The Canyon Cougarettes dominated Judson 3-0 (25-9, 25-13, 26-24) to win District 27 and head into the State Volleyball Playoffs against Clark on Friday Night. The first two sets were all Canyon, as the Rockets of Judson could not find a path to victory. The third set was tighter than what Coach Heather Sanders wanted, including Judson winning by as many as five points in that set.
“I mean I feel like we needed to refocus, said Sanders. “It was pretty lackadaisical. Judson was out working us. They were working hard, and we weren’t working hard enough.”
It was an emotional night for everyone involved. Beginning this week, all matches are played at a neutral site, so this was the final match for not only the seniors, but for Coach Sanders herself, who is retiring after this season.
“This was my last game in this gym. This was the seniors last game here. Emotions are high,” Coach Sanders eluded to. “It’s been an emotional three days, if you count the forever red night, practice and then today.”
This 2026 version of Canyon means a lot to Sanders, and she made that known after the game how much they mean to her. “What I told them in the huddle after the game was this team I consider one of my greatest achievements. It’s a testament to their hard work and buying in to what we’re trying to do from the very beginning. There we’re some big bumps in the road. We had some hard, hard times early on. Nobody stopped believing, they just kept fighting and persevered. I just couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Canyon will kick off the postseason against the number 2 seed in District 28, Division II in Clark, Friday night at 6:30 at Davenport in the Bi-District round.
Pieper was in a dogfight on the October 23rd edition of Friday Night Football against Canyon through three quarters. However, the Warriors were able to take control of the game and win by a final score of 45-24.
Pieper had a 21-3 lead in the 2nd quarter, and then Cougars QB Knox Ford went off, scampering for a 63-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 21-10 at the break. A field goal to start the third for the Warriors made it 24-10, and then Senior running back Devin Lagunas came up with a six-yard touchdown catch to pull within seven. After that, the Warriors scored 21 unanswered points, and won by a final score of 45-24.
Pieper (5-3 overall, 4-1 district) will return home Friday night to take on Clemons, before wrapping up the 2026 regular season on the road against Wagner.
Meanwhile, Canyon (4-4 overall, 2-3 district) now will go on the road to Cibolo to take on Steele, who is undefeated in district play, on Friday night, before wrapping up at home versus Judson on November 6th.
If you missed any of this game, you can download them on your favorite podcast platform, or listen to it right here on demand on 1216sportsradio.com.
The regular season finale of Tuesday Night Volleyball on 1216 Sports Radio had all of the festive atmosphere that you can want. With playoff implications, the Lady Bears of Bastrop dominated the Lady Raptors of LASA 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-10) in what was the 11th district win of the season for the Bears, in a night that celebrated the 11 seniors that is on the 2026 Bastrop Bears Volleyball team.
The win puts the Bears in a position, with a win versus McCallum on Friday night, to host a Bi-District match next week as the 2026 UIL State Volleyball Playoffs begins. Meanwhile for the Raptors of LASA (17-11, Overall; 7-6, District) it makes Friday’s match versus Anderson just as important, as they are clinging on to 4th in District 24.
For Head Coach Brandace Bowen, it is her first senior night experience, one that she will firmly remember. “It just means so much that I got to walk in their closing final chapter of their career, and being able to support them,” says Bowen. “It was also the first time I brought in some new traditions that we’re going to be starting. We did a senior breakfast this morning, we had families and multiple teacher and faculty here. It’s just a really special time, I think they understand how we love them so much. “
So the attention turns to Friday night, as the Bears hit the road to take on McCallum in a huge match with playoff implications. Coach Bowen is excited about it. “I love playing competition, especially going into the playoffs,” says Bowen. “I feel like we’re going to come in ready to get second in this district.”
The Lady Trojans of Anderson has already clinched the top seed in the district, currently holding a 12-1 record. LASA will have their hands full with the Trojans on Friday, just to get into the postseason next week.
This was our first season of streaming Tuesday Night Volleyball here on the 1216 Sports Radio Network. It was an absolute treat to have volleyball be one of the first sports that we had on our network, and we look forward to some great years coming. So, for San Antonio Christian, East Central, Regents School of Austin, Texas School for the Deaf, Bastrop, St Anthony, Cedar Creek, Canyon, Wagner and LASA, thank you for bringing us into your homes. It is now on to the postseason, and thank you for joining us on Tuesday Night Volleyball this season on the 1216 Sports Radio Network!!
