LOCAL SPORTS IN BRIEF

KHS, Gilmer split fresh, JV games

Kilgore High School and Gilmer split the freshmen and junior varsity games on Thursday night here, with KHS winning the freshmen game, 20-0, and Gilmer holding off a late Kilgore comeback to win the JV contest, 34-27.

Next week, both of those teams will be on the road at Palestine on Thursday night. Kilgore’s varsity will host Palestine, of course — next Friday is homecoming.

Maude Laird Middle School will host Palestine Thursday night.

KC at home tonight

At long last, the Kilgore College Rangers football program finally gets to play at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium tonight.

The Rangers have a big challenge ahead of them. Already down 0-2, KC must face Navarro College, the third-ranked team in the nation, and this is also the Southwest Junior College Football Conference opener for both programs.

Kickoff will be at 7 p.m., and you can listen live on the radio to Manny Almanza’s call of the game on KZQX 105.3-FM.

Also, a video Rangers-Navarro contest is available online on the College TV Ticket. The website is www.collegetvticket. com, and pregame begins at 6:45 p.m. But you must have a subscription to view the game — a oneyear subscription, which would allow you to watch all of KC’s games online, is $64.99.

See coverage of the game on the Kilgore News Herald’s website on Sunday, and in the print edition of the News Herald next week.

Former NFL referee cancels

A former National Football League official had been scheduled to speak here in Kilgore at the monthly fellowship breakfast at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, but will be unable to attend due to a family illness.

Duwayen Gandy, a 1954 graduate of Chapel Hill High School and former NFL side judge (now retired), was to be the keynote speaker at this month’s breakfast this coming Saturday, Sept. 26, in the church’s family life center. But Gandy informed church officials late in the week that he wouldn’t be able to make it. There are plans to re-schedule.

The breakfast will be held anyway, beginning at 8 a.m. VOLLEYBALL

Kilgore beats Lufkin, falls to JT

The Kilgore High School volleyball programs, coming off a big night in Lufkin Tuesday night, finished the non-district portion of their schedule on a bit of a down note. The varsity lost in three at John Tyler Friday night, 10-25, 13-25, 7- 25.

For Kilgore, LaQuasha Sheffield had four kills and a block. Kelsey Jackson had four kills. Dana Boyd and Lesta Eaton each had one. Briana Westbrook had a block. Becca Howard had four assists, and Kandace Shackelford had 20 good passes.

Kilgore swept Lufkin in Lufkin last Tuesday. All three teams — varsity, freshmen and junior varsity — won their matches.

Kilgore’s varsity won the first game at Lufkin, 25-23, 27-25, 16-25, 25-22.

For Kilgore in the game, Jackson had an ace, 35 good passes, 18 kills and three blocks. Shackelford had 45 good passes. Sheffield had 11 kills and two blocks. Nikeyia Shackelford had an ace. Westbrook had an ace and a kill. Boyd had a pair of kills, as well, and Eaton had 22 assists and Howard had 10.

Also, the freshmen beat Lufkin, 19-25, 25-16, 25-19, and the junior varsity won as well, 25-21, 25-9.

The Lady Bulldogs, as mentioned, open District 14-4A play at home Friday night against Jacksonville. Kilgore has an open date on Tuesday.

Sabine sweeps Gladewater

The Sabine High School Lady Cardinals grabbed a District 18-2A win of the season in overwhelming fashion, sweeping Gladewater 25-22, 25-21, 25-11 on Tuesday night. Friday, Sabine was scheduled to play another district game at White Oak — that score was not available at press time.

Sabine (15-12 on the season) got seven kills, 10 assists, six digs and 20 points from Jillian Calvit in the win over Gladewater, and was perfect from the serving line, 20 of 20. Cassie Headley had four kills, 10 assists, six digs, six points and three aces; Mallory Ford also had four kills, as well as seven digs, five points and an ace; Kendra Whitehead had seven kills and four digs; Kayln Gaines had seven digs, five kills and scored 13 points, and Lindsey Bryce had 17 digs, seven points, and an ace, and Janell DeFreece had three kills and two assists.

Sabine, coached by Rickey Hammontree, just returned from a good trip of competition in a tournament in Orlando, Fla. While there, they did have an injury — Carra Smitherman, a junior, was hurt and will miss some time, and was the team leader at that point in kills and in blocks. Other than that, Hammontree said, it was a good trip. The Lady Cards went 3-6, but were playing some of the south’s bests teams.

Also recently, Sabine won their own tournament, beating Jacksonville, 25-12, 25-13; Overton, 25-23, 19-25, 25-16; and Pittsburg, 25-16, 15-25, 25-17 in the finals.

Calvit and Whitehead made the alltournament team, and Headley won the award for outstanding setter.

Sabine’s junior varsity finished second in the JV division, losing to Union Grove in the title game.

GOLF

City tourney at MCC next weekend

The city championship tournament, with a history that dates back to the 1930s, hasn’t been played in many, many years but will be played this month at Meadowbrook Country Club.

The tournament began in 1933 in the early stages of MCC, but hasn’t been played since 1942. It will be played once again next weekend — Saturday, Sept. 26 and Sunday, Sept. 27 — with a tee time of 9 a.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. Lunch will be provided on Saturday.

There is still room to register in the tournament, but one must be a a Kilgore resid a member of MCC or own a business in Kilgore to enter.

For more information on the tournament or to register (if there are still slots available), call the MCC pro shop at (903) 984-3387.

— BY SPORTS EDITOR MITCH LUCAS