The Lady Cougar Golf team competed in their District tournament last week and took 1st and 2nd places! Those advancing to the regional tournament are Madeline Claus, Madeline Diana, Caitlin Edwards Marissa Fallis, Avery Horton, Megan Johnson, Lindsey Keller, McKenzie Kotara, Emily Stewart, and MacKenzie Walters.

The girls will play a 2 round tourney on April 16th & 17th at the Shriner Golf Course in Kerrville.

Go Coogs!

Our Clark Cougars fought the good fight Friday night on a gloriously sunny evening at the Blossom soccer fields. From the moment they took the field, you could see their spirit and focus on the game. The stands were bursting with fans from both Brownsville and San Antonio with lots of supporters coming out to cheer on our hometown team. Unfortunately, the only goal of the game was Lopez’s 21st minute success off of a corner. Clark fought hard, repeatedly taking shots on goal but unable to make it past the Lopez Lobos’ keeper. Clark’s keeper, senior Preston Campbell, did a heroic job in clearing the Lobos’ goal attempts and freshman Luis-Carlos Garcia and senior Fernando Maya did great jobs stepping in to fill the gap left by Jake Peterson’s absence.

Thanks to Coaches Rule and Johnson for leading our young men to a 19-4-1 season. It’s been a pleasure to watch the team mature this year. Also, after a particularly grueling playoff series, we must thank the trainers, Doc Rost and Coach Stone, and student trainers Kellie Ross and Leslie Poore for keeping our players as healthy as possible. Finally, many thanks to the Clark Cougars Booster Club for all of their support.

In honor of all their hard work, here is the list of the Cougars who suited up for regular season and the playoffs.

Seniors
Preston Campbell (Captain, s-starter)
Paolo Nardi
Andre Garcia
John Cintron (s)
Gus Moir (Captain, s)
Matt Albo
Fernando Maya (s)
Chris Pantaleon (s)
Nick O’Malley (s)
David Koehler
Jose Camacho
Matt Morales

Juniors
Diego Sepulveda (s)
Eric Ascencio
Andrew Pantaleon
Matt Jacobs (s)
Colin Segura
Tristan Cavazos (s)

Sophomores
Colby Lorenz
Jorge Guerrero
Jake Peterson (s)
Patrick Grund
Enrique Aleman (s)

Freshman
Luis-Carlos Garcia (s)
Alec Ascencio
Javi Martinez (s)
Brady McNamara
James Morales

It’s ALWAYS a great day to be a Clark Cougar!

by Caryn Moir

On the last day of the JV District tourney, Clark rocked on. Robbie Keh came in first in boys’ singles, Karsten Lowe third. Boys’ doubles looked similar, with Mason Nichols and Cristian Garza taking first and teammates Andrew Palomo and Noah Hupp third. The girls’ doubles team of Grace Golstein and Syvoney Ybarra were third.

GO COOGS!

Clark’s mixed doubles teams took first and second places in JV District tournament action today. Matt Gurwitz and Katelyn Pavlich took first, while Grayson Wesolowski and Fernanda Sepulveda were second. The tournament concludes tomorrow.
GO COOGS!

The Clark Cougars Men’s team took on NEISD’s MacArthur Brahmas tonight and earned another win, putting their season at 19-3-1.
There was another large crowd tonight and the mild evening was the perfect setting for the third round of playoffs. Across town, NISD’s Brandeis battled O’Connor, winning 2-1 on a last minute goal.

Meanwhile, at Blossom, the Cougars and Brahmas went head to head in regular play (two 40 minute halves) and then in overtime (two 10 minute halves) with nary a goal between them. Clark’s keeper, senior Preston Campbell, obviously ate his Wheaties because he knocked every attempt out of the goal in regular play. Go Coogs!
Clark had several attempts on the Brahmas’ goal but to no avail. Around the 75th minute, Clark went down a man when one of the Cougars received a red card. MacArthur failed to capitalize on the advantage and, in the end, Clark’s win came down to Penalty Kicks (PKs).

Keeper Campbell saved the first Brahma attempt and then senior Nick O’Malley was up for the Cougars, easily shooting past the Brahmas’ keeper and putting Clark’s first goal on the board, 1-0.

In the second set of PKs, Campbell dove again and blocked the Brahmas’ shot, a very near miss that sent the Brahma fans into a frenzy. Junior Matt Jacobs then scored, 2-0 Clark.

The Brahmas were down but not out, when their third attempt hit the back of Clark’s net. Clark’s attempt was blocked by MacArthur’s keeper and ratcheted up the tension. Still 2-1 for Clark, though.

