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/DG\ELUGVSUHSDUHIRUQHZVRFFHUFDPSDLJQBy CHRIS
[email protected]
The new year brings many chang-es for sports fans.
And the same can be said for the Ladybird soccer team. First
year El Campo coach Stephanie Morrison will direct the Ladybirds in
District 47-4A and hopes to emphasize the importance of a new
start.
I dont want to focus on last year, I want to focus on this year,
Morri-son said. It will be different for me because its a new
sport, but I want to get the girls together and form a good
group.
El Campo isnt known for its soc-cer, yet the Ladybirds should
have a cohesive unit of returning players. The Ladybirds have 20
players slat-ed for their opening-day roster and eight are
returning from last year.
Two of those are seniors Angel Sal-dana and Crystal Lorta.
Morrison will institute a 1-4-3-3 formation this season. The
formation
By CHRIS [email protected]
El Campo and Louise had its fair share of eventful and thrilling
moments in 2012.
Lets take a look at the highlights of the 2012 sports season
from spring through winter.Spring: Feb. 2 marked the day many
Ricebird and Ladybird fans will remember for an extremely long
time. The University Interscholastic League conducted its biennial
classication realignment and the move shifted El Campo from Class
4A to 3A.
El Campo competed in 3A for the rst time in
more than 40 years beginning with the 2012-13 campaign.
The realignment affected the Louise football team as well. The
Hornets dropped from Class 1A Division I to Division II. All other
Louise sports competed in the same district as the previous year
except for the football team.
The Ricebird soccer team nished their season 2-3-5 in district
competition, just missing the playoffs by one win. El Campo drew
with Brazo-sport 2-2 in its last match to shatter its playoff
hopes.
Louise track and eld fans rooted Hornet Dil-
lon Lee all the way to a fourth place nish in the long jump
event at the Class 1A state meet. Lee jumped 2110 in the long jump
event to claim fourth place.
El Campo Athletic Director Bob Gillis and As-sistant Trainer
Cassey Janak were both honored by the Greater Houston Football High
School Coaches Association.
Gillis was inducted into the Hall of Honor for his dedicated
work on the gridiron. Janak was selected as Athletic Trainer of the
Year in her second year at El Campo.
(See EC SOCCER SQUAD, Page 6)
Stephanie Morrison (See MEMORABLE EVENTS MARK, Page 6)
Chris Kutac attempts to drive the baseline as the Hornets fell
to Palacios 44-28 at Hornet Gym Thursday afternoon in a
non-district matchup. The Sharks led 23-11 at halftime and were
successful with their press defense in the second half, which
limited Louise to shot opportunities and forced turnovers. The
Hornets are off for a week before their next game against Tivoli at
Hornet Gym Jan. 4.
L-N Photo by Chris FIloteo
+RUQHWV%LW%\6KDUNV$W+RPH
Lady Hornet Katelyn Roades (10) goes for a steal at mid-court
during the third quarter in a 66-33 defeat by the Palacios Lady
Sharks Thursday morning at Hornet Gym. Louise trailed 33-14 at
halftime and struggled with shot production in the second half as
Palacios held the Lady Hor-
nets to no shot attempts until 5:41 in the third quarter. The
Lady Hor-nets scrambled against Palacios press defense throughout
the contest. Louise travels to East Bernard Jan. 2 for its next
non-district game. The Lady Hornets host Shiner in their rst
district game of the season Jan. 8.
L-N Photo by Chris FiloteoSwiping Steal
$GYDQFHGWHFKQRORJ\KHOSVKXQWHUVLQILHOG
Hunting for white-tailed deer has drastically changed over the
past de-cade.
I remember as a child, heading outdoors with my dad in search of
a trophy buck. We would sit together in a blind and patiently wait
for sun-rise.
Once deer began to wonder from the thick brush, I asked my dad,
Look at that buck dad, have you seen him before?
My dads response was, Nope. I havent seen him before.
With the technology of trail cam-eras today, deer hunters have
the opportunity to scout their herd 24/7 without physically being
in the eld.
The vast assortment of trail cams (as they are called by
hunters) range from a $75 model up to $500 and more. Any one of the
trail cams can pin-point the precise location of a tar-geted
deer.
The general season closes in Wharton County Jan. 6, but the
spe-cial youth-only along with muzzle-loader seasons remain open
until Jan. 20.
So, there is still time to accurate-ly locate that trophy buck
you have been eagerly trying to see while in the eld.
