Sports

By Sandy Anderberg

The Lady Broncos breezed to a 67-54 win over Wheeler after a slow first quarter of play. The ladies took a three-point deficit and turned it into a seven-point advantage at the break to seal a win in their opening matchup at home Tuesday night.

Returning varsity player Taylor Gaines led the Lady Broncos on the scoreboard with 17 and newcomer Taylor Degrate added 14. Senior Ryann Starnes also finished in double figures with 11.

Everyone contributed to the win on the scoreboard and the ladies played hard on both ends of the court. “It was definitely a first game,” head coach Molly Weatherred said. “The girls played extremely hard and were very excited to finally get to play a game. I was proud of their effort and saw a lot of really good things. It was definitely sloppy, but that is expected.”

Deborah Howard added seven and Haley Ferguson put in six points all in the final quarter of play. Phara Berry, Skyler White, and Brittney Braim all helped with three points each and Camra Smith finished with two.

The Lady Broncos were scheduled to take on Miami at home Friday, November 15 but will have to reschedule because of the football play offs.

They will travel to Highland Park on Tuesday, November 19, beginning at 8:00 p.m.

The Clarendon College men’s basketball team hosted the Clarendon EDC Classic November 1 and 2.

Four teams took part in the Classic: Clarendon, OnPoint Hoops Academy, Character Prep/Open Bible College, and Redlands Community College

On Friday night, the Bulldogs beat OnPoint Academy 118 to 81, and Redlands won over Character Prep 104 to 71. On Saturday Clarendon beat Character Prep 111 to 79, and Redlands defeated OnPoint 105 to 83.

In addition to the games, the Clarendon College Fellowship of Christian Athletes hosted a breakfast for all the teams in the tournament on Saturday morning with guest speaker Gary Newell, assistant track coach at West Texas A&M University in Canyon.

The Lawrence Overcast Classic will be held this weekend at Bulldog Gym.

Lawrence Overcast is a former Clarendon College Men’s Basketball Coach from 1966-1969 and several alumni from his teams will be in attendance at the tournament.

Six teams will compete in the Classic: Clarendon, Frank Phillips College, Southwestern Christian University, Western Oklahoma, Northwest Tech, and Ranger College.

Games on Friday will kick off at 4 PM with Frank Phillips taking on Southwestern Christian, followed by Western Oklahoma and Northwest Tech at 6 PM. The Bulldogs play Friday night at 8 PM against Ranger College.

On Saturday, Western OK will kick off the day against Southwestern Christian at 2 PM, followed by Frank Phillips and Ranger at 4 PM, and the Bulldogs end the weekend against Northwest Tech at 6 PM.

By Sandy Anderberg

The Broncos (3-5 and 2-2) rode out of Sunray Friday night with something that few suspected they would have and that was an upset victory over the Bobcats. But tenacity paid off and the Broncos stole a 27-26 win in a come-from-behind effort that was first class. They racked up 328 yards of total offense and quarterback Chance McAnear was 9-26 for 163 passing yards.

After three full quarters and a third of the fourth quarter of play it looked as if the Bobcats had the game well in hand as they led 26-7 with only nine minutes left in the game. Clarendon had only seven points on the board, which came in the second quarter when Chance McAnear threw a strike to Cedrick McCampbell and JoJo Cartwright added the bonus.

But nobody told the Broncos they were going to lose the game and they came roaring back in the fourth quarter to not only score once, but rack up three touchdowns in five minutes of play to take the lead with only minutes left on the clock.

McAnear scored on a 10-yard run and then threw a 10-yard pass to Charles Mason for six more. Brandon Miller grabbed an outstanding pass from McAnear to tie the game at 26. Cartwright added the extra point to give the Broncos the one-point advantage.

“Wow! What a game,” head coach Gary Jack said. “What an exciting game. This is what we needed to happen to still be in the chase for the playoffs.”

According to Jack, the Broncos missed some opportunities early to stay with them in the first half. But he praised the defense for playing a solid game and basically shutting Sunray out the second half play.

“Our defense caused some big turnovers for us,” Jack said. “And then our offense got going. Our line did a great job in the second half. Jacob Bishop, Zack Laroe, Zach Cornell, Taylon Knorrp, Tres Hommel, and Montana Hysinger stayed solid. Chance and Charles did a good job, too. Cedrick, Zack, and Brandon made some big catches for us.” Defensively, Jack was very pleased with the Broncos’ effort.

“Our defense did a great job for us,” Jack said. “JoJo Cartwright had 11 tackles and a caused fumble and recovered fumble. Dustin Crump had 13 tackles and a recovered fumble, Cedrick had a huge interception, Mason had nine tackles, and Laroe and Cornell had fumble recoveries. Also, Bryce Hatley and Caleb Cobb were solid on defense.”

Jack was also pleased with the play of several freshmen players.

