Sports

The bright spotlight of the Friday night lights continues to draw ever closer this week, with Canton scheduled to take on Kaufman in their final scrimmage of the 2016 preseason tonight.

The Lions, fresh off an 11-2 season that saw them make it all the way to the Regional Semifinals, enter the season as one of the favorites in District 8-4A this year.

Kaufman returns to the field this season with five offensive and seven defensive starters back in the fold.

Key players to keep an eye on will be quarterback/wide receiver Jefferson Fritz, as well as receivers Kelton Kersh and Dre Prox.

All three are big play threats, with Fritz finishing with 762 receiving and 260 rushing yards in 2015. Prox was even more explosive as a pass catcher, collecting 840 receiving yards and five touchdowns.

Austin Weatherly, a 6’4” 285 lb. tackle, is expected to help clear holes for Fritz and running back Devyn Morris on the offensive side of the football.

The Canton Eagles wasted little time getting acclimated to the season ahead, beginning the annual tradition of preseason practices Aug. 1 before taking part in an intrasquad scrimmage at Norris Birdwell Stadium Aug. 6.

Canton’s varsity flashed promise both offensively and defensively throughout the first padded scrimmage, with the offense putting together several touchdown drives and the defense answering back with several turnovers forced during the hour long session.

With those two major touchstones now in the rearview mirror, the Eagles will now turn their attention to their first opponent wearing another uniform, traveling to Mt. Vernon Aug. 13 for a matchup against the Tigers.

Mt. Vernon was placed into District 7-3A during the most recent bout of UIL realignment, where they are scheduled to compete against state title contender Mineola, as well as Winnsboro, Commerce, Farmersville, Grand Saline and Quitman.

The Canton High School varsity cheerleaders recently completed a four-day camp at Great Wolf Lodge. The CHS squad won three trophies and two spirit sticks. Cheer sponsor is Ashley Herchman. Amber Swindall, Piper Beasley and Kristin Neystel received All American Cheerleader awards. Lyndi Nace received a Jump Queen award. 

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Canton divided its annual summer volleyball camp into two groups, with 3^rd-5^th graders taking the court early in the morning followed students entering grades 6-8. All told, nearly 90 students attended the three-day camp held at Canton High School July 25-27.

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The Canton Eagles and Eaglettes, both playoff qualifiers and bi-district champions in 2015, returned to work Aug. 1 for their first official workouts of the upcoming season. Attendance and enthusiasm was high for both players and coaches, with scrimmages for both programs scheduled for the end of this week and the Canton volleyball program beginning its season next week.

Eagles

The Canton Eagles showed just how resilient they could be during the 2015 season, bouncing back from an 0-3 start to finish 6-6 overall, including a bi-district round title with a 34-27 win over Gladwater in the playoffs.

The Eagles nearly pulled off an even more impressive feat in the Area round of the playoffs, dueling with the Lorena Leopards down to the wire in a 35-28 heartbreaker.

The Canton High School athletic department has announced that it will began selling season tickets to current ticket holders beginning July 25.

In a press release, the athletic department stated, “We are eagerly anticipating the upcoming 2016-17 Football Season. Among the exciting changes happening at Canton ISD is the expansion of our home side stands at the football stadium. We are aware that seating has been limited in the past and are making efforts to improve our seating capacity for our fans. The stands will have an additional ten rows with an aluminum bench seat back only in the top center section.”

Season ticket holders for the 2015 football season will be able to purchase their same seats for the 2016 season beginning Monday, July 25 through Thursday, July 28. You must purchase your tickets by July 28 to be guaranteed your same seats.

Future Canton volleyball standouts will get an opportunity to receive instruction from CHS coaches prior to the close of the month, with the announcement of the annual Eaglette Volleyball Camp set for July 25-27.

The camp is open to incoming 3rd thru 8th graders, at a cost of $35 per participant. Organizers noted that the cost of the camp includes a t-shirt for participants.

Camp hours are scheduled for 8-9:45 a.m. for 3rd-5th graders, and 10 a.m. - noon for 6th-8th graders.

The purpose of the camp is to help each athlete improve themselves in the basic fundamentals of volleyball with daily emphasis given to several key concepts: passing, setting, serving, spiking, etc.

Additionally, the camp will encourage team building, self-confidence while helping to spark an interest in the sport for campers.

Information on the camp can be obtained by emailing Coach Liz Ramsey at eramsey@cantonisd.com.

Catching catfish at Lake Tawakoni is usually not a problem for savvy anglers, especially in the summertime. This is when eater size channel catfish are attracted to holes baited with soured grain like hogs to a trough but catching them in comfort this time of the year can be a challenge. I don’t need to remind any of you how hot it gets fishing from a stationary boat with the sun beaming down!

 Through the years, I have spent many hours catfishing during the summer months, tied up to a dead tree or on anchor in deep water with only a wide brimmed hat and sun screen for protection from the sun. During our trip last week, Hanson and I enjoyed catching limits of good eating “channels” from the comfort of deep shade.

Canton senior pole vaulter Colin Millsap has been no stranger to competing on the big stage of the State Track and Field Meet at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, having competed there in both 2014 and 2015.

This year was no different, with the Texas A&M Commerce bound vaulter qualifying to compete for the third consecutive year at the prestigious event. 

Back in 2014, Millsap, then a sophomore, cleared a height of 15'6" to finish fourth overall. Top vaulters that year included Brandon Bray of China Spring in first with a height of 17'8.5", Nicholas Meaders of Gatesville in second with a height of 16'3" and Luke Jaroszewski of Geronimo Navarro in third with a height of 15'6".