By Adam Boedeker

Staff Writer

After winning two of their last three games, the Guyer Lady Wildcats are putting themselves in a position to make a legitimate playoff push.

Guyer (8-17, 3-4) moved into sole possession of fourth place in District 5-4A after Tuesday’s win over Sherman and one game behind rival Denton (9-17, 4-3) for the third spot in the district -- and the final playoff spot.

The two teams will meet for the second time this season on Tuesday at Guyer after Denton plays at Sherman tonight and Guyer has a bye. In the teams’ previous meeting on Dec. 18, Denton beat Guyer 44-25 at the Purple Pit.

Head coach Charla Valenzuela said the district’s third playoff spot will be a fight down the stretch with Wichita Falls (22-4, 7-0) and Ryan (15-11, 5-1) seemingly having the top two spots relatively secured.

Denton and Guyer have begun to separate themselves from the remainder of the district.

“It’s kind of a back-and-forth situation,” Valenzuela said. “We’ll just need to play game by game and take care of one opponent at a time. We need immediate rewards right now, and the biggest immediate reward we can get right now is beating Denton High.”

Scoreboard watching

Valenzuela has been pointing toward other district scores when telling her players to continue playing with the confidence they’ve built in the last couple of weeks.

In the three-year history of the program, the Lady Wildcats are 0-5 against Denton, but Valenzuela has stressed some of the Lady Broncos’ recent scores to her players.

Guyer beat Denison by 20 points and Wichita Falls Rider by 17, while Denton needed overtime to beat Denison by five points and defeated Rider by six.

“It’s all in our confidence,” Valenzuela said. “If we know we should beat a team we’ll do fine. When we lost in double overtime to Sherman we were right in there and so should’ve won the game so when we played Tuesday we knew we should’ve won. We had confidence and we played hard, and it showed on the floor.”

The game comparisons might finally end a mental block the Lady Wildcats have had against Denton.

“They [the players] know if they play hard they should legitimately be able to take care of DHS,” Valenzuela said. “I tell them if they play hard and play to the best of their capabilities, they can step on the floor with anyone in the district. You’ve just gotta convince them of that. I think we’re capable physically but it’s just the mental hurdle of actually doing it.”

Senior stretch

For Guyer’s top two scorers, Leah Russell and Hannah Ingram, the final five games of the season could the last five of their high school careers, and Valenzuela is sure to point it out to the rest of her players.

The program’s two seniors, who both average double figures in points, have been used as a sort of rallying point for the team going down the stretch.

“We’ve tried to tell them [the rest of the team] that they’re [Russell and Ingram] only are guaranteed five more games ever in their career,” Valenzuela said. “What we do about getting more games is up to them and kind of rally the team around them.”

Recently, Valenzuela has seen some other people step up and take some of the scoring load off of the two seniors.

In Friday’s loss at Wichita Falls, Carrie Johnson scored 10 points and sophomore guards Jocelyn Cook and Alyssa Keim combined for 13. In Tuesday’s win over Sherman, Keim chipped in seven.

“She’s been playing her butt off,” Valenzuela said of Keim. “She’s been so strong for us and she’s really trying to lead. As a sophomore, she’s really stepped up.

“She only seven [against Sherman] but it takes pressure off of Leah and Hannah, and Ashley [Manuel] chipped in four and that’s four less than Hannah has to score inside.”

Guyer gets pep talk

It finally worked for Valenzuela.

In all her years of coaching, she’d always wanted her husband, Brian’s, lifelong friend, Buffalo Bills running back Shaud Williams, to talk to her team about persistence and not quitting.

Before Tuesday’s win over Sherman, she finally got her wish and it paid dividends with a 39-24 win with Williams in attendance.

“I just told him it was a crucial part of our season and I really could use his help if he could talk to my girls,” she said. “He’s an NFL player and he’s cute and all that stuff so I think they [the players] were pretty motivated.”

Williams was an undrafted free agent, who signed with Buffalo in 2004 after being a Doak Walker semifinalist and second-team All-SEC selection for Alabama after beginning his career at Texas Tech.

