Johnny Lawson

Coming off a regional tournament appearance last year, the Express News has the Clark boys varsity soccer team at #1 for it’s first rankings of the year.  14 lettermen from last year’s squad return, including forward Johnny Lawson and midfielder Oscar Barboza.  ESPNRise has the team listed at #21 in the nation.

This year’s team is led by Coach Walter Rule, who has two state championship appearances and one state title on his resume.

On a day when the Clark girls basketball team got a much needed district victory over O’Connor, the boys team suffered its first district loss of the season.  The good news was a 44-39 win that brings the girls into a 3-way tie for 4th place in District 27-5A at the halfway mark of the district season. The Cougars were led by Melanie Schwartz with 17 points and Kristen Lye with 10. Clark outplayed O’Connor in the 3rd quarter, scoring 10 points to none for the Panthers. The girls are now 4-4 in district. Next up is Taft on Monday at 7:00 at O’Connor.

The boys meanwhile move to 5-1 in district play with a 39-44 loss to the Panthers. Adam Perez and Ansley Benjamin led the scoring with 9 points each while Niko Maxwell had 7.  The Cougars will try to rebound when they take on district leading Taft on Monday night at 8:30 in the gym at O’Connor.

GO COOGS!!

Meade moving on

Congratulations to Senior Glynnis Meade who has verbally committed to run for Dallas Baptist University next fall.  Glynnis will run cross country, indoor and outdoor track for the DBU Patriots.  She was named to the Area 5A Cross Country team for the past two years, finished 36th at the State meet this year, and has met the national silver standard for the 2 mile and 5k.  She also competed in last year’s Regional track meet in both the 1600m and 3200m events.

The boys varsity basketball team squeaked by the Holmes Huskies 39-38 in an unusually low scoring victory.  Clark held Holmes to only 2 points in the first quarter but Holmes returned the favor on the Cougars in the third, where Clark only scored 4 points.

Holmes has a 2-4 district record but has played all its games close in their losses.  The win keeps #23 Clark perfect in district at 5-0 and tied for first with Taft.

Playing at the next level

Congratulations to Hunter McFall, a senior varsity baseball player, who has verbally committed to Midland Junior College to play there next year.  Hunter was a first team All-District Outfielder last year.  He is going to play second base for them.

Clark alum making waves

2010 Clark graduate Jason Brickman earned Rookie of the Week honors as a freshman basketball player for Long Island University.  Last year’s district Offensive MVP, Brickman is making an impression not only on his team but with opposing coaches as well.  You can read about his success in this article.

#23 in Texas

The Clark Cougar varsity boys basketball team cracked the Top 25 in Texas, showing up at #23 in the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches rankings.  Tied for first place in District 27-5A, the Cougars are undefeated in district and have a 14-5 overall record.

Next up for the boys is Holmes, Wednesday at 8pm while the ladies play Tuesday, also against Holmes.

Way to play, Coogs!

Soccer season starts

As the temperature continues to drop, that means one thing – time to head outdoors for soccer.  Pat Turner of the Express News chats with the boys new head coach, last year’s girl’s head coach, Walter Rule in this article.

#21 Kyle Rutledge

The Clark Cougars passed another important district test in defeating the Stevens Falcons 60-55 at Paul Taylor.  Ranked in the top ten in San Antonio early in the season, Stevens  gave the Cougars all they wanted and then some.

Both teams came out of the gate early, tied 18-18 at the end of the 1st qtr.  Sloppy play by both teams, resulting in turnovers and missed buckets, defined the 2nd qtr.  Clark could only put 8 more points on the board while the Falcons could only add 6 giving Clark a 26-24 advantage going into the half.

What must have been a motivating halftime speech by Clark Head Coach Steve Slyestine resulted in a more intense Clark team on the court in the 3rd qtr.  Jacob Palacios started the 2nd half with a LONG 3-pointer.  With just over two minutes off the clock, the Cougars jumped to their largest lead of the game when Adam Perez sent 3 of his 11 points through the net giving Clark a 36-28 lead. A 6 point run by the Falcons tightened the game to 40-39. Ansley Benjamin made it 46-41 after Jacob Palacios stole a Stevens inbound pass and the 3rd qtr. ended with Clark up 47-43.

Stevens started the 4th qtr. with a 10-4 run and tied it all up at 53-53 at the 4:00 minute mark.  It would stay that way until there was a minute and a half left in the game and Adam Perez sunk both ends of a one-and-one.  Stevens came right back to make it 55-55.  Ansley Benjamin next hit the first of his one-and-one but missed the second.  Kyle Rutledge grabbed the rebound, however, and found Jacob Palacios at the top of the key for a three to seal the victory with :30 seconds left in the game.

The boys now own a 7 game win streak.  Following the boys game, the girls varsity lost to Stevens, giving the Lady Cougars a 2-4 record in district.

Mery ('09) steps up

2008 Clark Cougar varsity football player Stephen Mery is a hero after he and a group of friends helped rescue a real estate agent who was being robbed.  This Express News article describes how Mery and friends recognized things were not right when they pulled up next to the car with the woman and her assailant.

Stephen is currently a student at Texas A&M University.

WAY TO GO, STEPHEN!