sports
THE LIBERTY HILL INDEPENDENT Thursday, September 19, 2013 Page 4
VOLLEYBALL
District play begins next week
Lady Panthers pick up vital victory over Bangs
By Taylor Grafft The Independent Sports With the Liberty Hill Lady Panthers Varsity volleyball team a week away from opening District play against Lampasas, Head Coach Gretchen Peterson believes the team’s next few matches will play a vital role in preparing for bigger challenges down the road. “We’re really going to work on consistency,” said Coach Peterson. “We’ve got to cut down the number of unforced errors, missed serves and hitting errors. In District it’s a brand new season and everybody comes out in a different mindset and those can come back to really hurt you.” Against Bangs on Tuesday, the Lady Panthers were moving the ball rather well and linking up for good kills. The team seemed to be playing loose and having a lot of fun out on the court, which led to a dominate 3-0 (25-16, 25-6, 25-16) win. “I think sometimes we played too relaxed,” Coach Peterson said. “It got a little sloppy at times. We needed to execute and look a little crisper on things, but overall it’s a good win. We got a lot of playing time for everybody, so we really got to finetune some things heading into District and that’s what we want these last few games to be about. We still need to work on intensity more, but overall it was a good win.” The biggest challenge for the Panthers will be remaining mentally tough in District play
“We have to be mentally focused, crisper, and execute more,” Peterson said. “I think if we keep pushing the tempo and really work on ball control that will definitely play in our favor. Those are the types of things we’ll be focusing on these last few games to prepare.” Kallie Perrin was the leader and most dominate player on the court against Bangs. She did well to combine with Jaycie Pluenneke, Jill Green, and Peyton Redmond for key offensive plays. “I thought Kallie (Perrin) moved the ball around really well,” Peterson said. “Her and Jaycie (Pluenneke) connected on some really key quick attacks in the front row.” In the first game against Bangs, Liberty Hill started out with a 4-2 lead following a kill by Peyton Redmond. Then another kill by Redmond made it 6-4. After taking a 7-6 lead, the Lady Panthers went on a 9-0 run to make it 16-6. Bangs battled back to make it 16-10 before a dump shot by Kallie Perrin helped put Liberty Hill up 17-10. A hitting error by Bangs caused the Panthers to take a 19-12 lead. Then Redmond’s kill made it 21-14. An unforced error by Bangs made it 2315 and caused them to call a timeout to reorganize. The Panthers finished off game one with a kill by Redmond and took the 25-16 first set victory. In the second game, the Lady Panthers were nothing short of domi-
nant. They were passing the ball around well and hitting their shots with precision. After falling behind 0-1, the Panthers went on a 8-0 run and jumped out to a 8-1 lead. A kill by Jaycie Pluenneke gave Liberty Hill a 9-2 lead, before a dump shot by Perrin increased the lead to eight points. An ace by Pluenneke and back-toback kills by Redmond and Perrin made it 16-3. The Lady Panthers were really clicking and having fun out on the court. Jill Green’s block made it 19-4, before another kill by Mason Sharp made it 24-6. The second game ended with a Liberty Hill 25-6 victory and two game advantage over Bangs. In the third and final game, Liberty Hill got off to a slow start and allowed Bangs to keep it close before pulling away. A kill by Pluenneke allowed the Panthers to pull ahead 4-3 after being tied 3-3. A missed serve by Bangs put Liberty Hill on top 8-5 a little later on in the set. The Lady Panthers went on a 6-0 run and forced Bangs to call a timeout to try and kill the momentum. A kill by Jill Green made it 16-7. Bangs started to cut the lead closer when it became 19-11, but back-toback kills by Pluenneke made it 2111. Bangs cut the lead to six, but the Lady Panthers dug deep and held off the late push and took a 25-16 third set victory and the match, 3-0.
