Congratulations Taylor County Teams!

[vet93]

Congratulations to Merkel and Wylie for having great seasons. Both teams really improved over the season and upset very good teams (Greenwood and Everman). You represented this area and all of west texas well. Good luck in the future!

[vet93]

ttt

[VWG]

I was shocked that Merkel's head coach was like co-coach of the year with a couple of other coaches. This guy takes a program like Merkel on a good playoff run and he's not "the man" in the district for that?
Kent Jackson should have made the playoffs easily in that district..... and I'm not knocking Jackson. He's a heck of a coach, but give it up to Merkel and their season.
Also, hats off to Sandifer and the Bulldogs. I think that Sandifer did a tremendous job this year. He usually has better athletes to work with as far as experience and talent. (Don't bash me for thinking that I am saying the Wylie team had no talent this year) Soph. QB and company really put things together and I give all the credit back to Sandifer and his staff.

[vet93]

VWG...I agree on both counts. Wylie's cupboard was hardly bare with their depth and kids that they played, but you are dead on when compared to some of Wylie's previous teams that did well...this team seemed to lack talent compared to them. That is where heart, coaching and the will to win kick in. I do think that this was one of Sandifer's best coaching years. Flowers has done a great job at Merkel. He has turned them into a solid program that fields a good team year in and out. It will be interesting if Flowers applies to other jobs this year. He graduates a big senior class and he may look at this year to advance his career. Sandifer has a bird nest on the ground at Wylie...he is well respected there and unless Wylie goes 4A (unlikely), he will continue to have a 2 to 1 numbers advantage on most of his district opponents. I don't see him going anywhere right now.

[Adidas410s]

Man I sure HOPE that Sandifer doesnt go anywhere!

[CatWoman]

vet93:
Congratulations to Merkel and Wylie for having great seasons. Both teams really improved over the season and upset very good teams (Greenwood and Everman). You represented this area and all of west texas well. Good luck in the future!I know it's not 3A, but isn't Jim Ned in Taylor County? They are playing for the 2A Division 1 State Championship. (I may be wrong about the Taylor County thing)!

[vet93]

I believe you are right catwoman. Jim Ned, Merkel, Wylie, A. Cooper and A. High all made the playoffs from Taylor county this year...not bad. On a side note...Jim Ned turned in 30 more students than Ballinger. Ballinger and Jim Ned could end up in the same district or we could even see Jim Ned 3a and Ballinger 2A. Another irony...I believe that Bangs turned in more students than Ballinger too...they are still playing in 2a after Ballinger crushed Bangs by something like 51 to 13 at the beginning of the season. It sure makes you want to play the "What if" game.

[CatWoman]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by vet93:
<strong>I believe you are right catwoman. Jim Ned, Merkel, Wylie, A. Cooper and A. High all made the playoffs from Taylor county this year...not bad. On a side note...Jim Ned turned in 30 more students than Ballinger. Ballinger and Jim Ned could end up in the same district or we could even see Jim Ned 3a and Ballinger 2A. Another irony...I believe that Bangs turned in more students than Ballinger too...they are still playing in 2a after Ballinger crushed Bangs by something like 51 to 13 at the beginning of the season. It sure makes you want to play the "What if" game.</strong>[/QUOTE
You're not kidding. I have thought to myself what if Ballinger had been 2A this year. Would we still be playing? Who knows. It will be interesting and exciting to see how the UIL shakes things up in February.

[CatWoman]

ttt

[Adidas410s]

dont forget Abilene Christian...they made the state finals in TAPPS 2A before losing last week. Not a bad year for Taylor County. I guess that makes us "county champs" for 2003...if there is such a thing! :p

[CatWoman]

Adidas410s:
dont forget Abilene Christian...they made the state finals in TAPPS 2A before losing last week. Not a bad year for Taylor County. I guess that makes us "county champs" for 2003...if there is such a thing! :p Kudos to Abilene Christian. That's a pretty good batting average!

[Knightmoon]

Hey folks--thanks for the support. It was an incredible year for football in the big city of Merkel. Hopefully, that seed has been planted and we will see more of the same in the near future--like next year. Badger Mania really took off. The whole town had alot of fun with it this year. Thanks again. I couldn't agree more. There are alot of good teams in this part of the world.

[wildstangs]

Maybe will all this shuffling around Sweetwater and Merkel wont have to play in the New Mexico Border district next year. Could possibly be Sweetwater, Merkel, Wylie, Clyde, Jim Ned someone like Bangs or Early.

[wildstangs]

How about Comanche also? Havent they moved back and forth from 2A to 3A a few times?

[VWG]

I agree with wildstangs... why in the heck did the UIL place Sweetwater in the dist. they are in is beyond me.
It would seem that Sweetwater, Abilene Wylie, Merkel, Clyde.... maybe Breckenridge?
These area teams would make it easier on travel, which in turn equals more money saved, bigger crowds at games due to less travel distance, etc..

[Adidas410s]

Sweetwater to Breckenridge is about a 2 hr trip. They wouldnt move them over. Maybe Sweetwater, Snyder, Merkel, Wylie, Clyde, and Jim Ned. Now THAT would be a tough district in just about EVERY sport!

[Buffalo]

VWG, ARe you saying that Sweetwaters Dist now does not supply a big crowd?

[VWG]

Buffalo:
VWG, ARe you saying that Sweetwaters Dist now does not supply a big crowd?What I mean is if you put teams that are more geographically closer together, then you will draw more fans from the visitors side.
For instance, if you have a guy that might stay home and listen to the game on the local radio if he knows he has to drive 1.5 to 2+ hrs. to catch the game, he may get up and go if it was within 60-75 miles.
There are fans that don't have kids, relatives, neighbors kid, etc... that follow the team. But, they are more inclined to follow the team if the game is within a certain distance.

[Buffalo]

I agree I thought you were saying that Sweetwater did not have good crowds when they played the teams in their Dist. I saw the crowd at Merkel and Snyder Sweetwater is always a big draw but they are close like you are saying.