By Sam Waller

The Moran Bulldogs took their lumps Saturday, Sept. 23, with a 51-6 homecoming loss to the Blanket Tigers at Bulldog Field.

The Bulldogs (2-3) visit Rochelle at 7:00 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29 in their next-to-last nondistrict outing.

Blanket led 12-0 after one quarter before exploding for 39 points in the second. The Tigers led 48-0 before Ethan Boykin scored on a 70-yard pass from Ellis Hise for Moran’s lone touchdown.

Hise was 6 of 10 passing for 135 yards, rushed for 14 yards and had one reception for 6 yards.

By Donnie A. Lucas

Postmaster Laura Gilbreath is officially retiring on Sept. 30 after 33 years of service with the U.S. Postal Service.

A reception will be held on Friday, Sept. 29 at the Albany Post Office lobby from 1:00 until 3:00 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

Gilbreath has served the last 10 years as postmaster of the Albany office, She was the postmaster in Moran for the 12 years prior to that. Her last day in the office was Sept. 15.

By Sam Waller

The Albany Junior High Cubs football team split a pair of games against Comanche on Thursday, Sept. 21 at Robert Nail Memorial Stadium.

The seventh grade suffered its first loss, falling 12-6, while the eighth grade rallied for a 28-16 victory.

The junior high teams are off this week as most of the Albany program takes its open date. The Cubs return to action Thursday, Oct. 5 at Miles.

Seventh Grade

A rough start put the seventh grade Cubs in a hole they couldn’t dig out of as Comanche held on for the win.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Pick-up dates for the October distribution of the commodity food program are scheduled next week.

On Thursday, Oct. 5, families in Moran should pick up their monthly commodity food at the Moran City Hall between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m.

Albany families who have been certified eligible for the October food distribution program can pick up their commodity food on Friday, Oct. 6 at the back door of the Justice of the Peace office from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m.

By Sam Waller

The Albany Junior High Lady Cubs volleyball teams wrapped up a busy midseason stretch last week and embarked on the second half of their district schedule this week.

The girls make their final road trip Monday, Oct. 2, with the Red and White teams visiting Hawley.

On Tuesday, Sept. 19, the Red and White teams traveled to Ranger. The matches concluded a stretch in which Albany Junior High teams played 14 matches in 13 days.

At Ranger, the White squad lost 18-25, 21-25.

By Sam Waller

Moran ISD held a ribbon cutting Tuesday, Sept. 19 for the new floor in its gym.

The work was conducted by Jelco of Austin as a cost of $79,978, superintendent Dr. John Denson said.

The project took six weeks from the start of work on Aug. 7 until the floor was ready for use last week. The school wasted little time putting the new floor to work as junior high and high school volleyball teams played their first home matches of the season just hours after the ribbon cutting.

By Sam Waller

Moran seniors Neveah Huskey and Caleb York were crowned homecoming queen and king Saturday, Sept. 23, as the school district wrapped up a week of activities.

Moran graduates Jan Hagemann Harber and Donnie Connally were named Coming Home Queen and King.

Conally was Moran’s first – and until last year only – recipient of the Texas Lone Star FFA Degree until 2022 graduates Johnnie Hise and Hannah Rogers achieved it. The three were introduced at Friday’s homecoming assembly.

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions found themselves engaged in a slugfest with the Comanche Indians in their final nondistrict outing Friday, Sept. 22, but kept slugging hard enough long enough to take a 31-13 victory at Indian Stadium.

The Lions (5-0) enjoy an open date this week before embarking on the District 6-2A Division II schedule on Friday, Oct. 6 with a home game against Miles.

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions junior varsity football team dodged an early bullet Thursday, Sept. 21 and recovered to defeat Comanche 24-6 at Robert Nail Memorial Stadium.

The JV Lions (3-1) will host Cisco at 4:00 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, while the rest of the program takes an open date. The game was added after Albany could not find a JV opponent for the opening week of the season.

Against Comanche, Shawn Keen rushed for 150 yards and a touchdown, while Aaden Mendez, who had scores rushing and passing, threw for 97 yards.

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lady Lions began the District 6-2A volleyball schedule on a winning note Saturday, Sept. 23 to extend their winning streak to five matches.

The Lady Lions (25-4 overall, 1-0 district) had the district bye on Tuesday, Sept. 26 and will resume play Saturday, Sept. 30 at Coleman.

“I feel like with this group, more than ever, we practice things and then use it during our games,” Lady Lions coach M.J. Reneau said. “We carry over so much from our practices into our games. I feel like we’re really deep this year and playing very well.”