KFDM COOP

Brook 7-3.

Not sure? I'll find out Wednesday.

Sweet 16 Alamodome tickets range from $170 to $10,080 SAN ANTONIO -- Tickets for the Sweet 16 (Memphis vs. Texas A&M and Ohio State vs. Tennessee) at the Alamodome are available for as little as $170 and as much as $10,080 each game. Tickets for the NCAA Tournament semifinals (Sweet 16) are still available via TicketsNow.com, the leading independent secondary ticket marketplace. Games begin Thursday, March 22 at approximately 6:27pm CT. For ALL Sweet 16 sessions in San Antonio, tickets are available from $180 to $3,145. Elite 8 tickets (San Antonio-March 24) are going for as little as $85 and as much as $7,840.

Mississippi State in Final 4!!!!

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Lumberton nips Central for 1st in boys 20-4A soccer The Lumberton boys soccer team walked off the field smiling broadly and cheering loudly, as the celebration spilled into the stadium stands. The Raiders deserved to celebrate. Lumberton handed Central its first district loss of the season on Tuesday night to win sole possession of the District 20-4A crown. Lumberton defeated Central 2-1 at the Raiders Stadium. "I am very proud of the way my kids played tonight," said Lumberton coach Chad Luttrell. "Coach (Tony) Cox does a great job with those kids, and we figured it was going to be a 2-1 game. But our kids wanted to win bad tonight, and they played a great defensive game to get it done." Lumberton and Central both end the district season at 18-1 overall. But since soccer standings are determined by a points system, Lumberton finished with a one-point advantage over Central to win the district title outright. Central needed a shootout to beat PN-G in their second district game to enter Tuesday's game with only a two-point advantage over Lumberton. Teams earn three standings points for district victories in regulation and two points for winning in overtime and shootout. Losing teams in overtime or shootout game earn one point. "Our main goal for the season was to make the playoffs, and that's what we did," said Cox, who led his team to the postseason for the first time in 19 years. "We just have to regroup from this point on and prepare for our next opponent." Central plays Waller in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs at 6 p.m. Saturday at Charles Street Stadium in Humble. "We are really excited about playing in the playoffs," Cox said. "We will rebound from this loss and continue to practice to prepare." Lumberton's Scott Poole scored off a pass from Mark Brackin in the first period. Central would even the score with less than two minutes remaining. The Jaguars' Alejandro Jiminez scored his team's only goal late in the first to tie the game up at 1-1 before the break. "We knew we would have to play a good defensive game in the second half if we wanted the win," Luttrell said. "Everybody on the team dug deep and just played their hearts out to get the win." Brackin would extend the Raiders' lead in the second half with another goal. Jonathan Bell assisted Brackin on the goal. Brackin almost had two goals in the period. He kicked one in from 30 yards out, but the goal was deemed no good after the referees said he stepped out of bounds. "This is a tremendous boost for us going into the playoffs," said Luttrell, whose team will have a first-round bye. "We will enter the playoffs with a lot of confidence."

Nederland girls win soccer title in District 20-4A In the midst of a defensive-minded contest between the Nederland and Port Neches-Groves girls soccer teams, Nederland forward Lauren Matt gave the Bulldogs all the offense they needed on Tuesday. Matt, a senior for the Bulldogs, kicked in a score from right of the goal off a pass across the net from sophomore Taylor Carlson with 21:47 remaining in the second half. Matt's goal was the lone score of the game, as Nederland grabbed a 1-0 victory over PN-G that makes the Bulldogs the sole champions of 20-4A. Had the Indians (12-2) won on Tuesday, both teams would have ended the district schedule as co-champions for the second consecutive season. Last year was the first time for PN-G to ever land a piece of a district title. The control of Tuesday's game, however, belonged to Nederland, which out shot PN-G 8-2. "I think it was determination," Nederland coach Julie Johnson said. "We were able to win the ball. We knew that was the way we were going to score. We had a couple of good high shots that didn't go in because their goalkeeper (Brittany Fruge) can jump higher than the goal. But we did what we needed to do. We knew that it had to be across to get it on the backside to get the goalkeeper off balance, and that's what we did." Nederland (14-0) won the first meeting against PN-G in a shootout Feb. 16. Despite falling behind 1-0 midway through the second half and lacking in scoring opportunities on Tuesday, the Indians remained intense down the stretch. "My team never lacks heart - that's one thing that I'm proud of," PN-G coach Aimee Bates said. "They'll always play hard even when we're not playing our game well, which was tonight." By finishing first in 20-4A, Nederland seals up a first-round bye in the playoffs. Port Neches-Groves, meanwhile, will face Willis at 6 p.m. Friday in the Class 4A bi-district round at Humble's Charles Street Stadium. "I'm excited about that," Bates said. "I'm excited that (the players) worked hard enough to make the playoffs."

