2017 High School Sports Spring Recap
Cathedral, Faith Christian, Hanks, and Tony Harper Dominate 2017 Spring Sports Scene
El Paso area high schools and athletes continued the trend that their counterparts in the fall sports scene had begun—-more outstanding athletic achievements, more team state championships, more individual state titles, and a historic milestone reached by a long time area basketball coach. When the final whistle blew to end the 2016-2017 athletic school year, El Paso athletes had accumulated 8 more team championships and 18 additional individual titles to add to those won by the former athletes in the legacy of El Paso athletics.
The spring sports season begins with two sports that are actually carry overs from the winter season—basketball and wrestling. There were many outstanding moments during the basketball season. Americas High School went 33-3 in 6A boys’ basketball losing only two regular season games before falling to Arlington Bowie in the Regional Quarter Finals. Several teams had outstanding seasons in boys’ 5A basketball but Andress and Burges would finish the season with the best records. The Eagles reached the Regional Semi-Finals before losing to Northwest High School and Burges would advance to the Regional Finals before falling to the same Northwest school. Anthony High School had another outstanding season in 2A basketball but didn’t reach their goal of a state championship as they were eliminated in the Regional Semi-Finals.
Several girls’ teams had outstanding seasons but all were eliminated early in the playoffs. Franklin and Eastwood had the best seasons in 6A round-ball while Burges and Andress dominated 5A basketball. All the El Paso area representatives in the girls’ playoffs were eliminated in either the Area or Regional Quarter Final stages of the playoffs.
The story was different for the private schools. Faith Christian Academy has compiled an impressive basketball history during the past several seasons. Faith Christian added another championship to their trophy case when they beat Kipps Sunnyside 74-56 in the TCAL 3A state championship game. Itec Prep Academy won titles in boys’ and girls’ basketball when they captured the TCAL 2A championships. The Itec boys beat Texas Christian 61-46 and the Itec girls defeated Poetry Community Academy 28-19 to win their title.
Perhaps the highlight of the basketball season occurred on the evening of February 10th in Cathedral High School’s all-purpose gymnasium when the Irish defeated Itec Prep Academy 47-33 and gave Coach Tony Harper his 1000th basketball victory as a coach. Coach Harper has coached many years at many schools but 1000 wins is an achievement that few coaches ever reach. Congratulations to Coach Harper on his milestone victory. I believe that Coach James Forbes at Andress High School won his 600th game during the 2017 season. Congratulations to Coach Forbes as well.
The baseball and softball seasons are very long and grueling beginning in the cold winter of February and ending in the hot winds of May. It wasn’t a great season for El Paso area baseball UIL teams. All the playoff teams from the various conferences were eliminated by the Regional Quarter Finals. Faith Christian Academy has a storied basketball history and they have compiled a very impressive baseball history the last three years. The Academy won its’ third straight TCAL Division 3A title in May when they defeated Tomball Christian 3-0 in the championship game. Faith Christian dominated the championship series winning three games in as many days outscoring their opponents by a combined 18-0. Lest you underestimate Faith Academy’s achievement, you should know that they play many top teams in the El Paso area and routinely defeat them.
The story in Softball was different than that of Baseball during the 2017 season. Usually El Paso area teams make an early exit in the playoffs but that wasn’t the case in 2017. Coronado High School made it all the way to the Regional Semi-Finals in 6A softball while Eastlake advanced to Regional Quarter Finals in 5A softball. Eastlake had the misfortune of running into Chapin in their Quarter Final game. The Lady Huskies had the most impressive finish in the 5A playoffs reaching the Regional Finals before losing to Canyon. Chapin’s march in the softball playoffs was the best showing made by any El Paso area team since Bel Air finished runner up in the early 1990’s.
El Paso area teams usually do well in the state Soccer playoffs and that was also the case in 2017. Del Valle and San Elizario both reached the Regional Finals in boys’ soccer while the Andress girls advanced to the Regional Semi-Finals after being given new life after their Regional Quarter Final loss to El Paso High. Coronado and Franklin dominated the 6A boys’ scene before seeing their respective seasons end in the Regional Quarter Finals. The Franklin girls had the best playoff run in 6A girls’ soccer. The Lady Cougars advanced to the Regional Quarter Finals before losing to Frenship 1-0. Bel Air and Del Valle were the top boys’ teams in 5A soccer. Bel Air made it to the Regional Semi Finals before falling to Wichita Falls in a shootout 3-2. Del Valle made it to the Regional Finals before they lost to the same Wichita Falls team 1-0. The strangest story occurred in girl’s 5A soccer. El Paso High apparently eliminated Andress in their Regional Quarter Finals match 5-1 only to have to forfeit the match a few days later for using an ineligible player. Andress would lose to Aledo in the Regional Semi Finals. San Elizario has been a power in boys’ 4A soccer in recent years and such was the case again in 2017. San Elizario made it all the way to the Regional Finals before losing to Bridge Port 2-1.
