By Sam Waller

The Albany Lady Lions volleyball team remained undefeated by sweeping Olney on Aug. 17 and Eastland on Friday.

The Lady Lions were scheduled to play Ranger on Tuesday in their District 6-2A opener. 

They won easily in three sets 25-15, 25-7, 25-6, with details of that match to be reported next week.

After playing Ranger, the Lady Lions are scheduled to play in the Buckle Up for Lane’s Sake Volleyball Tournament at Nocona from Thursday (today) through Saturday.

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions football team had its last dress rehearsal for the season on Thursday, Aug. 19, with its second scrimmage against the Hawley Bearcats.

Now, the Lions turn their attention to Friday’s season opener at Colorado City.

“We’re excited about getting to go to Colorado City and open up the season,” Lions head coach Denney Faith said. “I felt like we had two good scrimmages against good football teams. I think we’ve got ourselves ready to start our season.”

By Sam Waller

Though shorthanded, the Moran Bulldogs football team had a productive outing Saturday in its scrimmage against Trent.

With just five players available, the Bulldogs managed to outscore the Gorillas 6-3 at Bulldog Field.

“I was pretty well pleased with our scrimmage,” Moran coach John Hughes said. “I only had five guys, but Trent was rotating a couple of guys in with my guys so they could get some extra work in.”

 The scrimmage pinpointed some areas that need work, but Hughes was pleased with the overall effort.

By Sam Waller

The Moran Lady Bulldogs volleyball team encountered a rough weekend at the Albany Summer Slam Tournament, dropping four matches.

In Thursday’s pool play, the Lady Bulldogs lost to Breckenridge and Abilene Christian.

“We played a ghost player because I had a girl who was sick,” Lady Bulldogs coach Jo Hise said. “We actually played five-on-six for both of those games.”

Despite the situation, Hise said the team was still able to make progress.

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions cross country runners are progressing with their preseason workouts as they prepare for their first meet of the season.

“We’re slowly working our way up to the race distances we’re going to be running,” coach Tate Thompson said. “We’ve been doing more segment training, hills and things like that, instead of just running miles and miles. We’re trying to build up their endurance right now, trying to get ready to compete at this first meet.”

Albany runners will open their season Sept. 1 at Haskell.

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lady Lions volleyball team capped a productive opening week of the season Saturday by claiming the Gold Bracket championship of their own Albany Summer Slam Tournament.

All three Albany teams beat Olney Tuesday, with the varsity winning their matches 25-14, 25-7, 25-17. Details will be reported next week.

The girls will host Eastland on Friday, with the varsity starting the action at 4:30 p.m.

The first district game is against Ranger at the local gym. on Tuesday, Aug. 24. The JV2 will start at 4:30 p.m.

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions got their first taste of outside competition Friday with a controlled scrimmage against the Coleman Bluecats at Coleman’s Hufford Field.

The Lions get their final preseason test Thursday (tonight) against the Hawley Bearcats at Robert Nail Memorial Stadium, with action starting at 6:00 p.m.

Coleman scored the only touchdown of Friday’s scrimmage early in the proceedings before defenses took over the rest of the way.

By Sam Waller

The Moran Lady Bulldogs opened their volleyball season Tuesday with a 3-1 victory on the road against Loraine.

Moran pulled away to win 25-20, 19-25, 25-20, 25-16.

“We played pretty well for the first game of the season,” Lady Bulldogs coach Joe Hise said. “We got up and stayed mentally strong through the third and fourth sets.”

Hise lauded the team’s mental approach in closing out the match after splitting the first two sets.

“They stayed up and were loud,” she said. “They stayed mentally high and were very scrappy.” 

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions football team has moved on to the next phase of its preseason with the commencement of full-contact workouts, and the players will cap their second week with their first intersquad scrimmage.

The Lions will visit Coleman on Friday for a controlled scrimmage in their first taste of outside competition.

Head coach Denney Faith said donning full pads for the first time is something of a new beginning to the preseason.

By Sam Waller

The field for the Albany Golf Club’s Labor Day tournament is almost full with just one spot remaining.

“I’m full up in the afternoon and have one spot available in the morning,” Golf Club board member James Waters said.

The two-person scramble is scheduled for Sept. 4-5. Entry fee is $160 per team. Morning entries will tee off at 8:30 a.m. Saturday with the afternoon group starting at 1:30 p.m. The field will then be flighted for Sunday’s round.

Waters said a waiting list will be started if the last spot is filled.