Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 104, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 6, 1988 Page: 8 of 38
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i
8A—Burleson Star, Thursday, October 6, 1988
Drop the hanky not appropriate
game for Elks Homecoming
By JAMES MOODY
They billed it as a football
game and that's how it will go
dow n into the record bodes.
Burleson Elk coach John Park-
er can e help but feel, however, that
the proceedings on the field last Fri-
day night more resembled a game of
Drop the Handkerchief—with only
Burleson and the officials playing
in crucial situations.
Cases in point include!
—Two illegal forward passes
by Mansfield that were not called.
—A clip at mid-field on a
Mansfield touchdown that shows up
plainly in the films but was over-
looked by officials on the field.
—A hold on a big Tiger play
apd a clip on another, with neither
called.
—A fumble recovery by Elk
quarterback Scott Shaha on the two
yard line that was given to Mans-
field.
The Elks had some big plays
called.oack, including a big gainer
that would have given them a first
and goal and a chance to win late in
the game. The Elk coach has no
problem with the clipping penalty
called on that play or with other
calls against Burleson.
"We did it," he said. "The refe-
rees should have called it. They just
need to call them both ways.”
In other words, the officials
need to let the other team join in on
drop the hanky or keep the flags in
their hip pockets.
But despite the loss in the first
district game, Parker and the Elk
coaching staff aren't spending a lot
of time worrying about what might
have been. Instead, the coaches and
the team are busy preparing for Ar-
lington Martin and they're determin-
ed to make it a successful Home-
coming for Burleson.
"They have a typical Martin
football team," Parker says of this
week's opponent. "They're big as
usual, but may not have the speed
they've had in the past.”
Martin has a good quarterback
in second year starter Jonathan May-
es. He's probably a better passer
than a runner, the Elk coach said,
but he's a good scrambler and can
run the option as well.
The team has been a little un-
settled in its backfield, but tailback
Shea Williams is a good runner, as
he proved to Weatherford in running
a kickoff back for a touchdown.
Dave Tillman is Martin's best
receiver and can be dangerous,
though the team's tendency is to
come out running.
When the running game works,
they'll just keep running the ball at
you, Parker said, though they don't
hesitate to throw if the ground
game isn't getting the job done.
Defensively, the team is paced
by defensive end Dave Condon, a
blue-chipper who missed the first
two games with an injury; line-
backer Matt Thomson, one of the
leading tacklers; and defensive end
Brent Huskins, who is adept at us-
ing his hands and very hard to
block.
Martin has the identical 2-3
record that the Elks have after five
games. The team is 1-1 in district,
defeating Weatherford 20-10 and
losing 35-13 to Arlington.
So how do the Elks make sure
that they’re the team that evens
their record at 3-3 Friday night?
By cutting down on mistakes,
according to Parker. "We've got to
eliminate the fumbles, which hurt
us last week, and the penalties in
crucial situations. We've also got to
create a second line of scrimmage
on the snap of the ball."
On defense, he said the Elks
have to contain the option better
than they have done in some
games. As for pass defense, he said
the Elks have played well in three
games and not so well in two
others.
"Martin generally goes with
two receiver routes," he said, utiliz-
ing a potential receiver as a blocker.
"No one in our secondary has
started before this year and they're
all coming on well," he said. "I
think they'll do a good job against
Martin's passing attack."
He said that the Elks played
with intensity against Mansfield
and generally played good enough
to win.
"We moved the ball well. De-
fensively, we played a good ball
game. We're going to give up some
yards, but down near the goal, we're
tough to score on."
And that's something you can
count on—providing the officials
hold onto their handkerchiefs except
when they feel a sneeze coming on.
The Elks' home opener in dis-
trict play begins at 7:30 Friday.
At a recent tennis match, an
impressed parent noted to Burleson
tennis coach Alana Brock: "All
your team looks great Not one
stands out more than another—and
they are all so competitive. They
want to win. You can see it!"
So what's the big deal? Parents
are always enthused about the team
their child plays on, right?
Right, but they're not generally
that impressed with the team their
child plays against
The kind, and well-deserved,
comments about the Burleson ten-
nis team came, not from a Burleson
parent, but from the parent of one
of the Sulphur Springs tennis play-
ers. Burleson and Sulphur Springs
were two of the schools involved in
die tri-meet Saturday at Lancaster.