Where is the best place to put a trail cam you might ask?
Most hunters put them along trails and around their feeders,
Tex-as Parks and Wildlife Department wildlife biologist for Wharton
County David Lobpries said.
During the rut, which is typically during the rst week of
November, placing a trail cam near a scrape to see a bucks activity
is a great idea. Another crafty spot for your trail cam is by a
rub, where a buck rubs his forehead and antlers against a tree
trunk.
The bucks scrape off the velvet on their antlers in late summer
and ear-ly fall. During the rut, bucks mark their territory with
rubs, which leave scent from a gland in the forehead.
Now for the novice hunter, you
dont have to buy the fancy trail cam available to start your
scouting.
For beginners, dont buy the most expensive one, Lobpries said.
The least expensive cam without all the bells and whistles will do
the job.
Lobpries suggests hunters not to place too many trail cams in
one area.
If you use a protein feeder we recommend using one per 160-200
acres, Lobpries said.
How important are night time photos versus day time photos when
patterning a buck?
They are really good for activ-ity and you will see that before
the season, Lobpries said. Primarily you will see them coming quite
fre-quently during daylight hours. Right now, I have a camera out
west of El Campo and every deer is coming af-ter dark.
And nding out what time deer are active is the best tool to have
dur-ing the season. However, nocturnal deer arent always bucks.
There are both does and bucks coming out to my camera in El
Cam-po, Lobpries said. Does are sharper than bucks, especially when
you hunt them. I only had one daytime photo around 5 p.m. and the
rest of the pictures were at night.
In fact, during a hunt in Fort Bend County earlier this month I
didnt have one deer come to the feed-er. Its been that kind of
year. Very few deer, or hogs are coming to the feeder during
daylight hours.
Hunting the rut is a magical time of year for most hunters. I
know for me it is.
The best time to hunt is during
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(See TECHNOLOGY, Page 6)
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A look back at the 14-1 season
Saturday, December 29, 2012
5,&(%,5')227%$//
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Page 2(O&DPSR/HDGHU1HZV6DWXUGD\'HFHPEHU
$'%%-+""' 207 East Watt El Campo, TX 979.543.3532
(' +-.%-"(',GBG;8?4@CB+
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109 W. Jackson El Campo, TX 77437 EMAIL US AT:
[email protected]
WAY TO GO!WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!
STATE FINALIST
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TRISKA FUNERAL HOME
2XUIDPLO\WDNLQJFDUHRI\RXUIDPLO\DWDWLPHZKHQIDPLO\PDWWHUVPRVW
0HUFKDQW6W
WERE PROUDOF YOU!
CHERISH THESE MEMORIES FOR A LIFETIME.
Reid Strnadel
Congratulations on a great football season!
We Love You, Mom, Dad & Emily
#76
do, he said. Im going to stop being a trainer when I become a
freshman because I want to play football too.
DuBroc said all the ice chests needed to be washed after game
day, something he didnt expect to be so hard.
Loading ice was really heavy, he said. Its harder than it looks.
I think the rst week of two-a-days we ran out of ice.
All the trainers had sore arms the rst few weeks, he added.
Saturdays also meant folding towels and uniforms. Towels are
especially impor-tant to hand out during the games, DuBroc
said.
Sometimes its not your sweat that gets on you - its mostly
theirs.
Britain Zalman, a junior at ECHS, has been a trainer for the
past three years.
He said he loved sports, but decided not to spend his off-season
in the fall running around the track to stay in shape.
Sports is my life, Zalman said. One of the coaches came up to me
and asked me to be a trainer. I knew it would be my opportunity to
be on the eld.
I know it means so much to the guys when youre back there in the
locker room and you are doing everything you
can to get them back into good spirits, he said.
ECHS athletic trainer Cassey Janak said the stu-dents assistance
is invalu-able. Janak was chosen as the 2012 Bobby Gunn Athletic
Trainer of the Year for the greater Houston area. ECHS head
athletic trainer Dean Easter was also chosen for this award in 2008
when he was employed at Sealy ISD. Both oversee the trainers and
help with sideline manage-ment.
They are all really good kids, she said. They are very
appreciated around here.
The trainers, like all mem-bers of the team, received
Uni-versity Interscholastic League medals for being a vital part of
the state runner-up team.
I think the main thing we do out here is take care of them,
Zalman said. Its the relationships you make that hold us all
together.