Williams grew up with Brian Valenzuela in Andrews, where he excelled and is the second-leading rusher in Texas Class 4A history. He was the Associated Press’ Class 4A player of the year in 1998.

“I’m a little biased but I think Texas high school sports are the best of anywhere around,” he said. “When I come home, I’ll go check out a basketball game or a football game even if I don’t know anyone playing in it.”

Ingram said the experience was a memorable one and the message Williams delivered was one that will stick with her in the future.

“He just said when you work hard and really give something your full effort, you’ll be successful,” she said. “He just related his life experience with that and how it worked out for him. It was very cool.”

At just 5-7, 190 pounds, Williams was always told he was too small to play football at a high level, but continuously proved his doubters wrong.

“I just wanted to pass on to them that if you work hard, no one else can stop you from your dream,” he said.

Boys basketball

Wildcat post leaves team

An e-mail received on Tuesday from Scott Phillips, father of former Guyer post Walter Phillips, confirmed that the 6-7 junior has left the Wildcats’ basketball program in wake of Friday’s incident which saw Phillips ejected after throwing a punch in the team’s loss to Wichita Falls.

Scott Phillips did stress in the e-mail that the decision made by he and his wife was not based entirely on the incident.

Phillips was the Wildcats’ second-leading scorer through 24 games, averaging 10.8 points per game and led the team in rebounds (6.7 per game), blocks (45) and was second in steals (33).

Guyer head coach Nathan Moses declined comment other than to say, “He’s no longer with us and that was their decision, and we support that.”

Wildcats look to fill hole

With Phillips’ departure, the opportunity has come for other Guyer players to get significant time down low, specifically sophomore John Kornet, who at 6-9 is the team’s second-leading shot blocker in very limited minutes up until the Wichita Falls game.

Kornet had a positive night against the Coyotes and held his own in Tuesday’s 71-51 loss to Sherman, which has one of the district’s more dominant post players, Jeremy Gray.

Gray was held to just two points and was in foul trouble throughout the night thanks to Kornet and the penetration of Ryan Woodward and Condiff.

“He’s a very intelligent basketball player,” Moses said of Kornet. “He knows and understands the game and he’s 6-9 so he can clog up the middle real well. But he’s also real smart because he knows what he’s got and is always trying to take advantage of that. He’s great at getting defensive position and getting his hands in shot lines. He changes a lot of shots because he knows how to use his body to get in the way.”

Moses said despite losing some production, now his team will have a chance to grow and see what it has in its younger players like Kornet.

“It’ll be fun to see how he finishes the year out and develops,” Moses said. “Of course, he’s one that -- as an optimist -- we’re always looking for good things to come out of the situation that’s at hand, and we’re getting to look at John more and he’s getting a lot more minutes than what he would have. That’ll be big for his next two years. These next six games will be invaluable for us.”

Moses leaning on seniors

Since an emotional victory over Denton on Dec. 18, Guyer (9-16, 1-5) has dropped five straight district games.

Moses said he’s relying on his five seniors: Quinton Gary, Marc Plaza, Wesley Griffin, Tallon Condiff and Aaron Joseph to get the team on a constant track of consistency instead of the rollercoaster the team has been on so far this year.

“Some nights we come out and play extremely hard like we did against Denton and Old High and then there’s nights we play a little sluggish like against Ryan, the first half against Denison and against Sherman,” Moses said. “It’s a consistency of our effort. Our effort level has to become more consistent. They’re doing what they’re asked, we just have to play hard all the time.”

One of those seniors has been particularly pleasing to Moses as of late, as Griffin has come back from a wrist injury that forced him to miss the first 10 games of the season and prevented him from being at full strength until the past five games. The lanky guard was a sparkplug for the Wildcats against Wichita Falls.

“I just hate the fact that he missed half the year with an injury that happened in practice when he was defending someone,” Moses said.

Boys soccer

Miguel healing quickly

In the Justin Northwest tournament last weekend, the Wildcats had a scare when co-captain Alberto Miguel suffered a severely sprained ankle.

Initial estimations had him missing four to six weeks with the injury, but this week’s intense treatment regiment has him on schedule to possibly have his walking boot removed today -- about a week earlier than expected.

