From Mike Tenney’s Essentials Sports Desk
Our area’s two big HISD schools are known even more for their academics than athletics, and so it’s no surprise that a number of them find their way each year onto the Texas High School Coaches Association Academic All-State Team.
Zane Knipe, Will Martinez, Josh Smith, Nick Cerasuolo and Matthew Mabin from Lamar High, and Jacob Beinart and Sam Lodinger from Bellaire HS made the first and second teams this year. Their selection was based on a combination of grade-point average, class rank and ACT/SAT score. Students had to be in good standing with the team, of good moral character and have an overall career GPA of 92 percent or better.
St. Thomas senior quarterback Peyton Matocha was named co-offensive player of the year (with St. Pius QB Grant Gunnell) by the Touchdown Club of Houston. Matocha led the Eagles to the TAPPS 6A District 1 championship with a perfect 4-0 record that included a thrilling 52-49 win over star-studded St. Pius X on the final night of the regular season at Granger Stadium. Besides throwing touchdown passes of 50 and 43 yards to wide receiver Josh Crissman and finishing with 299 yards passing, Matocha also raced untouched through huge holes opened by his offensive line for 67- and 43-yard touchdown runs. The Eagles won just one of their first six games in 2018 but rolled through district with four wins and then beat John Paul II 52-32 in the first round of the TAPPS playoffs before being eliminated by Dallas Bishop Lynch, 42-35 in the second round. The Eagles averaged more than 350 yards passing per game last year, and Matocha finished his career at STHS with 5,000-plus yards passing…
The St. Agnes volleyball team was a major force this past season in District 4 in the TAPPS 6A big school division, with five of the team’s six starters earning first team All-District honors while two other young ladies were voted onto the district’s second squad. Senior Katie Leyendecker, junior Sahara Maruska, sophomore Brooke Middleton, freshman Sophie Agee, and freshman Grace Webber were the players named all-district as the Tigers dominated the first team with five of the coach’s 11 player selections. St. Agnes also had a pair of players among the dozen listed to the second team, with sophomore Kaili Holfield and junior Julia Bradshaw also earning all-district status. St. Agnes was the 6A District 2 runner-up and reached the TAPPS state semifinals before being eliminated by district rival Tomball Concordia Lutheran one game away from the state championship match. Leyendecker is the only senior among the St. Agnes seven girls named all-district, meaning the Tigers immediate future is extremely bright and chances of getting back to the state tournament are promising…
Juniors Will Leger and Lucas Desjardins are among the local players on the St. John’s basketball team, which will start Southwest Preparatory Conference action Jan. 11 by traveling to The Woodlands to play the John Cooper School…
Senior Kristin Ankoma-Sey, sophomore Eliza Holt, and freshman Lily Pesikoff are members of the St. John’s girls basketball team, which will tip off SPC conference action Jan. 11 when they visit the John Cooper School in the first game of the Mavericks varsity boy-girl doubleheader…
Jackson Kelso and James Dixon were Episcopal volleyball players who were named All-SPC for their work during the recent fall boys campaign. Kelso was one of the seniors who helped lead the team to a 20-win season and a high seeding in the SPC tournament. The Knights reached the SPC tournament semifinals before losing their last two games to officially finish fourth in the 12-team competition…
Although he didn’t start any games this season, former Strake Jesuit 3-time all-district offensive lineman Luke Junkunc helped the University of Louisiana reach the inaugural Sun Belt Conference championship game, which they lost to Appalachian State, 30-19 on the Mountaineers’ home field in Boone, N.C. Louisiana, which used to be called the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, was one of just five teams in the country to start the same five offensive linemen in all 12 games they played last year, but all were older players that Junkunc practiced against every day. The Ragin Cajuns, led by first-year head coach Billy Napier, closed out the regular season with four consecutive wins, which was their longest winning streak since 2011.
