Sports

TAKING FLIGHT: Orville and Wilbur have nothing on Hamilton’s Wright sisters, Sawyer (left) and Kelton (right), pictured at left elevating to reject a Hico volley over the net. Above, Morgan Mehaffey delivers a deafening spike in Hico as Emiley Hale, Jaley Reich, Taylor Collett and Macie Parrish provide backcourt protection. The Lady Bulldogs improved to 8-6 on the season and 3-0 in district with wins on Tuesday and Saturday over Three Way and Hico respectively. Hamilton’s varsity defeated Three Way at home by scores of 25-14, 25-11 and 25-14. On Saturday in Hico, Reich served Hamilton’s first 17 points in a 25-2 first game victory. The Lady Dogs cruised to 25-20 and 25-17 wins in the final two to remain unbeaten in district competition. Hamilton’s JV Black also won decisively over Hico in two sets, 25-10 and 25-10, to move to 10-3 on the season and 2-0 in district, and the 8-2 JV Red dropped just their second match of the season in De Leon on Saturday in competitive 22-25 and 23- 25 sets. All three of Hamilton’s high school teams were scheduled to host Tolar on Tuesday, and the varsity will travel to Bluff Dale on Saturday for a 10 am match.

Evant’s Lady Elk cross country team is off and running. Competing in Brownwood on September 2, the Lady Elks were led by first overall finisher Amy Pritchard. Pritchard was closely trailed by Katie Galloway in ninth and Zulma Obiedo in 10th. In Waco last week, Pritchard again raced to a gold medal finish, and Obiedo placed eighth overall. Lady Elks pictured (l-r) include Katie McGilvray, Cheyenne Ford, Obiedo, Pritchard, Galloway and Caeleigh Burkham.

Hamilton County Heritage Days held its first horseshow tournament on Saturday. The tournament paid cash to the top six teams and trophies to the top three. Winners of the 2020 HCHD Horseshoe Tournament sponsored by Ashmore Plumbing were Pablo Arryo and Roy Eakins. Second place team was Jay Ray and Michael Morris. In third were Rick Dashner and John Lira. David Siepert and Steve Furman took fourth place. Daniel Henslee and Seth Holland placed fifth and Jeff Bartek and Randay Coufal sixth.

The Bulldogs are gearing up for Homecoming next Friday. To make sure school spirit is the only contagion that is shared, the celebration will look a little different this year.

From the opening kick-off to the final sounding bell, the Bulldogs marked their territory and claimed their domain for 48 straight dominating minutes last Friday night at Kooken Field, lambasting the visiting Hico Tigers in a record setting 66-0 landslide decision. Covering a period of 105 years of proud Bulldog football history, Friday night marked just the twelfth time on record that the Bulldogs produced 60-plus points in a ballgame.

Hamilton’s seventh and eighth grade Bulldog football teams saw their first action of the season last Thursday in a scrimmage held in Millsap. Both teams pitched shutouts over the host Bulldogs. Representing Hamilton ISD for the first time on the gridiron, the Bulldog seventh grade squad outpaced Millsap three scores to none. Halston Haile (#10), pictured rushing with the pigskin, found the end zone on two occasions, breaking for a 55-yard sprint to glory and a goal line plunge following lengthy passes from Judson Coalson to Carson Roberts and another to Colter Johnson down to the one. Grant Bauman (#34), pictured bulldozing Millsap defenders, also found the scoring box in the 18-0 victory. In eighth grade action, the young Dogs toppled Millsap 12-0 during two 20-minute live action periods. Following bruising runs by Garrett Guinn and Ben Weaver between the hashes, Jaxon Edwards barrelled into the scoring box for a pair of touchdowns. Edwards also had one takeaway by interception during the scrimmage. Though the play was overturned by penalty, Weaver (#21) is pictured racing to pay dirt during the eighth grade’s dominating performance. Following a week off, Hamilton’s junior varsity will be back in action this Thursday at Kooken Field as they host Bangs at 5:30 pm, and the junior high Dogs will travel to Bangs with games beginning at 5 pm. Staff Photos

HAMILTON COUNTY CHAMPIONS: The Hamilton Bulldogs retained the Hamilton County championship trophy for the third consecutive year in a 66-0 blowout victory over Hico last Friday night at Kooken Field. Above, the Bulldogs and Bulldog cheerleaders hoist the title trophy, while Sparky leads the Fighting Bulldog Marching Band in playing the school song following Hamilton’s record-setting night. Staff photos

DISTRICT WIN: Hamilton’s varsity Lady Bulldog volleyball team and the JV Black got off to great starts in district on Tuesday of last week, chalking decisive victories on the road versus Meridian. The varsity Lady Dogs trounced Meridian in three sets by scores of 25-3, 25-4 and 25-7 to improve to 6-6 on the season, and more importantly, 1-0 in district. Hamilton’s JV Black defeated Meridian in two quick games by scores of 25-7 and 25-1 to move to 9-3 on the year and 1-0 in district. Matches versus Evant scheduled for last Friday were postponed. Hamilton’s varsity was set to host Three Way on Tuesday, and both the varsity and JV Black will travel to Hico this Saturday for JV competition at 10 am followed by the varsity at 11. Next Tuesday, Hamilton’s 8-1 JV Red team will face-off against district foe Tolar beginning at 5 pm followed by the JV Black at 6 and the varsity at 7 in Hamilton. Hamilton’s junior high squads are also off to impressive starts. The seventh and eighth grade A teams each earned two-set victories over teams from Stephenville on Thursday of last week. The eighth grade B team won over Stephenville in three games, and the seventh grade B team fell in two. HJH volleyball was scheduled to host both Meridian and Brownwood on Monday. Pictured at top, Jaley Reich smashes a kill at the net, and below, Lexie Clark digs the ball at midcourt in district varsity action last week in Meridian.