Sports

Wills Point standout student-athlete Sahil Patel, shown during senior night festivities Nov. 9, was recently selected Second Team Academic All-State by the Texas High School Coaches Association. To be nominated for Academic All-State, a student must be: an athlete, student trainer or manager in good standing with the team; of good moral character; a senior; and have an overall grade point average of 92 or above (including courses from grades 9-11 and courses completed from grade 12).

The Wills Point Lady Tigers reached the tournament play portion of their schedule last week, hitting the court four times overall during their home event Nov. 29-Dec. 1. The Lady Tigers went 1-3 overall, topping Community while suffering losses to Forney, Life Waxahachie and Kaufman during the three-day event.

Wills Point opened play with a talented opponent, taking on the Forney Jackrabbits Nov. 29 in an afternoon contest. Forney would prevail in the contest, limiting Wills Point offensively to secure a 40-22 win.

The Wills Point Tigers played their first two home games of the season last week, wrapping up their pre-Thanksgiving holiday with a game against Crandall before playing host to Caddo Mills following the break. Wills Point would go winless in the two contests, struggling to find offensive consistency in their game against the Pirates before struggling with foul trouble throughout much of the night against the Foxes.

Wills Point and Crandall met on the hardwood Nov. 20 with the Pirates scoring a 71-34 victory over the Tigers.

The Wills Point Lady Tigers will get a chance to enjoy the comforts of home this week, welcoming seven other area programs to town as part of their annual varsity tournament.

Teams scheduled to appear at this year's event, which will run Nov. 29-Dec. 1, will include Kaufman, TCA, Tatum and Rockwall in the Blue Pool and Wills Point, Forney, Community and Life Waxahachie in the White Pool.

With every District 7-4A team officially eliminated from playoff contention, district coaches released their list of Superlative and All-District honorees for the 2018 season.

Not surprisingly Rusk, which started the season 0-6 before roaring their way through District 7-4A play with a perfect 4-0 record dominated Superlative selections by winning at least a share of all seven honors presented.

Superlative winners included:

The WPYSA K-2 football team has enjoyed a stellar season to date, going 9-2 overall while allowing just 30 points in 11 games. The Tigers will have an opportunity to add victory number 10 on the season Nov. 10 as they travel to Crandall to take on Mabank in the Super Bowl. WPYSA coaches stated, "They are small in size and are only in the grades kindergarten-2nd grade but they sure don’t play like they are 6-8 years old! They compete far beyond their ages and would love nothing more then to feel the support from our great town of Wills Point as they compete for the ultimate title of Super Bowl champs!"

The 2018 football season has brought with it plenty of uncertainty for teams across East Texas as wild weather throughout the first 10 weeks has caused games to be rescheduled, delayed or outright cancelled.

Despite the upheaval, Wills Point finds itself in a familiar position entering the final week of the season as the Tigers are already locked into a playoff position and now just a win away from a third consecutive district championship.

The Wills Point Lady Tigers were the standard bearer among county volleyball programs, finishing their year as the lone local program to win an Area title and reach the Regional Quarterfinal round.

Wills Point tangled with a strong Texarkana Pleasant grove team at Pine Tree High School Nov. 2, taking home a 25-23, 19-25, 25-20, 25-20 victory over the Lady Hawks.

Two longtime rivals met on the gridiron at Norris Birdwell Stadium Oct. 26 as the injury-plagued Canton Eagles played host to the Wills Point Tigers. Powered by the dynamic running game and an improving defense, Wills Point seized control early against Canton to build a 28-0 lead en route to a 49-14 win over the Eagles. 

Canton opened play on offense against the Tigers, taking possession of the ball at their own 28-yard line following the opening kickoff.

On paper, the Wills Point Lady Tigers appeared to have one of the most difficult first round match-ups of any Van Zandt County team in this year's playoffs after being paired with District 13-4A representative Crandall in the bi-district round.

The Lady Tigers and Lady Pirates had met once before during the 2018 season with Crandall scoring a dominating 25-13, 25-10, 25-10 victory over Wills Point.