Realignment Creates Opportunities Across Texas

The bi-annual tradition of realignment across Texas continued this winter, and the changes went from minor, and to one district, extremely major. Across UIL and TAPPS, schools are realigned based on the population of their school, and in some instances, their geography as well. For some, this seems to freshen up rivalries and get in new blood. For others, however, there are some hesitations about how it may lead off. 

TAPPS didn’t go through a lot of changes in their realignment, with one significant change, one that will no doubt affect football more than the other sports.  The San Antonio Christian, St. Anthony Catholic High School, and St. Joseph Academy out of Brownsville will join Hyde Park and the Regents School of Austin in a new District Three in Division Two. This is significant, because both San Antonio Christian and SJA both tied with St. Joseph for the district title in football last season, while Hyde Park, and Regents, who has won 10 straight district titles and coming off of back-to-back state semifinals appearances joins the Frey from Austin. With Regents coming in as one of, if not the top team in the state for next season in football, it may be difficult for the other teams to catch up to the Knights dominance.  

In the UIL, the changes were drastically huge than in TAPPS. Westlake and Lake Travis will leave their longtime home of Class 6A District 26 to join District 25, while Buda Hays, being promoted from 5A and a returning Buda Johnson will take their spots that will include Dripping Springs, Akins, Austin, Bowie and Del Valle. District 25 will have a brand new region as well, as that district is now heading to Region Three, meaning the lower seeded teams when it comes to the playoffs will now have to travel, in all likelihood, Houston, to take on a power from that Region. While the lost of a rivalry isn’t the best for some, Dripping Springs Head Baseball Coach Chris Payne believes the action on the field takes precedence. “I’ve always enjoyed playing Westlake and Lake Travis…but, you have to play who’s on the field and (Dripping Springs) don’t care about that, they just want to play an opponent with another name.” Said Coach Payne.

Why not always optical, both the UIL and TAPPS does this every other year to balance out the competition due to population. While some rivalries may go away, it opens up a chance for some new ones to spark up, and make high school sports here in Texas some of the best athletic competition in the country. 

Canyon Begins District Home Schedule In Dominating Fashion

District 29 in Texas is considered one of the best in the state, and the Cougarettes of Canyon is looking to be one of the top teams in the District. Canyon began their home schedule of the district campaign on March 3rd, hosting the Rockets of Judson. Canyon came into the game already down a game, losing the opener to East Central 11-1 back on February 24th. 

Outside of the game against East Central, Canyon started the season with weeks of tournaments and non-district games, including being one of the hosts of the prestigious Wurst Tournament, where some of the best teams across the state competed. Now that the preseason tournament season has ended, the focus now turns to district play, and to hope for a chance to get to the State Playoffs in late April. 

Canyon started the game against Judson with a huge first inning, thanks to a two run triple from second baseman Jalynn Porras and a two-run double from third baseman Emeri Villanueva, Canyon jumped out to a very early 9-0 lead. Pitcher Addyson Carmona was just as dominate on the mound as the hitters were at the plate, striking out five of the first nine hitters from Judson. She also added a RBI single in the first inning to help her cause. Canyon would defeat Judson 10-0, a sign that may mean big things for the Cougarettes. 

While Canyon is hoping to bring back some of the glory years that they had in the past in softball, the schedule is daunting. After playing, and being defeated, by the Lady Hornets of East Central, Canyon then have another powerhouse to play on the road by heading to Cibolo and taking on Steele, following a date with San Marcos back at home on March 10th. While playing the top three teams in the district early on in a season may seem daunting to some teams, Canyon sees this as experience, and a hope to get them one of the four spots out of the district into the State Playoffs. 

Blake Cox Looks To Lead Dripping Springs Back To State

Dripping Springs starting pitcher Blake Cox has seen it all over the last three seasons as a varsity pitcher. From coming out of the bullpen during his sophomore season, to starting in the third and decisive game in the State Semifinals, Cox has been the epitome of Dripping Springs Baseball. Now, with two Division I starters off to Texas and Tennessee respectively, it is now Cox’s team, something that he doesn’t take for granted. 

