This year in sports may not rival the uplifiting intensity of the 3A football State Championship of 2017, but it still gave this community plenty to cheer about. The Reporter is taking a look back at some of the more memorable moments on the gridiron, court and field.
January
The new year started off with good and bad news. Rockdale Tiger Head Football Coach Jeff Miller was named Coach of the Year by the 1st Down Club of Dallas/Fort Worth. The club recognizes players and coaches who compete in the DFW Metroplex at its annual dinner. The selection committee is made up of area current and retired coaches who nominate coaches and players for the honor.
“It’s a great honor to even be considered,” Miller said about the honor. “It is a testament to the great coaches and players that I am fortunate to work with everyday.”
As for the bad news, senior basketball player Frances King broke a small bone on the side of her left foot when she came down on her foot wrong during a game. This injury sidelined her for the rest of the season. She wasn’t out for long, King is now playing guard for Midwestern State University.
February
During the shortest month of the year, athletic fans got news about the bi-annual realignment, learned of athletes college commitments and watched the Lady Bulldogs basketball team win district. The University Interscholastic League’s bi-annual realignment shook up District 10-3A added Lago Vista and Manor New Tech to the district that included Rockdale, Cameron, Jarrell, Academy and Troy, while McGregor and Franklin moved to districts 9-3A and 11-3A respectively. In basketball, Rockdale, Cameron, Lexington, and Franklin will be in 19-3A with McGregor and Troy replacing Hearne and Jarrell. In class 2A, Milano moved up to Division I and will be housed with Thorndale in District 13-2A, along with Hearne, Thrall, Holland, Marlin and Rosebud-Lott.
On national signing day, five area athletes committed to play football in college. Rockdale’s Jaqualyn Crawford signed with the University of Oklahoma, Torry Locklin joined the University of Kansas, Tyler Lehmkuhl signed with Angelo State University and Dylan David will play for Cisco Junior College. Milano’s Kyle King signed with Howard Payne University.
Thorndale’s Ashton Albert signed up to play baseball for Paris Junior College.
The Lady Bulldogs won their first district title since 2012 and headed to their 14th straight playoff appearance in 2018.
March
As in history, the Ides of March weren’t kind to sports fans in Milam County. RHS finished sixth in the 59th Annual Rockdale Relays, while the Taylor Ducks won the championship. Their seventh title.
The Thorndale Bulldogs lost 61-55 to Stinnett West Texas in the Class 2A state basketball championship game in front of 11,000 fans at the Alamodome. This was their first title game in ten years.
April
While their were no showers in April, Rockdale sports fans were pelted with a series of championship qualifiers. Here goes.
The Lady Tigers softball team clinched a state playoff berth with an 8-6 victory over Lexington. It was their first since 2014.
“At the very beginning of the year, we set a goal to make playoffs,” said third-year Rockdale Coach Erin Palmer. “Everything we have done has been directed at achieving that goal.
The Tiger track team sent 10 members to the Region III Area meet. Gavin Young and Tyler Lehmkuhl placed first in their respective events, the pole vault and the discus. Will Storey was second in the 100-meter dash, Nathan Newlin was third in the 400-meter dash and the 800-meter relay team (Dylan David, Young, Kelan Evans and Storey) finished third.
Brandi Caffey finished second in the pole vault. Payton Miller placed second in the 100-meter hurdles. Armoni Mack took second place in the 400-meter dash and Andrea Salazar will also make the trip to area for a fourth place toss in the discus.
The Tiger mixed doubles duo of Devon Whitsel and Reyna Gonzalez earned a trip to the UIL state tennis tournament.
Tiger golfers made their second appearance in the Class 3A, Region III boys golf tournament in Austin, after rallying from third place.
In Milam County softball action, Thorndale and Milano made it to the bi-district round of the playoffs.
Two Tiger athletes signed on to play college sports. They were: Hanna Jimenez signed a letter of intent to play volleyball at Arlington Baptist University and Josh Springer will play football at University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
May
April showers did indeed bring May flowers. Milam County athletes won a flurry of championships and lost a few in the fifth month of the year.
