Elhad carries the Cougars to victory

Behind senior Elhad Emerllahu’s 37 points, the Clark Cougars blew out the East Central Hornets in the first round of the 2010 basketball playoffs 91-66.  Playing at St. Mary’s University on the court he might call his college home, Emerllahu had his way with an over-matched Hornet team.  Jason Brickman posted 25 and Ansley Benjamin added another 18.

The Cougars jumped ahead early but the Hornets shooters heated up and they took a 15-7 lead with three and a half minutes in the 1st quarter.  The Cougars put their own run together and tied the game 18-18 before East Central closed the quarter with a 3 point shot to make it 21-18 Hornets at the end of the 1st.

Clark regained its composure in the 2nd quarter, outscoring the Hornets 25-18 and went up 43-39 into halftime.  The second half was all Cougars as they scored the first 7 points on their way to a 21 point quarter, holding East Central to just 7 points in the 3rd.   With a 64-48 lead starting the 4th, the Cougars kept up the scoring and shut down the Hornet defense for the victory.

Next up for the Cougars, now Bi-District Champs is the Area game against Austin Bowie.   Clark vs. Austin Bowie will take place Friday or Saturday at a site to be determined.

• PHOTOS
• PHOTOS Express News
• ANALYSIS
• EXPRESS NEWS article

The NISD has postponed all baseball and softball games scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 23 for 24 hrs.  Varsity and JV games will resume at the same time and fields on Wed., Feb. 24.

Soccer games scheduled for today will play as scheduled.

Cougars vs. Hornets tonight!

In the final Express News rankings, the Clark Cougars varsity boys basketball team is #2 in the city.  Tonight they begin their quest to be #1 in Texas as they play a first round playoff game against East Central.  Come out and support our District Champions at St. Mary’s University, Greehey Arena at 7:30pm.

The Cougars and Hornets played earlier this season with Clark winning 78-63.  Always a tough opponent, the Hornets are 23-12 on the year in District 27-5A.

Lawson scores trifecta

The boys varsity soccer team outplayed the Stevens Falcons at Farris Stadium, beating them 3-2 in a game that wasn’t that close.  Johnny Lawson scored all three goals for Clark – two on penalty kicks in a game that was a little “chippy” as they say.  Clark’s first goal came in the first half on a penalty kick with Lawson putting Clark on the scoreboard first.

The second half was more of the same.  Lawson scored once again as the Cougar’s front line dominated the Stevens defense.  Several players saw action as Clark took a comfortable lead with an additional penalty kick with seven and a half minutes left in the game, making it 3-0 Clark.  That’s when it got interesting. (continue reading…)

Benjamin scores against Falcons

The #2 Clark Cougars boys basketball team finished the regular season with their only loss in district coming at the end in an exciting double overtime game against Stevens.  Despite six three-pointers and 28 points from Jason Brickman, 4 blocked shots by Kyle Rutledge and a buzzer beating layup by Elhad Emerllahu to send the game into a second OT period, the Falcons prevailed 88-80.

The Cougars were going for a sweep of District 28-5A with a 15-0 record until meeting Stevens.  While the win would have been great for bragging rights, the Cougars still walk away with an outright district championship, a 28-6 overall record, a 15-1 district record and a dominating performance in the regular season.

Next up for the Cougars is a round one playoff game against East Central, next Tuesday.  Congratulations Cougars and BTHOEC!

PHOTOS

Both the boys and girls teams lost to the Brandeis Broncos in soccer.  The boys lost 0-1 for their first district loss of the year.  The girls fell short 1-2.  Gabrielle Santorio scored the lone goal for the Clark Cougars.

The second half of the high school soccer season begins on Tuesday and supporters of the Cougars girls soccer team are asking you to show up and give the girls a spirited send off. The team will leave Clark at 5:15 Tuesday, so fans should arrive by 5:05 to participate. Meet behind the school near the bus and bring your signs and posters, but most of all your support so they know the Clark community is behind them.

The girls will face Brandeis at 7:00 at Farris.

The boys soccer team plays Brandeis at 5:00.

GO COOGS!

The Clark girls soccer team found the back of the net over and over again Friday night and the result was a 6-0 win over Holmes. Six Cougars scored during the match: Gabrielle Santorio, Hollis Scheffler, Macy Ellis, Krysta Maples, Andrea Romero and Samantha Rodriguez. The win brings their season record to 4-2-6 and their district record to 3-1-4.

On the boys side, the Cougars also went on a scoring blitz beating the Huskies 7-1. Five players got in on the goals: Jair Rodriguez and Johnny Lawson each had two goals and Evan Javors, Mauricio Lopez and Luis Hernandez each added one. The boys remain undefeated with a season record of 10-0-2 and a district record of 7-0-1. The Cougars are ranked #2 in the area by the Express News and jumped from #44 to #37 in the nation in this week’s ESPN Rise ranking of high school soccer teams.

The second half of district for both teams begins Tuesday against Brandeis. GO COOGS!

The Clark boys basketball team moved one step closer to a perfect record in district play on Friday with a 70-55 win over Brandeis. Their record stands at 15-0 in district with one game remaining against Stevens on Tuesday at 7:30. The Cougars have already clinched the District 28-5A Championship.

Against Brandeis Elhad Emerllahu had 19 points, Jason Brickman tossed in 17 and Sam Perez added 12. Nine Cougars contributed to the point total.

Playoffs begin February 22nd.