mirror sports 6-1

Sports irror Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Bryce Murphy has shown in the past he can lead the Midlothian offense with his arm. Apparently his legs are pretty viable options too.

The incumbent starting quarterback grabbed the spotlight during the team’s spring game on Friday night but not with passing. Murphy carried the ball 11 times for 181 yards and a score dur-ing the contest dominating the running stats. No other Panther player, on ei-ther team, was with 110 yards of Mur-phy’s final total as Murphy’s blue team picked up a 34-7 win.

“I think I showed my legs more than I have in a while. Since I got hurt last year, I couldn’t really do anything but now I can go full speed the whole time,” Murphy said.

Saying Murphy showed he is a quar-terback in the mold of Randall Cun-ningham or Donovan McNabb is a bit misleading. He simply made the most of the opportunities presented to him.

Time and time again during the scrimmage, plays and coverage broke down for the blue squad forcing Mur-phy to simply make plays happen. His first run of the game went for 59 yards on a broken play. His biggest run of the night came just before the half when Murphy tried to make something happen with his arm but couldn’t get a player to break open. Instead of pass-ing, he raced down the sideline beating all the white team’s defenders easily for an 85-yard score.

Last fall, Murphy was a backup to quarterback Dillon Fairbanks and spent the majority of the season as a safety. He earned all-district honors for his play on defense, at a position that requires speed. The performance didn’t really take coach Lee Wiginton by sur-prise.

“He runs the ball well. He has good vision, he’s a tough kid with good speed. None of those things were sur-prises,” Wiginton said.

While his legs found running room,

Depth isn’t an issue. For the Midlothian football program, it very well could be the only issue.

With the culmination of spring practice happening during Friday’s spring game, there were some topics that were ex-tremely evident for the Panther program heading into the offseason. How the depth chart will shake out was obviously the top one.

We saw that some of the younger and less experi-enced players would step up and make plays when needed. Several un-derclassmen shined where multi-year var-sity starters once stood. Though they may not be quite as talented now, they have a chance to develop and become quality players at those positions.

Bryce Murphy dazzled us at quarter-back with his ability to improvise when a play broke down. Several receivers showed good hands, especially in the second half. The run game was adequate without its star player. Both defenses had moments of greatness. There was pres-sure on the quarterback, turnovers and stops for a loss aplenty.

But all those things are just makeup on the surface of the real question facing the program. They’re masks over the sur-face. Individual players will help make Midlothian a good team. Having multiple players able to play those positions is what will make the Panthers great.

Last fall, depth was an issue but in a different way. What then first-year coach Lee Wiginton inherited was a team full of senior players. His policy was to only keep underclassmen on the varsity roster if they could contribute to the team im-mediately. That resulted in some talented young players starting the season out in the sub-varsity ranks.

It became apparent very quickly that some of the junior varsity athletes would be needed, especially when the injury bug began to hit. Before the season ended, a little less than a dozen players had been called up to the varsity level and each made pretty significant impacts.

This season, the Panthers don’t have that luxury.

The senior class won’t be terribly big meaning the majority of slots on the depth chart will be fielded by underclass-men.

All throughout the spring, Wiginton and his coaches have worked tirelessly to figure out who belongs where both on the depth chart in the program. A few off-season injuries and surgeries have given even more players the chance to step up and show what they can do.

That was the easy part. Now comes the hard part.

On paper, they are inexpe-rienced and undersized for the 5A level. That doesn’t mean the Midlothian defense can’t find a way to play well.

During Friday’s spring game, scores of first-year varsity athletes got their chance to shine on the defensive side of the ball. By the end of the night, plenty of players had made statements with their play on where they belonged.

“I think that we did great. We read our keys and just did our job. We’ve got great coaches and they’ve taught us well,” blue team defensive lineman Wesley Smith said. “I think we caused a lot of havoc.”

More than 30 seniors from last year’s team are gone leaving a lengthy list of starting and reserve roles for the defense to fill in the spring. All during the three-plus weeks of practice, defensive coor-dinator Chris King and his coach staff have been evaluating tal-ent. Friday they got the chance to see what players could do in live game action.

A good number of those play-ers didn’t disappoint.

The 34-7 score in favor of the blue team did not indicate just how well both defenses played. The two sides combined for 18 tackles for loss in the game while

It would have been easy for Meghan Turner to quietly make her return to the basketball court. She could have played a few minutes and worked to

slowly build her strength back up.

Instead, Turner threw herself one heck of a welcome back party.

Not more than 24 hours after being released from doctor’s care, the Midlothian freshman took the court in the Waxa-hachie girls summer basketball league and made a statement – injury will not slow me down.

“It was tough but I was re-ally excited to come back so it was really good,” Turner said. “Right now (my knee’s) a little sore. It’s always going to be a

little sore but what can I say.”During her first year in high

school, Turner wowed the Midlothian coaches with her work ethic and abilities on the court. Her scrappy play on de-fense and tenacity against big-ger players on offense made her a vital member of the play-er rotation for the Lady Pan-thers last season.

Unfortunately for Turner and her teammates, her season ended just before the start of

By ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer

Photo by Steve Patterson/www.movingpictures.photoreflect.com/Special to the Mirror

Quarterback Bryce Murphy spent much of his time in the backfield improvising when plays broke down. He rushed for 181 yards to lead the blue team to a 34-7 win.

