Moran teams begin play

By Sam Waller

Despite being temporarily being expelled from their home court and battling low numbers, the Moran Lady Bulldogs began their volleyball season with five matches last week.

The Lady Bulldogs began the second week of competition Tuesday, Aug. 15 with a match at Gustine. Results will be reported next week. On Friday, Aug. 18, Moran will visit the Eastland JV.

Moran is playing the first six weeks of the season on the road as the gym floor is replaced. Work on that project began this week.

The Lady Bulldogs, who have just six players on the roster, opened the schedule Aug. 8 with a 16-25, 15-25, 15-25 loss at Rotan.

“I’m proud of them because this is a whole new team,” coach Jo Hise said. “I have two players who haven’t played since junior high and a third who hasn’t played in a couple of years.”

Moran spent Aug. 11-12 at the Benjamin tournament. In Friday’s pool play, the team lost to Crowell 3-25, 12-25, Merkel 6-25, 14-25, and Aspermont 8-25, 10-25. The Lady Bulldogs dropped their bracket match on Saturday to Electra 14-24, 11-25.

Football

The Moran Bulldogs showed improvement Thursday, Aug. 10 in a three-team scrimmage at Trent.

Moran now prepares to host a four-team event Saturday, Aug. 19 at  Bulldog Field.

Coach John Hughes said things got off to a slow start at Trent but picked up.

“We got better as the scrimmage progressed, which I was happy about,” he said. “Of course, there are still things we need to work on, but all in all I was pretty pleased.”

Caleb York and Ellis Hise scored touchdowns as Moran worked against Trent and Eden. Hughes said facing different defensive styles helped his team.

For the second scrimmage, Lueders-Avoca, Azle Christian, and Temple Holy Trinity will visit Moran Saturday morning.

Hughes said two teams will take each side of the 40-yard line, working toward opposite end zones.

Teams will scrimmage with a 20-minute running clock, take a break, and scrimmage for another 20 minutes against a different opponent.