Six area teams in football playoff action this weekend

Congrats to six of our area football teams which start Bi-District playoff action this weekend.

Friday night, Rockwall (6-4, 5-2) plays former District 10-4A foe Carrollton Newman-Smith at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco at 7:30 pm. (Above photo is of Rockwall quarterback Alan Reed.)

Royse City (3-7, 3-3) also takes on Whitehouse (8-2) at Lindale, just east of Canton on I-30, at 7:30 pm.

North Forney (3-7) plays Lindale at Whitehouse High School at 7:30 pm.

Saturday at 6 pm, Rowlett (8-2, 7 -1) plays Jesuit (6-4) at SMU’s Ford Stadium.

In private school action, Rockwall Christian plays at Shiner St. Paul Friday at 7 pm.

In TAPPS six-man football, Rockwall’s Heritage Christian Academy and The Fulton School have also qualified for playoffs but game times are unknown at this time.

Heath girls lose opening basketball game to W. Mesquite

The Rockwall-Heath girls basketball team cut a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit to just nine points, but couldn’t come closer in a 64-51 season-opening loss at West Mesquite Tuesday night.

The Lady Hawks trailed 51-30 with 7:37 to play but less than 5 minutes later pulled to within 54-45 on a rebound basket by freshman Kailey Peters.

Brooke Eddy led the Lady Hawks offense with 12 points.

Heath Hawks offense looked good vs. Rowlett Friday night

Found some details about Rockwall-Heath’s scrimmage last Friday night vs.  Rowlett.

In one 12-minute quarter of play at Homer B. Johnson stadium in Garland, Rockwall-Heath running back Dorian Lawry (#20 pictured above) carried five times for 120 yards and scored once from 44-yards out.

First-year starting quarterback Ross Hudson hooked up twice with junior receiver Clark Pope for 48 yards.

Sounds like Heath still can move the football.

Rockwall Racers Swim Team tryouts this week

Tryouts for the Rockwall Racers Swim Team will be Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 25 and 26, from 4- 5 pm,  at the RISD Aquatics Center located at 1205 T.L. Townsend next to Wilkerson-Sanders Stadium.

Swimmers from ages 5-18 are invited for the competitive USA Club Team and learn-to-swim program.

In order to try out, swimmers must be able to backstroke across the 25-yard pool and return with freestyle.

Swimmers should bring their suits, towels and goggles.

Heath student Jonathan Fuller wins national Junior Olympics high jump championship

A Rockwall Heath High School student won the national Young Men’s high jump championship at the USATF Junior Olympics in Sacramento CA last week.

Jonathan Fuller, 17, who will be a senior this fall at Heath, defeated 35 of the best high school high jumpers in the nation by leaping a new personal best of 6 ft. 10 3/4 inches.

His improved his Class 4A Texas championship title leap of 6′ 8″ by 2 3/4 inches.

Three other athletes also jumped 6-10 3/4, but had to settle for second, third and fourth places, based on number of attempts and a jump-off.

Watch for a more complete story soon at TheRockwallNews.com.

Congratulations, Jonathan! See you at the Summer Olympics soon!

Only 1,100 tickets available for 2011 Super Bowl fans at Cowboys Stadium

Sounds like you’d better get your 2011 Super Bowl XLV tickets right away if you’re planning to attend the game at Cowboys Stadium.

Only about one percent – or 1,100 tickets – of the maximum capacity 110,000 Dallas Cowboy Stadium tickets will be sold to the general public for the big game, scheduled Feb. 6, 2011.

That’s what North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee Business Development Director Robbie Douglas told Rockwall Chamber of Commerce members at their monthly luncheon yesterday.

The Rockwall resident said the price will likely be about $1,200 per ticket, an increase of about $200 per ticket over the ticket price for the 2010 event held in Miami FL.

She added that seventy-five percent of Super Bowl tickets are provided to the 32 NFL teams and 24 percent go to the hundreds of sponsors and businesses involved.

Numerous business opportunities are associated with the event and 10,000 volunteers are also needed.