Search for reserves in full swing

See MURPHY, Page 6C

Alex Riley

Mirror SportS Writer

With so much youth, filling depth chart no easy task

Nifty footworkMurphy runs wild, leads blue squad to 34-7 win

Young guns get final shot to impressFront line defenders shine in spring game


Blue team linebacker Alan Jordan (28) reaches out to try and tackle white team running back Jake Avery (36) during Friday’s spring game. See DEFENSE, Page 2C


See RILEY, Page 6C

ready to turn a pageOnce sidelined with knee, Turner makes return to court

See TURNER, Page 5C


Photo by Alex Riley/The Mirror

After seeing her first year on the high school bas-ketball team end early due to injury, Meghan turner took the court in summer league action and showed she can make a comeback.

Sports2C Midlothian Mirror, Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Alex riley, Sports Writer469-517-1456 | [email protected]

There is nothing slow about the way Lucas Anderson or Jaylan Peo-ples play the game of football. So why did it take so long for them to make their presence known during the Midlothian spring game?

“Just nerves,” Anderson said. “(The offense) wanted to estab-lish the run game then get to the

pass game. We were all a little ner-vous, little shaky but we all pulled through it.”

With the departure of nearly ev-ery player who caught a pass for the Panthers last season, the door has been left wide open for new faces to step in and take over the receiving roles. All throughout spring prac-tice, Anderson, Peoples and nearly a dozen other players have been working to develop chemistry and assume those spots.

In the final activity of spring practice, the blue team duo stole the show during a 34-7 win. Albeit a bit late.

Neither team was particularly sharp in the passing early on as the two squads combined for just 47 passing yards through the first 29 minutes of the first half.

Peoples broke that trend as the final seconds of the first half ticked off the clock when he hauled in a 36-yard pass and eluded white team defensive players en route to a touchdown that broke the game wide open. That score put the blue squad well in control at 21-0 head-ing into the halftime break.

“It felt pretty good. I haven’t done that in months. It’s been a while since I’ve been in that end zone so it was great to grab that ball and run it out,” Peoples said of his score.

That catch was a sign of things to come for the blue team as the pass-ing game began to open up once the second half got under way.

After completing just two passes for 16 yards in the first half, rising senior quarterback Bryce Murphy found a rhythm with seven comple-

tions in the second half for 99 yards.His primary target quickly be-

came Anderson, who responded to a slow first half in a big way. After be-ing held without a catch in the first half, Anderson hauled in four pass-es, all from Murphy, for a game-high 64 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown reception came on the blue team’s first possession of the second half, opening up a 28-0 lead.

The Grapevine Christian transfer later hauled in a 35-yard reception that set up a field goal try for the blue team’s final points of the night. It was the second-longest pass play of the game, finishing just behind Peoples’ 36-yard scoring grab.

“I haven’t really been playing in a while. Since last December I haven’t touched the football field in a game-like scenario. It just felt amazing to be on the field,” An-derson said. “The line was doing amazing, Bryce was doing amaz-ing, good arm, good throws. It just felt good.”

Peoples finished with two catches for 47 yards, the third highest yard-age total of the game. White team running back Jake Avery caught four passes for 48 yards. In all, 11 different players combined for a reception during the game totaling 254 passing yards.

While it might have been a slow

start to the game, Peoples believes the receiving unit was able to show-case enough to impress the coach-ing staff and give them confidence in their abilities. It just took a little longer than they thought it would. “I feel like we’ve got a great receiv-ing group. We’ve got great overall athleticism, we’ve got great heart and we work great as a team,” Peo-ples said. “Like you said, it took us a minute to get going in the begin-ning but once we started smoothing all the pieces out we started just dominating.”

Contact Alex at [email protected] or at 469-517-1456.

Photo by Steve Patterson/www.movingpictures.photoreflect.com/

While he didn’t catch a pass in the first half, Lucas Anderson rebounded in the half to catch four passes for 64 yards and a touchdown in the blue team’s 34-7 win.



Midlothian receiver Jaylan peoples (9) is mobbed by teammates in celebration of his 36-yard touchdown catch to end the first half of Friday’s spring game.

Catching onYoung receivers find a way to contribute

post a combined 50 percent rate on first down conversions (14-for-28).

Blue team quarterback Bryce Murphy’s 181-yard rushing performance was the only player on either team to top 100 yards in ei-ther rushing or receiving. His 112 yards pass-ing were also the only total by five different quarterbacks to clear the century mark.

“I think it was just prove our hearts and prove that maybe not right now but later we’ll be able to eventually replace the older guys and continue the tradition of just play-ing hard, playing physical and getting after it,” blue team defender Tanner Freeman said.

While consistency was what the Midlothian coaches were looking for, the defensive play-ers were not apprehensive to showing some flair on the night as well.

Four players recorded sacks as Colin Gar-cia, Cain Miller, Michael Glenn and Alan Jor-dan all stopped a white team’s quarterback at some point in the night.

Jordan’s hit on quarterback Quindell Dan-iels jarred the ball loose for a fumble. He would recover with under a minute left in the first half, setting up a touchdown strike to teammate Jaylan Peoples as the final seconds ticked off the clock. While Jordan was apolo-getic for hitting Daniels when quarterbacks

weren’t supposed to be touched, he was not ready to apologize for the effort.

“I’m just passionate about what I do and every play I’m going to go hard. That’s what I did that play. I went hard and I’m going to continue doing it in the season,” Jordan said.

Along with pressuring the quarterback, several defensive linemen were able to make tackles at critical points in the game.

Smith’s stop of running back Jake Avery kept the white squad from crossing the goal line on a third down and goal situation. Gar-cia and Miller combined for back-to-back sacks on the blue team’s first defensive ap-pearance to force a third down and 25 that would not be converted.

While the blue team defensive line made strides in rushing the passer, the white team’s defense had the responsibility of facing Mur-phy, the assumed incumbent starter for the fall, much of the night. He was able to gain ground in the running game but found things less easy in the air.