“Marshal Johnson came in and had two tackles and a fumble recovery, Riley Shadle played well, and Taylon Knorpp caused a fumble,” Jack said.

Jack was happy to see that all the Broncos were on the same page and knew it came at a crucial time.

“You could see the momentum switch in our favor,” Jack said. “I have to give our defense a lot of credit as they created most of the turnovers.”

“We did what we had to do,” Jack said. “It was one of the most exciting come-from-behind wins that I’ve ever seen. The guys will never forget it.”

The Broncos will battle one more time in District play next Friday at 7:00 pm when they host Memphis in a huge game.

“We’re still battling,” Jack said. “And we’re getting better every day. We need a big crowd at home. We’re still in the chase.”

The Clarendon Elementary 3rd & 4th grade football team finished a great season with a solid win over Shamrock on October 26, beating the Irish 20-6 in the Eastern Panhandle Football League tournament in Wheeler.

Sylvester Ballard rushed for two touchdowns, and Brock Hatley ran for one in the win. The offensive and defensive linemen controlled the line of scrimmage throughout the contest. Jordan Herndon, Rhett Cason, Jakoby Dunham, Koyt Tucek, Cutter Goodpasture, Gavin Nazario, and Coltyn Morrow improved as the season progressed, and dominated the last three games of the season.

Linebackers Hatley, Goodpasture, and Josiah Howard and cornerbacks and safeties Ballard, Calder Havens, Coltin Bensen, and Jodee Pigg combined with these linemen to produce an outstanding defensive unit. In the last four games of the season the defense only allowed 18 points total, winning shutout games against both Sayre, Oklahoma and Wellington.

The team finished 5-1, winning their division of the league. Their only loss of the season came against Hollis, which played 5th & 6th graders in the game against them. Even so, Clarendon only lost by a touchdown 12-6. Congratulations to these fine young men for representing Clarendon well.

By Sandy Anderberg

Clarendon High School runner Abby Johnson finished 10th in the District Cross-Country Meet in Amarillo and qualified for the Regional Meet that will be held November 2 in Lubbock.

Johnson ran the two-mile course in a time of 13:32.10 and topped the Lady Bronco field. Deborah Howard was the second Lady Bronco to finish and she came in 14th with a time of 13:47.26. The runners led the Lady Bronco team to a sixth place finish.

Hannah Howard ran the course in a time of 13:34.04 for 33rd place, and Brooke Smith was 36th with a time of 14:49.78. Myra Castillo was 55th at 16:07, Brooke Martin was 57th at 16:08.82, and Kelsey McAnear was 58th at 16:20.04.

Caleb Cobb was the lone runner for the Bronco varsity and finished the 5k run in a time of 21:56.78 for 22nd place. Austin Lowry ran on the junior varsity and finished 10th with at time of 27:46.08.

The junior high Colt team finished third and was led by Colt Wood at 12:35.32 for an 8th place finish. Preston Elam was not far behind in 11th with a time of 12:49.87. Gavin Word was 13th at 12:58, Josh Cobb was 18th at 13:27.55, and Noab Elam was 26th with a time of 14:40.84. Brandalynn Ellis ran for the Lady Colts and finished 71st with a time of 19:52.82.

By Sandy Anderberg

The Stratford Elks lived up to their number one state ranking Friday night as the Broncos went up against them in a tough district game. The Broncos managed one score in the 7-60 loss on the road.

Chance McAnear earned the lone Bronco score in the second quarter when he scored on a 95-yard jaunt into the end zone. JoJo Cartwright added the extra point.

“We ran into the number one ranked team in the state, and they are good,” head coach Gary Jack said. “It was tough on us on both sides of the ball. We needed to play better and we didn’t. Our inexperience really showed.”

Jack noted that the Broncos missed a couple of scoring opportunities, but the kids played hard overall.

“We played hard and had some kids step up and play solid for us,” Jack said. “But we needed to execute on offense and be consistent. Just when we would make some gains offensively, they would shut us down.”

Jack was pleased with the games that some players had despite the loss.

“David Johnston had his best defensive game of the year with nine tackles and a caused fumble,” Jack said. “Bryce Hatley had another good game and Caleb Cobb played good defense. Charles Mason also caused a fumble.”

Jack noted that in the final quarter he put some younger players in the game.

“We put in some of our young players, and I was very pleased,” Jack said. “Clint Franks, Riley Shadle, Clay Koetting, Marshal Johnson, and Seth Greer did a good solid job for us. They held their own, and I was impressed with their play. It was good to see the younger kids step up.”

The Broncos will have another tough matchup Friday night when they travel to Sunray to take on the Bobcats.

“We need to win the last two games to have a chance in the playoffs,” Jack said. “They will be tough, but we need to get ready to play and execute better on both sides of the ball.”

The game in Sunray will begin at 7:00 p.m.

