Photo by Victor Tapia
Princeton players celebrate following
the win over Farmersville in District
11-3A play that clinched the Panthers
spot in the playoffs for the first time
since 1976.
2010 saw PHS teams, individuals earn athletic glory
By David Jenkins
Staff Writer
The past year was full of many high spots for the Princeton girls and boys athletic programs.
Among the highlights were the football team making their first appearance in the playoffs since 1976 (last came in Class 1A), the softball team advancing to the 3A Region II semifinals for the second consecutive season under head coach Craig Deputy, and cross country runner Colby Mehmen advancing to the 3A state meet in Round Rock.
Below is a breakdown for each sport.
Basketball
The Lady Panthers made an eighth consecutive appearance in the 3A Region II playoffs. The longest postseason run came during the 2006-’07 season, when they made it all the way to the regional semifinals before losing 49-40 to Mount Vernon.
During that stint they made four area-round appearances, one regional quarterfinal showing and the regional semifinal appearance.
They finished as the co-District 13-3A champions with Lovejoy (each 8-2) and finished 24-9 overall. They lost a coin flip to the Lady Leopards to determine the No.1 playoff seed.
The Lady Panthers captured four of the seven district superlatives.
Jordan Strickland was named the Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season.
The Defensive Player of the Year Award ended in a two-way tie, as Elyse Ivy shared the honors with Lovejoy’s Katherine McBride.
Ivy was one of three players from last season who was tabbed for Offensive Player of the Year.
Jonae Isaac was the Freshman of the Year.
On the coaching front, Princeton’s Dexter Ivy, Dedrick Brooks, Anna Thames and Laney Watson shared the Coaching Staff of the Year honor with Lovejoy.
First-team honors went to Joneisha Isaac and Kathryn McMahan. Making the second team was Rachel Bail.
The Panthers had a streak of five straight appearances in the 3A Region II playoffs and four consecutive district titles.
That streak, however, came to an end this year following a fourth-place finish (4-6) in 13-3A.
Matt Wingo was named to the district’s first team, and Kadeem Satchel was selected to the second team.
Tennis
The boys’ team finished second during the district tournament. Taking the top spots was Lucas Lovejoy. The girls failed to place.
Collecting third-place medals in their respective divisions were the boys doubles teams of Sam Michnick-Jared Jackson and Jacob Welborn-Kayla Franklin in mixed doubles.
Finishing fourth were Terry Brown in boys singles, Courtney Gilbert in girls’ singles and the duo of Rusty Ridenour-Isaak Neal in boys’ doubles.
Golf
The Panthers finished out of the top three at the district tournament, which was held at West Tawakoni and Royse City.
Jacob Box just missed He just missed qualifying for the 3A Region II Tournament in Pottsboro by two strokes.
In the first round, Box carded an 88 at Royse City’s Stone River Golf Club and finished with a 99 at the Tawakoni Golf Course in West Tawakoni during the second half.
The Panther was named to the 13-3A All-District team.
Soccer
The Lady Panthers just missed out on qualifying for the Class 4A playoffs following a loss to Paris in the season finale.
They finished the 20-4A season 1-6-1 and 8-9-3 overall. The lone district victory came over Paris, 2-0 in the first round.
Chanin Naudin was named the Goal Keeper of the Year. Collecting first-team honors was Chele Naudin.
Named to the second team were Katie Sartain and Rosa Hernandez. Sartain was also nominated for the Academic All-State team.
The Panthers ended the season with two district wins. That was double the amount of wins they had in the 2009 campaign.
That record placed them in fifth place in 20-4A, and Commerce was last with no victories.
Both of those victories came over Commerce, 6-1 in the first round of district play and 3-2 in the second round.
The Panthers were led by Xavier Wilson and Vazquez, who were both selected to the first team.
Tabbed for the second team were Jonas Harvey and Victor Hernandez.
Selected as honorable mentions were Francisco Segura and Kelvin Ulloa.