PORT NECHES - Jon Carnahan had a pretty good idea of what pitch was coming next, and teammate Eric Harrington made a guess as to where it would land Tuesday. The score was tied when Carnahan, a right-handed cleanup hitter for the Port Neches-Groves baseball team, took a first-pitch curveball for ball one. As a catcher, Carnahan knew how Nederland pitcher Beau Helmke might react. "Most guys who miss with a curveball on the first pitch throw a fastball on the next pitch," said Carnahan, who drilled the next pitch - a fastball - for a two-run home run over the left field fence. Carnahan's run-scoring single in the next inning - also on a second-pitch fastball - widened the Indians' lead in a game they went on to win 7-3 over longstanding rival Nederland. But it was the home run that had his teammates buzzing. "It was funny because I told the guys in the dugout before that pitch, 'Here it comes,'" Harrington said. "And pow! He hit it." Harrington flung his left arm forward as through he were hitting the home run when describing Carnahan's clout. The pitcher stood near the backstop with his right shoulder and elbow wrapped with ice after a 97-pitch effort over six innings. Harrington gave up six hits, walked two and struck out five. Only one of his three runs allowed was earned. The game featured two teams that qualified for the playoff in District 20-4A last season. Both were put in District 22-4A this season, and they've gone in opposite directions since district play started. PN-G is undefeated in three district games; Nederland is winless in three district games. "We're continuing to make mistakes," said Nederland coach Cody Robbins, whose team lost its other district games to Central and Vidor. "We're missing signals and things like that. "You never expect to be 0-3, but with 11 games left, we'll find a way to get things done." PN-G's other district wins were against Ozen and Little Cypress-Mauriceville, last year's 20-4A champion. Carnahan's home run came with two outs in the third inning and gave PN-G a 3-1 lead. He followed in the fourth with another two-out hit, a single to left field that put the Indians up 5-1. Nederland cut the margin to 5-3 in the fifth, but PN-G scored two more runs in the bottom of the inning with a two-run single by Jeremy Dominguez. Helmke, Nederland's Lamar-bound pitcher, gave up six earned runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked five, hit two batters and struck out four.

Another good night for the Brook!

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Austin, Bombek pace Lady Dogs to 1-0 triumph By Tom Halliburton The Port Arthur News NEDERLAND -- Before this 2007 soccer season, Evan Austin had been an offensive weapon for Nederland's Lady Bulldogs. By the end of this regular season, the Port Neches-Groves girls soccer team wished that she had remained in that role. When the blonde senior sweeper finished her defensive excellence in Bulldog Stadium, PN-G's girls hardly had attempted a shot against her. Austin did her best Sherwin-Williams paint job on PN-G. She covered the earth until she turned an ankle late in the game. With prudent support from Johnna Wagner, Brittany Richmond and gritty freshman Lauren Washburn, the Nederland backliners held their ground, and blanked their backyard visitors, 1-0. Nederland (20-1 and 16-0) actually did not make its final 2007 Bulldog Stadium appearance. The Lady Bulldogs are scheduled to play Crosby on Friday night in a playoff warmup game on their home field at 5:30 p.m. But this was the final home chapter that has a great meaning for so many Mid-County soccer players. PN-G (17-3 and 14-2) will have a well-rested offense when it will enter the 4A bidistrict playoffs on Friday night against Willis in Humble's Charles Street Stadium at 6 p.m. The Lady Indians will have a well-rested offense because they will only have two shot attempts to remember from the Nederland game. Meanwhile, PN-G packed it in defensively and limited Nederland to only eight attempts too. Austin deserved to end this night in a much grander fashion than she did. Instead of walking to her sideline and hearing her fans' cheers, she was riding around in a golf cart with her left shoe and sock removed. A left ankle sprain ended her outing with 3:37 to play. NHS coach Julie Johnson had to hope she owned enough defensive reinforcements to survive the rest of the game. The removal of Austin from Nederland's defense amounted to substantial subtraction. "She's a natural at that position," Johnson said. "We put in the midfield for 10 or 15 minutes in that game and she just did what we needed her to do." Austin played forward much of last season, but word leaked to Johnson that she displayed an impressive knack for handling the stopper's role during the off-season on her club soccer team. "Our sweeper decided not to play," Austin recalled the club soccer position switch. "They put me in there and it worked out. I think the word just got to coach J that I did pretty decent." Lady Indians coach Aimee Bates rated Austin's defensive work as "unbelievable." "Her versatility is what makes her a great player," the PN-G coach said. "We seemed a little flat. We weren't able to create a lot of movement off the ball." The movement away from the ball proved significant in the night's lone goal. The referees awarded NHS senior Erin Binagia a direct free kick after they ruled a PN-G defender had knocked down Nederland's Taylor Carlson shortly before the midpoint in the second half.

He's not overrated. Congrats to all local teams on a great season.

Congrats Lumberton!

Post the teams going to the playoffs and who they will play along with team, time and location.

It went all the way to the streets!!

Best wishes on a speedy recovery.

14-11 Dayton wins.

14-11 Dayton bottom of 7th.

13-11 Dayton bottom of 6th

Final/Comments

Final yet?

Final/Comments

With the injury that just took the wind out of their cells.