Sports

The Bronco baseball team outlasted the Valley Patriots at home last week and put together a great team effort in their 13-3 win. Junior Brock Hatley got the win pitching four innings while only allowing three hits and two runs with three strike outs.

Jared Musick came in for relief and threw two innings. Koyt Tucek set up the Broncos’ offensive run early in the game with a single that grounded out, but scored one run. After going scoreless in the next inning, the Broncos posted six more runs by the bottom of the fifth before adding six more in the final inning.

Clarendon’s scoring frenzy came from hits by Jodee Pigg, Tucek, Easton Frausto, and Musick for RBI’s. The Broncos racked up 10 stolen bases in the game with three of them coming from Jordan Herndon.

The Broncos will travel to Kress March 26 and play at 4:00 p.m. with JV to follow. The JV will play at River Road on March 27 at noon.

Lady Bronco softball results were not available at press time.

Whether or not you are a basketball fan, you have to be a Bronco fan after witnessing history being made on the Alamodome hardcourt in San Antonio last Saturday.

The State Championship was the first for a team sport in Clarendon and Coach Boston Hudson, at 25, might possibly be the youngest coach to win a State Championship.

“The guys did what I asked. They bought in (to our plan), and I think we did it the right way,” first year head basketball coach Hudson said about the Broncos’ 2A State basketball win.

All season, the Broncos had a goal to reach; the State Tournament and a Championship. Their goal came to fruition last Saturday morning as the strong and determined team took to the court. With fans in the ‘Dome, at the Mulkey Theater, and at home, the Broncos flexed their muscles and made their dream a reality by defeating a good Grapeland team 64-60.

The Broncos had only four losses this season. Their last loss came at the hands of the Canyon Eagles who are a solid 4A team with only one game before their District opener. That loss spurred on the Broncos who faced off against Gruver to begin a 12-0 run in regular season. Their post-season play was stellar as well as they worked their way through Fritch, Farwell, Floydada, Christoval, Wink, and Lipan before punching their ticket to the Championship game in San Antonio.

Early on in the Championship game, the Broncos stormed to a 18-12 lead behind a 10-3 run before ending the first quarter of play. The Broncos fell off somewhat in the second quarter but regained the momentum after the break. There were 11 lead changes in the game and four times the score was tied.

Both teams were cold from behind the arc shooting 16 three-pointers all together, but the one long ball that was all net belonged to Thompson at the third quarter buzzer from about six or seven steps behind the mark to get the Broncos to one point up.

“I thought Jordan (Herndon) was going to hold it, and I ran up there to shoot the ball and saw Jmaury (Davis) set me a screen and I shot it,” Thompson said. “We knew they were just as athletic as us. They had their #3 who played just like Jmaury, and he had a double-double at half time. Number 00 was back-to-back All-State and we knew #5 was going to be a handful.”

Thompson gave props to Jordan Herndon who took out the best players all year with his strong defense and was able to get the Grapeland player in foul trouble.

The Broncos were able to add three points to their one-point lead in the final eight minutes of play that had exaggerated ups and downs for both teams. With only 40 seconds to play, Grapeland turned the ball over, and Clarendon’s Lamarcus Peniger drove to the basket and was fouled. Peniger missed the first shot, but made the second putting the game at 60 all with 30 seconds remaining.

A player for Grapeland took the inbound ball and headed down court only to be picked by Peniger who made good on an easy layup to lead by two with 10 seconds to go.

“I was so excited on the steal, I almost jumped on the layup early,” Peniger said. “I thought I was going to get chased down, but it was exciting to make that shot and help my team.”

After a time out, Grapeland’s Johnny Lamb drove to the bucket, but Davis was there to take the charge giving his team the ball while fouling the Grapeland player out. Cayden D’Costa, who has been a bright spot on the team, then heaved the ball full court to Thompson who made the easy lay in. Grapeland had one more chance but could not convert giving the Broncos exactly what they went to San Antonio to do; come home with the gold.

The free-throw line was not a friend to either team. The Broncos only made 13 of 24 from the bonus line for 54 percent. However; the Sandies struggled to finish at 48 percent missing 15 out of 29 shots.

Seniors Donovan Thompson and Ethan Babcock have been solid all season and contributed to the Broncos’ great season at 25-4.

“I’m just so proud of them and I’m thankful for our seniors Ethan and Donovan,” Hudson said. “We will miss these guys, but what a way to go out for these two. I don’t think it could end any better than the way it did.”
Thompson would go on to win the MVP of Class 2A.

“We’re just excited and going to enjoy this and try to do it again next year,” Hudson said. “I’m going to take spring break and enjoy it and as soon as we get back start looking at things and figure out all the pieces of the puzzle for next year and try to do it all again.”

Thompson finished with 21, Davis had 13, and Sylvester Ballard helped with 12. Peniger put in eight, Herndon added six, and D’Costa finished with four. Davis had eight rebounds, Ballard grabbed seven and had two assists, Thompson had five rebounds and five assists, Peniger grabbed two offensive rebounds and had three assists, Herndon had five defensive rebounds with two assists, D’Costa had four rebounds and five assists, and Lyric Smith had one defensive rebound in the game.

The Texas Association of Basketball Coaches selected an All-Tournament team. Joining Thompson was Ballard and Davis.

This was the Broncos 5th trip to state. The Broncos previously made appearances in the final four in 1969 where they faced Friendswood; the championship game in 1970 where they took on Kennard; the final four in 2011 where they faced Tenaha; and the championship game in 2017 where they took on Muenster.

In addition to a large number of Bronco fans traveling to San Antonio, more than 200 packed the Mulkey Theatre to watch the game live on the big screen, breaking out into the Clarendon High School Song when the final buzzer sounded in San Antonio.

The Bronco Powerlifters competed in the Regional Power Lifting Meet last Thursday in Sundown and were both able to lift personal bests in their weight class.

Rhett Caison competed in the 165-pound weight class and finished 11th, which was two spots ahead of the two lifters that he was tied with going into the meet. Caison lifted a total of 945 pounds, a personal best. He also had a personal best in the squat lifting 340 pounds. He posted a weight of 235 pounds on the bench and 370 pounds on the dead lift.

Colton Benson has improved all year as well and finished sixth in the 123-pound weight class with a lift total of 570 pounds which is a personal record for him. Benson was able to post a personal best in the squat of 185 pounds, 135 pounds on the bench and 250 pounds on the dead lift. Benson improved two spots ahead of where he qualified.

“I was very happy with the way they competed at the meet,” Nino said. “Colton increased his total by 35 pounds and Rhett increased his total by 25 pounds. They both worked very hard this year and it showed on the last meet. I would like to thank them and all the powerlifters for their efforts this year. I would also like to thank Mr. Jeffers, the students, faculty, administration, and our athletic Director Coach Conkin for their support this year. The sendoffs were great.”