Sports

“The Locker Room Show” on Mineola radio station KMOO (99.9 FM) will be broadcasting live from I. T. James Memorial Stadium in Edgewood Monday night from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

“The Locker Room Show” features high school football correspondents from around the KMOO listening area reviewing the previous Friday night matchups and looking ahead to the following Friday night gridiron contests.

David Barber, sports correspondent for Van Zandt Newspapers, will be among the guests on the program each week.

KMOO will be broadcasting the Edgewood/Harmony varsity football game live on Friday, October 7 in Edgewood.

Monday night’s program at the football stadium is being sponsored by the Edgewood Athletic Booster Club.

All football fans are invited to come out and be a part of “The Locker Room Show” on KMOO every Monday night during the high school football season.

The Canton Eaglettes set a high standard during the 2015 season, riding a veteran roster that included eight seniors to the top spot in district play with an 8-1 record overall. With a much younger roster in tow this season, the Eaglettes began their latest chapter of district play by hosting rival Van Sept. 23.

The matchup didn’t go as planned for Canton, with Van fending off a tough challenge by the Eaglettes to pull out a four-set victory. Van managed to keep Canton at arms-length during each of the first two sets, pulling ahead 25-17, 25-16 over the Eaglettes.

Play between the two teams was extremely competitive in a thrilling third set, as Canton pulled itself back into the match by topping Van 30-28.

Led by strong play from freshman Macy Rucker and junior Alli Lloyd, the Lady Vandals shut the door on any Canton comeback attempt by taking the fourth set 25-17 to end the match.

The Canton Eagles entered play against Paris North Lamar knowing they would be facing off against one of their toughest opponents of the season, taking on a Panther team that had already knocked of a pair of 5A opponents in non-district play.

Turnovers and costly mistakes would be the biggest factor in the outcome of the Sept. 23 game between Canton and North Lamar, as three first quarter turnovers led directly to 21 Panther points in what would become a 42-12 loss.

Canton began play on offense, stalling out quickly before being forced to punt the ball to the Panthers for their first possession of the night.

Despite excellent field position at the Canton 43-yard to start their first drive, North Lamar didn’t fare much better than the Eagles, netting just four yards on their first series before turning the ball back over on downs.

The Canton Running Eagles competed at the Pine Tree Invitational in Kilgore at Katy's Ranch Sept. 24.

The varsity girls captured the victory finishing first in a field of 18 teams. Leading the pack for the Eaglettes was Karen James who finished third on the 2.2 mile course with a time of 14:37, followed by Taylor Marshall in fifth in 14:53, and Juliana Bratcher in 10th in 15:28. Other runners included Darby Pruitt in 22nd, Claire Boyd in 28th, Kristin Neystel in 33rd and Morgan Palmer in 38th. There were 140 runners in the race.

Cordale Harrison picked up his first individual championship finished first overall out of 154 runners with a time of 19:51 on the 3.3 mile course. Rounding out the varsity boys were Jaeden Miller who was 16th, Garrett Stapleton 48th, and Bryce Terry 55th.

Olivia Boyd led the way for the JV girls finishing seventh overall in a time of 17:44 out of 117 runners. 

Six Van Zandt County cross country teams and host of others from around the East Texas area made their way to Canton Sept. 17 to compete in the annual Canton Cross Country Invitational Meet.

Fairfield took first overall in the varsity girls division, finishing with 53 total points. County team finishes included Canton in third with 69 points, Van in sixth with 186 points and Wills Point in seventh with 191 points. Edgewood and Martins Mill had runners in the field but not enough to qualify in the team rankings.

Individual finishers in the varsity girls division included:

-Canton: Karen James, fourth place, 12:49.72; Taylor Marshall, eighth place, 13:06.01; Juliana Bratcher, 11^th place, 13:28.26; Darby Pruitt, 20^th place, 13:59.40; Kristin Neystel, 38^th place, 14:49.45: Morgan Palmer, 41^st place 14:58.27; Olivia Boyd, 54^th place, 15:23.37

-Edgewood: Shannon Baker, 36^th place, 14:42.19

After more than a month and a half of play under their collective belts, the Canton Eaglettes will finally begin their quest for back-to-back district titles starting Friday night.

Canton will open district play against Van at home Sept. 23. The Eaglettes will continue their streak of taking on in county opponents by traveling to Wills Point Sept. 27.

 Rains, ranked in the top 20 by the Texas Girls Coaches Association all year, will host Canton Sept. 30. The Eaglettes will host Brownsboro for their annual Dig Pink fundraising night Oct. 4 before wrapping up the first round of district play in Mabank Oct. 7.

Canton will take on Van, Wills Point, Rains, Brownsboro and Mabank a second time, this time swapping sites to the opposite location of where round one matchups took place.

The Canton Eagles scored touchdowns on each of their six first half possessions in a 49-14 demolition of the Life Waxahachie Mustangs on Friday night, putting an exclamation point on a thrilling homecoming night at Norris Birdwell Stadium.

Excitement at the stadium began approximately 30 minutes before kickoff, with the introduction of this year’s homecoming court that included … Olivia Norrell, Julia Duke, Rachel Cade and Ava Hudson, as well as 2016 CHS Homecoming Queen nominees Juliana Bratcher, Olivia Boyd, Karen James and Alexandria Wiley.

After a brief buildup of the suspense, complete with drumroll, Karen James was announced as this year’s CHS Homecoming Queen.

Carter Day (7) and McGwire Martin (5) celebrate following Day's 48-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter Friday night. The Eagles improved to 4-0 overall on the season by thrashing Waxahachie Life 49-14 in front of a packed house at Norris Birdwell Stadium in Canton. More photos page 1B of this week's Canton Herald. 

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The Running Eagles ran at the James Smith Invitational in Midlothian on Thursday, Sept. 8, winning first overall in the varsity boys division and third overall in the varsity girls division.

The varsity boys won the meet with 100 points out of 16 schools and 122 runners. Cordale Harrison led the way finishing fourth with a time of 18:25. He was followed by Matthew Hook in sixth in 18:27, Jaeden Miller in 23rd in 19:20, Juan Ruiz in 31st in 19:36, Jonathan Bourquin in 36th in 19:50, Bryce Terry in 50th in 20:41, Bryce Wilkins in 20:55, Garrett Stapleton in 20:56 and Gage Bullard in 23:35.  

The future looks incredibly bright for the Canton Eaglette volleyball program, with junior high teams returning home from tournament play in Van last week with trophies celebrating top finishes.

The 8th grade Eaglettes took home top honors at the Van JH Volleyball Tournament, winning first place overall.

Canton posted a perfect 3-0 record overall, defeating Brownsboro 25-23, 25-20; Kaufman 25-22, 25-20; and host Van in the final, 25-27, 25-18, 25-13.

Team members include: Audrey Thelen, Lauren Reid, Hannah Walker, Anna Hudson, Eve Dial, Carly Autry, Avery Cantrell, Madelyn Dunn, Evelyn Holt, Kayden Prox, Lottie Adams and Sarah Jeffcoat.

Along with this tournament championship, the Eaglettes are 3-0 in district play.

7^th Grade

The 7th Grade Eaglettes nearly duplicated the feat accomplished by their 8^th grade counterparts, finishing third overall in their division at the Van Tournament.