Track and Field
At the 13-3A meet in Emory Rains the Panthers ended up in second (118 points) and the Lady Panthers were fourth (75).
Individual qualifiers for the Panthers were: Mehmen (third in 3,200 meters), Satchel (second in the high and triple jumps, and third in the 110-meter hurdles), Wingo (third in the high jump), Zach Rice (first in the shot put), Jarod Porter (first in the triple jump and third in the long jump) and Erik Zirkelbach (third in the pole vault).
The 400-meter relay team of Bert Wilson, Aqeel Muhammad, Satchel and Porter took third.
Moving on individually for the Lady Panthers were Jonae Isaac (third in the 100 meters and high jump), Lavonda Jackson (alternate in the 100 meters), Chanin Naudin (third in the 400 meters), Kiearra Thompson (second in the 200 meters).
Also moving on are the 400-meter (first place) and 1,600-meter (third place) relay teams.
The 400 team has Kaye Jackson, (Chanin) Naudin, Isaac and Thompson.
The 1,600 relay squad is made up of Shelby Somers, Naudin, Isaac and Thompson.
During the 3A Region II meet at Texas A&M University-Commerce the girls 400 relay squad, which consisted of (Chanin) Naudin, Thompson, Jackson and (Chele) Naudin, were 16th with a time of 51.54.
The 1,600 team of (Chanin) Naudin, Thompson, Somers and (Chele) Naudin was 20th with a time of 4:38.39
The boys 400 team of Porter, Wilson, Muhammad and Satchel was 21st in a time of 46.11.
Both finishes came in the preliminaries.
Competing for the Lady Panthers individually were Thompson (tied for ninth in the 200 preliminaries) and (Chanin) Naudin (12th in the 400 preliminaries).
Taking part for the Panthers as individuals were Mehmen (fifth in the 3,200 meters), Satchel (14th in the triple jump, four-way tie for 14th in the high jump and tied for 16th in the 110-meter hurdle preliminaries), Wingo (five-way tie for ninth in the high jump), Zirkelbach (13th in the pole vault), Porter (tied for 13th in the long jump), Rice (tied for fourth in the shot put) and Trevor Schilling (13th in the discus).
Powerlifting
Princeton made the long drive to the Texas High School Powerlifting Association Region VI Div. II meet at Decatur High School.
They finished fourth with 17 points. Taking the top three spots were Burkburnett (35 points), Iowa Park (34 points) and Bonham (18 points).
Qualifying for the state meet was the duo of Ruben Murillo (first in the 220-pound weight class with a total of 1,385 pounds) and Ruben Vargas (fifth in the 114-pound weight class with a total of 855 pounds).
At state in Abilene, Murillo was eighth, and Vargas didn’t finish.
The Lady Panthers at that qualified for the the Texas High School Women’s Powerlifting Association Region VI Div. II were Ashley Vess, Kelsey Folk and Stephanie Estrade.
Baseball
Under first-year head coach Richard Boring the Panthers made a third consecutive appearance in the 3A Region II playoffs. Joey Franke left to take the head coaching job at Frisco Lone Star.
They captured the bi-district title (won 2-1 over 14-3A’s No. 2 seed Wills Point) and area round (bye since there was no 15-3A). Their season was cut short in the following round with consecutive losses (5-3 and 10-4) to district foe Lovejoy in the quarterfinals.
During the regular season, the Panthers tied for second in district play with Farmersville at 7-3. They finished the year 20-12 overall.
The Farmers took the No. 2 seed in the playoffs after winning the coin flip.
In the selection of the 13-3A awards Topping the list were Most Valuble Player Nevarez and co-Newcomer of the Year Marcos Molina, who shared the award with Emory Rains’ Kolby Godwin.
It was the second time in 13-3A that a Panther was selected as a co-Newcomer of the Year.
In 2009, Tyler Lewis shared the honor with Farmersville’s Colton Monk.
Panthers tapped for the first team in the infield were Wingo and Josh Molina, while Lewis was tabbed for the outfield.
