Shelby County Today

February 13, 2017 - The Varsity Tennis Team competed in the Kilgore tournament this past Friday, February 10, 2017. Sixteen schools participated and Center finished 3rd overall. Here is how each individual bracket finished:

Boys Singles A- Mauricio Rojas-Solis 5th
Boys Singles B- Vaughn Whitley 10th

Girls Singles A- Keelan Williams 4th
Girls Singles B- Mackenzie Dykes 1st

Boys Dbls A- Zach Fausett/Nate Morris 6th
Boys Dbls B- Abram Morales/Jose Landin 2nd

Girls Dbls A-Whitlee Reed/Megan Dunn 3rd
Girls Dbls B-Katie Nehring/Caitlyn Basham 5th

Mxd Dbls A-Emma Locke/Keaton Watlington 6th
Mxd Dbls B-Sam McSwain/Maddie Russell 3rd

Upcoming:
Varsity Tyler Tournament 2/17

Go Riders!!

The Riders also participated on Friday, February 3, 2017. Here are the Varsity Jacksonville Tennis Tournament Results with accompanying photos.

Team Points - 12 schools participating
Girls - 2nd
Boys - 3rd

Individual Results that earned points

Girls Singles A:  Mackenzie Dykes - 4th
Girls Singles B:  Caroline Scull - 2nd

Boys Doubles A: Zach Fausett / Nate Morris -1st

Girls Dbls A: Whitlee Reed / Iliana Rojas - 3rd

Girls Dbls B: Katie Nehring / Caitlyn Basham -3rd

Mixed Dbls A: Emma Locke/Mauricio Solis- 4th
Mixed B: Sam McSwain/Maddie Russell -1st

Good start for the Rider Tennis program.

Timpson Bears Gymnasium, February 7, 2017 –

Before a packed house at home, the Timpson Lady Bears Basketball Team fell in a close game to the Joaquin Lady Rams, by a 47-41 final score. The game was a hardly fought cross-county rivalry which saw Timpson claw their way back several times after trailing 16-7 at the end of the first period.

Joaquins’ Hana Bonner extended the JHS lead to 14 points when she hit a 3-pointer to start the second quarter. Timpson kept fighting and six points during the second stanza, by freshman point guard Brylee Behrens, helped THS narrow the Joaquin lead to seven points by halftime. Joaquin led 26-17 at the midway break.

Lady Bear JaKaria Deckard opened the third period with a bucket, and teammate Sara Duke followed seconds later with a 3-point bomb which cut the Ram’s lead to just 26-24. Joaquins’ Eboni Adams hit three field goals during the third frame which helped the Lady Rams build their lead to 37-31 going in to the final period.

The Lady Bears cut Joaquin’s lead to just one point with three minutes left to play but the Lady Rams were able to outscore THS 5-2 in the final minute to hold on for the win.

Timpson finished the regular season with a 20-12 mark and went 4-8 in District 22 2A play. 

Brylee Behrens led the Lady Bears with 12 points, other Lady Bears scoring were, JaKaria Deckard 11, Ashton Harris 6, Jasmine Rodgers 6, Sara Duke 6.

Joaquin was led by Eboni Adams with 18 points, Desere Cooper 13, Hana Bonner 9, Day’za Lane 6, and Erica Davis scored one point.

January 25, 2017 - The Center Recreation Department is proud to announce that sign ups for the 2017 Baseball, Softball and Spring Soccer seasons will begin soon.

• Where? The Center Middle School Cafeteria
• Who? Boys and Girls ages 4-14
• When? Friday, January 27 (5:00pm to 7:00pm), Tuesday, January 31 (5:00pm to 7:00pm), and Friday, February 3 (5:00pm to 7:00pm)

Cost: Baseball - $85; Softball - $75; Spring Soccer - $65

Each participant must present a Copy of their Birth Certificate.  A Medical Form must be signed by their parent or guardian at Sign-Ups.  We are also looking for a few good volunteers to Coach and/or Referee. See You There!

For more information contact Jason Mitchell, City of Center Recreation Director at 936/590-7196.

February 1, 2017 - Kyle Parks and Octavius Evans signed letters of intent to play football as part of the National Day of Signing, February 1, 2017 for the 2017-2018 academic year surrounded by family and friends.

Coach Barry Bowman, Athletic Director and Head Football Coach spoke, "It's a great day. Octavius [Evans] and Kyle [Parks], Kyle signing at Blinn Junior College and Octavius is going to be going to Boise State. This doesn't ever get old for me. I've been fortunate to do this for quite a few times. This is a culmination of a lot of years of hard work, a lot of parent, grandparents toting kids around dropping them off to play this and that. It's a great day not only for Kyle and Octavius; it's also a great day for their families and it's a great day for Center High School as well."

The Center Athletes signed their letters of intent along with the parents as the audience applauded. Following the signing, fellow Center ISD students had an interview with them to be aired at project graduation.

Evans answered a question asked by a fellow student, 'Who had the most impact on you at Center High School?' saying, "Who had the most impact on my life was back when I was in Middle School had to be coach Cloudy. Because we all grew up around him, he took us in, he worked with us, and he made us become young men before we got into High School. So, I have to say Coach Cloudy impacted my life, he made a big difference, he showed way and the key to be, to get where I'm at today. So, I just want to thank him."

Parks agreed with Evans about Coach Cloudy saying, "We've been rocking this since seventh grade in middle school."

A second question asked was what made them choose each college and Evans responded, "What made me choose my college is the coaches and the people. It's a lot of good people around the campus and it's a lot of people that's on the team that want to get better and they want to make you better."

Parks answered, "I choose Blinn College because I like the atmosphere and the coaches, they took me in already like, it just felt like it was a good fit for me."

Both plan on majoring in kinesiolgy along with a second degree. Parks expressed plans on becoming a coach and Evans expressed interest of adding maybe a business degree to be able to coach as well.

They also expressed wanting to be role models to younger students and athletes coming behind them to motivate them to do the same thing of going to the next level and to do better. Parks said, "I feel like for us going there that motivates and pushes the people that's behind us to do the same, which they should. We are both the leaders on the team so we try to work hard everyday just so they can have the mentality of the same thing and do the same thing as we." Evans added, "Basically what [Parks] said, it don't get better than this, when you go to start chasing a dream to get to the next level. You work hard at it. Just, I want the young people below us to know what we put in, effort and the heart that we put in to get to where we are at."