The secondary held Murphy in-check to start the game, allowing just 13 passing yards in the first half. Defensive back Tariq Mus-tafaa made Murphy pay for a bad decision on his third possession of the game when he snared an interception to halt a drive.

“I’m trying to do whatever I can to help my team,” Mustafaa said. “Through this whole spring we’ve been trusting our coaches. We’ve got some great coaches, great second-ary coaches. We’re just trusting them, getting

out there and playing ball.”Now it’s up to King and his staff to figure

out just how the depth chart will shake out. After spending the first few weeks of practice trying to get players into their proper position, King plans to take a good amount of time re-viewing the tapes to see just who performed well enough to earn what roles.

The first-string spots are in good shape but King’s biggest quandary is who will fill the second and third string holes for depth pur-poses. During the game, King did not coach a team instead choosing to sit back and watch as players played. His first impressions of what he saw were positive.

“I’m real comfortable with the first 11 we’ve found. We’re going to have to look pretty hard over the summer to get some depth. That’ll be the key to it all,” King said. “We’re not going to go out and out-talent anybody but you don’t play the game on pa-per and that’s why we play the game.”

While things are a long way from being fi-nalized, the young players who got a chance to showcase what they can do were satisfied with the efforts they put forth. Where they’ll land is out of their control but they’ve defi-nitely made statements about where they de-serve to be.

“We performed pretty well,” Garcia said. “We’re very confident.”


DefenseContinued from Page 1C

Photo by Steve Patterson/www.movingpictures.photoreflect.com

Defensive lineman Colin Garcia was one of four players on the blue team defense to pick up a sack during Friday’s spring game.


Up-and-coming young athletes from the Midlothian area were invited to take part in a punt, pass and kick competition prior to the Midlothian varsity spring game on Friday. the top three finishers in each classification received medals for their efforts.

Midlothian punt, pass and kick winners

SportsWednesday, June 1, 2011 Midlothian Mirror 3C


A strong offensive surge early in the contest helped the Midlothian hockey team roll past Denton County in summer league action, 4-0.

Last week, the Panther (2-1) got on track with a 5-3 victory over Southlake Carroll. A week later, the offense showed no signs of slowing down as the team rattled off 45 shots. Midlothian attempted 37 shots on goal last week.

The first points of the night came when Trent Wil-liams took a Brent Jones assist into the net at the 9:41 mark for a powerplay goal to put the team up 1-0. Jones, one of last season’s scoring leaders, kept the scoring coming as he put in a Brooks Blackburn assist just 30 seconds into the second period for a 2-0 lead even though the team was shorthanded.

Blackburn earned his second assist of the night about seven and a half minutes later as Joseph Dancy scored the team’s second powerplay goal of the night for a 3-0 lead. Daniel Deweerd closed the scoring with a goal off assists by Jones and Tyler Colburn.

While the offense surged, the Panthers did run into control issues as the team was issued seven penal-ties including two unsportsmanlike misconduct calls for 10 minutes each. Denton County was also issued an unsportsmanlike misconduct call in the third. The seven infractions totaled 30 minutes for Midlothian. Denton County had 20 minutes worth of penalty time on six penalties.

Conner Graham worked all 45 minutes in goal, picking up 26 saves for the shutout win.

Upcoming scheduleJune 2vs. plano South6:45 p.m.@StarCenter in Farmers Branch

June 9vs. Marcus8:30 p.m.@StarCenter in euless

June 16vs. Coppell6:45 p.m.@StarCenter in Farmers Branch

June 23vs. Mansfield6:45 p.m.@StarCenter in euless

June 30vs. Arlington8:30 p.m.@StarCenter in euless

offense stays red hotPanthers fire away at Denton County, earn shutout victoryBy ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer


Midlothian’s Daniel Deweerd scored a goal in the team’s 4-0 win over Denton County last week. the panthers have now won two games in a row.

Eric Frawley is proud of his brother, Vince, but not for the obvi-ous reason.

In terms of sibling rivalry, there might not be a better example than the Frawley last name. For the bet-ter part of a decade, Eric, Vince and older brother Nick have all been hot names in the pole vaulting commu-nity. Eric and Vince made the most recent headlines when the duo com-peted in the National Junior Col-lege Athletic Association outdoor national track and field champion-ships. Vince won the men’s pole vaulting title with a vault of 15 feet, 11 inches. Eric tied for second with a jump of 15 feet, 7 inches.

That would normally call for some good natured rubbing from the victor. Not this time. “Usually he does but this meet was the first meet of the year that I could say I jumped better than him but he beat me. He kind of shut his mouth and said, ‘Yeah, you prob-ably should have won that one.’ Oh well,” Eric says with a laugh.

The Midlothian products both started their collegiate careers at South Alabama before moving over to Paradise Valley Community Col-lege in Phoenix, Ariz. (Nick com-peted at the Air Force Academy.)

During the indoor season, Vince won the national title with a vault of 16 feet, 4 ¾ inches, beating his Paradise Valley teammate Matt Vi-pond by a full 4 ¾ inches.

That set the stage for the outdoor season when the brothers would be competing against each other. And a very talented group of vaulters at their own school.

“We had five people who were going over 16-feet which has nev-er happened at one school before. Basically every day, every practice

was the national championship. That was like the motto going in,” Eric said. “We had to practice well every single day because somebody out of that group was going to na-tionals. Although we had eight peo-ple qualify for nationals we could only take three even though in the national rankings we had 1, 2, 3, 4

and 5 on our squad.”“It’s definitely really tough but

at the same time it just makes you that much better. You’re jumping against one of the best vault groups anywhere really, in JUCO espe-cially but nationwide too,” Vince added.