Named to the second team were pitcher Jake Gildner, outfielders Danny Hill in the outfield and Wilson as an infielder.
Wingo moved on to play for North Central Texas College in Gainesville. He will redshirt his first.
Softball
The Lady Panthers made a second consecutive trip to the Region II semifinals.
They went 25-6 overall and were co-13-3A champions with Lovejoy at 9-1. During the playoffs captured the bi-district (16-6 over Wills Point), area (11-5 over Pittsburg) and regional quarterfinal (8-4, 1-2 and 6-1 over then No. 1 ranked Van) championships.
Their season came to an end following consecutive losses to then eventual state champion Paris North Lamar in the semifinals.
In the district awards, Strickland was named the Offensive Player of the Year and (Chanin) Naudin was the Defensive Player of the Year.
Tagged for the first team were Shelby Ballenger (pitcher) and Janine Godwin (infielder).
Second-team honors went to Presley Stanley and Sierra Johnson in the infield.
Samantha Montalvo and Godwin were Academic All-District winners.
Rounding out the awards with an honorable mention was Katy Craig.
Following the conclusion of the season the Lady Panthers finished No. 12 in the final Texas Girls Coaches Association Class 3A Top 25.
The highest they had reached prior to the final rankings was seventh back on April 19.
Football
The Panthers put an end to a drought that stretched back to 1976 by clinching a spot the 3A playoffs in 2010. The previous came in 1A, it was there they lost in the opening round.
They finished the season 4-7 overall and third in 11-3A at 3-2. In the top two spots were Lovejoy (5-0) and Prosper (4-1). Rounding out the standings were Farmersville (2-3), Community (1-4) and Frisco Lone Star (0-5).
Named to the 11-3A first team on offense were Stacey Dillard (quarterback), Justin Love (running back), Satchel (wide receiver) and Vazquez (kicker).
On the first team defense were Richard Pickett (tackle), Taylor Davis (inside linebacker) and Satchel (outside linebacker).
Second teamers on offense were (Jarod) Porter (wide receiver) and Nevarez (wide receiver).
On the second team defense were Chris Hohenstein (end), Jarod Riley (inside linebacker), Lewis (cornerback) and Jashod Porter (safety).
Tabbed as honorable mention by the Panthers’ coaching staff were Curtis Price, Marquis Thomas, Jakari Dillard, Robert Wilcox, Jerrod McCann, Wilson and Shaeffer Beavers.
The junior varsity team captured the 11-3A title after going a perfect 5-0 and 9-1 overall. The lone loss 27-0 came to Quinlan Ford in predistrict play.
Volleyball
The Lady Panthers returned to the playoffs following a short one-year sabbatical.
They opened with a three-set, bi-district win over 12-3A runner up Fort Worth Diamond Hill-Jarvis and fell in three sets to 9-3A champion Argyle.
Princeton advanced to the postseason after knocking off rival Farmersville 25-21, 22-25, 25-22, 25-18 in a 11-3A play-in match.
The Lady Panthers and Lady Farmers finished the 11-3A season tied for third at 5-5. They finished with an overall mark of 24-21.
Named to the district first-team were Rachel Bail and Amber Morton.
Selected to the second team were Janine Godwin and Holly Luster. Rounding things out with honorable mentions were Breanna Leon and Courtney Shikle.
Rewarded for their hard work in the classroom with Academic All-District selections were Whitney Mantooth, Katy Craig, Melissa Manly, Godwin, Bail, Morton, Shikle and Leon.
Cross Country
The Panthers finished second at the 11-3A meet (in Frisco) and were eighth at the Class 3A Region II meet (in Arlington).
Moving on to regionals as individuals were Mehmen and Jesus Heranandez. At regionals Hernandez finished 28th and Mehmen ended up sixth at regionals.
Then in his first appearance at the 3A state meet Mehmen crossed the finish line in 26th place.
He was only the second runner in school history to compete in the state meet. The other was Mitchell Driver, who captured the 3A title in 2006.
At district, the Lady Panthers ended up fifth out of six teams.
