WHAT'S CAUSING ALL THIS?
It's an exciting, busy time for sports here in Kilgore
MITCH LUCAS

LUCAS

Wow - March is here and this is the busiest time of the year for me, believe it or not.

What that means for you is plenty of local sports to watch. I hate to hear people complaining about not having any kind of sports this time of year. Come on! Just hitting some high spots:

- The Kilgore High School soccer teams are both alive in their district's playoff hunt, although the regular season is coming to an end very quickly. Coach Kris Duplissey's Bulldogs have a huge game at Pine Tree on Monday night - a win keeps the 'Dogs around, possibly could even move them into third place, that final playoff position in District 17-4A. All the KHS soccer teams - varsity boys and girls, JV boys and girls - had open dates on Friday night, and they'll all play on Monday, a day early due to TAKS testing. Coach Amanda Walzel's girls will host Pine Tree at 5:30 p.m. here at the stadium.

And even though the focus is on the varsity, coach Joey Pippen and his junior varsity - in fact, both KHS junior varsity teams - have played very, very well this year. Pippen's boys are 10-1-1 in district play, and coach Alice Crocker's JV girls only have two district losses.

WILL "THE THRILL" - Kilgore High School's Will Estel (above, right) and the Bulldogs are giving their best effort to claim that No. 3 playoff position in District 17-4A. Both KHS soccer programs face Pine Tree on Monday - the girls are here, the boys at PT.

- Kilgore track & field coaches Phillip Lane (boys) and Kerry Strong (girls) have the track program looking up. The track athletes - a lot of names you would know (Dominique Jones, Colby Rosen, Tai'Shea Reese, Shae Morgan and others - are really just getting started. They did well at their first meet of the year last weekend in Pine Tree, and had an all-day meet at Hallsville yesterday (we'll have results in Tuesday's paper).

KHS track has three meets left (at Marshall this weekend, at Gladewater Thursday, March 13, and at Whitehouse March 27) before the annual District 12-4A meet in Hallsville. Here's hoping we'll see plenty of Kilgore athletes in the regionals at Denton in late April.

- The Region XIV Conference tournament is this weekend, and while we all hate it that the Kilgore College teams didn't make the field, there should be a lot of great basketball at Masters Gym. Watching San Jacinto and Paris meet up in the men's tournament could be a lot of fun. Tyler has a good program, as well.

- Coach Jason Maroney and the Kilgore High School tennis team are hoping for a school year sweep - that is to say, to win the fall season dis-

trict title (already accomplished), and the spring title, too (April 8-9 in Jacksonville). The tennis program has always been strong at KHS, and Maroney has certainly done his part to keep that tradition going in his second season as head coach.

The tennis team was to play in a tournament in Tyler this weekend, and this coming weekend, they'll be off before finally hosting a tournament here March 14.

- Baseball and softball are really just getting started at KHS.

At this writing, the Diamond 'Dogs were still slugging away here in the Oil Belt Classic Tournament, and had a 6-3 record after beating Gilmer Friday night. Kilgore was to face Lindale Saturday morning, as we were putting this newspaper together, and a win would move them into the tournament's semifinals Saturday afternoon.

Regardless, they'll host Gladewater on Tuesday, a 6 p.m. start, and then play this weekend in a tournament at North Lamar High School in Paris. I don't know the opponent on Thursday, but I do have a time, if you're interested in going: Kilgore plays at 1:30.

The softball team was to finish its run in the Spring Hill/White Oak Tournament Saturday afternoon, and with it, that's the end of the Lady Bulldogs' non-district schedule.

Kilgore (3-7 overall at this writing) opens the District 12- 4A schedule on Monday at Henderson, a 4:30 p.m. junior varsity start, varsity to follow, and then they finally get to come home. The softball team has played just once at home all season (the season opener), but hosts Marshall on Friday, also a 4:30 p.m. JV start.

There are a few other things of note happening that I'd like to mention, along with a couple of thank-yous.

• Baseball fans owe KHS principal Bobby Wheeley a thank-you for his marathon run as the announcer at the Oil Belt tournament this week. Mr. Wheeley (and wife Debra; hope I spelled her name correctly) have basically lived up in the Driller Park press box this whole week - a home game against Bullard on Tuesday night, then all day (beginning at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday) until the final games of those days this weekend. Bobby does a great job announcing and basically managing the game, and Debra takes care of all the music that's played, and the sound effects.

Just wanted to give them some recognition, because they have gone the extra mile this week.

Thanks, too, to the KHS baseball booster club for their efforts in putting on another good tournament.

• I hadn't written a story on it yet because I was told it wasn't official, but apparently it's now public knowledge that KC athletic director David Castles will be retiring in August.

Mr. Castles, who holds other positions with the college, as well, has done a magnificent job, and while I hate to see him go, I can say he's leaving KC better than he found it. That's not an indictment on the school - it's just a compliment for David. I know he'll still be around, coming to games and just being a fan, and if you see him, you might congratulate him on his upcoming retirement, and thank him for the job he's done.

I'll be flying all over the place this spring, along with Les Murray, my tag-team partner in covering our local sports. If you need me for any reason, call me here at the paper at (903) 984- 2593 or write me an e-mail at sports@kilgorenewsherald.com. I really do try to return phone calls and e-mails as soon as possible.

Have a great week, God bless, and thanks for reading.