[an error occurred while processing this directive] Goat Gridders picked for Academic Super Centex - On Saturday, the Waco Tribune-Herald announced its Super Centex All-Academic Football Team for 2005. Several Groesbeck Goats were announced as selections to it. Junior quarterback Cody Wilson led the first team offense with a 4.81 grade point average. Another Goat, junior offensive lineman Brian Dobiyanski was chosen for the second team offense. He had a 4.54 GPA. Another seven Goats got honorable mention for Super Centex. That included receivers junior Chris Favors and senior Nick Walker. Junior Corey Cortines made the offensive lineman's list. Groesbeck players who played defense who were selected for their academic prowess were linemen Dillon McLean and Tory Foy, both seniors. At linebacker, senior Tony Taveras made the list. Finally two Goats in the defensive backfield made the list, seniors Leighton Rush and Pat Kilman. Freshmen Boys Hoops Continue to Battle By DONTE ASBERRY Recently the Groesbeck running freshman boys basketball wrapped up their non-district schedule with a 54 to 35 blow out win over at West. Two Groesbeck Goat players combined to outscore the Trojans alone as Roy Burrell had 18 points and Alfred Henderson chipped in 17. Groesbeck built a quick 17-6 first quarter lead thanks to those players. The Trojans clawed into the Goats lead by halftime bringing the score to 21-18, but a third quarter offensive boost lifted Groesbeck's lead to 35-23. Other Goats contributing to the win was Earl Graves, six points; Bryson Tatum, three; John Murphy, three; Steven Lenoir, two; Chance Lowenthal, two and Jerrid Ingram, one. Tuesday, January 17 saw Groesbeck traveling to Bulldog territory as in the Marlin Bulldogs. Burrell's 13 points and Ingram's 10 points paced Groesbeck but it wasn't enough as Marlin topped the Goats in the district 18-3A opener 54 to 38. Marlin sprinted out to a 15-8 first quarter lead and continued on a roll leading 28-20 at halftime. By the end of three quarters, Marlin had a commanding 40-27 lead. Graves five points and Murphy's five also aided the Goats cause. Hitchens of Marlin led all players with 22 tough points. Mexia played in Groesbeck last Friday night and left another stain on Groesbeck's district record by defeating the Goats 53 to 48. "We kind of let the lead slip away," said Coach Luke Allison. "We also got impatient." The Goats were in control early leading 12-10 and 26-20 after the first couple of quarters. Mexia drew within a point 39-38 at the end of the third quarter. The final quarter belonged to Mexia as the Blackcats were able to use their rebounding edge to slip by the Goats. "They had too many second chance shots", said Allison. Scoring for Groesbeck was Lenoir, 13; Burrell, 11; Murphy, eight; Graves, eight; Ingram, six and Webster, two. Groesbeck will travel to Madisonville this Friday. Powerlifting Report The powerlifting team competed Saturday at the Gatesville invitational meet. The girl's team placed fourth overall with all members placing: First-Quella Jackson; First-Sara Wilson; Third-Stephanie Byrum; Fourth-Erin Sims; Fourth-Laura Saldana and Fifth-Maggie Talkington. The boy's team lifted well and had Shane McLean-fourth. The other boy's that competed were John Edgerley, David Mills, William Gathwright and Patrick Grigg. Helping at the meet due to injuries were David Sims and Ty Salazar. Both teams will compete at China Spring on Saturday the 28th. Team USA Fastpitch Softball Pitcher Coming to Central Texas Bill Hillhouse, who teaches clinics and individual lessons throughout the world, will be conducting a Softball Pitching Clinic on March 18 and March 19 at the Riesel Girl's Softball Field. Bill is a well-known fastpitch softball pitcher with elite level pitching and coaching experience. Since 1990, he has played for some of the best teams in the USA, Canada and New Zealand. As a pitcher for the US Men's National team program twice since 1993 he has earned gold, silver and bronze medals in international competition. He teaches from his experiences and as his website bio relates he has had first hand experiences with the true greats of the game. Many of our pitchers today learn poor pitching mechanics. Pitchers with poor mechanics never realize their potential and often suffer career-ending injuries at a very early age. When you see Bill pitch, you will see a style that has stood the test of time and competition. His teaching style is very informative, simple and straightforward. This 2005 All-American can demonstrate and teach how to pitch in a manner that works well and does not injure the body. Due to contractual obligations, filming of the clinic is forbidden; however, you are welcome to film