Denton RC High School

Ryan has finalized its football schedule for the approaching 2007 season. The Raiders, who went 7-4 for the second straight year last season, will play a Saturday home game against Sherman on Oct. 13 and a Thursday home game against Denison on Oct. 25. Ryan's first two games -- against Colleyville Heritage and Arlington Bowie -- are at home. The Bowie game will be homecoming. Prior to the season, Ryan will scrimmage Lewisville (Aug. 24) and Grapevine (Aug. 30) on the road.

Former Ryan standout Austin Jackson, who is currently in the New York Yankees' organization, got an at-bat with the big boys in a spring training game against the Detroit Tigers on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, Jackson struck out looking with the bases loaded in Lakeland, Fla. Detroit won the game, 6-2. Jackson spent last season playing for the Class A Carleston RiverDogs of the South Atlantic League. He hit .260 with 47 RBI and four homers.

Former Ryan defensive end Jarvis Moss got some attention on ESPN last night. The Florida standout was projected by the "On the Clock" segment of SportsCenter to be selected by the Denver Broncos with the No. 21 overall pick in this year's NFL Draft. The segment featured a highlight package of Moss, who was a part of Ryan's two state championship teams in 2001 and 2002.

Ryan linebacker Nathan Uland can play a little baseball, too.
In his first year as a varsity starter on the diamond, Uland is having a dream season for the Raiders. He's leading the team in virtually every hitting category, including avergae (.434), slugging percentage (.962), on-base percentage (.575), RBI (22), triples (7) and homers (3). As Ryan's starting catcher, Uland has played in all 20 games and has helped the Raiders to a 14-6 (3-1) record.

The Ryan softball team is getting very close to becoming the best in the history of the program. With Tuesday's 6-2 victory over Sherman, the Lady Raiders improved to 19-5 (6-0). With a victory over Wichita Falls on Friday, Ryan will become only the second team in school history to win 20 games in a season. The 1995 Lady Raiders, the school's inaugural team, went 21-11 and made the playoffs. The 1996 team was 15-11 and also made the postseason. Ryan has not played beyond the regular season since and has never won a district title. What's even more impressive about this year's team is the Lady Raiders are just four years removed from a 1-19 season and won just one district game in both 2003 and 2004. Head coach Aimee Foutch, now in her fourth year, has turned the program around. She looks like a strong early candidate for 5-4A and Denton Record-Chronicle Coach of the Year.

Denton quarterback Reagan Wood will play for Division II Tusculum College in Tennessee next season, as the senior has accepted a scholarship from the school.
Wood had fantastic senior season that earned him all-district recognition and a second-team selection to the Denton Record-Chronicle’s All-Area team.
The Broncos will have a signing party at 12:15 p.m. on Thursday to celebrate all the Broncos who have committed to colleges.

Former Denton Bronco Aaron Baker powered the No. 20 Oklahoma Sooners past the No. 8 Texas A&M Aggies on Sunday, when he drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning.
“It’s just awesome what he’s been able to do at OU,” said Broncos head coach Marty Green. “He doesn’t surprise me because he’s just so talented. It’s unbelievable.”
Baker leads the Sooners in batting with an average of .396. He is second on the team in RBI and third in home runs.

The Guyer girls 4x100-meter relay team of Whitley Poyser, Natalie Manuel, Lauren Jones and Brittany Shorter didn’t just set the school record last week at the Bill Utter Ford Wildcat Relays, they set the Melson record with 48.05.
“That’s the fastest 400 relay I have ever coached,” girls track coach Carl Melson said as he tried to contain a gleeful giggle. “I mean that’s a really fast time.”

In order to address safety concerns in the batting cage, Guyer baseball coach Johnny Kinzy requires that his players wear their helmets at all times, and all members of the varsity and junior varsity have their own helmets.

Former Ryan Raider Austin Knight, a true freshman, is having a stellar season for Dallas Baptist University.
In a 9-7 loss to Oklahoma at Frisco’s Dr Pepper Ballpark on Tuesday night, Knight went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs and an RBI for the Patriots (13-11).
Knight is third on the team in hitting with a .364 average and has started all 24 games for DBU this season.
He is also third on the team in RBI with 22.
The Pats open a three-game series at Portland today and will return home on Tuesday to take on Sam Houston State.
DBU has played a tough schedule this season, taking on teams like TCU, Texas Tech, Rice, Missouri and Houston.