In the fourth round of PKs, the Brahmas’ next attempt was all sky, shooting well over the net. If Clark made the next shot, then the win was theirs. Senior Gus Moir stepped up and powered the ball past the keeper, resulting in a frenzied mass of Cougars cheering in the stands and on the pitch. This puts O’Malley & Jacobs at 2 for 2 in PK attempts during the last two games – great play all around but good to know you can count on the Coogs when the pressure is on.

It’s a GREAT day to be a Cougar!

Next, Clark plays Lopez on Friday in the Regional semi-final (field and time to be announced); and Brandeis plays Riviera that same evening. Both Lopez and Riviera are Valley teams; Brandeis & Clark are the only two San Antonio teams left in the playoffs. How proud are we of that?

Hope to see y’all on Friday night!

Submitted by Caryn Moir

Oh. My. Goodness. What a GAME!

In the second round of playoffs, the Clark Cougars took on the Churchill Chargers at Gus Stadium. The Charges were (past tense, were!) ranked #1 and played their hearts out but it wasn’t enough to take down Clark.

In a nail biter of a first half, Clark got the first goal, with freshman Javi Martinez clearing the Chargers keeper and pounding the ball into the net. Not to be outdone, the Chargers came back soon after and tied it up, 1-1. And so it went, with senior Gus Moir giving an assist to junior Tristan Cavazos who then nailed the corner of the net, bringing it up to 2-1. Churchill soon tied it up again, 2-2. Next, Churchill got the upper hand by adding another goal, making it 2-3. Clark came roaring back with a goal from senior Chris Pantaleon, 3-3. And so the half ended with the parents and fans – tons attended, by the way – chanting for Clark.

In the second half, the two teams attacked, attacked, attacked. Senior Gus Moir put one in the net off of a corner, only to have the ref called it offsides. On another corner, Moir again had a good shot, back heading the ball nearly into the net. Senior Chris Pantaleon got close again, getting just enough of the post to miss the goal. After a heavy back and forth, regulation time ended at 3-3.

In overtime, played in two 10-minute halves, the fierce play continued but without any scoring, ending the game at 3-3 and forcing Penalty Kicks (PKs). These were played 5 apiece with each team taking shots in turn. Clark’s sophomore Jake Peterson, junior Diego Sepulveda and junior Tristan Cavazos scored in Clark’s first 3 attempts while the Charger’s missed their first two – one shot wide and one on a great save by Senior Preston Campbell. If Clark scored one more shot, or if Churchill missed their third shot, it would be over and in Clark’s favor. However, Clark missed their final two attempts, and Churchill made their final 3, putting the teams again tied. Did I tell you this was quite a game?

Now in sudden death PKs, Clark and Churchill took the field. Both scored on their first attempts, with junior Matt Jacobs scoring for Clark and amping up the tension. In the next round, Clark scored off of senior Nick O’Malley and Campbell, again with a HUGE save, stopped what would be Churchill’s final attempt. Senior Preston Campbell, the Cougars’ keeper, is to be commended for his fortitude in defending the Cougars’ goal. Clark wins 5-4!!

Churchill played with everything they had but Clark now advances to the next round of playoffs – Clark vs McArthur on Tuesday at 7:30 at Comalander Stadium (Blossom Sports Complex – NEISD).

It’s a GREAT day to be a Clark Cougar!

By Caryn Moir

Clark tennis team photo after District today at NTC.

Rudy Bonilla in boy’s singles, Chris Todd and Johnny Reichman in boy’s doubles, and Sergio Martinez and Martha Dill in mixed doubles will move on to play in regional competition April 15th and 16th.

Martha and Sergio, pictured, placed first in District in mixed doubles.

Heading into the finals after several days of District competition are Rudy Bonilla in boy’s singles, Chris Todd and Johnny Reichman in boys’ doubles, and Martha Dill and Sergio Martinez in mixed doubles.

Playing tomorrow for second or third place, depending on the need for a play back round, are Hannah Rafferty in girl’s singles, Ricky Keh in boy’s singles, Molly Kiehne and Jack Kunau in mixed doubles, and Zack Frisbee and Jandro Flores in boy’s doubles.

All matches will take place tomorrow starting at nine AM at the new Northside Tennis Center. Top two teams in each division will advance to Region play. Go Clark!!!!

Yes, spring is individual season for Clark tennis, but if it had been team season…the Coogs would have placed first at the Kemah Boardwalk Tournament.