10 minute read
Ashley Anderson
to coach but going through that process made me a better coach,” said Anderson. “I got it taken away from me and I didn’t think I would ever get an opportunity to do it again. When I was finally able to come back and step back into the coach’s box and get to stand in front of kids and mentor them, for me it changed the whole perspective on what is important. Winning is great but playing athletics my whole life prepared me for the battle that was cancer. In my younger years of winning and losing and fighting and going through injuries and having those mentors around you and that family and team around you—that built me into who I needed to be to be able to fight that and to be able to win.” Anderson was a really good basketball player, and that experience gives her the advantage of being able to relate to the good player on the team and the pressure that comes with that from peers or from coaches.
“At the same time, I can mentor them by saying, ‘Hey, we’re a team. There are other people out here. You don’t have to do it all yourself.’” Anderson says she struggled with that as a player due to her personality of wanting to get things done. She says the good players will have to carry the pressure of having been challenged to meeting certain goals during the game.
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She expects that the Lady Bulldogs will show a lot of heart and grit this season. Anderson says that in order to be successful, they will have to be a good defensive team.
“We have to really get after people. Sometimes we will have really good matchups because we’ve got some size and we’ve got some speed, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be how well we play together and can we game plan to put ourselves in the best situation,” said Anderson who expects to play a lot more up-tempo this season. She says sometimes they will be going up and down the floor quickly and sometimes slow it down based upon which players are on the court.
“You’re going to see more bigs in there and more pick-and-roll and we have to get after it,” said Anderson. “Practices have been really tough and really gritty. We’re diving after balls and doing those kinds of things and if we can do that, we’re going to be in good position come January and that’s where we want to be.”
The Lady Bulldogs will have a multitude of seniors, but Anderson says they will be leaning on Teagen Stubblefield for leadership. She says Presley Shockey and Brynn Riley will be young players that can contribute. Shockey will be moving from a guard to a post position this season.
“For those sophomores, if we can have them for three years together with that size and length, that’s good for us and we’re hoping to see big strides from them this year,” said Anderson.
Anderson says there’s no beating around the bush as far as stated goals for the season. She quickly said, “Make the playoffs” upon that question.
“I met with the girls and said, ‘what do we want to do’ and they said, ‘we want to be back in the playoff hunt,’” said Anderson. “So, I told them that we’re going to have to do some things different.”
She says they felt like they were behind due to the COVID year, but they played 30 games this summer in camps and improved greatly.
“Every time we stepped on the floor we knew that we may go get beat by Holliday who may be in the state tournament. But they were going to take their lumps so that we can be preparing for the opportunity to go face teams in our district and be successful,” said Anderson.
“The Elite Eight” -The 2022 senior Howe Bulldogs. Left to right—
Brody McCollum, Bryce Crosby, Austin Haley, Carson Daniels, Ayden Burris, Matt Hayes, Antwone Rattler, and Ryan Hough. Photo by Michelle Carney.
Senior football players and senior cheerleaders for Howe High School.
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leading passer senior Austin Haley missed the final two games with a sore shoulder and fellow senior 3-year starter Bryce Crosby missed the final two games with a knee injury. Those two injuries played an enormous role in the first round playoff matchup, but additional injuries within the game to backup quarterback Garren Lankford and 3 -year starting center junior Mahlon Walker took the wind out of the sails for Howe.
Howe limped into the contest as heavy underdogs, but most people feel it would have been a heavyweight battle if the locals were fully healthy. Palmer used their athleticism and disciplined running game to rack up 399 total yards of which 319 came on the ground. Bralen Lopez scored all of Palmer’s five touchdowns on the evening as he finished with 13 carries and 166 yards and two rushing touchdowns and caught four passes for 53 yards and hauled in three touchdowns.
Howe was led by senior running back Antwone Rattler’s 23 carries for 148 yards and two touchdowns. He finished the season with 222 carries for 1,439 yards and 16 rushing touchdowns.
The Howe offense began the game with the ball and on the third play of the game Lankford was intercepted by linebacker Cayden Langthorn which set up Palmer’s first score. Four plays later Lopez ran it across from the six (Continued on page 6)
Local veterans listen to the presentation at the Veterans Day Assembly at Howe High School Friday. Staff photo.
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the program. their children until they are several months old.”