While the brothers have been

pushing each other in athletic com-petition since they were children, they were now surrounded by scores of other athletes who were doing the same. The increased level of competition ended up make both Frawleys better.

After winning the indoor title, Vince was charged with being a team leader, a task that was not easy especially when every athlete on the vaulting squad could contend for a top spot at a meet.

Instead of being an outspoken guy trying to corral everyone, Vince kept his style of leading simple – he would push them to do better and they would push him to do the same.

Vince and Eric took the top spots while Vipond placed sixth in the outdoor event. Only Cowley Junior College also had multiple vaulters finish inside the top 10 with seventh and tenth place finishes.

The duo will once again be com-peting against each other in college as both vaulters, along with Vipond, plan to transfer to Arizona State next season to continue their careers.

Just like before, the sibling ri-valry will be back. Nick says it doesn’t just happen on the track but in everything, even a simple game of catch with the family in the back-yard. And that’s not a bad thing. “It’s been good really,” Vince said of the battle. “Especially when it comes to vaulting.”


Courtesy photos

Vince Frawley, left, won the NJCAA national pole vaulting title while brother eric took home second place. the duo are currently at paradise Valley Community College in phoenix.


Frawley duo take top spots at NJCAA meetPole vault standouts help lead Paradise Valley to first, second finishes, eyeing move to Division I ranks

Sports HappeningsJunior golf camps

Waxahachie Country Club is offering weekly golf camps in June, July and August. The camps are open to children from 6-16 years of age. This year’s camps include new golf and swim camps as well as advanced camps for experienced juniors. Call Devin Thomas at 972-937-3521 to sign up or get more information. Local school campuses also have brochures.

MHS summer basketball training and workouts

Offseason basketball programs for both the girls and boys teams at Midlothian are in the process of getting ready for the summer. This program is open to all current players and any incoming freshman planning to play basket-ball next season.

Cost of the training will be tournament reg-istration fees and jerseys with nearly all prac-tices to be conducted during open gyms at the high school. Spring league tournaments won’t be identified until later in March when all state playoffs are finished. Tournaments will start before school lets out and run throughout the summer.

Along with players, organizers are looking

for team coordinators and coaches to help out. The hope is to have three boy and three girl teams for work this summer.

For more information, contact Karl Drusch at [email protected].

Midlothian ISD sports summer camp dates

The Midlothian ISD athletic department has released its list of summer camps for this summer. Six different sports will host camp-ers of all ages.

June 6 -9Baseball - Contact: Ray HydesAges 7-10 will be from 9 a.m.-noon and

ages 11-14 will be from 2-5 p.m.Soccer - Contact: Austin GuestGrades kindergarten to fifth-grade (girls

and boys) will be from 8:30-11 a.m and boys in grades sixth to ninth-grade will be from 1-3:30 p.m.

Football - Contact: Jimmy SpradleyFirst to sixth-grades will be from 5:30-8:00

pm

June 13-16Boys basketball - Contact: Glenn Hartson

Grades third through fifth will be from 8:30-11:30 a.m. and grades sixth through ninth will be from 1-4 p.m.

Soccer - Contact: Austin GuestGrades kindergarten to fifth-grade (girls

and boys) will be from 8:30-11 a.m and girls in grades sixth to ninth-grade will be from 1-3:30 p.m.

Golf - Contact: Brant BennettThe camp is open to golfers from ages 6-18

and will be from 9-11 a.m. at Tangle Ridge Golf Camp.

June 20-23Girls basketball - Contact: Brooke WalthallGrades third through sixth will be from 9

a.m.-noon and seventh- to ninth-grade will be from 12:30-3:30 p.m.

July 25-28Volleyball - Contact: Rhonda CurreyGrades third to eighth will be from 8:30

-11:30 a.m. with ninth-graders going from 12:30 – 3:30 p.m.

July 25, 27-29 (No camp on Tuesday)Football - Contact: Jimmy SpradleyGrades seventh to ninth from 5:30-8 p.m.

Tennis camp will run for six weeks starting June 14 for rising seventh-graders through se-niors. Camp dates are June 14-16, 21-23, 28-30, July 12-14, 19-20 and 26-28.

All registration flyers and information can be found online at www.midlothian-isd.net/athletics.

Midlothian Tennis Association spring events

Spring sessions are currently underway with different leagues every night for all ages.

For more details, see the MTA website at www.midtennis.org

Junior Panther ClubAny youngster looking to join the Junior

Panther Club can find more information by visiting Midlothian’s athletic department Website at www.midlothian-isd.net/athletics. The club is open to all students in sixth-grade or younger.

Got a sports happening in the Midlothian area or for all of Ellis County? Send it to sports writer Alex at [email protected].

Coming next week...Baseball season wrap with all-district honors



These guys and girls are good, and not just on the field of competition.

With the 2010-11 athletic season coming to close, the Midlothian ISD athletic of-fice tallied the final total honors from the academic all-state teams in the different sports across the school.

For the school year, a record 24 senior student-athletes were honored by an academic all-state for their work in the classroom as well as the field. “All student-athletes partici-pating in Midlothian ISD ath-letics make a commitment to the team, their teammates and their school,” athletic direc-tor Steve Keasler said. “Each of our programs demands the dedication of time and energy of the student-athlete and part of this commitment is to be a student first and strive for academic excellence.”

In order to qualify for the academic all-state honor, students must have an over-all grade point average of 92 or above from the time they enroll in high school and through the first six weeks of their senior year. They must also be in good standing with the team and be seniors. Nominations for the all-state honors are made by each sport’s coach.

The Panther football pro-gram led the way with eight athletes selected while the baseball team was second with seven. The boys soccer team had five make the list while girls soccer had four and boys basketball added three. Kyler Brown (baseball

and football), Blaine Black-burn baseball and basketball) and Zach Carlberg (football and soccer) earned academic all-state in two sports.

