the arc shooting 16 three-pointers all together, but the one long ball that was all net belonged to Thompson at the third quarter buzzer from about six or seven steps behind the mark to get the Broncos to one point up.

“I thought Jordan (Herndon) was going to hold it, and I ran up there to shoot the ball and saw Jmaury (Davis) set me a screen and I shot it,” Thompson said. “We knew they were just as athletic as us. They had their #3 who played just like Jmaury, and he had a double-double at half time. Number 00 was back-to-back All-State and we knew #5 was going to be a handful.”

Thompson gave props to Jordan Herndon who took out the best players all year with his strong defense and was able to get the Grapeland player in foul trouble.

The Broncos were able to add three points to their one-point lead in the final eight minutes of play that had exaggerated ups and downs for both teams. With only 40 seconds to play, Grapeland turned the ball over, and Clarendon’s Lamarcus Peniger drove to the basket and was fouled. Peniger missed the first shot, but made the second putting the game at 60 all with 30 seconds remaining.

A player for Grapeland took the inbound ball and headed down court only to be picked by Peniger who made good on an easy layup to lead by two with 10 seconds to go.

“I was so excited on the steal, I almost jumped on the layup early,” Peniger said. “I thought I was going to get chased down, but it was exciting to make that shot and help my team.”

After a time out, Grapeland’s Johnny Lamb drove to the bucket, but Davis was there to take the charge giving his team the ball while fouling the Grapeland player out. Cayden D’Costa, who has been a bright spot on the team, then heaved the ball full court to Thompson who made the easy lay in. Grapeland had one more chance but could not convert giving the Broncos exactly what they went to San Antonio to do; come home with the gold.

The free-throw line was not a friend to either team. The Broncos only made 13 of 24 from the bonus line for 54 percent. However; the Sandies struggled to finish at 48 percent missing 15 out of 29 shots.

Seniors Donovan Thompson and Ethan Babcock have been solid all season and contributed to the Broncos’ great season at 25-4.

“I’m just so proud of them and I’m thankful for our seniors Ethan and Donovan,” Hudson said. “We will miss these guys, but what a way to go out for these two. I don’t think it could end any better than the way it did.”
Thompson would go on to win the MVP of Class 2A.

“We’re just excited and going to enjoy this and try to do it again next year,” Hudson said. “I’m going to take spring break and enjoy it and as soon as we get back start looking at things and figure out all the pieces of the puzzle for next year and try to do it all again.”

Thompson finished with 21, Davis had 13, and Sylvester Ballard helped with 12. Peniger put in eight, Herndon added six, and D’Costa finished with four. Davis had eight rebounds, Ballard grabbed seven and had two assists, Thompson had five rebounds and five assists, Peniger grabbed two offensive rebounds and had three assists, Herndon had five defensive rebounds with two assists, D’Costa had four rebounds and five assists, and Lyric Smith had one defensive rebound in the game.

The Texas Association of Basketball Coaches selected an All-Tournament team. Joining Thompson was Ballard and Davis.

This was the Broncos 5th trip to state. The Broncos previously made appearances in the final four in 1969 where they faced Friendswood; the championship game in 1970 where they took on Kennard; the final four in 2011 where they faced Tenaha; and the championship game in 2017 where they took on Muenster.

In addition to a large number of Bronco fans traveling to San Antonio, more than 200 packed the Mulkey Theatre to watch the game live on the big screen, breaking out into the Clarendon High School Song when the final buzzer sounded in San Antonio.