“One of the main things I’ve learned is failure is inevitable,” said Cox, about his game three lost versus Kingwood in last season’s state semifinals. “To succeed, you have to fail. (Baseball) is a team game, and you have to learned that not everything is your fault.” 

The start of the 2026 season has been spectacular for Cox. So far, Cox has struck out 19 batters, while only giving up two hits in eight and two-thirds innings. He, along with the rest of Dripping Springs team, has won eight in a row as of this writing, including winning the vaunted Comal ISD Invitational preseason tournament, a tournament that has some of Texas best teams playing in it. 

Cox also had a hand in Coach Chris Payne getting his 400th career victory in his 20th season, a milestone reached with the victory against Sterling on February 26th. “I love Coach Payne. Coach Payne’s been there for me since freshman year. I’ve known him for longer than that going to baseball camps. Being that 400th win means a lot to me. He has our back everyday, he goes to bat for us, so just love to go to bat for him and get that win.”

While Cox is garnering the headlines for Dripping Springs this season, there are others that are making a mark on the early part of this season. Transfer Oscar Johnson and freshman Cruz McBride are giving the Tigers depth at starting pitching…something that the Tigers hasn’t had in ages. Meanwhile, Nixon Badilla has positioned himself as possibly the Tigers closer, already with two saves in this season, and Jason Steele, last season’s District 26 Newcomer of the Year, provides more depth out of the pen, while also being the everyday shortstop for a Dripping Springs team with it’s eye on Round Rock, Texas and the State Championship game on the first Saturday in June. 

But for Cox, it’s not about showing what he’s about since last May’s defeat, it’s about what this team is about as we head towards district play. “People are going to write us off until we play more teams, so far, I think we’re in a good spot. I don’t mind being under-looked. It’s been my story since sophomore year.”

2026 Hill Country Classic Kicks Off Baseball Season

The 2026 Hill Country Classic began the baseball season on Thursday, February 19th, and host, Dripping Springs, is the talk of the tourney. Coming off of a State Semifinals appearance a year ago, the Tigers are looking to make another run at it, with a younger team than last season.

The Tigers are led by Head Coach Chris Payne, who is in his 20th season as the Head Coach of the program (and as of this writing, 398 wins). He has seen the highs and lows of the program, and is excited about the season ahead. “We haven’t won a game since May 30th, and it doesn’t seem like a long time ago, but when you’re in it, it’s a long time.” The Tigers are led by Senior Starting Pitcher, Blake Cox, who in his season debut on Thursday night, Cox through 11 strikeouts, giving up only two hits, and is ready for the grind of the season.

Seven other teams came to Dripping Springs for the festivities. The Indians of Waxahachie, Keller Indians, Hutto Hippos, San Marcos Rattlers, Pearce Mustangs, Rockwell Yellowjackets, and the Lehman Lobos, a team that was in the same district as Dripping Springs some three years ago.

Dripping Springs opened the tourney for themselves on Thursday suffering their first lost of the season to San Marcos 5-3. They rebounded later on that night against Pearce 6-2 thanks to great pitching from Cox, Cody McDaniel, and Daniel Masters.

The very next day, Dripping Springs would lose against the Indians of Waxahachie 6-2, before coming back in the afternoon and getting a tie against Keller 2-2. They would then sweep the action on Saturday, coming back and defeating Rockwall 6-4 thanks to a six inning grand slam by senior Cade Sanders. Sanders would then come back and pitch a gem in an 11-0 run rule game against Hutto.

With only six seniors coming back to the team, the task of making it back to the State Semifinals will be a tough task, but with the coaching staff of the Tigers, this program is primed and focus for a deep postseason run.

2026 Softball Season Begins With ‘Wurst Tournament’

The 2026 UIL Softball season began in earnest on Valentine’s Day Weekend with the Wurst Tournament at Canyon High School. Schools from across Texas gathered to get their campaign started, even if weather was going to be a factor throughout the weekend.

