11/26/1992, Thursday

Gainesville Daily Register, Sports Editor Mike Pender

                Getting back to that superstition thing, do you reckon the Valley View Eagles let any black cats cross Highway 82 on the way to Sherman last week?

                My guess is no.  Seems as if coach Mark Davidson has got his troops clicking at the right time.  All the E-men (can we say that?) did was march over to Bearcat Stadium and hand Gunter its first loss of the year.

                Next on tap for Valley View is Overton – not Tenaha.  Seems as if some of those bewildered media type sports writers mixed the two schools up.

                Lucky for the Eagles, I guess.

                Then again, Overton’s no slouch.  The Mustangs only have one blemish on their record.  Guess who?  Yes, Tenaha beat Overton 16-13 in the last game of the regular season.

                In that game, the score was tied at 13-13 at the half, then Tenaha kicked a field goal in the last-second to come away with the win.

                The Mustangs also feature many facets to their offense.  Quarterback Chip Hale, who’s passed for 1,135 yards on the year, had his best game last week in Overton’s 48-6 win over Chester.

                Hale was 9-of-12 for 227 yards and three touchdowns.  Meanwhile, running back Jessie Starling has accumulated 806 yards in seven games.

                Defensively, [I believe the word should be offensively – NLN] the Eagles will have to find a way to stop leading tacklers Alfred Washington and Vaughn Washington.  Both have more than 90 tackles on the year.

                You would think I’d pick Valley View to win this one wouldn’t you?   Former Valley View gridder Derrick Mills called Saturday and asked me why I thought the Eagles were going to lose to Gunter last week.

                I know what your thinking –- Mills was the same guy that voted for Ross Perot this year.  But maybe I did too,  maybe not.

                Nonetheless I told him why I did it and he seemed to agree with me.  And if you know Mills it’s tough to get him to agree on anything.

                Harris says this one should be tight, as he lists it as a pick-em.  I’m thinking the same …. OVERTON 23, VALLEY VIEW 22.             

                Well it was nice to see the Eagles advance last week, but they spoiled my bid for a good record.  So much for picking any winner in the playoffs.

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11/29/1992, Sunday edition of the Gainesville Daily Register

Valley View to face Tenaha

Staff report
CRANDALL ---  The Valley View Eagles kept their state championship hopes alive Friday night in Crandall as they broke a scoreless first half open en route to a 23-6 win over Overton.

                The Eagles who move to 10-2-1 on the year, will next face top ranked Tenaha Friday night at 8 in Van.

                Overton finishes the year with a 10-2 overall record.

                Valley View head coach Mark Davidson said the 0-0 tie after the first half was similar to what the Eagles have been doing all year long. 

                “If you look at our stats from [for-NLN] the year, I bet we score 35-percent of our points in the fourth quarter,” Davidson said.  “We just hang in there and get things figured out.  We played really well last night – we didn’t score in the first half, but then we got some points on the board in the second.”

                Overton came into the game with somewhat of a feared passing attack.  Quarterback Chip Hale threw for a season-best performance in the Mustangs second round playoff win over Chester, but Valley View’s defensive front kept the pressure on him most of the night.

                “I was a little concerned that he had thrown the ball well last week – especially deep,” Davidson said.  “But I felt like if we could get pretty good pressure from the defensive linemen, then we’d be fine.”

                Davidson said defensive ends Ethan Graves and Jesse Newton, along with tackles Steven White, Glenn Hacker and Kimon Mantzouridis did an excellent job of pressuring Hale.

                Hale finished 5-of-21 for 55 yards and one touchdown on the evening.  Brad Stewart led the Mustangs in receiving with 44 yards on three catches.

                While the Eagle defensive unit was holding Overton to only 34 yards rushing, the Valley View backfield was rolling up the yardage.

                Michael White ended with 65 yards to lead the way, but Davidson said quarterback Jeremy Tipps, fullback Todd Martindale and backs Tommy Elvington and Lance Morris also eclipsed the 30-yard rushing mark.

                Morris started the scoring for the Eagles just after the half when he found paydirt from 9-yards out.  He then booted the PAT to give Valley View an early 7-0 lead.

                Also in the third quarter, Morris added a 25-yard field goal to move the Eagles lead to 10-0.

                White got into the act in the fourth quarter when he dove in from 1-yard out, then Elvington finished off Valley View’s scoring with a 4-yard scamper midway through the fourth.

                Overton picked up a mercy score when Hale hit Jason Johnston on an 11-yard pass late in the game, but it proved to be too little too late for the Mustangs.

                Tenaha (12-0), should prove to be the toughest test the Eagles have faced all year.  Overton’s only loss of the year came when Tenaha beat them 16-13  for the district championship.

                Davidson said there are a couple similarities to the two teams, but Tenaha is very potent.

                “Tenaha is bigger and better in the offensive line than Overton is,” Davidson said.  “Tenaha doesn’t have the overall team quickness that Overton did, but they have guys that can flat fly.”

                “They just have so much speed.  They have a lot of big-play potential.”