LOCAL SPORTS IN BRIEF
BY SPORTS EDITOR MITCH LUCAS
FOOTBALL

HOPING TO SET A RECORD TONIGHT - Kilgore High School basketball player Troylisha Orange (left) and the Lady Bulldogs could set a single-season record for district wins with a victory at Hallsville tonight. The Lady 'Dogs play at Hallsville; the boys host the Bobcats.

Signing day Wednesday

National Signing Day, where high school football players sign letters of intent with college football programs, is tomorrow, and both Kilgore High School and Kilgore College will have players involved - KC, of course, will be signing players and seeing others off to bigger institutions, and KHS will have players moving on to play college football.

The Kilgore News Herald, as always, will have coverage of both - look for a complete list of KC signees later this week, however, as KC's signings will continue throughout the day on Wednesday.

Banquet is Monday

The annual Kilgore High School football banquet will be Monday night at the Devall Student Center on the Kilgore College campus. The banquet, organized and prepared by the school's football booster club, will begin at 6:30 p.m. that night. Tickets are $15 each, and are on sale at the KHS athletic department offices.

BASKETBALL

KHS faces Hallsville; Sabine visits WO

The Kilgore High School basketball teams will both face Hallsville tonight, and the Sabine High School teams will face White Oak.

Kilgore's Lady Bulldogs can set a single-season record for district wins tonight. Kilgore is 11-2 in District 12-4A play, and will play at Hallsville, varsity only, beginning at 7 p.m. The Lady 'Dogs would claim at least a share of the district championship with a win, their first district title since the 2004-05 season. A Kilgore win coupled with a Nacogdoches loss would get Kilgore the district title outright. Nac hosts Marshall tonight.

This is the regular-season finale for the Lady Bulldogs. If things stay as they are, and they wind up tied with Nac for first place in the district standings, they'll play one game this weekend (to be announced, of course) for playoff-seeding purposes, then begin the Class 4A playoffs sometime next week. It will be the first trip back to the playoffs for Kilgore since that '05-'06 season.

The KHS boys will host Hallsville tonight, beginning with freshmen at 5 p.m. The Bulldogs aren't in the playoff hunt, but would obviously like to finish out the last few games of the season with victories. Kilgore has three games remaining: tonight's home games against Hallsville, Friday's games at Henderson, and at home against Marshall on Tuesday.

Sabine teams play at White Oak tonight, beginning with girls JV at 5 p.m. Varsity girls will play at 6:15 p.m., and varsity boys around 7:30. Both Sabine teams are headed for the playoffs. The Cardinals are 25-5 overall, 4-2 in District 15-3A, and are probably looking for a little revenge: White Oak beat Sabine at Liberty City in the first round of play. Coach Paul Bell's Lady Cardinals are 17-10 overall, a very impressive 8-1 in district play and hoping to finish out the regular season with a win tonight.

SOCCER

Both KHS teams at Eustace tonight

Both Kilgore High School soccer teams will play at Eustace tonight, and both are hoping to get back on the winning track.

Coach Amanda Walzel's Lady Bulldogs will face Eustace, varsity-only, tonight at 5:30 p.m. The girls are 2-3 in the District 17-4A standings, still with the bulk of the district schedule in front of them. Coach Kris Duplissey's boys are 1-3-1 in district play, and also have most of the schedule left to play.

The Bulldogs will host Chapel Hill on Friday night, beginning with coach Joey Pippen's junior varsity team at 5:30, while the girls will play at Chapel Hill, also beginning at 5:30 p.m. with JV, coached by Alice Crocker.

BASEBALL

KBBA registration begins Feb. 16

Sign up for the 2008 season of the Kilgore Boys Baseball Association (KBBA) will begin Saturday Feb. 16 from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the KBBA fields on Harris Street.

Registration is $75 per player. Children must be five years old before April 30, and should bring birth certificates to registration. Ages range from five through 14.

It will be on Feb. 22 from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m., on the 23rd from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m., and tryouts will be there on March 1, the time to be announced.

For more information on KBBA, call the KBBA office at (903) 984-4170, or e-mail Stephanie Osteen at kilgorebaseball@yahoo.com.

You can also visit the KBBA online at ourleaguesite. com/kilgorebaseball.