The athletes making aca-demic all-state are pictured in the photo. They are, front row from right, Jenna Ed-

mister (soccer), Liz Williams (soccer), Ashley Seeton (soc-cer), Brie Munoz (soccer); middle from right, Justin La-mar (football), Chase Huff (football), Blaine Blackburn (basketball and baseball), Kyler Brown (football and baseball), Gage Windsor

(football), Cody Cain (base-ball), Phillip Berthelson (basketball), Dillon Wilson (football); back row from right, Jackson Sandefer (basketball), Todd Valderas (football), Justin Shealy (baseball), Connor Roberts (baseball), Bradley Younts

(baseball), Zach Carlberg (football and soccer), Zach Burson (soccer), and Ben Larson (football). Not pic-tured are Scott Hayden (soc-cer), Kyle Markwardt (soc-cer), Kyle Rinehart (baseball) and John Schoonover (soc-cer).


Midlothian puts 24 on academic all-state teams

VENUS – Bobby Matthews looks out over the field and just smiles. A backhoe digs down into the earth pulling up four feet of soil at a time and loading it into trucks that haul it away. More than half the field is al-ready gone and it’s only the second day of work at Venus High School.

There’s a bit of poetry in the scene Matthews is staring at and he knows it.

“Our image of Venus is not the best and everyone knows it but it’s up to us to do something about it and we are,” Matthews said. “It’s a lot more than just a football field to us.”

Matthews, the Venus ISD super-intendent, can’t help but get excited when he talks about the changes coming to the small community on the border of Ellis and Johnson counties. Growth is happening. Progress is in the works. Things will be different. To many, it’s just a football field. Not to Venus.

Speeding up the process

Blame soccer. Or rather blame the kids who wanted a soccer pro-gram as the reason last Tuesday was necessary.

For years, the Venus athletic de-partment had avoided the sport. But as the community grew, specifically the Hispanic population, it became clear there was a desire for the game.

When he arrived two-plus years ago, Matthews came up with what he called a “Dave Letterman spi-noff” of a top 10 list of things the students, faculty and staff wanted to seen at Venus. The number one thing was a soccer program from the students’ perspectives.

Venus was already one of the

smallest 3A schools in the state and soccer is far from easy in the UIL league. The Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs would be lumped into the 3A-4A soccer classification and forced to play schools like Kenne-dale and Alvarado whose popula-tion size was well higher. Still it had to happen.

“Soccer of course came to be but of course we have to play 3A and 4A,” Matthews said. “We’re excited about what soccer is going to do for us.”

But just like any action, there was a consequence and the victim was the school’s playing field. With the rigors of football and soccer sea-sons, the natural grass surface took a beating. The dirt turned to almost concrete. The grass stopped grow-ing as thick as before.

The new sport expedited the pro-cess of installing turf. But it wasn’t the only factor.

Venus’ track also runs around the outside of the football field. For

years, using the track was almost a non-factor. Then came an inter-est surge. Then came success. With both came the need for vast im-provements.

If the track program was going to get any better, the pothole covered surface needed to be redone and fast. It was another task Matthews was happy to add to the process.

“We had nine kids out for var-sity track two years ago. This year we had 50. We hope to double that in two more years,” Matthews said of the track program. “Our JV boys won the district track meet and be-ing in a district with Kennedale and Alvarado and some of these people it’s very good.”

Elevating the status quo

Every district in the state of Texas seems to be feeling the effects of the recent budget cuts. Venus is no ex-ception to that rule.

Still, Matthews didn’t find selling the idea of improvements all that hard.

“People here want this town and this community to improve and the support is here,” Matthews said.

The district cut $1.2 million last year. Matthews and his staff are al-ready looking into possible cuts for next year. That process began some six months ago.

Slashing budgets and rising stu-dent populations are in contradic-tion of each other on paper but Mat-thews is committing to making it work.

When the district was evaluated two years ago, enrollment for the whole district had gone up two per-cent. That number only figures to grow as things move along. It’s the biggest reason Matthews is working so hard to make things better.

Matthews cites a “healthy fund balance” as the biggest reason the district has been able to do this work. The cuts are going to hap-pen but the improvements are also a must, especially if the district wants to become an attractive place for people to send their kids.

“We’re going to have enough money to survive the cuts in Aus-tin, pay for all this. We’re just play-ing catch-up in Venus and we’re just trying to do some really good things,” Matthews said.

Turning the cornerBuddy Hardin told his players

about the new turf they would get to play on next fall. You’d have thought he was Santa Claus.

Hardin, Venus’ football coach, described the scene as “giddy” with players “jumping up and down” over the news. There was plenty for the kids to celebrate but Har-din looks at things from a different angle. The improvements are so

much a way of making things better as they are a way of recognizing the players’ efforts.

“The main thing is it shows our kids that we care. We care about them,” Hardin said.

The football field will be the most noticable change but it is far from the only one.

Matthews points out that the school’s tennis courts were refur-bished last year thanks to a gener-ous donor who happened to be driv-ing by and see the need. New lights were installed so matches could be played later in the day.

He also discusses the district’s purchase of a 15-acre farm in the county as a positive step. The farm could get bigger sooner and for good reason – the students are re-quiring it.

“We had two kids showing in the county show two years ago. This year we had almost 80. We’ll do that again in two more years, we know that,” Matthews said.

While the current high school classes might not be all that big, the reality is the elementary and middle school classes are fairly sizable. Some of the current high school students will reap the full benefits of the district’s vision but those younger children will be the main benefactors.