“Based on the amount of swelling they’ve gotten out, they [doctors] said he might be able to come back a little quicker,” said coach Cody Schroeder. “We’re still kind of expecting four to six weeks. We’re hoping that -- barring more injuries -- knock on wood, we can take our time getting him back.

“Hopefully we won’t have to try to get him back at 80 or 85 percent and we can buy time to get him back at 100 percent and allow him time to fully recover.”

In Miguel’s place at center midfielder, Schroeder started Hugo Salazar, a foreign exchange student from Venezuela, who was just ruled eligible this week.

Salazar, a 6-4 senior, has the talent to be a starter, but was just going to be used to add bench depth until Miguel’s injury.

“It gave Hugo a chance to get in there and get accustomed to the speed that we’re playing at,” Schroeder said. “He’ll fill in very nicely, I think. He’s very strong in the air and technically sound. He’s a very calm and composed player.”

Girls soccer

Lady Wildcats build on strong showing

The Lady Wildcats got off to the strong start they were hoping for in last week’s star-studded Brenham Blue Bell Cup.

Guyer (3-0-1) lost in a shootout in the championship game to last year’s 4A state runner-up, Friendswood, after regulation ended in a 1-1 draw.

To reach the championship game on Saturday, Guyer beat Dickinson 3-0 with goals from Stefani Buller, Kelsey Hodges and Ellan Warren.

Starting today, Guyer will begin play in the Midland Tournament, which will feature a host of traditional state powers and 5A competition, including Midland Lee, El Paso Eastwood, El Paso Bel Air and Amarillo Tascosa.

Guyer begins district play on Jan. 29.

Athletics

UIL to add fourth playoff spot

Following the lead of Class 5A, 4A superintendents voted to add a fourth playoff team from each district in all team sports starting with football in the 2008 season.

Currently, three teams advance to playoffs in 4A. The four-team format in 4A passed on with a vote of 186-38.

In football, Guyer head coach John Walsh said he has some mixed feelings about the move, but said the change won’t tarnish the sense of accomplishment of making the playoffs.

“It doesn’t really bother me,” he said. “If you’re in fourth place you’ll be glad, but no one plans on going for fourth place. The biggest thing to me is the award for the first-place team because there’s a chance they’d be playing a fourth seed from a district.”

Walsh said he’d only be for the move if the UIL attempts to get as many eight-team districts as possible at the realignment on Feb. 1, which shouldn’t be a problem in the Metroplex, at least.

“It’s really easy to do that around here, so that’s what I’m expecting,” he said. “The best teams end up winning in the end anyway. You can have as many as you want [make the playoffs] but the cream of the crop is gonna come through in the playoffs.”

Moses said he doesn’t have any problem with the move, although in all sports besides football, district champs will no longer earn first-round byes in the playoffs. Football district champs have always played in the first round.

A West Texas native, Moses debunked the common belief that districts in that area all have five or six teams, which makes it too easy to make the postseason.

“Growing up and being out there, there’s only a handful of districts like that,” he said. “It’s not every other district has four or five teams in it, especially the 4A districts. There’s so few of those that it’s not a big deal.

“We’ll always be in 6- to 8-team district and it’s always gonna be competitive. Just talking about us, and this area, I don’t think there’s any bad things about it. I’m kind of excited about myself.”

Moses said that assuming District 5-4A stays together after realignment in a couple of weeks, he believes the district is one of the strongest basketball districts in the state.

“I still think we’re as competitive a district as anyone around, so for us you take a fourth-place team from our district, and I think they can compete against anyone,” he said.

Player of the week

The Lady Wildcats soccer team has jumped out to a 3-0-1 start and made it to the championship game of the Brenham Blue Bell Cup last weekend, thanks in part to Ashley Graf.

In Friday’s 6-0 win over Kerrville Tivy, Graf scored a hat trick and scored the first goal of Saturday’s championship game.

For her performances, Graf has been selected as the Denton Record-Chronicle’s Guyer Player of the Week.

ADAM BOEDEKER can be reached at 940-566-6872. His e-mail address is aboedeker@dentonrc.com.