By Sam Waller

The Moran Bulldogs stumbled in their second outing of the football season Friday, Sept. 1, falling 54-6 at Baird.

The Bulldogs (1-1) return to action Friday, Sept. 8, when Aspermont visits Bulldog Field.

At Baird, two early turnovers put Moran in a hole it couldn’t get out of.

“The biggest problem is we were down 14-0 in, like, 90 seconds,” Moran coach John Hughes said. “Baird kicked off to us twice, and we fumbled both kickoffs. If you take away that 14 points, it could have been 14-6 going into halftime, and we’re in the game.”

By Sam Waller

The Albany Junior High Cubs kicked off the football season with a pair of victories Thursday, Aug. 31, at Dublin.

The seventh grade won 38-14 with the eighth grade winning 36-22.

A combined seventh/eighth grade team will play this week at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7 at Seymour.

Coaches Ryder Peacock and Tate Thompson are working with both grades, which each have just enough players to put 11 on the field with one or two substitutes. Thompson is handling the offense, with Peacock tutoring the defense.

Seventh Grade

By Sam Waller

The team of Toombs-Toombs shot consecutive rounds of 61 to win the Championship Flight of the Albany Golf Club’s Labor Day Tournament.

The two man scramble, played Saturday-Sunday, Sept. 2-3, at Albany Golf Course, drew a field of 50 teams. The field was divided into five flights following Saturday’s round.

Toombs-Toombs cruised to a seven-shot win over A.Holson-J.Waters, who shot a closing 62 to finish at 129. The teams of Cook-C.Holson and L.Hays-J.Hays tied for third at 133.

By Sam Waller

The Albany cross country program made its second outing of the season Wednesday, Aug. 30, with seven runners competing at Haskell.

The next meet will be Wednesday, Sept. 13 at Hawley.

At Haskell, Albany runners competed well with 136 competitors in the varsity girls race and 117 in the varsity boys race.

“This course was a challenge compared to our last race at Jim Ned, and they were able to stay within a close time range with the challenge,” coach Lauren Peacock said.

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions junior varsity football team scored on offense, defense, and special teams Thursday, Aug. 31 in defeating Dublin 38-0 to open the season.

The Lions JV returns to action at 7:00 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7, at Seymour.

“I thought our backs ran hard, and our offensive line did a good job,” coach David Fairchild said. “Defensively, Breylon Billington, Ryan Turner, Brody Oliver, and Jaxson Street played well.”

Shawn Keen ran for two touchdowns, while Aaden Mendez had TDs passing and rushing.

By Sam Waller

Work has begun on installing monuments honoring Albany’s three state championship football teams at Robert Nail Memorial Stadium.

“The foundations were poured last Friday (Sept. 1),” Albany superintendent Jonathan Scott said. “I’ve been told to expect the monuments to be installed sometime around the end of September.”

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lady Lions volleyball team avenged an early loss and pushed its winning streak to 16 matches with a pair of wins last week.

On Tuesday, Sept. 5, the Lady Lions (19-3) visited Benjamin for a rematch of their preseason scrimmage, losing 25-5, 25-17, 25-16. Details will be reported next week.

Lady Lions coach M.J. Reneau announced a scheduling change for this weekend.

“Tolar double-booked for Saturday, so we had to change that,” she said. “We’ve got X Academy coming to us at 4:30 p.m. Friday. That opens up the weekend for us.”

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions took a step forward in their second outing of the season Friday, Sept. 1, rolling to a 55-7 victory over the Dublin Lions in the home opener at Robert Nail Memorial Stadium.

Albany (2-0) makes its second home appearance at 7:00 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8, when the Seymour Panthers (2-0) visit.

By Sam Waller

Shackelford County 4-H started its new year Monday, Sept. 4 with a kickoff party at Webb Park.

“There were a few families there that I had never met before, which is shocking in a town this size,” Shackelford County extension agent Kelsey Bell said. “That was exciting, getting to reach out further. The kids played and played until they couldn’t play any more.”

Adult leaders gave overviews of different projects.

“We answered lots of questions about shooting sports,” Bell said. “We want to get more kids involved in that.”

By Melinda L. Lucas

Local singer songwriter Jeff Martin marked another item off his to-do list when he performed the National Anthem on Labor Day, Sept. 4 prior to the Texas Rangers-Houston Astros game.

The Texas country music artist sang a cappella from the field, standing between the pitcher’s mound and home plate. There were 40,000 baseball fans in attendance at the sell-out, with many of Martin’s family and friends present.