The El Paso area has never produced a UIL state championship team in Track and Field and that will remain the story after the 2017 season. Instead, the story was not many athletes from the area made it to the state meet. Brian Lujan of Americas finished 4th in the 6A 1600 meter run and David Bernal of Eastwood won the bronze medal in the 6A 3200 meter run. Coronado’s Jenelle Jaegar Darakjy finished 4th in the girls’ 6A 800 meter run. Michael Abeyta of Hanks High School was the main story of 5A Track and Field. Abeyta, who competed as a freshman, won the gold medal in 5A 1600 meter run. Darius King of Chapin took 4th place in the 5A triple jump. Arielle Mack of Burges took two medals in 5A girls’ track. Mack was 3rd in the 5A triple jump and second in the 5A long jump. Shailah Thornton of Chapin was 3rd in the 5A 100 meter hurdles. Erik Arambula of San Elizario capped of a brilliant career in Cross Country and Track and Field with his 3rd place finish in the 4A 3200 meter run. Cathedral High School continued its’ great all around track season during the 2016-2017 school year by capturing 3 gold medals at the TAPPS 6A Division I state track meet. The Irish finished 8th overall but Brandon Seagraves won individual gold medals in the 1600 meter run and the 3200 meter run. His team mate, Ian Smith won the gold medal for the 800 meter run. Jesus Chapel’s Grace Gomez won a silver medal for her performance in the TAPPS 1A girls’ shot put.
Coronado and Franklin dominated the local area Tennis scene. The Thunderbirds took 12 athletes to the Regionals while Franklin took several more. The Regionals were not kind to our local athletes as only
Franklin’s Sebastian Herrera would advance to the state meet. Herrera and Coronado’s David Cenk would continue their personal battle in 6A boys’ singles with Herrera coming out on top in the Regionals after falling to Cenk in their District 1-6A title match. Sebastian Herrera would be the El Paso area’s lone competitor at the state meet. He lost his opening match to Coppell’s Justin Chen 6-4 and 6-4.
The story was the same for El Paso area UIL athletes in Golf and Swimming. No area golfers made it to the state tournament. A total of 19 athletes made it to the state tournament in swimming but there were no medal winners. Eastwood had the top 6A boys’ team finishing the 6A meet in 49th place. The Franklin girls finished the 6A girls’ meet in 32nd place. The El Paso High girls finished the 5A meet with a very respectable 12th place finish. The Tiger’s also had the top boys’ team with a 25th place finish at the state meet.
Cathedral High School continued its’ historic dynasty in TAPPS swimming history. The Irish captured their 31st TAPPS or TCIL swimming state championship including the last 27 straight team titles. Cathedral won three individual gold medals and three relay gold medals. Connor White, the son of Coach Jack White, won two individual gold medals and was part of 2 of the gold medal relay teams. Emmanuel Escarcega won the other individual gold medal.
Finally, the Hanks High School girls continued their dynasty in girls’ 5A Wrestling. The Lady Knights won their 4th straight 5A girls’ title with Ginna Morales winning an individual gold medal for Hanks. Shania Villalba, Cassidy Chacon, and Adrienne Holguin also captured silver medals for the Lady Knights. Hanks High School coach, Tony Carter was recognized for his coaching achievements. Carter was inducted to the 2017 El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame at that organization’s annual banquet and induction ceremony. Congratulations to Coach Carter and the Hanks’ girls for their outstanding athletic achievements the past four seasons. Hanks was not the only story at the state wrestling tournament. Tiffany Gandara from Parkland took a silver medal. Christian Hernandez of Bel Air won a gold medals in boys’ 5A wrestling while Joshua Molinar won a silver medal. The 6A wrestlers were not to be outdone by their 5A counterparts. Adrienne Garcia of Americas won a gold medal while Shania Melendez (El Dorado) and Julia Mata (El Dorado) took silver medals in the respective weight divisions. The 6A boys also did quite well. Isaiah Delgado (Eastwood), James McClain Green (Franklin), and Noah Vasquez (Eastwood) all won gold medals at their respective weight classifications.
It was a very good school year for El Paso area athletes. We can finally say that we have an 11-man football team that has won a state championship and 1000 basketball victories by Tony Harper is an impressive record in anyone’s book. I invite you to read the individual chapters for each sport if you want to get a more in-depth story.
Charles Hill
June 2017