Matthews hopes this is just the tip of the iceberg. He sees improve-ments to the baseball and softball facilities, paving parking lots and school expansion all in the future.

It will take a while to get to step two. For now, he’s just enjoying step one.

“It’s a great start, Matthews said. “We’re just trying to make a lot of needed improvements.”




Members of the Venus iSD school board and staff members break ground at the high school stadium to replace the grass field with artificial turf. the refurbished football field is one many changes the district hopes to make to improve the facilities.

A change in directionRennovations to Venus facilities aim to change status quo of the school, community


Construction crews work to dig up the top layers of soil on the Venus field. the work is expect-ed to be completed in time for football’s season opener.

Photo courtesy of Kathryne Buckley/MISD athletics

Midlothian placed a record 24 athletes on academic all-state teams for their respective sports. the players represented six different sports at the high school. Athletes had to have a 92 or better average and be a senior.

Emma Sears has watched the news of recent weeks with an extra level of interest. When you’re mov-ing away from home, you always want to make sure the place you’re going is a good choice.

Sears is bound for Huntsville, Ala., to attend Faulkner University and play collegiate golf and yes, she’s done her research.

“This (area) has a little protective bubble over it so the tornados just kind of go around,” Sears says with a smile when talking about the re-cent events in the state.

Tornados and damage won’t de-ter Sears from attending the school. It’s that same attitude she had on the golf course during her career in Midlothian that made her such a formidable opponent.

Over the last four years, Sears was a key cog in the Lady Panthers’ success. She helped the team earn a district championship while ad-vancing to the regionals each of the last four years. This spring, Sears was part of the team’s inaugural 5A squad, which placed second in dis-trict and earned a trip to Lubbock for the 5A Region I regional tourna-ment.

Success has always been Sears’ calling card. And sending golfers to the next level is Midlothian’s.

“She’s been great. There’s no doubt that her and Taylor (Chalm-ers) were going to play college golf. That’s two girls and one boy (Cody Taylor) so three out of my five (se-niors) have signed this year,” golf coach Brant Bennett said. “It’s kind

of an expectation. She’s my fourth girl to be playing currently. Emma’s just got that work ethic that’s conta-gious to the younger girls and she’s just gotten better and better every year.”

Continuing the program’s tradi-tion of excellence in high school and beyond was a goal Sears set for herself years ago. During her sign-ing last week, the senior couldn’t

help but smile as all those years of hard work came to a culmination.

“I’m really excited to keep up the scholarships and I look for-ward to all the amazing golf cours-es I’m going to get to play on and place I’m going to get to travel. It feels really good,” Sears said. Those destinations will be fairly exotic for Sears as the Faulkner program traveled to Florida, Geor-

gia, Arizona and South Carolina for spring tournaments.

The Faulkner roster will feature two seniors, two juniors and two sophomores with Sears and Ala-bama native Georgia Shelton being two members of the program’s sign-ing class.

Bennett has expectations for her in college and rightfully so. She is just hoping to live up them.

“Coach Bennett said he thinks I’ll be able to contribute right away to the team and I think he’s right. I think I’ll do just that,” Sears said.


There are plenty of reasons to label Brad Younts’ senior year a “dream sea-son.” A lot of things went right for the Midlothian pitcher.

Younts is happy with what he was able to accomplish but was left with an uneasy feeling when it was all said and done. Now, he’ll get the chance to rem-edy that.

Last week, Younts became the third baseball player from this year’s senior class to commit himself to playing base-ball at the collegiate level signing on with Northwood University.

“It’s awesome. I’m just really excited to get to this level. I can’t be more grate-ful for what I’ve done,” Younts said. “Towards the end I didn’t do so good but I’m going to pick it up. I’ve got a lot to

learn that’s for sure.”The good things for Younts were

evident – he led the Panthers in innings pitched (47.67), wins (three) and strike-outs (27). His 2.35 ERA was second lowest among regular starters.

For his efforts, Younts was named the Midlothian golden arm award winner at the end-of-season banquet two weeks ago. He also earned honorable mention all-district honors while being named academic all-district and honorable mention academic all-state.

While all those honors were well de-served, his biggest thrill of the season came in a March 15 game against Dun-canville when Younts threw a no-hitter, the second-straight season Midlothian has had a senior throw a no-hit effort.

It’s performances like that which have coach Ray Hydes excited about the pos-

siblities for his veteran pitcher.“Bradley’s an outstanding kid. He just

works extremely hard. He was probably our most consistent pitcher this year,” Hydes said. “He’s got three pitches and that night against Duncanville he just threw the ball exceptionally well, was moving it in and out, hitting his spots and that was huge for him and our pro-gram. Any time a kid can go out and do that you’re excited about it.”

The uneasy feeling Younts was left with came in his final high school ap-pearance against Mansfield in the regu-lar season finale. Younts and the Pan-thers needed a win to secure a spot in the playoffs but ran into a late-surging Tiger team that played spoiler. Younts took the loss that night as the Panthers were forced to play a playoff play-in game the following day against Grand Prairie. The team fell in that game 3-1 to miss the postseason for the first time in nearly a decade.

While it was a sour note to end on, Younts is optimistic about creating a new memory at the college level to re-place that one. He isn’t quite sure what his role will be once the season comes around as the Northwood coaches want to see him work some innings in sum-mer baseball to determine how they might use him.

The good news is he’ll be close by as the school is just a few miles away in the Cedar Hill area. He hopes to have a cheering section behind him when he does take the hill.

“That was kind of a bonus that I could commute there. It was also easy on Mom and Dad’s checkbook. It’s very convenient,” Younts said. “Hopefully the coaches there will teach me stuff and I’m ready to learn a lot there and im-prove my game.”