Rice redshirt sophomore wide receiver Rhett Cardwell, who was a three-year starter at the Kinkiad School, could be part of the Owls’ offensive future after a productive 2018 season in his first year on scholarship with the program. The 6-foot-1, 198-pounder made his first four college starts this past season as Rice looks to get back to bowl games under second-year head coach Mike Blomgren. The Owls have begun their off-season workouts and have a large number of starters returning, including Cardwell, for next year as they look to be contenders in Conference-USA…
Former St. John’s School and Duke University basketball deity Justise Winslow is currently in his fourth season with the Miami Heat, who are fighting to get back into the NBA playoffs. Going into this season, Winslow has started 48 games in the NBA and played in 164 games overall. For his young career, the 6-foot-7, 225-pound, 22-year-old Winslow is averaging 7.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and one steal in just under 28 minutes of playing time per game. The number 10 pick in the 2015 NBA draft has been shooting 41 percent from the floor as well as 31 percent from three-point range and 66 percent from the free throw line. The Heat were five games below .500 just a week before Christmas with Winslow going off the bench…
University of Houston senior point guard Galen Robinson, who is one of the fastest players in college basketball, is in his second year as a starter and has become one of the Cougars’ top scorers as the team on Cullen Boulevard began the year with eight straight victories. Robinson averaged nearly 10 points and 5 assists per outing in December, including a single-game career high 20 points in the team’s win over Lamar University on December 5. The Westbury Christian graduate is trying to help the Cougars reach the NCAA men’s basketball tournament for a second consecutive March…
Linebacker Michael Jewett and offensive lineman Will Symonds were a pair of key reserves this past season for Trinity University in San Antonio. Jewett, a Strake Jesuit graduate, played in eight games for the Tigers and produced six tackles. Symonds, a 6-foot-3, 230-pound sophomore who graduated from Westbury Christian, played in four games for Trinity. The Tigers finished the 2018 docket with a 7-3 mark, including four consecutive wins to end the year…
Senior Alexandra Meyer was the only Emery/Weiner volleyball player named All-District first team in TAPPS 5A District 7, but a few of the other Jaguars were also recognized by the league’s coaches. Junior Beatrice Graubarts and freshman Carlyle Berkman, two key returning starters for the team next year, were named to the second team, and junior Jordan Whitaker received honorable mention. Berkman was one of just three freshmen in the district named to the second team as no ninth-graders were listed among the dozen first team selections…
Eight St. Thomas Episcopal (STE) volleyball players were recognized for their outstanding 2018 fall seasons with All-District accolades in TAPPS 4A District 6. Junior Ava Barcelo, junior Cullen Powitzky, and sophomore Ella Classen were the three girls named first team all district while freshman Sophia Barcelo, junior Loren Valdez and junior Katherine Lexi were voted onto the second squad. STE also had freshman Naomi Hughes and junior Hannah Huston earn honorable mention. All of those players are expected back next year, making the Hawks one of the most experienced teams in the area going into next fall…
University of Louisiana senior wide receiver Ryheem Malone finished his college football career strong for the Ragin Cajuns, catching 44 passes for 676 yards last autumn and helping his team to a bowl game under first-year head coach Billy Napier. The former Bellaire HS standout has caught 85 passes the past two seasons and scored eight touchdowns in that span. Malone was also at his best when the stakes were the highest as the 5-foot-7, 189-pound speedster caught nine passes in the regular season finale — a 31-28 win over Louisiana-Monroe that clinched the Sun Belt Western Division title for Louisiana and earned them a berth in the first-ever Sun Belt championship game against Appalachian State. Besides playing receiver, Malone also returned punts the past two years and has even been called on 13 times to run the football. The Ragin Cajuns did qualify for a bowl and they faced Tulane last month in the Autonation Cure Bowl in Orlando, Florida…
University of Florida sophomore defensive back Donovan Stiner was a mainstay in the Gators’ lineup all season long, playing in all 12 games in 2018 under new head coach Dan Mullen. Stiner, who was a four-year starter for Bellaire HS, finished the regular season with 47 tackles, including a season-high nine in their game against LSU. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound safety had 21 solo tackles and assisted on 27 others last fall as the Gators rebounded from a 4-8 season in 2017 to a 9-3 mark last year. That record also got them back into bowl eligibility and the Gators took on Michigan Dec. 29 in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta…
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