Mason Sharp (#7) spikes the ball over the net to give her team a healthy lead over Bangs in the third set. The Panthers went on to win 3-0 over Bangs in a total team effort on Tuesday. (Photo by Kathy Canady)
Game Night Preview
Liberty Hill faces Rockdale in Homecoming match Liberty Hill vs. Rockdale (HOMECOMING) 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20 Panther Stadium, Liberty Hill
About Rockdale High School Coach: Jeff Miller Mascot: Tigers Colors: Royal Blue/Gold League: 3A Region III District 18 The Rockdale Tigers (1-2) started off the 2013 season with a 47-21 win over Salado at home, but dropped the next two games at Burnet and at home against Cameron Yoe. Last season, Liberty Hill defeated Rockdale 76-35 and Rockdale finished the 2012 season at 5-5. Friday night at Panther Stadium will be Homecoming for Liberty Hill High School, so it will be a special night for the fans, players and students. The Tigers are a very athletic team that will score a lot of points and average over 400 yards of total offense. Their running back, Elijah Brooks, has averaged 75.7 yards per game this season and will be a major threat running the football on Friday. “Rockdale was real young last
year,” said Liberty Hill Head Coach Jerry Vance. “All their kids are back. I think they have nine returning players on defense and seven players on offense. They are a very talented bunch. They are by far the most talented team we’ve seen. And most likely will be the most talented team we face in non-conference games this regular season.” This will be a great challenge for the Panthers as they look to pick up their first win at the new Panther Stadium. The Panthers will try and take the momentum they have built over the last two weeks on the road and translate those victories into wins at home. “We hope those victories have helped,” Vance said. “I think we’ve gotten better each week. In this business you don’t want to go backwards. If you go backwards you’re in real trouble. So I think we’ve made progress and this week is by far the toughest opponent we’ve seen and we’ll see how we match up against them.” Offensively the Tigers line up in the spread and have a couple of wide receivers that can hurt you vertically by running great routes and have
exceptional catching abilities. The Panthers will also have to keep an eye on Tigers’ quarterback Clayton Gibbs, who is averaging 236.3 yards passing per game this season and averaging 45.7 yards rushing per game. “The Rockdale quarterback throws the ball very quickly,” Vance said. “He gets the ball out of his hands real fast.” Rockdale also has an offensive lineman committed to Baylor University who could give the Panthers defensive lineman trouble. Josh Pelzel, is a 6’7” 334 pound offensive tackle that committed to the Bears back in May. On defense the Tigers also have a star linebacker, James David, who is committed to Baylor as well. David is a 6’3” 225 pound inside linebacker that committed to the Bears in June. “We’ll be the first team that lines up and runs at Rockdale,” Coach Vance said. “I’m not sure what they’ll look like defensively because they changed their scheme recently to a 4-3 defensive look. But last season they brought a lot of pressure. So we’ll have to wait and see what sorts of things they bring to the table.”
Quarterback Keylan Herman breaks through the Smithville defense on his way to a 35-yard touchdown run. Herman added another touchdown run from one-yard out in the Junior Varsity’s 52-14 victory on Sept. 12. (Photo by Kathy Canady)
Liberty Hill JV dominates Smithville in total team effort
By TAYLOR GRAFFT The Independent Sports The Liberty Hill Junior Varsity Football team dominated in every aspect of its 52-14 home victory over the Smithville Tigers on Sept. 12. The Panthers scored on the ground and on defense. It was a total team
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effort that had Panther fans and players enjoying themselves in the stands and on the sidelines last Thursday evening. Running back Lance Champion opened the scoring with 7:10 remaining in the first quarter on an 11yard touchdown run. The Tigers answered back with a five-minute, 73-yard touchdown drive that ended with a 16-yard touchdown pass in the end zone. The Tigers’ 2 point conversion try was no good and left the game 7-6 in favor of Liberty Hill. The Panthers would score again in the second quarter on a 35-yard touchdown run with 9:26 remaining in the first half. The ensuing extra point was no good and left the Tigers trailing 13-6. Running back Grant White added another touchdown on the ground from 18-yards out with 5:34 remaining in the quarter and increased the lead to 19-6. The Panthers started the drive on the Tigers’ 33-yard line following a fumble recovery by Liberty Hill. The Panthers would score one last touchdown before halftime on a running back John Brown 3-yard touchdown run with five seconds remaining in the quarter. The Panthers converted the two-point conversion to Grant White to increase their lead to 27-6. The four minute and five second drive was the dagger that really put the game out of reach and allowed the Panthers to take a comfortable lead into halftime. It didn’t take long for Liberty Hill to find the end zone again, as the
Panthers scored 43 seconds into the second half following a fumble recovery on the Tigers 29-yard line. Lance Champion scored his second touchdown of the game on a 15-yard run. The ensuing extra point was no good and the Panthers took a 33-6 lead with 9:17 remaining in the third quarter. A minute later it was the Panther defense that put points on the board. The Smithville quarterback fumbled the ball on a tackle by Paul Swartz and it was picked up and returned for a touchdown by Clayton Lafferty. The extra point was blocked and the Panthers were up 39-6. The Tigers got something positive going on the following drive. A kickoff return down to the 5-yard line put Smithville in a great chance to score and make the game a little more within reach. Smithville finally punched it in on third and goal with 6:16 remaining in the third quarter to cut the lead to 39-14 following a successful two-point conversion. Ryan Ragle entered the game for Liberty Hill on the following drive as the new quarterback. Ragle made quick work of his opportunity and scored a 45-yard touchdown on a three-play drive that started at the Panthers’ 38-yard line. The JV Panthers would score one last touchdown in the fourth quarter with 7:25 remaining in the game. John Brown added his second rushing touchdown of the evening on a 12-yard touchdown run. The extra point was no good and the Panthers went on to end the game with a 5214 victory.