Hyde Park got in the win column in district play, defeating San Antonio Christian 48-13 on the October 16th edition of Friday Night Football. The Panthers (5-3 overall, 1-1 district) outscored the Lions of San Antonio Christian (2-6 overall, 1-1 district) 41-0 after the score was tied 7-7 in the first quarter.
The Lions, for their part, had multiple opportunities in the first half. After stopping the Panthers on 4th and goal from the 21, the Lions marched down the field, trailing 21-7. However, a costly interception by Junior QB Ben Allen to Panthers DB Noah Nixon gave the Panthers a chance with less than a minute to go. Nixon would return the interception to the Lions 30 yard line. Then, Tom Burgess would punch the ball in with zeros left on the clock in the half to give the Panthers a 28-7 lead in the half.
The second half began and in the first minute of the half, Panthers QB Crawford Moffit scampered into the end zone off of a run-pass option, 30 yards to give Hyde Park a 35-7 lead. The Panthers would add on two more touchdowns to get the running clock going and take a 48-7 lead in the 4th quarter.
The Lions would finally get their second score of the game, as Asher Zimmerman got touchdown after the two-minute timeout, making the final score 48-13 after the missed extra point. With the win, Hyde Park can see their playoff chances get larger, as they will host St. Anthony next Friday night with a chance to clinch a berth into the postseason. Meanwhile for the Lions, a huge game looms large next Friday Night, as they head to Brownsville to take on the Bloodhounds of St. Joseph’s.
Coach Austin Smithey after the game that the contest versus the Bloodhounds has been anticipated. “Everybody knows that Brownsville game has been circled for a long time,” said Coach Smithey, “It’s going to be a big game, we’re going into hostile territory. It’s always tough to win in the valley. We have to come out a lot better than we did tonight. We have to be mentally tough and physically tough.”
San Antonio Christian has two more games in 2026, at Brownsville St Joseph, and then at Regents on October 30th (on 1216 Sports Radio and VYPE Live). A win in any of those two games will put the Lions back in the playoffs.
Hyde Park will have to win one of their remaining two games (vs St Anthony next Friday, vs Brownsville St Joseph October 30th) to have a shot at the post season once again.
If you missed any of Friday Night Football this week, you can download it wherever you get your favorite podcast, or tune in on Saturday, October 17th at 8pm CDT and Sunday, October 18th at 6pm CDT on the 1216 Sports Radio Network for the replay of the game.
The Canyon Cougars dominated Wagner on Tuesday Night Volleyball, winning the match 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-7). The Cougars had three players with at least 5 kills, including senior Taylor Knuppel, who accumulated 10 kills on her own. Senior Logan Sanders had four aces in the match, along with another senior in Nahlia Djibril, who had four aces and three blocks in the match. Canyon Coach Heather Sanders talked about the teams depth and how it will translate for the postseason.
“We’ve been on an upward trajectory,” said Coach Sanders, “Our middles has been our go-to’s and stability throughout the season, but our pin hitters are coming on and start to play with a lot of confidence. I think that makes us much more dangerous.”
The Thunderbirds of Wagner (6-20, 1-9 – District) were completely outmatch the entire night. Sophomore Diminique Simmons was a bright spot for Wagner, with three kills and an ace of her own. The young Thunderbirds have now lost five matches in a row, as they have a tough finish to their season, finishing with Clemons, San Marcos, and then first place Pieper to finish out the season.
Meanwhile for the Cougars (23-18, 9-2 – District), with three to go, they have a huge match on Friday night as they hit the road to take on Pieper for first place in District 27. Coach Sanders was thrilled with her teams performance, and looks forward to Friday night.
“(We need to) just get after it. That was kind of our goal, just playing relentless defense and converting when we had to. That’s what we’re going in to do, we’re not going in afraid, we’re not in there anything other than to play some really tough volleyball. We know it will be a tough match, and those are really fun matches to play, when it’s tough and long rally’s. We are super excited to be here.”
The postseason begins in two weeks, and we will have coverage of the Lady Cougars throughout the postseason right here on 1216 Sports Radio.
Our prior story took a look at how streaming has affected many people, from the fan, business, and broadcasting perspective. Now, we take a look at one of the giants of streaming, and how they are faring broadcasting sports.
Apple first began to broadcast sports beginning in 2022, with the launch of Friday Night Baseball. This series was brought on by ESPN reducing their schedule at that time of Major League Baseball games. Apple seen this as their first foray into sports, as the NFL was coming up for negotiations later that year. Unfortunately for Apple, the NFL decided on a Thursday Night package with Amazon’s Prime Video platform for Thursday Night Football. There was talk that Apple may wanted to stream the Pac 12 Conference for football, that never came to pass, and the conference ultimately restructured in 2026 with only two original teams and eight teams from the Mountain West.
