Sports

The Running Eagles ran at the district cross country meet on Monday and walked away with four district championships, four district individual champions, and two regional qualifying teams. It was certainly a great day to be an Eagle runner!

The varsity girls continued their district champ tradition for the 9th year in a row. Karen James was the individual champion with a time of 12:51 on the rough and hilly course.  "I'm so proud of Karen. She has worked hard since track season and her times have improved each week. She is very goal oriented and determined,” said Coach Marta Morgan.

The Canton Eaglettes have been a team on the rise in recent seasons, becoming a perennial playoff qualifier on the strength of a program that has improved at all levels.

That rise continued last week during a match between the Eaglettes, ranked 16^th in the latest Texas Girls Coaches Association 4A State Poll, and Emory Rains, ranked 23^rd overall in the TGCA 4A Poll.

In the first district meeting between the two teams Sept. 22, Canton mounted a furious rally that fell just short in a 29-27, 25-22, 17-25, 23-25, 15-13 loss.

Round two of the district battle easily went Canton’s way, with strong Eaglette play at the net carrying the team to a 25-21, 24-26, 25-16, 25-13 win over the rival Lady Cats.

The final score may not show it, but the Canton Eagles gave the Gilmer Buckeyes everything they could possibly want and more in a 45-19 loss on Friday night.

The Buckeyes entered the contest on an extreme high, having defeated a well-regarded Melissa team 60-0 the week before. All of those points were scored in the first half of that game, with coaches opting to keep a running clock the entirety of the second half.

Things would be far different against the Eagles at Norris Birdwell Stadium, with Canton, despite four first half turnovers offensively, narrowly trailing by a 21-12 margin entering intermission. Gilmer raised its level of play after the break, outscoring the Eagles 24-7 to close out the 45-19 win, but Canton showed more than enough to put other District 5-4A teams on notice.

The Running Eagles ran at the Mansfield Invitational on Friday, October 9. The girls team finished third overall out of 17 teams (second in our region) and 118 runners. 

Karen James led the way with a 9th place finish in 12:22 followed closely by Juliana Bratcher in 11th with a time of 12:38. Hannah Manry was 33rd in 13:30, Lindsey Lamar 38th in 13:38, Morgan Palmer 41st in 13:40 and Taylor Marshall 43rd in 13:41.

Coach Marta Morgan stated, "The girls did a great job and are really excited about the next two meets."

The varsity boys finished 7th overall out of 22 teams and a field of 163 runners. Matthew Hook finished 18th with a time of 18:13, Cordale Harrison 22nd in 18:30, Andrew Hamel 26th in 18:41, Juan Ruiz 41st in 19:02, Jonathan Bourquin 56th in 19:32, and Fernando Lopez 21:18. 

The final score may not show it, but the Canton Eagles gave Gilmer everything it could possibly want and more in a 45-19 loss on Friday night.

The Eagle defense played well, particularly in the first half. After falling behind 14-0 on a fumble return for a touchdown and a 21-yard completion from Zac Spears to Demarco Boyd, Canton buckled down to keep things close with a Hunter Moore to Tre Fitzgerald 20-yard touchdown completion, and an electrifying 65-yard run by Jordan Jackson.

Despite four turnovers in the first quarter, Canton trailed just 21-12 at the half.

Gilmer raised its level of play after the break, outscoring the Eagles 24-7 to close out the 45-19 win.

The Eagles, now 3-4 overall including 1-1 in district play, will look to get back in the win column on Oct. 23 when they take on Melissa. The Cardinals are currently 0-2 in district play, having lost to Gilmer (60-0) and Rains (41-38).

The Canton Eaglettes find themselves on the cusp of another guaranteed playoff appearance this week, having logged key wins over Brownsboro and rival Van in recent matches.

The two wins helped position Canton securely as the second seed in district so far with a 3-1 record overall, just behind the 4-0 record of current top seed Van.

Play began last week with Canton continuing its yearly Dig Pink Night tradition Oct. 6 with a match against the visiting Brownsboro Bearettes.

Dig Pink is put together by Coach Liz Ramsey and the Eaglette team to help raise funds and awareness for the fight against breast cancer.

Even with the added fanfare around the game, Canton played exceptionally well in a 25-12, 25-12, 25-8 sweep of the Bearettes.

No team in Van Zandt County has been on a better roll than the Canton Eagles of late. After an 0-3 start to the season, Canton has found another gear in recent weeks.

The resurgence began back on Sept. 18 win a homecoming night win over Spring Hill. The following week, Canton delivered what may well be considered the comeback of the year, storming back from a 19-0 halftime deficit to stun rival Wills Point 28-27.

On Friday night, the Canton Eagles delivered their most complete performance to date, outhustling and outmuscling Nevada-Community in all three phases of the game to register a 42-14 win over the Braves in the District 5-4A opener for both teams.

Canton set the tone early, getting on the scoreboard against Community with just their second play from scrimmage.

The first half of Canton’s season was nothing short of a rollercoaster ride, with Eagle players, coaches and fans showing plenty of resolve to ride out an early wave of near misses.

In each of the first three weeks of the season, the Eagles managed to recover from mishaps to take fourth quarter leads against Grace Community, Mabank and Crandall in successive weeks. Despite Canton’s best efforts, all three teams managed to string together their best football down the stretch to hand the Eagles an 0-3 record heading into their Sept. 18 game against Spring Hill.

Not to be deterred by three tough losses, the Eagles managed to string together consecutive wins, dominating the Spring Hill Panthers 35-13, and then rallying from a 19-0 deficit against rival Wills Point to pull out a hard fought 28-27 win to improve to 2-3 on the season.

The Canton Running Eagles ran at the Ken Gaston Invitational in Grand Prairie this past week. This will be the location of the Regional Meet on Oct. 26 as well. 

The varsity girls finished 6th overall out of 17 teams and 123 runners. Karen James led the way finishing 9th with a time of 12:07. Juliana Bratcher was 19th in 12:35, Taylor Marshall 13:24, Lindsey Lamar 13:25, Morgan Palmer 13:46, and Hannah Manry 14:01. 

In the varsity boys division, there were 131 runners and the team finished 7th out of 17 teams. Cordale Harrison was 15th in 17:53, Matthew Hook, 16th in 17:54, Andrew Hamel 18:55, Jonathan Bourquin 19:40, and Fernando Lopez 19:58.