RHS athletes won two state titles. The Tiger twosome of Devon Whitsel and Reyna Gonzalez ran away with the Class 3A mixed doubles championship at the 104th UIL state tennis tournament at the Mitchell Tennis Center on the campus of Texas A&M University, and Lyndy Laurrell, Lady Tiger golfer, reclaimed her state title at the UIL Class 3A state golf tournament and the RHS girls’ golf team took home a silver in the state tournament.
In their seventh appearance at the state tournament in a decade, the Tigers boys’ golf team finished sixth at the 74th Class 3A UIL state golf tournament.
The Lady Tigers were knocked out of the Class 3A, Region III bi-district round of the state softball playoffs at Rosebud-Lott High School in a one-game playoff with a 6-0 loss to Troy.
Tyler Lehmkuhl placed fourth in the discus at the Class 3A UIL state track meet. Lehmkuhl was the only athlete representing Rockdale at the state track meet.
Thorndale’s Landry Lay-well captured the Class 2A girls singles tennis title and the Milano boys’ track team took home the UIL 2A state track and field crown.
The No. 1 ranked Bulldogs baseball team advanced the Class 2A, Region IV semifinals against Kaufer, after a 20-14, 9-15, 16-8 victory over Evadale.
The Lady Bulldogs and Lady Eagles softball teams were knocked out of the Class 2A Region IV quarterfinals by losses to Shiner (3-2) and Normangee (1-0), respectively.
June
Liz Galloway-McQuitter, a 1973 graduate of RHS and two-time All-State selection who led the Tigerettes to the state tournament twice, was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville Tennessee.
Galloway-McQuitter, who led Temple Junior College to a national championship and went on to play for UNLV, received the 2018 Trailblazer award for her career in basketball.
Galloway-McQuitter was part of the Women’s Basketball League, which existed from 1978 through 1981. She played for the Chicago Hustle in the first ever professional league for women.
“I was thinking personally to myself that I came from this small town — many of us did—and we became part of women’s basketball history,” Galloway-McQuitter said. “It was a blessing infused with timing, preparation, and seizing a moment that was done not only out of love for a sport, but the desire to make sure others that followed were afforded the same opportunity we were.”
After the WBL and several college coaching stops, Galloway-McQuitter returned to RHS and led the Lady Tigers to a state tournament appearance in 2015—43 years after she played in the tournament.
The old Tiger Stadium, which was built in 1934, was demolished to make room for the $5 million renovation of the stadium that will include a new football field and track, also field house updates and a new softball field.
Speaking of football, Jeff Miller named Ethan Noel the Tigers’ new offensive coordinator. Noel replaced Brandon Houston who left to become the new head coach at Buffalo High School.
RHS golfer Lyndy Laurrell signed to hit the links with Stephen F. Austin State University.
In baseball, the Thorn-dale boys’ team was eliminated from the Class 2A Region IV finals by Big Sandy in two games 13-3 and 15-8.
July
James Leroy Wright was inducted into the Prairie View Interscholastic League Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He was a member of the very first Rockdale Athletic Hall of Honor induction class in 2007.
Wright, a multi-sport athlete, was valedictorian of his senior class at Aycock High School in 1956, with a 4.0 grade average. His exploits on the gridiron earned him offers to New Mexico State, University of Oklahoma, Grambling State University and several other institutions.
In college, he played basketball for University of the Pacific, in Stockton, California. He was inducted into the University of the Pacific Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.
Before a knee injury cut short his pro basketball career, he was drafted in the second round, 16th overall in 1960, by the Boston Celtics, and eventually become a member of the Pittsburgh Pipers, which won the very first American Basketball Association (ABA) title in 1968.
Wright stayed with the team when it moved to Minnesota and became an assistant coach there, the first African-American to serve in that capacity in the ABA.
No longer tennis at its hottest the 39th Annual Rockdale Open tennis tournament at Veterans Park was held at night to escape the high temperatures.
