Bulldog Sports
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David Magallanes
One more goal to reach
Bulldogs looking to win district crown outright with win over Bison tonight
Heading into today’s regular-season finale, the New Waverly Bulldogs have accomplished nearly everything they had in mind before the season kicked off.
Clinch a second straight playoff berth.
Check.
Win a share of a second consecutive district championship.
Check.
Claim an outright title.
Not just yet. That’s something that will be decided tonight when the Bulldogs clash with Buffalo.
The Dogs are far from satisfied and have no plans of resting on their laurels. Instead, they are focused on the Bison and look to finish district play the right way, without a single blemish.
“We just have to take it one game at a time,” senior wide receiver Kyren Watts said following Thursday’s practice. “We can’t look past Buffalo.”
“We really do need to finish strong,” senior Kody Coleman said.
Like New Waverly, the Bison have been cruising through district play.
After getting blanked by Corrigan-Camden in the district opener, Buffalo (3-1 in District 21-2A) blasted Groveton and Trinity and edged Centerville 21-14.
With plenty of confidence on both sidelines, the Bulldogs know they’ll have to do all the little things right to win their sixth straight this season.
“We really need to come out and set the tone for the game defensively,” head coach Ken Craig said. “We need to make a statement on that side of the ball. We’ve been good at times. Other times, we’ve bent a lot and done well when it gets into crunch time, but we need to have a solid four-quarter defensive game. We’ve got to line up correctly and we need to take care of our assignments.
“We also need to make that statement on the offensive side of the ball. We’ve come out and big-played everybody. We want to come out and execute on that side of the ball as well. We need to keep getting the ball into the hands of those guys that make big plays.”
Win or lose, New Waverly (4-0, 7-2) will be district champions. But with a loss to the Bison, the Bulldogs will have to share the title with Buffalo and possibly Corrigan-Camden, a team that New Waverly defeated three weeks ago on a last-second field goal.
Just the mere thought of sharing the 21-2A championship is a bitter pill to swallow and the Bulldogs want to avoid that from happening.
“We’re selfish. We’re greedy,” Coleman said with a smirk. “We don’t want to share it with anybody. We worked too hard and accomplished so much to not have it all to ourselves.”
Even with the Class 2A playoffs on the horizon, New Waverly knows that it still has a lot to gain, especially against a team that will also be going to the playoffs, and a lot to improve on.
“We always want to win,” Coleman added. “It’s just always good to go out on a positive note and build on it. We can always get better and that’s what we hope to do.”
Besides putting another district championship trophy on the shelf, the Bulldogs hope that they’ll gain some momentum to carry into the playoffs, which begin next week.
“You definitely want to go in with a win,” Craig said. “It’s tough to come back from a loss and regain focus. Sometimes that’s hard thing to overcome.
“I expect us to come out Friday and play the best that we can play. If we can play the best that we can, then we’ll be undefeated district champions by the end of the night.”
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All-State Bulldogs
After advancing all the way to the regional semifinals as relative unknowns with little playoff experience in 2009, the Bulldogs knew they would have a lot more attention in 2010.
Ranked among the top five in the state for most the season, New Waverly did not disappoint. -
Dynamic Duo
NEW WAVERLY — The taste is still bitter for the Bulldogs.
The New Waverly baseball squad is still haunted from last year’s surprising exit in the regional semifinals against White Oak. The Dogs took game one of the best-of-three series and had a 6-1 lead in the second contest heading into the bottom of the fourth inning.
Things went terribly wrong from there and New Waverly was left wondering what happened as White Oak rallied to win two in a row and steal the series. -
Complete package
NEW WAVERLY — New Waverly baseball coach Tommy Bohannon was hoping he could talk Hardin, the Bulldogs’ area-round playoff opponent, into moving up next week’s series to accommodate the state track and field meet.
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New Waverly boys still within range of advancing to state
After finishing their first round on the Oak Hurst Course at Peach Tree Golf Club in Bullard, things looked bleak for the New Waverly boys as they turned in a team score of 372.
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Bulldogs are back again in 2010
They’ve been here before and know Austin all too well.Two years ago, the New Waverly Bulldogs made their first trip to the state tournament, but it ended rather quickly in a disappointing blowout loss to Tuscola Jim Ned.
Then last March, the Bulldogs got past Shallowater and advanced to the state championship game only to fall to defending state champion Ponder 51-39.
This time around, the Bulldogs are determined to take another step forward and come back with a state championship. They’re back again in 2010, and they say they’re going to finish the job this time. -
Bulldogs pass first test
NEW CANEY — Though it had been more than a week since the New Waverly boys played a meaningful game, the Dogs didn’t show an ounce of rust Thursday night.
With a strong defensive effort, the top-ranked Bulldogs cruised past East Chambers 78-36 and into the Region III quarterfinals where they’ll face either fourth-ranked Kountze or Buffalo early next week. -
Lady Dogs live to play another day
Leading by 16 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter, it appeared as if the Lady Dogs would coast to an easy playoff victory.
The only problem was that Kirbyville never stopped playing. The feisty Ladycats made a game out of it.
Barely, the Lady Dogs held on, escaping with a 52-51 victory in Angelina College’s Shands Gym to advance to the area round of the Class 2A playoffs. - Lady Bulldogs start playoffs Monday night in Lufkin
- Dogs clinch outright district title NEW WAVERLY — If the Bulldogs haven’t already made space in the trophy case, they can do so now.
- Lady Hornets set playoff date The Lady Hornets might have lost out on an outright district title Tuesday night at Willis, but the Lady Hornets got a big win Wednesday.
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All-State Bulldogs