Tickets are on sale now through numerous ticket agencies.

For information visit the northtexassuperbowl.com website.

Rockwall Rebels baseball team wins Memorial Showdown

Baseball is a popular sport in Rockwall. Both high school teams do well every year. So do the girls softball teams. What I will call “Little League” baseball is also very popular. It’s where many of our high school players get their start. I think a little publicity about what our youngsters are doing makes sense.

Following is a brief write-up I just received from a father about his son’s team’s success last weekend.

“The Rockwall Rebels won the Memorial Showdown in Greenville over Memorial Day weekend.  The Rebels went undefeated for the weekend in both pool and tournament play.  In addition to the Rebels, the tournament included teams from Farmersville, Greenville, and Canton.  The tournament was a USSSA qualifier sponsored by Piney Woods Baseball.  The Rebels are an 8U select team located in Rockwall, Texas. For more information, go to the Rebel’s web site, www.rockwallrebels.com.”

Pictured from left to right:  Back row – Assistant Coach Jason Hendricks, Head Coach Brian McCrary and Assistant Coach Cody Thomas.  Players (back row) Hunter Smith, Josh Hendricks, Mason Scott, Colby Thomas, and Colin Ethridge; (front row) Jacob Boling, Bryxxton Ramirez, Reagan Kesting, Logan McCrary and Mitchell Jackson.

Congrats, Rebels! See you in Rockwall and Rockwall-Heath high school uniforms in a few years.

Rockwall-Heath tennis player to play in state 4A finals

Rockwall-Heath senior tennis player Brady Bohrnstedt has advanced to the Class 4A state finals today, after beating Austin Mayo of Lake Travis, 6-1, 6-1, in the semifinals.

That followed a 6-2, 7-5 first-round win over Magnolia West’s Kevin Rodriguez.

He will play Montgomery’s Daniel Brown in the championship match today.

Good luck, Brady!

County baseball scores

Scores from March 23, 2010:

Rockwall-Heath 6, Royse City o

Rockwall 3, Richardson Pearce 1

Dallas Mavericks win 10th straight game!

Anybody watch the Mavs beat Sacramento last night? Despite having to play without the injured Jason Terry -who’s out for about two weeks after surgery to repair facial injuries, Brandon Haywood – who hurt his back in the first quarter – and even Coach Rick Carlisle – who was ejected – the Mavs revved it up and took a 13-point lead during the third quarter and then held on to win, 108-100.

Dirk hit all of his fourth-quarter free throws again and has now hit 17 straight free throws in the fourth quarter of the last two close games.

It was funny to watch Coach Rick get tossed in the second quarter. He rushed out on the court, screaming his normally composed head off at a ref when the refs refused to call fouls on the Kings for hacking Dirk on three consecutive drives to the basket. Did Carlisle do so to spark the Mavs? Apparently, because behind by about eight points at that point, the Mavs charged to just one point behind at the half.

Now what do you think of rookie Roddy Beaubois? I think he’ll soon become a fan favorite. I love watching him play because he has such high energy. Stepping up last night in Jet’s absense, Roddy hit 3 or 6 trays and scored 22 points – his all-time high. The guy is lightning fast – even faster than Devin Harris – plus he drives to the bucket without fear.

With the Lakers’ loss to Charlotte last night, the Mavs are only four games behind Kobe & Company and .5 game ahead of Denver. Can the Mavs overtake the Lakers and earn the first seed in the playoffs? If they keep playing like this – and I dont’ see why they won’t – I think there’s a great chance.

Since the All-Star break and trade for Haywood, Caron Butler and DeShawn Stevenson, the Mavs are 10-1! They’ve hardly even had a chance to practice with two new starters and only lost their first game together? Amazing. Obviously Cuban and Donnie must be congratulated for a fab trade. The chemistry must be right, too, of they wouldn’t be winning.

Go Mavs! Next victory is tonight in Chicago against Da Bulls (31-30) beginning at 8 pm on Fox Southwest. I’ll be watching.