Later on that year, Apple was able to get its biggest get yet, a 10 year deal with Major League Soccer to broadcast every match for the league, making it the first time a professional league putting all of their content digitally. When the package began in February 2023, every match was available on Apple TV for a separate price of $99, or $12.99/month. This pricing angered many of the loyal fans that the league had, considering there was no local option for any team and everything was behind the Apple wall. The league and Apple scrapped this pricing at the beginning of the 2026 season, making all of the matches available to all Apple TV subscribers at no additional price.
Formula One racing is the newest league to get into the Apple game. The racing giant signed on to Apple after leaving longtime home, ESPN. The deal comes after the success of the F1 movie, which would ultimately head to Apple TV after showing in theaters around the world. While every race of the league has been on Apple, there has been some concessions. Netflix, which aired the popular documentary series Drive To Survive, negotiated a deal with Apple to simulcast the Canadian Grand Prix, while also giving Apple an opportunity to air the next season of Drive To Survive in conjunction of the F1 coverage that they already have.
Ultimately Apple has been more laid back than both Prime Video and YouTube when it comes to rights. Apple main mantra has been wanting to have everything under their umbrella, but hasn’t been able to make that happen with other sports. Regardless of how many may feel about Apple, the tech giant will continue to have a footprint in the sports streaming world.
Streaming has become a fabric of our everyday lives. From downloading our favorite podcast, to watching our favorite shows nightly, the odds of someone not streaming now are highly unlikely. But how has streaming affected fans of sports teams, local bars, and even the broadcasters that brings fans the action daily?
This report goes in depth on how streaming sports has become so large, that it has indeed has an effect on everyone, good or bad. Whether you are a huge fan of sports that watch or listens to every one of your teams games, work in establishments that show sports and bring in business because of it, or if you’re a local play-by-play broadcaster, the role that streaming has taken in the last six years cannot be denied, and the technology just continues to grow.
From The Fans’ Perspective
“I feel like streaming has provided access more than I’ve ever had”
For close to a decade now, streaming has made content easy to consume, and for fans of sports, it has created a bigger outlet to watch and listen to their favorite teams of sports. In a Nielsen survey back in May of 2022, nearly 17% of Sports Talk Radio’s audience listen to shows via the station’s online stream, which is only third behind talk shows and news. Here in 2026, the streaming audience looks now to become even bigger, and it’s primarily because of the detriment of the Regional Sports Network. Early in 2026, Main Street Sports Group, the parent company of the FanDuel Regional Sports Network, announced plans to shutter their business, leaving numerous Major League Baseball, NBA, and NHL teams looking for new homes. Major League Baseball was well prepared, as they started their own local media department back in 2023 as what was Bally Sports San Diego, the home of the San Diego Padres, filed for bankruptcy. Since then, the League has produced not only the Padres, but for 15 other teams and distributed those games via their website, MLB.tv, as well as local tv stations that would simulcast the stream.
That doesn’t seem to bother some fans. Stephen Rogers, a fan from San Antonio, Texas, feels like the acres that streaming has given is more than before. “I feel like streaming has provided access more than I’ve ever had,” Rogers said. “We have apps now that allows us to have more access to sports, and we have things like YouTube that gives us more access on demand.”
Mike Wesley, another sports fan in San Antonio, agrees with Rogers, as he thinks streaming has added a bit more for the fan. “It has offered a different form of variety,” said Wesley, “But it really hasn’t changed on how I view my teams.” While streaming has been largely praised, there are some that think it is becoming too much. This season, the NBA began what is an 11-year deal with broadcast partners ESPN, NBC, and Amazon Prime to broadcast a good chunk of the league’s games. In it, Amazon Prime because the exclusive home to the league’s NBA League Pass, where all out of market games are shown.
This has been a huge change in the landscape of sports, and some fans noticed. Throughout the year, there were some who complained about where the games were broadcast. NBC also put all of their games on their streaming platform Peacock, which added to some confusion on where games were. Fans did adapt, as the rise in streaming and the drop in cable continued. For fans like Rogers and Wesley, they are more than ok with the concept. “Just the availability,” said Wesley when talking about sports on the radio. “And the vast access you have with the streaming platforms is nothing compared with what it used to be with the landline stations.” “We now how more in-depth coverage than we do instead of just the game or the local broadcaster,” said Rogers, “And now that we have things like social media platforms like Twitter, I’m able to see what they’re saying in real time.”