The host, Cougarettes of Canyon is looking for a bounce back year in ’26. Last season, Canyon, a power throughout Texas softball, finished fifth in their district, very odd for a team that has had much success throughout the years. While in the same district as District Champions Buda Johnson and Cibolo Steele, Canyon is ready to make some noise once again within District 27.

Canyon’s opponent on that Saturday afternoon was Temple. The Tem-Cats, as they are called, are also looking for a bounce-back season after being eliminated in the Area round of the playoffs last season. Finishing third in their district behind Copperas Cove and State Champion Midway, Temple is looking to build off a strong end to their 2025 season, with a return trip to the state playoffs.

All teams playing this weekend will have a few weekends worth of tournament games before district play begins the beginning part of March. District will last until the end of April, where the State Playoffs begins.

As it has been the prior two seasons, the postseason for softball will mirror of other sports throughout Texas. Each class is separated into two divisions, with a Division One and Division Two State Champion for each class. For these teams at the Wurst, the goal of getting to McCombs Fields in Austin for the State Championship the ultimate goal.

Unicorns Defeats Mules On Senior Night

On the very first Friday in the month of February, the New Braunfels Unicorns played their final home game of the season, as they took on district rivals Alamo Heights. The Unicorns came into the game, winners of their last six out of eight games, and was sitting in second place in district standings. Meanwhile, the Mules of Alamo Heights came into the night winning two straight and was sitting 4th in the standings of district 26. Each team has an eye on the post season, as the season is quickly coming to an end.

The Unicorns jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the beginning of the first quarter. Led by great defense throughout the quarter, the Unicorns was suffocating the Mules with their defense in the early part of the game. On a night to give a tribute to their seniors, the players, and student section was rallying the Unicorns on in the first. By the end of the first, the Unicorns led 19-7, a completely dominating opening quarter by New Braunfels. In the second quarter, however, the Mules came to life, and outscored the Unicorns 16-12, to make it an eight-point New Braunfels lead heading into the second half.

In the third, the Mule once again outscored New Braunfels, this time to the tune of 15-12, on the strength of some great three-point shooting for the Mules. Going into the fourth, the Unicorns lead was down to five. But a spirited, yet, competitive fourth, the Unicorns outscored the Mules 19-17 and won by a final score of 62-55. New Braunfels improved to 26-7, and 10-4 in district play. Meanwhile, the Mules dropped to 21-9, 7-6 in district play, still holding on to that final playoff spot for district 26.

The night, however, was bigger than the result for New Braunfels. This senior heavy team had a total of 11 seniors play their final game inside of Unicorns Arena. In an emotional night for the New Braunfels school, and community, the seniors went out on top in their final home game in their gym.

Austin Golden Gloves Brings A Punch To Amateur Boxing

By Melvin Jones

Amateur boxing falls by the wayside for some in Central Texas. But for the competitors of the Austin Golden Gloves on Friday, January 30th, the only thing that mattered was being able to fight. 

Photo By Melvin Jones

11 male and female divisions were represented to go along with many divisions. This was the first night of the competition, as a total of 17 bouts started off night one. And if there was any indication that this would be an outstanding event, look no further than the attendance. At a facility that holds roughly 500 people, it was quickly a standing room only event, as fighters and spectators crowded into the Rock Sports Arena, just south of Hutto, Texas for the night’s events. 

Amongst the many fighters that came in “Unattached” (ones that does not have any team represented), there were plenty of teams who were represented to begin the night. Reynoso Boxing Club was the heavyweight team of the night, bringing in many boxers to participate in the tournament, many of whom would go on to fight on the final day. 

Blue Corner Ready for Next Round (Photo By Melvin Jones)

Not only were there fighters and spectators, but vendors and concessions kept everyone fed and clothed through the night. Many hats and t-shirts were on sale for the event, as well as the smell of popcorn went through the arena as the night progressed. 

The night started off with a banger of a fight, as a bout in the Senior Male Novice 154-pound division started the night, and was the first stoppage of the night as the official ended the fight after three standing 8-counts that put a halt to the fight in the 2nd round. The next few fights went toe-to-toe as the next four bouts went the distance, in which every bout was three 2-minute rounds. 