By Sandy Anderberg

For the third home game in a row, something out of the Broncos’ control happened that caused the team to postpone their game until Saturday. The weather was the culprit the first two games, and this time electrical problems were the beast for the Broncos as part of the lights went out right before halftime in the Broncos’ 13-48 loss to Panhandle in Bronco Stadium.

Head coach Gary Jack felt the game was not as lopsided as the score revealed and wondered if the outcome would have been different had they been able to play the game in its entirety on Friday night.

“We played hard Friday night,” Jack said. “We were playing well before the lights went out and we were not out of it by any means.”

The Broncos scored first on Friday night when Charles Mason ran it in from three yards out and Jo Jo Cartwright added the kick. The Panthers were able to score twice before the delay and the Broncos only trailed by one touchdown at the break.

“We were inside the twenty-yard line several times, but couldn’t score,” Jack said. “If we could have scored those times, it might have been a different ball game.”

The Broncos still had chances even deep into the fourth period with Mason scoring again on a four-yard run according to Jack. But they could not get it done. “Panhandle is an explosive team,” Jack said. “It put a lot of pressure on our defense when we didn’t score, but it was still within reach in the fourth. It might have been a different outcome if we could have finished on Friday night. Our guys were fired up and we were playing good. But they busted a couple of plays on us on Saturday and scored on us.”

Jack noted that several players did a good job in the game.

“On defense, Bryce Hatley had a real good game,” Jack said.

“He had ten tackles, two sacks, and caused a turnover. Caleb Cobb had one sack, a recovered fumble, and a caused fumble. Zack Watson played well and Charles Mason had a recovered fumble and caused a turnover. Zack Laroe also had some big hits. Offensively, Chance McAnear had a good game running the ball and had over 130 yards rushing and Mason added about 178 yards rushing. We had over 400 total yards of offense.”

The Broncos will gear up to take on Stratford on the road on Friday, October 25, at 7:00 p.m.

“Stratford is a very good team,” Jack said. “They’re ranked number one in the state and they will be a handful. But we can’t let up. We need to keep battling to keep our playoff hopes alive.”

By Sandy Anderberg

The Clarendon Broncos traveled to Stinnett to take on the West Texas High Comanches and came home with a huge 34-6 win to go 1-0 in District play. The Broncos are 2-3 overall. Quarterback Chance McAnear got things going for the Broncos early in the first period when he scored on a three-yard run. JoJo Cartwright answered back with a great interception and ran it back 35 yards for another touchdown to go up 14-0 in the first quarter of play.

“It was a good win for us,” head coach Gary Jack said. “We jumped on them early in the first quarter and never looked back.”

Caleb Cobb added another six on a 1-yard run in the second quarter, and Charles Mason finished out the scoring for the Broncos in the second half on short runs to give the Broncos the win.

“We got going early,” Jack said. “And that helped our confidence. It was good to see.”

Defensively, the Broncos held WT to 89 total yards while their offense racked up 312 total yards. McAnear passed for 143 yards going 15/28. According to Jack, several Broncos played great defense.

“Bryce Hatley, Dustin Crump, Taylon Knorpp, David Johnston, Cartwright, Brandon Miller, Zack Watson, Zach Cornell, and Cedrick McCampbell had good games defensively. Miller and Johnston each caused a fumble in the game to help give Clarendon the edge.”

Jack knows next week will be a test for the Broncos when Panhandle comes to town.

“This was a good week for us, but next week will be a big challenge. But we’ll just keep getting better.”

The Broncos will take on Panhandle at home Friday, October 18, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in Bronco Stadium.

By Fred Gray

The Hedley Owls travelled to White Deer and were beaten 56 to 6, last Friday, October 4th. With such a lopsided score, it’s best to say that some days just aren’t meant to be our day. Last Friday wasn’t a night to be flying around, especially when White Deer was celebrating their homecoming, and highly motivated to get their first win of the season.

According to Coach Shely, Hedley got dominated after the first quarter, in all aspects of the game.

The Owls lost three fumbles and were unable to effectively rush the football. They were limited to 61 yards on the ground, with one touchdown – scored by Rooster Moore. He also carried the ball 14 times for 73 yards. Seth Ruthardt added 11 yards rushing on 4 carries.

On defense, the Owls continued their swarming, aggressive style of play. Denver Chambless had one solo tackle, with one assist. Seth Ruthardt contributed one solo tackle and eight assists, while Jake Owens made his presence felt with a solo tackle and five assists. Arden Haught added a solo tackle and four assists, and Kyle Lindsey contributed a solo tackle and three assists. Klaiton (Rooster) Moore added three solo tackles and five assists to the Owls’ defensive effort.

The Owls begin district play by traveling to Kress this Friday, October 11. Kickoff is 7:30. It may be the last “warm” game of the season.