"What more could a coach ask
for?"* Brock asked in the wake of her
team's three victories in the past
week. The Elk netters defeated Sul-
phur Springs, Lancaster, and, even
more importantly, captured their
first district meet with a win over
Mansfield.
Sulphur Springs was the clos-
est match. In fact, had h been a foot-
ball game, Burleson would have
won on penetrations. It was that
close. The teams evenly split the
18 inatehes, so the winner was deci-
ded on the number of sets won. Bur-
leson came out ahead on that count,
23-19, to take the victory.
"Personally, I think we were
just exhausted after the Friday
afternoon and Saturday morning
close matches against Mansfield and
Lancaster," Brock said. "It should
have been a 14-4 victory for us> but
that may have been poor scheduling
on my part to play those two
schools back to back. However, the
team managed to dig deep enough
to pull it out."
With an 8-4 record so far this
fall in team tennis, Brock feels the
Sulphur Springs parent had it right
in calling BHS competitive.
To begin the busy weekend,
the Elks played Mansfield in a close
meet that went down to the wire in
most matches.
"Mansfield's girls were the
strongest we’ve played this year,
but we won 5-4," Brock noted. So-
phomore Julie Byrne had a two
hour match in singles before pull-
ing out a victory and Michelle Matz-
ner proved her staminia by being
part of two marathon victories.
She came back from a 6-7
setback in the first set of singles to
record a victory, then teamed up
with another senior, Lisa Leblond
for a two and a half hour doubles
victory, 6-7, 7-6, 7-5.
Juniors Darla Rutledge and Ka-
thy Shipman played mentally tough
in singles victories too, Brock said.
Senior Jana Price and junior
Tracy Mahan have won most of
their matches as the number one
doubles team, but met their match
against an agressive Mansfield team
that had "one of the best net games
I've seen," according to Brock.
The Mansfield coach says her
doubles duo can't be beaten, Brock
said. "We'll see about that," the
coach added. "Price and Mahan are
determined and are hard wotkers."
While the strength of the girls'
squad has been what pulled Burle-
son to victory in many matches
this year, it was the boys team that
had a turnaround this week, making
a significant contribution to the
Mansfield and Lancaster matches.
They won 6-3 against both
teams. "I think they knew they had
to do it this time," Brock said. "My
guys have come alive. At many
schools we play, the boys teams are
state ranked. They take private
lessons and participate in club play
and summer tournaments. Our boys
team faces very strong competition
most of the time."
Juniors Ron Gonzalez and Alan
Pearson lost in three sets as the
number one doubles team, but Joe
Grady and Thad Reeves won in
number two doubles in straight
sets. Sophomores Kevin Powell
and Stuart Huffman won easily in
straight sets.
Burleson lost in its number
one and two spots in boys' singles,
but Reeves, Grady, Powell, and
Huffman all won in straight sets.
"This is what we needed to get
us going for district," Brock said.
Once the Elk team got going,
they just didn't stop. The next
morning they left at 6:30 for the tri-
meet. It was Lancaster at 8:15 and
Sulphur Springs at noon, with no
break.
For the boys, the winners
Lady Elks play best game
of season beating Wford
By JAMES MOODY
Eight was enough on a once
popular television series, but five
was plenty for the Lady Elks vol-
leyball team and coach Pam Lea.
After dropping their first five
district matches, the Lady Elks put
it all together for their best perfor-
mance of the season Tuesday night,
coming back to defeat Weatherford
after dropping the first game 15-7.
Burleson prevailed in the final
two, 15-8, 15-11.
The 36 kills registered by Bur-
leson were a season high as were
the 16 ace serves the Lady Elks serv-
ed up in the match.
"Overall, it was an excellent
outing," commented Lea of her
team's performance.
Tracy Perez and Jennifer Petre
each had eight points on serves
while Kim Sykora had seven; Amy
Hull, six; and Sherry Yale and Cher-
yl Haas, four apiece.
Sykora had a game-high 19
kills. Perez had six and Tasha Ander-
son and Cari Brooks each had four.
