Year in sports yields state champion as activities return to near-normal

Posted 1/6/22

High school sports returned to some sense of normalcy in 2021 after myriad disruptions in 2020 from the canceled spring season to postponed and canceled contests during the fall football and volleyball seasons and even some early basketball games.

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Year in sports yields state champion as activities return to near-normal

Posted

High school sports returned to some sense of normalcy in 2021 after myriad disruptions in 2020 from the canceled spring season to postponed and canceled contests during the fall football and volleyball seasons and even some early basketball games.

January found high school basketball teams wading into their district schedules to see which would go on to post-season play.

Alba-Golden did cancel a couple games during the holidays after a player tested positive for COVID-19.

Mineola boys showed they would be a force to be reckoned with, putting up 100 points in a game against Harmony.

Alba-Golden Lady Panthers extended their volleyball success, taking the district lead in basketball.

Mineola’s Trevion Sneed added to his post-season football honors, winning the Ford player of the year award.

The Quitman Lady Bulldogs qualified for the girls basketball playoffs with a fourth-place finish.

The other winter sports continued, with Mineola competing in soccer and Quitman hosting a power lifting meet.

Alba-Golden boys’ efforts to grab the final playoff spot were sidetracked in an overtime loss to Quinlan Boles.

Mineola senior Kobe Kendrick signed to play football with Trinity Valley.

Mineola senior Jonah Fischer was honored for scoring 1,000 points in his Yellowjacket career.

In the first round of the girls playoffs, Quitman fell to DeKalb while Alba-Golden advanced with a win over Rivercrest.

The Lady Panthers lost to Lindsay in the next round, while the Mineola boys took a bidistrict win over Hooks.

The Yellowjackets added an area win over Jefferson before coming up against Kentucky commit Daimion Collins of Atlanta, losing 71-62.

Seniors Jackson Anderson and Trevion Sneed of Mineola were awarded first-team all-state football honors.

The spring seasons got underway with hopes of being completed this time around.

Baseball and softball teams headed into tournament play while golf, tennis and track also got underway.

Alba-Golden and Quitman track squads competed at Hawkins relays.

Mineola golf teams won a tournament hosted by Alba-Golden at the Mineola Golf Club.

Quitman pitchers combined for a no-hitter in a game with North Hopkins.

Mineola senior KeJuan Fite qualified for the state power lifting meet and placed ninth.

Brooklyn Marcee, Caitlynn Barnett and Bailey Hughes represented Quitman at the girls state power lifting meet.  Barnett placed seventh and Marcee ninth.

Stan Tencza of Yantis landed a 13-pound bass on Lake Fork which was entered in the Legacy Lunkers.

Alba-Golden hosted the Ferrell Wright Relays, with Quitman among the teams competing.

Spring weather gave local teams challenges in scheduling baseball and softball games.

Mineola girls were first and the boys second in their home track meet.

Nathan Rojas of Mineola won boys singles in district tennis.

Quitman girls were first and Quitman boys were third in their own track meet.

Mineola girls golfers won their district tournament to advance to region.

Mineola boys and girls teams won their district track titles while Quitman’s Brooklyn Marcee came home with five medals, three gold and two silver.

Alba-Golden track squads were each second at their district meet.

The Lady Panthers also won the area meet. And both Mineola teams continued to advance, winning their respective area titles.

Advancing to the state track meet were Mineola pole vaulter Abbie Kratzmeyer, seeking her third title, Quitman’s Marcee in the 300-meter hurdles and the Mineola 4x400-meter relay team of Brady Shrum, Jaxon Holland, TJ Moreland and Morgan Waggoner.

Alba-Golden’s regional track performance was hampered by a pouring rain storm.

Alba-Golden girls qualified for the state softball playoffs against James Bowie, where they notched a 13-8 win.

Mineola girls golf team advanced to the state tournament near Austin: Valerie Moreland, Allie Hooton, Savannah Lopez, Sunni Ruffin and Ava Johnson.

The Yellowjacket relay team blistered the field to bring home the state championship while Kratzmeyer concluded her career with a silver medal.

Alba-Golden Panthers opened their bidistrict baseball series with a win over Linden-Kildare but dropped the last two games.

The Lady Panthers needed extra at bats to win the area championship over Martins Mill.

It also took Mineola three games to grab a bidistrict baseball win over New Boston.

A six-run sixth inning helped stop the Lady Panther softball playoff run in a 9-7 loss to Union Grove.

Late inning runs also stopped Mineola’s baseball season in a 7-4 loss to New Diana.

With the announcement of post-season honors, the high school sports world went on summer break.

But it didn’t last long as the first week of August saw practices for football, volleyball and cross country, and the disc golf course at the Mineola Nature Preserve hosted a professional tournament.

Quitman opened a new era in football with native Shane Webber returning home to coach the Bulldogs.

Volleyball teams opened the young season with tournament play.

Alba-Golden hosted Mineola in a non-district volleyball match and got the win.

Quitman opened its football season with a win, the first win since the 2018 opener.

In week three the Bulldogs added their second win and followed it up the next week defeating Hawkins to go 3-1.

Mineola opened district football play with a big victory over Winnsboro, with the Jackets converting a two-point conversion for the 36-35 win.

Quitman girls stopped Mineola to open the district volleyball action.

Quitman won its first homecoming game in 11 years while improving to 4-2, with a district win over Winona in overtime.

Though the Bulldogs did not find the win column again, the 4-6 campaign was by far the best in many years.

Mineola, Alba-Golden and Quitman volleyball teams added key district wins.

Quitman cross country teams swept the district meet while Mineola girls also advanced to the regional meet.

Quitman and Mineola staged a back-and-forth five set district volleyball battle, with the Lady Bulldogs emerging with the victory.

Alba-Golden boys cross country team qualified for regionals.

Mineola and Quitman volleyball teams advanced to the state playoffs.

Mineola fell to Atlanta while Quitman nipped Redwater to advance.

Alba-Golden’s grind-it-out style landed the Panthers in the football playoffs.

Mineola also secured a playoff spot with a week left to go.

The Mineola girls and Quitman’s Madyson Pence qualified for the state cross country meet.

Alba-Golden girls won a bidistrict playoff against James Bowie but fell to Beckville in the area round.

Top-rated White Oak ended the Lady Bulldog volleyball season in the area round.

Lady Bulldog Ava Burroughs signed to play volleyball with the University of Texas at Arlington.

Mineola won its bidistrict football match over Sabine 40-33 while Lindsay shut out Alba-Golden 21-0.

Mineola’s season ended with a 37-7 loss to West, as basketball cranked up across the county, ending the year with tournament play and the start of district action.

Mineola boys opened with a district basketball loss at Winnsboro while the Lady Jackets started district 2-1 as the Winnboro Lady Raiders dominated.

Quitman, Mineola girls and Hawkins hosted tournaments between Christmas and New Year’s.