After spending one year as defensive coordinator at Gaines-ville, Jaron Rainey has returned to Ryan to be the defensive ends coach.
Rainey, whose father, Rodney, is a Ryan baseball assistant coach, coached the defensive line at Ryan for two seasons before joining the coaching staff of Matt Young, another former Ryan assistant, at Gainesville. But he was commuting from Denton to Gainesville, which helped him make the decision to re-join head coach Joey Florence’s staff at Ryan.
“The travel was kind of an issue,” Jaron Rainey said. “I was driving every day to work, so when the opportunity came up, I took it. Ryan is a special place. There aren’t many places like it. We’ve also got one [child] who’s five and another one who is 18 months, so the traveling made it harder on my wife, too.”

The Denton Lady Broncos will face Fort Worth South Hills in the bi-district round of the Class 4A playoffs at 7 p.m. on Friday at Northwest High School.
The Lady Broncos roll into the playoffs as they fought off a talented Keller Fossil Ridge team to take the second seed out of District 5-4A while South Hills was the odd team out of a crowded District 6-4A. South Hills took the third seed.
Denton was 8-7-4 overall, 8-2-4 in district.
The winner will play Abilene Wylie, which has a bye by virtue of being the District 8-4A champions.

Lady Indian powerlifters take second in state finals
KILLEEN — Sanger powerlifters Katie Sons and Penny McClendon both finished as state runners-up in their respective weight classes at the Texas High School Women’s Powerlifting Association state meet last Saturday.
McClendon, who was in the 123-pound class, lifted a total of 735 pounds to come in second place at state for the second straight year. San Diego’s Rosanna Mendoza won state with a total of 760. McClendon qualified for state each of the last three years.
Sons, who was in the 200-plus class, lifted a total of 1,005 pounds. Raymondville’s Tiffany Vargas won the division with a total of 1,230. Sons was making her second straight state appearance.
Sanger finished fifth in the team standings, while San Diego was first.

The Denton Broncos boys soccer team will not play this week by virtue of the first-round bye that comes with being District 5-4A champions. The Broncos will likely open the playoffs on March 27 and will play the winner between Fort Worth North Side and Stephenville at 7 p.m. at Aledo.
Broncos head coach Scott Heffley gave his team the day off Monday and will do so again today before Denton resumes practices on Wednesday.

Denton Broncos baseball assistant coach Brian Chandler has taken a position as the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator for Lake Highlands and will likely begin his new job by next week.
“He’s a really good coach and we hate to see him go but it’s a great opportunity for him and you can’t blame him for that,” said Broncos head coach Marty Green.
Chandler was also an assistant for the Bronco football team.

The Guyer Wildcats' 4x400-meter relay team of Tiandre McBride, Ruben Garcia, Jake Witt and Joe Bard set the meet record in the 4x400-meter relay at the Birdville Hawk Relays last Saturday, sprinting to the finish in 3:26.7.
“That was big for us,” Guyer boys track coach Sean Lonergan said. “It’s the first meet record for the boys. We talked about that being a landmark for us, and the Kids were thrilled.”
The same relay team also finished second in the 4x200, and the Wildcats finished third overall in the meet.
Glen Wright took the gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.5. Cody Mansfield took silver in the discus with 141 feet, and McBride took silver in the long jump.

Teneisha McKinney and Ma-talya McBath-Belvin have been playing basketball together for a long time — just at different places.
Beginning today with a 12:30 p.m. game against Azusa (Calif.) Pacific in Jackson, Tenn., Mc-Kinney, a 5-7 senior guard/forward, and McBath-Belvin, a 5-3 senior guard, will try to help the Langston (Okla.) Lady Lions bring home an NAIA Division I national championship.
McBath-Belvin is tearing it up this season, averaging 20.2 points, 5.6 assists and 4.0 steals per game. She has also made a team-high 107 3-pointers.
McKinney is averaging 12.8 points and 3.3 assists per game and has made 55 treys.
In addition to playing together at both Ryan and Langston, the two former Lady Raiders were also teammates at Texas Wo-man’s University.
McBath-Belvin is a 2001 Ryan graduate, while McKinney finished up the following year.