Photo By Melvin Jones

Overall, an outstanding night of action accelerated through the weekend, with the final day having 22 bouts overall. The winners of these weight classes in these divisions advance to the state tournament in Ft Worth in early March. 

Calling The Future: How The Love Of Calling High School Sports Motivates This Texas Broadcaster (Voices of Texas, Episode 1)

By Melvin Jones, January 25, 2026

It takes a special person to would rather call high school sports over doing college or even some pro, but this is what we have with Merle Bertrand. On our very first edition of the “Voices of Texas” Podcast, Bertrand talked about how he started, how it was when it called the State Championship for football, some advice he would give to an upcoming broadcaster, and much more. 

Back in 2004, Bertrand was brought on to K-Mac Sports by a Chuck Licata (Disclamer: Licata would hire myself back in 2020 after K-Mac became VYPE Live), as he was going in and out of the film industry for seven years in Los Angeles and Austin, TX. “I heard about this little company called K-Mac Sports that was just starting up at the time…and Chuck Licata, who was a track announcer, told me to ‘send me a tape’, like I had a tape or anything like that. But I put something together. I watched the UT Championship game against USC (2006 Rose Bowl) made up my own rosters and put together a little demo tape.”

Mere Bertrand on Zoom (Photo by Melvin Jones)

Bertrand would go on and be one of the lead announcers of K-Mac, along with Licata and Brad Cone, a broadcasting legend in the state of Texas. He would become the voice of the Vandegrift Vipers and call two State Championship games in 2022 and 2024, the year the team won the title. He has also been the voice of Southwestern University football, a Division 3 school just outside of Georgetown, Texas, and those games are also shown on VYPE. 

Through it all, Bertrand talks about the love he has for high school sports, and the appreciation that comes with it. “I’m too old go down that path (going after a pro job) Somebody’s got to build and nurture this sandbox, and I think this is sort of my role right now,” says Bertrand.

When it comes to broadcasting, Bertrand is always looking forward. With a full staff to manage, and his own teams to cover, it keeps him moving and rolling every day. Bertrand can be reached on X @kmacmerle. 

Middle School Basketball Pushes Students to be their best

Canyon 7th Grade battle Spring Branch in Basketball on January 15th, 2026 (Photo by Melvin Jones)

By Melvin Jones | January 18, 2026

On a cold Thursday evening in January, the Canyon Middle School Boys Basketball team plays their 2nd home game of the season, as they took on their rivals in Spring Branch. This 7th grade battle brought out a packed stands, as parents and students from both schools came for the battle at Canyon.

Canyon and Spring Branch Players battles for the ball (Photo by Melvin Jones)

In the state of Texas, if high school sports are the king, then middle school sports are the prince. Parents and supporters alike come out for middle school sports more than a small college, and basketball (along with football) leads the way.

Canyon’s two mascot holding up “Fight” signs (Photo by Melvin Jones)

“I think it helps them academically. I think Texas really cares about the kids, so its keeps them focused on their academics.” said Pamela Escobedo, Head Cheer coach at Canyon.

Cheer with a halftime show during the “B” game (Photo by Melvin Jones)

Middle school basketball rules are different than even high school. Seven minute quarters run the game (but may be eight if agreed upon by both school) , with about a five minute halftime, only two referees, and with only the two refs, some of the calls are missed more than in most game. But, the premise of the game stays the same, and it gets the middle schoolers ready for what will be when they get into high school.

Ref getting ready to blow the whistle for a violation (Photo By Melvin Jones)

There are also postseason opportunities in middle school basketball, something that many other states don’t have, and it is a huge thing for middle schools to proclaim themselves as a champion. For the Jaguars of Canyon, getting to a District Tournament to be classified as 7th grade District Champions is the goal.