SportsWednesday, June 1, 2011 Midlothian Mirror 5C



With his coaches and family looking on, Midlothian senior pitcher Brad Younts signed on to play with Northwood University next sea-son. Younts was one of team’s leading starting pitchers this spring.

extending the dreamYounts ready to continue career at next level with Northwood UniversityBy ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer


With the loss of regular starters from last season, Brad Younts got the chance to step up and shine. He pitched a no-hitter against Duncanville and was a team leader in several pitching categories.

Photo by Alex Riley (above)/The Mirror, Courtesy photo (right)

Like many female golfers before her, Midlothian senior emma Sears signed on to compete at the college level. Sears will join the Faulker University golf team in Huntsville, Ala., next season making her the fourth Lady panther currently playing golf.


Sears ready to hit the links at FaulknerMidlothian senior golf standout signs on with NAIA program, becomes fourth Lady Panther in college ranks

district play when she tore her ACL, cutting a promising rookie year well short.

The injury stung but it didn’t waiver Turn-er’s resolve to get back on the court. Months of post-surgery rehabilitation and strength training got her knee back to the level it would need to be to retake the court. And then, just hours before the team’s summer league open-er last Monday against powerhouse Hewitt Midway, Turner was released from doctor’s supervision and given the green light to retake the court.

While she didn’t start the game, she was one of the first players off the bench and wast-ed no time in making an impact. When she took the court, Turner was put in charge of

running the point. At the 7:50 mark of the first half, she dished out her first assist. At the 5:45 point she hit her first shot, a three-pointer.

Later in the game, Turner forced a five second call against Midway’s point guard for a key turnover. Her assist to teammate Sam Drusch sparked a 12-4 run to close the game as Midlothian nearly rallied back to beat Mid-way.

Not too bad for a player just getting back on the court.

“It’s only my first day back so I’ve still got a lot to learn but I’m coming back. It’s going to be difficult but I’m going to do it,” Turner said.

For now, Turner is focused on two things – getting her knee back into playing shape and imparting what knowledge she can to Midlothian’s youthful roster.

The latter is a bit of a quandary as Turner does have some varsity experience but isn’t

quite as seasoned as some other players on the team. But with seven players on the summer league roster that weren’t varsity last season, Turner finds herself caught in the limbo of a player with experience and a young gun try-ing to get her feet back under her.

It’s an odd situation for sure. But it’s one Turner is just happy to be in.

“I have the experience but it’s hard because you have to teach the other girls that weren’t on varsity some of the stuff that you know from experience,” Turner said. “I’m kind of caught in the middle.”


turnerContinued from Page 1C

Upcoming scheduleJune 1vs. Waxahachie 17 p.m.

June 8vs. red oak6:30 p.m.

June 13vs. Venus4:30 p.m.

June 20vs. Kennedale5:30 p.m.

June 22vs. Waxahachie 25:30 p.m.

June 27vs. Waxahachie 14:30 p.m.

Murphy’s arm started slow. He finished the first half with just two completions for 13 yards with an interception. After taking some time to regroup at halftime, Murphy rebounded by going 7-of-9 in the second half for 99 yards with a nine-yard scoring strike to first-year Panther Lucas Anderson.

The blue squad wasted no time in getting on the board as Michael Glenn capped the team’s first drive with a 13-yard scoring run. Murphy’s long run was followed by a 36-yard scoring strike to Jaylan Peoples on the final play of the first half for a 21-0 lead.

The blue defense started the first half by posting a three-and-out, allowing the offense to retake the field. Murphy and Anderson would connect on that ensuing drive for a 28-0 advantage. That advan-tage grew to 31-0 when Dillon McClain hit a 27-yard field goal. Ryan Chisholm

added a 19-yard field goal in the fourth for a 34-0 lead.

The white team finally got on the board when quarterback Quindell Daniels capped an 11-play drive with a two-yard run for the first points of the game.

While it might have been a slow start for Murphy, the rising senior has found plenty of positives to build on in the off-season. The chemistry is well on its way to helping him take hold of the leadership reins for Midlothian.

“I came out just trusting my legs and later on in the game I started trusting my arm. My line gave me good blocking and I just stepped up and performed,” Murphy said.


Over the next few months, Midlothian will hammer out a rough draft of what the depth chart will look like. Fall two-a-days will be another chance for players to shine and battle for position. Ultimately, the difference between a varsity backup and junior varsity starter won’t be very much.

When the team roster is unveiled next season, there are certain to be a few names who will end up in places you’d expect. Murphy will start at quarterback. Slater Gravens will start at linebacker. Myron Hanson and Tony Kirk will start on offensive line. Justin Seeton, Jesse Rios and Jarmon Jackson will start if they’re all healthy. Some other names you remember from last year will also be atop the depth chart.

After that, it’s a big question. Who lands where is still a question that is nearly impossible to answer. But the answer will be the difference between good and great.

Alex is a sports writer covering Midlothian athletics for Waxahachie Newspapers Inc. Contact him at [email protected] or at 469-517-1456.

Quindell Daniels knows the routine. All spring, the Midlothian coaches have been grooming him for a role on the varsity foot-ball squad.

Technically, they’ve been grooming him for numerous roles. Eventually, he’ll land in one of them.

Like Bryce Murphy last fall, Daniels will like assume the duty of being Midlothian’s backup quarterback this coming season mean-ing he’ll be asked to play some other position in preparation for his time under center in the future. Murphy spent all last season as a safe-ty on the Panthers’ defense.

Where will Daniels land? If Fri-day’s spring game was any indica-tion, then the answer is still up in the air. “I was kind of nervous because you never know what to do with all these plays and stuff you’ve got going. But once you get rolling, get the game feeling going, it’s just a roll,” Daniels said.