Ben Blanchard won the singles title, when Devon Whitsel was sidelined with an injury.
In the men’s doubles, Thrall High School tennis coach Matt Malish and David Cuebas, of Taylor, defeated Blanchard and Adrian Saucedo of Rock-dale, 6-2, 6-0.
Erin Blanchard of Rock-dale and Noah Santa Cruz of Groesbeck won the mixed doubles final by forfeit, after an injury sidelined Whitsel and his partner Reyna Gonzalez. There was no youth tournament this year due to a low number of entries.
August
Area athletes gear up for pre-season play in football with two-a-days, in volleyball with tournaments and cross country with long runs.
The Eighth Annual RHS Tiger Alumni and Friends Tournament raised $2,500 for the school’s golf program.
September
The RHS defending state champions went 3-1 in preseason play losing a nail biter 17-16 to 4A Giddings in its first game of the season and winning the next three against Caldwell 35-10, Lexington 29-27 and Hyde Park 41-36.
The Rockdale Athletic Hall of Honor named its 2018 inductees: Briana Bassler, Brooks Bassler, Frank Ramirez Jr. and KRXT-FM.
Lightning canceled the final pre-season Milano and Thorndale football games. The Eagles entered district with a 1-2 record and the Bulldogs had a 2-0.
The Lady Tigers volleyball team ended September with a 2-2 district record, while Milano and Thorn-dale had a 18-11 and 16-12 records, respectively.
October
The Rockdale High School football team defeated Manor New Tech 70-6 in front of a sellout crowd in its first ever game played in the new Tiger Stadium.
Thorndale defeated Milano 25-14 for the fifteenth time in 21 football match-ups at the end of the month. The Bulldogs improved to 3-1 in District 13-2A DI and 5-1 overall, while Milano dropped to 1-2 and 2-4.
Freshmen runner Cady Barcak missed qualifying for the 3A Cross Country Regional meet by 9 seconds with eleventh place finish in the district 19-3A cross country meet in Cameron.
RHS volleyball team got a fourth place spot in District 13-3A after defeating Rogers 3-0 to move on to the playoffs.
The Lady Bulldogs cinched the No. 2 District 25-2A spot by defeating the Milano Lady Eagles for the second time in the season. Both teams advanced to regionals.
Milano runner Parker Jones won the 2A Region IV boys three mile championship.
November
Cameron Yoe won the sixty-fourth Battle of the Bell 33-14 against Rockdale in Cameron.
Rockdale’s chance to defend its state championship came to an early end in the first round of the state playoffs, where they lost 45-21 to Grandview.
In a secret surprise vote RHS Head Football Coach and Athletic Director Jeff Miller was inducted into the Rockdale Athletic Hall of Honor. He joined KRXT, Brooks Bassler, Briana Bassler and Frank Ramirez, Jr. as part of the 12th Hall of Honor class.
The Lady Tigers volleyball team ended its season with a 3-1 loss to Rogers to finish fifth place in District 19-3A with a 7-8 record.
The Thorndale Lady Bulldogs made history by competing in the state 3A semi-final match, where they lost in three sets to Lindsay. The 2018 squad was the first in the school’s history to make it to state.
“It was a great season, and the fans and town was so supportive. We were proud to be the first girls team to get here in volleyball; we just didn’t play our best,” Thorndale coach Angel Raines said.
The Milano Eagles football team fell 63-0 in their final game of the 2018 season to the top-ranked Mason Punchers in the 2A bi-district matchup.
THS football ended the month advancing to area playoffs after a 55-24 victory over Center Point.
Milano High School senior Parker Jones placed second at the UIL 2A State Cross Country Championship 5,000 meter race with a time of 15:29.58, four seconds behind winner Steven Quintanilla of Sundown.
Basketball season got underway for all area schools.
December
The inaugural soccer season for RHS started in December, while basketball season continued for all area schools. Track and field practices got underway for all three schools.
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