GREENVILLE —
Marvin Sedberry makes his official return with the Greenville Lions tonight when they entertain the Princeton Panthers in the 2012 football season opener.
Sedberry is back for his third stint as Greenville’s head coach, having coached the Lions from 1992-2000 and from 2002-2003. He coached the Lions to eight playoff trips, five district titles, five bi-district titles and two regional championships.
However, he’s taken on a Lion program that has lost its last 20 games and hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2003, when Sedberry was the coach.
The Class 4A Lions are opening against a 3A team that was a 7-5 bi-district champion. The Panthers return nine offensive and six defensive starters.
“They’re a good football team,” said Sedberry. “It looks like to me they’re very explosive offensively.”
The Panthers exploded for 459 yards of offense in their first scrimmage against North Forney, including touchdown passes of 65 yards from Jordan Blake to Jakari Dillard and 37 yards from Blake to N’Keal Bailey. Blake was 9-of-18 passing for 155 yards and one interception.
“They’ve got a good quarterback and four good receivers,” said Sedberry.
Dillard, a 6-4, 185-pounder, is the son of Princeton’s head coach Stacey Dillard and has verbally committed to play at Texas Tech.
Blake is the son of John Blake, former head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners and a former defensive line coach with the Dallas Cowboys. John Blake watched the Lions scrimmage last week at Quinlan Ford.
Princeton bases its defense in a 4-3 though the Panthers adapt.
“It depends on what you run offensively,” said Sedberry.
The Lions are hoping to pick up the pace on offense against Princeton. They didn’t score in either scrimmage against Liberty-Eylau or Ford. Liberty-Eylau outgained the Lions 261-118 and had a 2-0 advantage in touchdowns. Ford had a 2-0 edge in touchdowns and a 216-65 advantage in total yardages.
Matt Riskey took all the snaps at quarterback for the Lions in the scrimmages, going 10-of-24 passing for 94 yards.
Running back Jamar Clark led the Lions in rushing with 77 yards on 10 carries. Clark was the Lions’ fourth-leading rusher last season with 193 yards on 46 carries.
Running back Tyler Matthews ran for another 49 yards on 13 carries in the scrimmages.
Sports
Sedberry, Greenville Lions to open season tonight
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White team outscores Red in Lions' spring game
T.J. Hughes kicked field goals of 37 and 30 yards to give the White team a 20-14 victory over the Red in the Greenville Lions’ spring football game on Thursday night at T.A. “Cotton” Ford Stadium.
Hughes put the White team ahead for good with the 37-yarder with 8:06 remaining and then added the 30-yarder after Jeremy Myers-Wise’s 7-yard touchdown run was called back because of a holding penalty. -
Quarterback battle to highlight Red-White game
Three quarterbacks competing for the starting job will show their skills tonight at the Greenville Lions’ Red-White spring football game.
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Bobby Holley shoots 720 series
Bobby Holley led all league bowlers for the past week at DB's Sports Grill & Bowling in Greenville with a 720 series in the Guys Night Out league. Holley's high game was a 268.
Kerry Sheehan led the women with a 552 series in the Monday Summer Mix.
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A&M-Commerce adds softball to athletic program
Coming soon, Texas A&M University-Commerce will no longer be the only school in the Lone Star Conference to not have a softball program.
A&M-Commerce President Dan Jones made the announcement during a press conference held inside the Alumni Center on Monday.
“I am thrilled about the addition of this program,” he said, mentioning that A&M-Commerce is one of the oldest universities in Texas and the only charter member left of the original LSC. “As long as we’ve been here, we’ve never had a womens softball program.” -
No. 1 Pilot Point stops Commerce
Pilot Point’s Skylar Cagle showed why she’s one of the state’s top pitchers while leading the Lady Bearcats to a sweep over Commerce in a Class 2A regional semifinal softball series on Friday night.
Cagle struck out 22 batters in 14 innings as No. 1 state-ranked Pilot Point won 1-0 and 3-2 to advance to the regional finals. Cagle improved her season record to 23-0 as Pilot Point upped its team mark to 36-2.
Commerce finished the season with a 27-7 record after advancing the farthest in the playoffs in school history.
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Commerce Lady Tigers to face No. 1 ranked team
Tonight the Commerce Lady Tigers will play Pilot Point, the No. 1 ranked softball team in the state.
But to Commerce Jeff Davidson, it’ll be just another game.
“It’s still another game,” he said. “It’s their best against our best.”
The Lady Tigers will face Pilot Point at 6 p.m. in Mount Pleasant at Northeast Texas Community College in the first game of a best-of-three Class 2A regional semifinal playoff series. Game two is set for 8:30 p.m. and if need be, game three is at 10 a.m. on Saturday. -
Northeast Texas Trail ride planned
The organizers of the new Northeast Texas Trail (NETT) have scheduled its inaugural event to introduce the multi-use trail to potential users.
On Saturday at 7 am, teams of cyclists and equestrians will begin separate relays from trailheads in New Boston and Farmersville. The meeting point will be Love Civic Center in Paris (2025 S. Collegiate Dr.). Estimated time of arrival is at 2:30 p.m. Golden spikes will be driven into the ground at various points along the route which was originally a railroad corridor. -
Wilson wins gold, silver at state track meet
Buck Wilson of Commerce won gold and silver medals this weekend at the state meet while Rains pole vaulter Charlotte Brown won over a lot of hearts.
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GHS athletics hands out awards
The Greenville Lions held their Athletic Banquet at the Greenville High School Auditorium Saturday evening.
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Storms test area athletes' patience
Patience was a necessity for local athletes competing on Friday at the University Interscholastic League State Track and Field Championships in Austin.
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