Over the course of the spring game, Dan-iels spent time at wide receiver, safety and quarterback. He amassed statistics in the form of tackles, passing yards, rushing yards and receiving yards. In short – he did it all.

Daniels caught one pass for seven yards, rushed seven times for 35 yards and finished 5-of-9 for 60 yards passing on offense. He had a pair of tackles on defense.

Of course, it wasn’t all glamorous. Daniels was on the receiving end of a hard hit from blue team defender Alan Jordan late in the first half that resulted in a fumble.

While that play was frustrating, Daniels responded to the adversity in stride. With the game well decided, he stepped under center and proceeded to guide the white team of-fense on an 11-play drive, its longest of the night, which resulted in a two-yard touch-down run by Daniels to close the game. Dur-ing that drive, Daniels completed two passes for 20 yards or more, making him the only Panther quarterback in the game to do so. He also broke off an 18-yard run, the fourth-lon-gest by a quarterback for the night.

That small victory might not have put much of a dent on the scoreboard but it left Daniels and his teammates on the white squad with something to build off of.

“At first (that drive) started off good and then I got it rolling and everybody got behind me. We just pulled together and drove down the field,” Daniels said.

Running back Avery rumbles for big yardage

Last season, the Midlothian offense relied heavily on its running game to carry the work-load in terms of production. While the Pan-

thers were good at gaining yardage, it was a grinding type game with very little flash and plenty of hard runs.

If the team were to keep that same mental-ity this fall, that wouldn’t bother Jake Avery at all.

With Justin Seeton, last year’s leading rusher, out for the spring, Avery was one of several running backs who got the chance to

showcase what they could do. He answered the call with a white squad best 12 carries for 55 yards.

“I thought I did all right. The line opened up everything for me and just made it easier. I just lowered my head and did as much as I could,” Avery said.

Despite having two of the three returning all-district offensive linemen on his team, Av-ery and the white squad offense found very little consistent production early on. The blue team defensive line was constantly in the backfield with tackles for a loss slowing down the offense’s progression.

Eventually, the team simply put the ball in Avery’s hands and let him grind things out. Of the team’s 31 first half offensive plays, Av-ery touched the ball nine times and was the intended target on several incomplete swing passes out of the backfield.

Along with running the ball well, Avery also caught four passes for 48 yards, the high-est total on the white team. His 103 combined yards were bested only by Bryce Murphy’s 181 yards rushing.

Avery showed an abundance of strength in his legs, specifically on his longest run of the day, a 15-yard gallop that saw him bounce off a would-be tackler and rumble for another five yards.

While Seeton figures to be the featured back when the regular season starts, Avery was content with his performance and hopes to have left an impression on the coaching staff when it comes time to make the depth chart. He knows he isn’t the only running back jockeying for position and feels the battle will only make the unit better as time moves on.

“I’m just stepping up and filling the places of those seniors that left. I’ve got to do my job,” Avery said. “Whenever we come all to-gether it looks a lot better than that. We’re all split up but whenever we’re all together we’re a lot better than that and we’ll perform.”

Glenn splits time, finds the end zone

As predicted, rising senior Michael Glenn saw time all over the field during the spring game, playing at running back and linebacker while also seeing action at slot receiver.

The new position was a result of some changes on the offense over the last week. Still, Glenn didn’t see a pass float his way but did finish with solid numbers as a runner. He carried the ball six times for 34 times.

“This week I had a difficult change of posi-tion on offense but I felt pretty comfortable out there with the coaches out there helping me out. I felt pretty good,” Glenn said.

Along with playing a big role on the blue team offense, he also picked up a few tack-les, including a sack of quarterback Bryce Faussett late in the first half.

That moment was a big morale boost but it paled in comparison to Glenn’s third touch of the game. After being thrown for nega-tive yardage on his first carries, Glenn got a chance to show why the coaching staff is hav-ing a hard time defining his role as he avoided several would-be tacklers on his way to a 13-yard touchdown run.

During his first varsity season in 2009, Glenn did not score a touchdown and was used primarily as a defender last fall. While it won’t officially go down in the record books, the trip to the end zone was enough to bring a big smile to Glenn’s face.

“It felt good. I haven’t done that in a long time,” Glenn said.

NotesWith the graduation of all three players

who served as placekickers last season, the search was back on for a kicking solution dur-ing the spring game. Blue team kicker Dillion McClain came on to hit four point-after at-tempts and a 27-yard field goal try at the end of the third quarter. The Panthers would call on white team kicker Ryan Chisholm later in the game to try a 19-yard field goal for the blue team, which he would make. … Despite so many new faces on both teams, the penalty calls were limited. The two teams combined for just eight infractions on the night with half of those being false starts. The teams were also flagged for pass interference, defensive offsides, delay of game and block in the back. … No injuries from the game were reported.




Spring game notebook

Backup quarterback spreads the fieldBy ALEX RILEY Mirror sports writer


Quindell Daniels will most like spend next fall as Bryce Murphy’s understudy at quarterback but he spent the spring game roaming the entire field. Daniels played four different positions and could start at almost any slot this fall.


running back Jake Avery prepares to lower his shoulder into a blue team defender during the spring game. With his big upper body, Avery proved to be a bruising runner which could help him be a varsity player this fall.


With his size and speed, Michael Glenn was expected to see action at numer-ous positions. He played as a slot receiver and running back on offense scoring the game’s first touchdown. He also played linebacker.


Quarterback Bryce Murphy got off to a slow start in the passing game but rallied to throw for 115 yards and a touchdown to go along with 181 yards rushing.

rileyContinued from Page 1C

MurphyContinued from Page 1C

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