your individual lesson on Sunday. You will also have the opportunity to buy a copy of Bill's DVD, which covers the fundamentals of pitching. For more information on Bill and a complete bio please visit his website www.houseofpitching.com. Clinic Schedule: Saturday, March 18, 2006 9:00: Clinic and individual pitcher evaluation 12:;: Break for lunch 1:00: Pitcher evaluation (clinic participants) Cost for the clinic is $50.00 per pitcher and parent Sunday, March 19, 2006 Individual pitching lesson with Bill. $25.00 For more clinic information and cost, contact David Jett at 254-385-0130 djett@tol-tx.com or Rhonda Davenport at 254-723-5157 RDavenport@txfb-ins.com The Riesel softball fields are located at 7 Mile Road and highway 6 just north of Riesel, Texas. Clinic is sponsored by David and Susan Jett and the Jett Blasters Let's Read Riddle By Byron "Putt" Riddle It was a triple jinx for the Denver Broncos. After we endorsed them last week once the Colts whom we had predicted would be in the Super Bowl folded to the Pittsburgh Steelers, then Sports Illustrated did the unthinkable and ran Bronco quarterback Jake Plummer's picture on the front cover of the issue just published right before the AFC championship game. If that wasn't enough, inside the issue they did a First Person feature on Bronco safety John Lynch, a seven time Pro Bowler. In the 34-17 Steeler win, Plummer fumbled twice and was intercepted twice. Lynch didn't intercept Steeler quarterback Ben Rothlisberger even once. He went 21-29-0 for 275 yards and two touchdowns. It kinda reminded us of SI putting the ill-fated pair of Southern Cal Trojans Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart on the cover just before the Rose Bowl. Good then, not so good this time. The passing of Red McSpadden last Saturday was sad for his many friends around Mexia. As his obituary printed elsewhere in today's Journal notes, he went to TCU on a football scholarship and roomed with Bob Lilly. He played pro ball for the Dallas Texans, now the Kansas City Chiefs. He retired from the pro game after being in an automobile accident. Kobe Bryant's 81 points for the LA Lakers Sunday night against Toronto put him in exclusive company with Wilt Chamberlain who scored 100 points in a game for Philadelphia against the New York Knicks March 2, 1962 in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Wilt the Stilt also owns the third and fourth spots behind Bryant now the number two scorer. Chamberlain hit 78 against the Lakers December 8, 1961. Twice he scored 73 against Chicago January 13, 1962 while still with Philadedlphia and then with San Francisco against the Knicks November 16, 1962. Bryan got his 81 by making 21 of 35 two's, 7 of 13 treys and 18 of 20 free throws. Wonder who holds the Goats and Lady Goats single game high point records? Donte, do you have the answer? Looking at milestones reached by various basketball coaches recently. Jody Conradt at Texas tied former North Carolin men's coach Dean Smith for second place on the NCAA career victory list. Her Lady Longhorns gave her win no. 879 with a 71-70 victory over Kansas State Sunday. Former Groesbeck High girls basketball coach got his 600th career win as his Hubbard Lady Jags beat Dawson 46-21 in the Kiwanis Classic in Corsicana December 29th. Last week Pat Summit, coach of the Tennessee Lady Vols won her 900th game. The team with the biggest nightly television audience in NBA basketball? It must be the Houston Rockets when Yao Ming plays. The seven footer Chinaman has over 30 million people in mainland China turning in when he's on the court. Right now he is sidelined with a big toe injury causing him to miss 16 games in a row. What a week for upsets in College ball. Dropping from the undefeated ranks were the last three remaining men's teams, Duke, Florida, and Pittsburgh and the number one women's team Tennessee. All that's left unbeaten are women's teams Duke and North Carolina. It's the new year. Let us hear from you, ideas, stories, etc. for this column. This is an on-line publication of Groesbeck Journal P.O. Box 440 Groesbeck, TX 76642-0440 254-729-5103 For comments or questions, email Publisher: Thomas Hawkins thawkins@groesbeckjournal.com The Web Site contains material which is protected by international copyright and trademark laws. No material may be copied, reproduced, republished, broadcast or distributed in any way or decompiled, except that you may download one copy of the Materials on any single computer for your personal, non-commercial home use only, provided you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices. On-line publication, Copyright 2000, Groesbeck Journal. Web page design, Copyright 2000, EZ Edit Web Publishing.