Canyon’s “B” Team Bench (Photo by Melvin Jones)
Concession Stand Providing Refreshments (Photo By Melvin Jones)

The support from parents and administrators doesn’t stop there. While many high schools rely on booster clubs and sponsorships to generate income, middle schools athletics have to go beyond just that. While booster club and sponsorships bring enough income to get the teams by, having that extra in concessions helps out as well, as it brings extra money for game-day meals, camps, and tournaments fees that teams occur during the season (Sidenote: This author’s wife currently serves as the Secretary on the Jaguar Cheer Board).

Packed House at Canyon on Thursday, January 15, 2026 (Photo By Melvin Jones)
Students enjoying the games vs Spring Branch on Thursday, January 15, 2026 (Photo by Melvin Jones)

But it’s all about the result, and both 7th Grade “A” and “B” teams played their best games of the season, sweeping the night against Spring Branch, including a 46-12 domination during the “B” game.

Final Score of 7th Grade “B” Team (Photo By Melvin Jones)
Players go through the cheer “run-through” after the victory vs Spring Branch (Photo By Melvin Jones)
Jaguars insignia on the floor (Photo By Melvin Jones)

The Jaguars 8th Grade “A” and “B” teams will host Danville on January 22nd, meanwhile, the 7th Grade “A” and “B” teams will be on the road at Danville on the same day.

Flourishing in the Pandemic: How One Local TV Sports Department Thrived Under Circumstances

It’s been over a year since COVID affected what we do on an everyday basis. Businesses were shuttered, people were laid off, and it seemed as though it was no end in sight. The one business that also suffered a hurt, local television news, in particular, the sports department. 

Having coverage of local sports is what drives a sports department in TV. While national gets all of the buzz, the heartbeat of sports on local news is local sports. Bryan Salmond, who is the Sports Director at NBC affiliate KSNV in Las Vegas had to adjust the way he covered sports, and the way his department covered sports during this time. 

“We actually ended up working harder and doing more stuff and being more relevant than we probably were before the pandemic hit,” said Salmond.  

Photo Coutesy: News3lv.com

One thing that had been missing for many months on sportscasts were highlights. However, Salmond reiterated that, even with the lack of highlights, sports never skipped a beat. 

“Honestly, it was easier than you think (producing without highlights),” Salmond proclaims. “any kind of news involving hockey, the NBA, the NCAA, tournament, which they had three tournaments going on in Las Vegas at that time, all of that national news was local news.” 

For many, including local media, the harsh reality of COVID has been brutal. The company that owns KSNV, Sinclair Broadcasting, just completed a round of layoffs that had huge effects on many newsrooms across the country. KSNV’s were one of those, and in tow, the sports department was one of those that suffered a loss. Sports reporter Amber Dixon, who had been with the station for 8 years, was laid off, leaving Salmond and Sports Anchor Jesse Merrick as the two lone people to cover the massive number of sports that’s going on in Vegas. 

“We went from a three-person department to two people…come October, post pandemic, post losing a person, it’s going to be tough! Two people can’t do this anymore.”

While there are several high-profile sports returning to action in Las Vegas, the bread and butter of the city hasn’t seen as much success. Both boxing and mixed martial arts, while having events in the city, has lost many high profiled events to other places. Just recently, one of the best boxers on the planet, Super Middleweight Champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fought in Texas and in Florida in a span of 90 days. Heavyweight Champions Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua plans to meet somewhere in Saudi Arabia in early summer, while the UFC has held many events outside of its home headquarters, primarily UFC 257, featuring the returning Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier, and the upcoming UFC 261, featuring Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman defending his title in a rematch against Jorge Masvidal, with that bout in Florida. Salmond believes that, more than anything, is the thing that is missing from the city. 

“The Fight Capital of the World is almost no longer the Fight Capital of the World. The pandemic is a big part of it, but even before the pandemic, a lot of big fights weren’t coming to Las Vegas for whatever reason.”

There have been many stations that has been hurting for content over the past year. Make no mistake about it, however, Salmond and his team has flourished in it, possibly more than ever. Focusing more on profile pieces helped the sports department continue to give back to the community. Now, more than ever, local sports will have a huge impact on the community going forward.