Sports

The Fort Stockton High School Panther and Prowler cross country teams invaded the land of the Golden Crane to participate in the Crane Cross Country Invitational last Saturday. Teams from all over the Permian Basin and the South Plains took to the course in hopes of setting their best times of the season.

The Fort Stockton Panther tennis team visited El Paso’s 5A powerhouse, the El Paso High Tigers and their district rival, the Jefferson-Silva Silver Foxes. Starting out against El Paso High, the Panthers showed tremendous improvement in the little things but were unable to come out on top, dropping the match 18-1 with the win coming from sophomore Alexander Gomez with a score of 7-6(5); 7-6(4).

After a strong showing at the Nita Vannoy Tournament in San Angelo Aug. 18-19, the Fort Stockton High School Prowlers volleyball squad played host to the annual Comanche Classic at the Bill and Virginia Williams Special Events Center last Friday and Saturday. On Friday, the varsity squad took on El Paso Young Women’s Academy, the Odessa High JV and Imperial Buena Vista. The Prowlers ran the table on Friday, downing YWA 2510, 25-19, Odessa JV 25-12, 25-21, and Buena Vista 2511, 25-11.

Fort Stockton’s boys of fall kicked off their first official Friday night football game in El Paso. The Panthers took on a tough El Paso Austin squad who put up a four-quarter fight, but the Panthers came out victorious.

The Fort Stockton cross country teams continued their drive to the district championship by competing in the Tall City Invitational in Midland over the weekend. This is one of the biggest meets not only in the Permian Basin but in the state of Texas.

The Fort Stockton Panther tennis team seems to live on the bus, with more than half of the team traveling with band or cheer to El Paso on Friday, only to get home and turn around to travel to Denver City Saturday morning. The team didn’t let that all those hours and miles on the bus get to them though, coming out on top in a dominating 19-0 win over the Mustangs to start a winning streak. The Panthers played host to Midland Trinity Tuesday in hopes of extending their win streak, and the Panthers did just that. A strong start to the doubles brought the lead to 5-2 and sparked the motivation to keep pushing into the singles matches. However, the Chargers were pushing back and made sure that the Panthers would Never Give Up Never Give In and make them fight to the end. Being up 9-8 with two singles matches still going, Jr. and line 5, Valleria Hernandez clinched the win in a 3rd set tie breaker 10-3, bringing that 10th win. Sophomore Alexander Gomez followed suit in straight sets at line 6, bringing in win number 11. Final score was the Panthers on top 11-8. Next up is a trip to El Paso to play both El Paso High and Jefferson Silva Magnet. Courtesy photo

After a 3-3 showing at the Nita Vannoy Memorial tournament in San Angelo, the Fort Stockton Prowlers varsity volleyball squad will be back on their home floor Friday and Saturday for the Comanche Classic at the Bill and Virginia Williams Special Events Center at Fort Stockton High School. Fort Stockton will enter their home tournament with a 7-8 overall record after last week’s San Angelo tournament.

Hot summer days of practice and two hotly contested scrimmages have led up to this: The opening game of the 2023 high school football season is Friday night, and the Fort Stockton Panthers will hit the road to El Paso to face Stephen F. Austin High School in a battle of the Panthers. Fort Stockton fans who venture to the west side of El Paso will see a mixture of young kids and some familiar faces eager to improve upon last year’s 10-2 campaign that ended in the second round of the playoffs with a loss to Glen Rose in San Angelo. Glen Rose eventually lost to eventual state champion Carthage.

The Fort Stockton Panthers and Prowlers participated in the Derek Hernandez Memorial Relay in Andrews over the weekend. There were 20 teams from the South Plains to the Permian Basin competing in both boys and girls divisions and the relay was composed of 81 girls teams and 77 boys teams running 1.5 miles each twice for a total of three miles per runner. Each team was composed of two runners from the same school. The Fort Stockton team of Ali Jackson and Summer Hinojos placed fifth out of 81 teams with a time of 43:54.56. The Lubbock Monterey team won the relay with a time of 40:17.78. Other prowler teams finished in 50th, 53rd, 54th, 62nd and 66th place.

The Fort Stockton High School Panther tennis team traveled to Odessa last week to play District 2-6A member Odessa High School. After falling 4-3 after doubles action, the Panthers kicked it into high gear to start bringing in some singles wins and managed to keep it close throughout. “Although we were unable to come out on top, falling 10-9, the Panthers proved to themselves that they can compete with anyone as long as they follow the moto of Never Give Up Never Give In, and believe that they can win,” said coach Victor Garcia. “The match came down to two final singles matches, the Panthers needing both wins, line 5 girls singles and line 6 boys singles.”