Catch all the action from our Bastrop affiliate for Friday's matchup:
Bastrop Bears vs. Connally Cougars
7:15 p.m. Pre-game, 7:30 Kickoff
Bastrop Crew: Robert Ardis, John Williams, QA – Nathan Nunez
During the Thanksgiving break, many teams were afforded the opportunity to play in the invite-only HoopFest! Red Oak took on John Paul II in a matchup on Friday in which Red Oak defeated John Paul II girls basketball 48-34. VYPE DFW was there to catch all of the action!
With a strong win in the tournament, the Red Oak Lady Hawks advanced to a 7-5 overall record to start their season. John Paul Il's Lady Cardinals also played extremely physical and will look to fight back and post more wins en route to their district's play. Below, you can find all of the highlights from the game!
Highlight film was shot by Brian Jones.
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Having covered the world of recruiting for decades, here is lesson No. 1.
Commit to the school, not the coach.
With the coaching carousel spinning like a top, high school prospects are shocked that the coaches they committed to are off to greener pastures.
Really? Don’t be.
This is a business boys, and you have to ALWAYS keep your options open. You have to have a Plan B… a worst-case scenario.
When 99-percent of the high school and college students who are looking for a job, they commit to a company… not a manager. College football recruiting is NO DIFFERENT.
Look, on the real, the power-struggle has flipped to the players over the past few years. The recruiting game has also completely morphed. You wanted it, you got it.
The portal makes roster management virtually impossible for college coaches to know who is coming or going. It’s free-agency every year.
Kids can use it to their benefit or their detriment.
Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), which I don’t agree with, is also a joke. Teens can make big money, which they have no idea how to manage, completely changing the power dynamic in the locker room and the relationship with their coaches. Short-sighted deals are made to allure recruits to the super-powers of college football.
It’s the same deal with college coaches… you can’t fault them for negotiating their own deals.
The creation of super-conferences is alluring to some coaches, but terrifying to others. It’s a game of musical chairs and everyone is scrambling for their spot before the music stops. If you could coach for 4-5 years in the rough-and-tumble SEC where expectations are insane, or coach 10-15 years in the Pac-12, where expectations are like “dude, football is gnarly, bruh”, which would you pick?
Throw in an international pandemic into the mix and this whole recruiting process is a mess.
Existing players getting an extra year of eligibility. No expansion of scholarships from 85 per school and hundreds of student-athletes looking for their next stop are finding themselves back at their homes. The one-time hometown heroes, who had hundreds of adoring fans watching them select a hat during Signing Day, are now collecting a paycheck a Chick-fil-A.
With the exodus of Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley to USC, Billy Napier from UL-L to Florida, Joey McGuire from Baylor to Texas Tech, kids feel like they are left in the dark. Sort of, but did you commit to the school or the coach?
LSU, OU, TCU and Virginia Tech among others are coach-less with December 15th looming – the early signing day.
It’s chaos, but such is life.
Stop whining fellas, there is a formula to football and life in general.
LISTEN to experienced people who have NO incentive in your decisions. Hmmmm… maybe your high school head coach or position coach who has seen you develop the past four years.
Hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst.
Work hard and make good decisions.
And finally, understand -- THIS IS A BUSINESS. Everyone is out for themselves. Never forget that.
So, choose a school that feels like home, play ball, create your own network, be patient and things will work out. Here's a novel concept, get your degree so you can be your own boss one day.
And leave your feelings at home.
HOUSTON - As much as getting past the TAPPS State Semifinals meant to, especially the seniors, on Saturday night the celebration was slightly tempered at times.
Not because the Eagles weren't excited about getting to the programs' first TAPPS State Championship game since 1999 - well before any of the current players were even born - but because their job is not done.
"It's cool and all but we've got one more," senior Grayson Kim, who has started in a school-record 47 games, said. "We will work hard this week. We've got to win that last game."
Senior back Eli Smith added: "If we handle our job at State we can come home with that ring."
Between 1996-1999, Second Baptist School made some deep runs just like they have the past now four seasons. They punched through the ceiling in 1999 winning the program's lone football championship.
"This means a lot, especially for this program," senior Everett Skillern said.
The past three seasons it was Regents School of Austin standing in their way in the State Semifinals. But after upending them last week, Second Baptist School downed Fort Bend Christian Academy 14-13 to advance again - this time to the State Championship game.
"It's really relieving but the jobs not finished," Smith said. "It feels good to get past semis but it's not the state championship."
For Second Baptist School coach Terry Pirtle, to be back in this spot with this group is special, considered when he arrived at SBS nine years ago some of these guys were just running around in the lower school.
"It means a lot, this is my ninth year here and some of these guys were in the second or third grade when I got here," Pirtle said. "I've known these kids forever. They were built for this, we built them, it wasn't assembled. They've been with us a long time. I'm very proud, especially for these seniors who hung in there and got a win in their senior year in the semifinals."
VYPE Postgame 🎙: Had to catch up with seniors @skillerneverett, @GraysonKim1 & @eli_smiith after the big win. #txhsfb
(@mawalker_SBAD @KPRC2RandyMc @turnermurdock5 @CoachPirtle) pic.twitter.com/BKBcaULQ2J
— VYPE Houston (@vypehouston) November 28, 2021
More State Championship Game Bound Quotes
"It means that we are truly special. I've been playing here for the last three years. We had been to the semifinals but not state yet. This is it!" - Colin Hedges ('22)
"It hasn't happened in a while. We want to be the next team to raise that banner. We're going to go do that next week." - Karsten Chambers ('23)
"Having the opportunity is just amazing. At my old school we went three years in a row, so now 10 years later you don't take it for granted. So, we're going to do the best that we can to just get prepared for this game and play our very best against a very good Dallas Christian team." - SBS Head Coach Terry Pirtle.
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