Fifteen athletes and cheerleaders from the Freestone and Limestone County areas competed and participated in the FCA Victory Bowl events in Belton and Waco over the weekend. Each participant reported good times and great fellowship with others and the host homes through the last four days.
The FCA Victory Bowl events narrowed down over 400 potential participants to just over 200 from the 100 high schools in the FCA Heart of Texas region for a banquet, events, practice, coaches selection and other fellowship opportunities and the week finished with the beginning games at Dee Dillon and Red Murff fields on the campus of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton.
Fairfield’s Dane Allman and Teague’s Brylon Jackson represented the area on the Blue All-Stars coached by Mexia’s Evan Simpson. Blue jumped out to an early lead with a two-run home run by Cortlan Castle of Midway. Jackson reached on a fielder’s choice and came around to score on a single by Castle to lead 5-3. Jackson later had a single to left centerfield that scored two runs to tie the game at 9-9. Allman pitched a portion of an inning in the third but the Red All-Stars would claim the 12-10 win.
The ladies had the same starting time and featured a couple of premier players in the area. Carsyn Cox of the Fairfield Lady Eagles and Addy Rich of Groesbeck were instrumental in the Blue All-Stars 13-1 dominating win over the Red All-Stars. The Blue All-Star team was coached by Keith Ryno of Blooming Grove, soon to take over the softball duties at Teague High School.
Rich and Cox each drew the start in the field at third base and left field, respectively. Rich stepped into the batter’s box and singled to left field but she was stranded in the first inning. Rich hit a long fly ball out to centerfield, but drove in a run for the 2-1 lead for the Blue All-Stars. Cox slapped a single to left field to load the bases in the bottom half of the fifth inning. Molly VandenBout hit a three-run home run and Rich was hit by a pitch. The Blue team sent 12 batters to the plate in the fifth and extended the lead to 9-1 on their way to a 13-1 win. Rich retired the side in order in her inning in the circle.
A warm Saturday morning would see the kickoff of the 13th annual FCA Victory Bowl football at Midway High School’s Panther Stadium where stars Nemier Herod of Teague and James Abraham and Brandon Gose of Mexia would see significant time in the Blue offense. Red scored first on the day on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Coby Bailey of Hamilton to Koby Hollingsworth of Axtell for a quick 6-0 lead. Blue would take the lead on a 33-yard touchdown pass to Kobe Jessie from Rice from Mildred quarterback Daniel Ayers.
The local stars took the field in the second quarter and Herod ripped off two big runs in the first moments of the quarter. He had a 40-yard run behind the two Mexia offensive linemen, Abraham and Gose. He followed that up with a 31-run burst to get inside the five-yard line, Herod finished with 96 rushing yards in the game. Blue would turnover the ball but made a tackle on defense for a safety, extending the lead to 12-6.
In the final minutes of the half, Bosqueville quarterback Luke Bradshaw connected with Bulldog teammate Jay King for the first of two touchdown passes on the day. Bradshaw was named the Offense MVP in the 33-20 win. Cooper Gohlke, the Red defender from Crawford, was named the defensive MVP.
The FCA Victory Bowl finished the weekend with the Volleyball game at Midway High School. Wortham setter Reagan Stuver played on the Red team and Tori Skinner of Teague, Breann and Brandi Conally of Groesbeck played for the Blue All-Stars, coached by Ashley Montalvo of Teague High School.
Stuver served a couple of rotations in each game and played will while Skinner played both lines in all games. The Conally twins played in several rotations and were pivotal with several kills and service points. The Blue All-Stars won the match in three games (26-24, 26-24, 25-18) Leah Stephenson of Waco Live Oak was named the game MVP.
Abby Coleman of Fairfield, Aly Loftice of Groesbeck, Samantha Samaniego was at all events as part of the cheerleading squads and performed a routine they learned over the week.
Each player left the field with a prayer and some gifts from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. They found that teams play the game but the one team that we all play for is humankind and the FCA staff was wonderful with their work and effort to put on a grand event.
