The football and volleyball squads at Pittsburg High are not the only teams that have been battling the heat early this season, the Pirate cross country teams have also been hard at work preparing for the upcoming season.
“Our practices have been pretty solid so far,” head coach John Chatham said. “ We started practice earlier this year than we have before. We have been out running since volleyball and football practices started a few weeks ago.”
The lady Pirates were in action at home this week as they hosted Hughes Springs Tuesday . The team was away over the weekend as they played at the Tyler Tournament.
The Lady Pirates came up short at home against visiting Hughes Springs Tuesday, falling to the Lady Mustangs in three games, 18-25, 14-25 and 13-25.
The Pittsburg football team hit the field for its first taste of real action Friday as the Pirates traveled to take on Pine Tree.
According to head coach Dickey Meeks, the team picked up much-needed experience.
“I thought we did pretty well for our first time out. There were a few areas of the game we were wanting to look at and we did good in some areas and some need improvement,” he said.
The Pittsburg Lady Pirates will be looking for a good season in 2013 as head coach Whitney Dickson says the team’s goal is to make the Class 3A playoffs.
“We are really looking to make the playoffs this season and I really don’t see why we can’t do that,” she said. “This team has a lot of talent and with four teams making the playoffs from each district this season, there is no reason for us to miss the postseason.”
I’ve covered a lot of high schools over the years and I’ve been to my share of kickoff events. I can honestly say I have never seen the community come out in the kind of numbers that we saw at the Pirate Tailgate Party last week. It felt like the whole town showed up – and I even saw some Mount Pleasant folks in the crowd (I won’t use names to protect the innocent).
It was great to meet the coaching staff, football players, cheerleaders, mascots, majorettes, and band.
Tennessee Titans receiver and former Pittsburg Pirate Kendall Wright will miss the rest of the preseason after leaving Sunday’s game against the Bengals with a knee injury, according to the team’s website.
Wright left the game in the final two minutes of the opening half of the Titan’s 27-19 loss to the Bengals in Cincinnati after making a catch. Wright had 44 yards on four receptions prior to the injury.
Caleb Banks lines up for the ball to come to him on the first day of Pirate football practice. The Pirates started their two-a-day practices on Monday morning with drills, drills and more drills. The Pirate season starts Aug. 16 with a scrimmage at Pine Tree High School.
The annual Back to School Tailgate Party will be Aug. 15 at 6 p.m.
The party will include: Meet the Pirates, a live broadcast by STAR Country 96.9 and free food and drinks.
The fifth and final winner of the Mayor’s Cup Golf Tournament is Guaranty Bond Bank. Playing for the team were, Mitch Mayben, Mark McKinney, Kendal Burns and Mike DeWoody. Mayor Shawn Kennington, in the front, hands them the trophy. Winning the longest drive was Mark McKinney; longest putt, Bart Townsend; and closest to the pin, Robert Peoples.