Grooms said he didn’t join the military for college benefits or to see the world. He joined because he wanted to be a Marine. He said if he had other motives, his experience would have been different.
“We serve for values that we hold dear in America,” said Grooms who listed freedom, independence. “Those values are worth fighting for. America is not perfect, but America remains the greatest country on Earth. America is the beacon of freedom to the oppressed worldwide. There are so many countries that do not have the freedoms that we have. Our existence to be able to sit in this auditorium today and express our thoughts and to have these flags stand behind me gives the oppressed hope. That’s why so many try to get to this country. We all in this room are so blessed.”
Grooms said that everyone has a duty to maintain and protect the freedoms we enjoy. He mentioned not only those serving in the military, but also teachers, and government leaders to uphold the values of freedom and independence.
“There’s evil in the world. And if it is not pushed against, they will take over,” said Grooms.
Members of Howe Troop 45 presented the Colors for the program and HHS student Donna Uriostegui sung the National Anthem. The Howe Intermediate School Choir performed America the Beautiful. Howe Senior Jentrie Doty introduced the speaker Grooms.
Fourth grade students were asked to write essays honoring veterans. Two students were chosen to present their essay which were Hannah Lawson and Jaden Potts.
“Veterans need to be honored. They work hard and risk their lives for you and others they don’t even know,” said Lawson.
“They fought during wars to protect our country. They also worked during peace time to keep us safe,” said Potts whose grandfather was is a veteran.
“I’m very grateful to the school district for having this assembly and gathering our kids to let them celebrate Veterans Day and have them sing songs about America,” said Grooms to the audience consisting of kindergarten through the senior class. “If we don’t instill these values into them, they will take them for granted and eventually our freedoms will be lost.”
Grooms stated that service members come from all walks of life and endure a demanding physically, emotionally, financially, spiritually, and mentally and describing each one.
“A family life is very difficult for active duty military,” said Grooms. “The wives and children that endure the service endure as well. Their parents are gone for potentially months at a time.
There’s a lot of dads who don’t meet
Donna Weir is Summit Hill Elementary Employee of the Month
My name is Donna Weir and I am a secondgrade teacher at Summit Hill Elementary! I was born and raised in Texas and grew up living near Galveston on the Gulf Coast. My husband and I have seven nieces and nephews. I love shopping and spending time with family. I am so proud to be a part of Howe ISD!
The final break-out of the season following the game. The motto
“Light it up” was exactly what Howe did in 2022. Photo by Michelle Carney. a
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yard line and Palmer led 8-0 after a 2point conversion run by Cutter Burrow with 9:06 left in the first. into the second quarter which saw them take a 15-0 lead on a pass from freshman quarterback Eric Cisneros to Lopez for six yards at the 9:48 mark.
On Howe’s next possession, Lankford was sacked on third down forcing a Cooper Jones punt which was partially blocked and recovered by Palmer at the Howe 33. A terrible late hit call by the official on Beau Stephens gave Palmer the ball 15 yards closer to the 18 yard line. But junior safety Kolin Murphy bailed out Howe with his fourth interception of the year to turn the ball back. Howe started to assemble a bit of a drive on offense by traveling 45 yards on seven plays. Jones made a leaping catch at the Palmer 16 yard line and raced to the endzone, but again a questionable call was made as he was charged with offensive pass interference that wiped out the score. Howe was forced to punt. Howe’s next possession also ended in a punt after a sack on Lankford put them out of range to go for it. Palmer took advantage of the situation and drove 9-plays, 80 yards for another Cisneros to Lopez connection—this one for nine yards. That made the score 22-0 with 3:24 left before the half. Walker went down at nose tackle for Howe during the drive with a knee injury.
Palmer came out of the locker room with the ball and drove 48 yards on five plays and scored on the third connection of Cisneros to Lopez for 20 yards. Palmer led 29-0 with 9:45 left in the third.
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Palmer’s next possession began at their own 13 yard line and traveled On Howe’s first offensive play of the second half, Lankford suffered a hip injury and left the game and never returned. This placed Jones at quarterback and Howe was a gain forced to punt it away. But on Palmer’s next possession, sophomore Stephens blocked a punt which was recovered by sophomore Braden Ulmer at the Palmer five yard line. On the first play, Rattler (Continued on page 8)