From The Business Perspective
While fans have been fairly happy with streaming, some businesses feel otherwise. There are bars and restaurants across the country that could lose up to $20,000 just by a move to streaming. However, there are others who are encouraged by streaming, and hope the trend continues. At a local Buffalo Wild Wings in New Braunfels, Texas, Kitchen Manager Linleigh Williams says, “We haven’t had any issues with streaming. We encourage (streaming), and we can show most games here.”
“We encourage (streaming), and we can show most games here.”
Then there is the other end of the spectrum when it comes to streaming and businesses. A business in Universal City, Texas, who didn’t want to be named told me that while business hasn’t been down, they’ve had to cut back on some of the events that they had shown in the past. NFL Sunday Ticket, which is one of the products that the business used to show, is no longer showed at the establishment because of the high cost.
Another sports league, the mixed martial arts promotion the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), was shown in bars and restaurants for years. In 2019, the company decided to go all streaming with their pay-per-views with ESPN, in which the unnamed business said they stopped showing because then the high costs of the UFC pay-per-views used to cost the business an upwards of $9000 per showing, and that was prior to the UFC going to Paramount Plus, where every event is now shown for free.
When some sports started going towards some streaming exclusives, there were concerns about how bars and restaurants could show games and events. Since Apple TV started airing Friday Night Baseball back in 2022, DirecTV for Bars has stepped in and aired the games for locals that are out at establishments enjoying their Friday night. Other platforms, such as Everpass has stepped up and aired games that airs on Peacock, as well as NFL Sunday Ticket, which moved to YouTube and YouTube TV in the 2024 season, replacing DirecTV and going completely digital. So, while it may have affected some businesses, for the most part, many places have adapted and have fully consumed streaming more than satellite or cable.
From The Broadcasters Perspective
For broadcasters, streaming. has become more helpful than anything. For the Voices of Texas Podcast, Play-By-Play Sportscaster David Roy talked about how streaming has not only helped him in his broadcast, but also, on the production as well. “My emphases, knowing that we are in a streaming world, I want this to feel like this is a VYPE production, says Roy. “I want you to feel like, ‘it’s not just a random school production, but my intent is I want you to feel like you just turned this on like it is a Saturday afternoon.
Long time broadcaster in Texas, Brad Cone, agrees with David Roy’s sentiment. “The biggest change we made was added a camera, so it became more of a television broadcast,” says Cone. “I’ve enjoyed that more because I don’t have to run my mouth as much (laughter).
For Roy and Cone, as well as other play-by-play broadcasters, streaming has made a huge difference in calling a game on streaming vs audio only. While some still enjoy calling a game on streaming like it is on the radio, streaming has given sportscasters now the ability to let the pictures do the talking, as though it is on traditional TV than on radio.
Speaking of radio, radio broadcast entities has also had to make an adjustment. In 2020, the (then) Oakland A’s of Major League Baseball moved their pregame and postgame shows to their audio only platform “A’s Cast”. The programs are available on all platforms via podcast. The Buffalo Bills of the National Football League has done the same for the upcoming 2026 season, as their pregame and postgame is now solely on their website.
Overall, there has been a concerted effort by many teams and leagues to switch to streaming only. The Hawaii Sports Radio Network, who was on terrestrial radio back in Hawaii, made the decision to go all-digital in February in 2026. The decision for them was the ever-changing landscape that is radio. Ahead of the 2024 Football season, the Big 12 Conference along with Tunein Radio, agreed to launch Big 12 Radio, an all-digital station on Tunein Radio that will have nonstop action from the Big 12. On the television front, because of the Regional Sports Network closing their doors in the Spring of 2026, the Atlanta Braves created “Bravesvision“. A new direct-to-consumer network that is airing just Braves games rat the moment but plans with shoulder programming in the future.
The evolution of broadcasting continues to prosper every single year. There could be a point in the next decade where streaming overtakes over-the-air television as the most viewed, and on the verge of overtaking radio locally as we speak. As technology continues to evolve, and as broadcasters continue to adapt, there’s no doubt that streaming may be a part of our world for the rest of time.
Welcome to the second episode of the Inside Texas High School Sports Podcast. Today, a feature story on one of the best baseball players in the state of Texas in Dripping Springs infielder Bobby Wilkinson. We talk about his transition to first base, playing with the many seniors from last season’s State Semifinalist team, and just bring in that experience to the 2026 campaign. So sit back and enjoy Episode 2 of Inside Texas High School Sports.
