Sports

A couple of weeks ago afforded me five volleyball matches at the mic as the PAA (Public Address Announcer), four of them at the high school level. Ennis hosted three state playoff games over the past two weeks, and one of them was most memorable.

Powered by three ball-carriers combining for 325 yards and three touchdowns, Italy built a 28-7 lead and staved off a pair of late scores by Rio Vista (7-4) to win, 28-21, last Friday in Waco.

A scheduling snafu with game officials led to an hour delay to start Friday’s Ennis-Forney football game, but the No. 1 ranked Lions wasted little in scoring the game’s first 35 points en rout to a 63- 10 romp over the winless Jackrabbits.

Sunnyvale busted free from a 7-6 lead by scoring 24 unanswered points to knock Ferris out of the Class 4A state playoffs with a 38-14 victory on Thursday.

Playing as a team on a mission, Italy (8-1) pounded second place Marlin (4-4) by a 61-6 count to win the District 8-2A championship, their first since Hank Hollywood coached them to a 9-5 record in 2012.

Blum and Avalon, state-ranked teams a year ago, overcame sluggish starts, the Bobcats were 2-3 at midseason and Avalon floundered at 0-3.

No. 10 Glen Rose (8-1) outlasted Ferris (4-5), 35-8, on Friday in a playoff tune-up for both teams. Both teams stuck to their bread-and-butter running games, with the visiting Tigers capping drives better than Ferris.

For the second year in a row and third in school history, all during HC Don Waddle’s tenure, Palmer has won a district championship in football.