Sykora also had 11 block assists
and four ace serves. Perez also had
ftvtr nonioo
After starting out slow and
losing the first game, the Lady Elks
trailed 2-0 in the second game
before tying the score at three
points apiece. On two other
occasions the score was tied in
game two, but . Burleson never
trailed again, going ahead to stay at
9-8 and shutring out the Lady
Kangaroos the rest of the way.
The deciding game was a close
T:.....”' :.............. .
one from the very beginning with
Burleson trailing 10-7 at one point.
The Lady Elks tied the score at 10,
then went ahead 12-10 before
Weatherford scored its last point of
the night to make it 12-11.
Burleson played that game, as
it will the remainder of the games
this season, without the services of
senior Lori Smith. She reinjured
her knee in practice Monday and is
out for the season.
"She will really be missed by
the team," Lea said.
Last Friday, Burleson lost 4-
15, 15-12, 6-15 to Mansfield. The
Lady Elks also played that game
without one of their starters, Sherry
Yale, who was ill.
Burleson went to a 5-1 offense
to compensate for the loss of a
starting setter and adjusted well at
times, Lea said.
In the second game, Burleson
tied the score at seven points and
scored three in a row on serves by
Chery Haas to take the lead. Again,
the score was tied at 12, but the
Lady Elks scored the next three
points to win.
In the finai nitnciiup, Mf.cld
took a 5-3 lead, then reeled off five
consecutive points and Burleson
never recovered.
"We played well in spots,” the
Lady Elk coach said, "but did not
let our momentum from game two
carry over to game three."
Sykora had nine kills. At six
kills apiece were Brooks, Perez, and
Haas. Petre had six ace serves and
Hull played an outstanding game
defensively, the coach said.
In her last game for Burleson,
Smith had two points on serves.
Friday evening, the Lady Elks
host Arlington Martin at 5 p.m.
and Tuesday they'll travel to Arling-
ton for games with the Lady Colts.
The junior varsity has a tourn-
ament at Arlington Saturday.
Basketball
leagues for
men forming
The Burleson Parks and Rec-
reation Department will hold organ-
izational meetings for winter basket-
ball leagues on Thursday, Oct 6.
Meeting rimes have been an-
nounced as follows: Men's church,
6:30 p.m.; Men's open, 7:00; and a
new league, Men’s over 30,7:30.
All meetings will be held at
the community center, 500 Chisen-
fcqlf T JMtMb • '•
All men interested in paruci-
patihg in these leagues are encour-
aged to attend one of the meetings.
For additional information, con-
tact John Cobb, 295-8168.
▲
I American Heart
Association
WERE FIGHTING FOR
VOURLIFE
Lisa Leblond
Team effort good for 3 wins
against Lancaster were Grady, Po-
well, Huffman, Reeves, and Jon
Wilson in singles. Winning in
doubles were Reves and Grady and
Powell and Huffman.
The Sulphur Springs winners
in boys' singles were Gonzalez,
Powell, and Matt Findley. Powell
and Huffman won in doubles.
For the girls, Leblond and Ma-
tzner and Rutledge and April Ar-
ledge won in doubles against Lan-
caster. Singles winners were Price,
Byrne, and Shipman.
The girls doubles teams made a
clean sweep of Sulphur Springs.
Those teams were Price-Mahan,
Matzner-Leblond, and Rutledge and
Phoebe Foster. Claiming victory in
the singles matches were Byrne,
Shipman, and Arledge.
—JAMES MOODY
Thad Reeves
TEAMWORK
BURLESON ELKS
Players of the week.
Burleson vs. Mansfield
OFFENSIVE
DEFENSIVE
ELKS
41
OFFENSIVE
ALAN SMITH
Senior #41
Fullback
7.2 yds. per carry average
' against Mansfield
ELX8
DEFENSIVE
BURTON BUSSE
Junior #68
Outside Linebacker
7 unassisted tackles, 6
assists, 1 tackle for loss.
We're a team you can count on!
H 0*11/1!
«. FARMERS & MERCHANTS STATE BANK
201 West Ellison • P.O. Box 489 • Burleson, TX • (817) 295-118-
Member FDIC
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Moody, James. Burleson Star (Burleson, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 104, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 6, 1988, newspaper, October 6, 1988; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth760771/m1/8/?rotate=270: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Burleson Public Library.