5HODWLRQVKLSVKROG5LFHELUGVWRJHWKHU(Continued from Page 4)
L-N Photo by Jon EiltsRooting Ricebird
Ricebird linebacker Jeremy Supak pumps up the crowd after he
tackled Stephenville quarterback Tyler Jones at Cowboys
Stadium.
FACEBOOK FAN FEEDBACK
The Leader-News asked its Facebook fans to post their re-actions
about the Ricebirds re-markable run to the Class 3A Division I
state championship game at Cowboys Stadium.
Stephanie Brazeale Cor-tez: My favorite moment was in Beaumont
after the Car-thage game! It showed the heart of our team! I think
that the way the town showed up to every game was awesome! It was
neat to see all the red in each town we were at!
Laura Hensley Motal: My favorite moment was the win over
Carthage. EC was not picked to win and many Internet forums showed
rude, nasty comments about EC. Our players gave it their all and
never gave up and took another win that night! The tears of joy
that the team and fans expressed showed the love and support we all
have for Ricebird football. Then state bound we were. The sup-port
our community showed was overwhelming! Ricebird Nation was in full
form at the state game! The Ricebird team may not have won that
night, but the team will always be winners in the eyes of our
community!
Bonnie L. Quintero Lim-baugh: I was a freshman ECHS band member
at the 1967 state nals. I now live in Fort Worth and had been
listening to the games online. I was so excited when I was able to
attend the state nal after 45 years to cheer on my hometown. I have
always been proud to be from El Cam-
po, but I was extremely proud when I was able to acknowl-edge to
my co-workers that the El Campo football team made it to the
nals.
Anita Moreno: I got so excited and in tears when the good news
that our Ricebirds were going to be state bound! And on that Friday
morning when the buses were leaving the high school, I got so happy
and I was screaming so loud, GO RICEBIRDS STATE BOUND! I even got
chills! I was so excited when I saw the Hutchins students and
teach-ers supporting the Ricebirds with their posters and waving
and smiling at their Ricebirds! And then I got to take a pic-ture
of the cop escorting the buses! Im a proud fan of our Ricebirds.
Everything about the Ricebirds is priceless and will always be my
beautiful memories of 2012!
Ashley Allsmilez Cruz: My favorite was the pep rally for the
Carthage game and seeing all the school kids with their signs
supporting the football players. Then topping
it off with Santa and Ricky the Ricebird in the helicopter, my
kids loved it all.
Traci Bell Faas: With-out a doubt the comeback to beat Carthage
was amazing! It proved that our boys never gave up and that they
were going to ght for their chance to get to state! The fans were
red up and everyone was talking football! I would have loved to
have seen every busi-ness painted up or displaying signs. That
would have been an awesome sight to see! I wish the seniors nothing
but the best in all they do and to the boys coming up, lets do it
again! Go Ricebirds!
Lisa Mcafee Bailey: When Carthage fumbled the ball and my son
recovered the ball. We then scored two touchdowns and beat them
29-25. It was great the way that El Campo supported the Ricebirds
and followed them to Arlington.
Kim Morris Wood: I loved how the community came to-gether during
the playoffs. I (and many people helped) sold football tickets at
the ad-ministration ofce. It was fun to watch them come in each
week and stand in the lobby discussing the game and what the next
week would bring. The week we went to state was unreal. We sold
almost 4,300 tickets in four days. The excitement and support from
the community was better than anyone could have asked for. Thank
you for the experi-ence and thank you El Campo for the support you
gave!
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Workover Services CompletionP.O. Box 830 El Campo, TX
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CONGRATULATIONS ON A AWESOME SEASON
BOYS!(YHU\RQHDW(&,6'LVVRSURXGRI\RX\I\R
El Campo Bowling Center The Strike Zone Bar & Grill now
featuring
The Strike Zone:(67/223ZZZHFERZOFRP
GO BIRDS!WHAT AN AWESOME YEAR!
Congrats #70 James Espericueta we are proud of you!
/22223 3
CONGRATULATIONSON AN SPECTACULAR SEASON!
WE ARE PROUD OF YOU!
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El Campo 2011 N. Mechanic 979-543-3291 www.DonDavisDeal.com
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Above: The infamous jumbotron at Cowboys Stadium displays the
two Class 3A Division I state cham-pionship teams before the game
Dec. 14.
L-N Photo by Jon Eilts
Below: Members of the Derby Dolls look at the clock during the
fourth quarter as the Ricebirds lost to Stephenville 70-35 in
Arlington.
L-N Photo by Glen Frels
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