Sports

You check out the score, and it appears to be a decent showing against Lampasas, but yet another loss, in what’s been a tough journey (6-18) for the Lady Jackets. I don’t think there’s much information here between the lines, but the lines themselves will say, Llano made a superb comeback and defined the phrase, “never give up.” “We finally woke up!” screamed head coach Daryl Friedrich, competing with the excellent Black and Orange band betwee ...

LIBERTY HILL—In 1775, American patriot Patrick Henry was quoted in The Llano News, or one of its predecessors, as saying, “Give me liberty or give me death.” The Jacket girls and boys must have thought, January 20, 237 years later, they got both. The Lady Panthers pulverized Llano 71-18 and 32 basketball minutes later, the Boys from the Hill reached the century mark in a 100-34 punishment.

LIBERTY HILL—100. It is one of the most well-known numbers in American arithmetic. It’s not so good in golf but great in school. It’s too much fever and too many heartbeats, but the percentile guys love it. It’s a lousy batting average, but it’s a heck of a gain on the gridiron.

I see scores like this in the Austin American-Statesman from time to time, digest them, and forget them. This one, though, involved two of Llano’s 25-AAA opponents: the Liberty Hill Lady Panthers, the hosts, January 13, and Taylor. High school games are 32 minutes. Liberty Hill is one of the best Class 3A teams in the state, and the Ducks are a scrappy bunch but not very talented.

The Burnet Lady Dawgs barked for seconds, January 10, in Llano, and their Jacket hosts obliged. Not a good idea. Burnet posted a sturdy 21 points in the second quarter and held Llano to seven. This turned a 12-9 deficit into a 30-19 advantage, and the 56-40 outcome became about as suspenseful as the BCS national championship 24 hours before. “They kicked it up a notch in that second period,” LHS head coach Daryl Friedrich acknowledged, “and we couldn’t match th ...

SALADO—Watching tape of the Llano basketball game here would benefit the Lady Jackets about as much as taking a Carnival Cruise to the Cayman Islands to understand the doomed journey of the Titanic. It would be like playing Putt-Putt to get ready for the greens at Augusta National. “We ran into a buzz saw,” said head coach Daryl Friedrich, who should have gotten a letter of commendation from Job when the 32 minutes finally elapsed.

SALADO—Everyone may start district with a clean slate, but it only takes 32 minutes for half the teams in the state to be tainted with an 0-1 record. The Llano boys found themselves a part of that group after absorbing a 70-41 loss in Salado, January 13. The Jackets have not won a league game since 2010. “They are good,” said head coach Keith Allen.

The JV Lady Jackets had a great week posting 2 victories. Ingram fell 61-24. We pulled away in the third quarter, going on a 26-6 run. Leading the scoring for the Jackets were Mary Cinek, Linsey Osbourn, and Cierra Caffey. Great defensive efforts were turned in by Averee Abney, Sara Leyva, and Heaven Honig. The Lady Jackets, at Taylor, opened the game with a 16-2 surge and never looked back, defeating the Ducks 44-11.

The Ingram Warriors may be a year-after-year work-in-frustration in football and some other sports, but the boys’ basketball team always looks like it spends its summer thinking it could be a prelude to a March trip to the Erwin Center. Now, they’re not that good, but I’ll bet the “does things right” column knocks out the companion ledger two digits to one. All of the above literature translates to a 64-58 win by Ingram after a January 3 visit to Llano.

TAYLOR—The Ducks will not receive roles in the remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief, because they totally failed to catch Cierra Jordan, January 6, in the district 25-AAA opener. Goodness, there were plenty of clues. She wore number 22 during the entire caper, and she never changed hairstyles. Jordan came up with 12 steals, a remarkable total.