CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT

Rebuilding momentum coming off shocking loss to surging Blum, Meridian Yellowjackets celebrate first district title in 20 years with win over Morgan in regular season finale; face Bluff Dale in Bi-District playoff

For the first time since the 2002-03 Texas high school boys basketball season, the Meridian Yellowjackets captured a district championship. But in the final week of the regular season, things became tougher than expected.

After running through the District 20-1A schedule with 10 straight victories to clinch their first title in 20 years, the Jackets hit a speed bump when the surging Blum Bobcats shocked Meridian, 66-63, Feb. 10 to spoil its perfect season. But the Jackets responded to rebuild some momentum heading into the postseason with a dramatic 60-56 overtime win over the Morgan Eagles to wrap up the regular season at home in Yellowjacket Gymnasium.

“It was a great way to end the season,” Meridian boys basketball first-year head coach Grant Schur said. “I might could have done without the stress the Morgan game gave me, but I think it was good for us going forward. You need to play games like that. And even better is winning close games. I am extremely proud of our guys – to be down four with eight seconds left, and tie it up with three seconds left in regulation – that shows some resilience from our guys.”

Entering the Class 1A postseason tournament as the district’s top seed, the Jackets (11-1 in district, 20-9 overall) will face the Bluff Dale Bobcats (16-10) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Dublin High School. In District 19-1A, Bluff Dale finished behind the 11th-ranked Huckabay Indians (26-6), the 23rd-ranked Gordon Longhorns (22-9) and the 25th-ranked Lingleville Cardinals (17-11).

“I think Bluff Dale provides us with some good matchups, and then some really tough matchups,” Schur said. “They are a very solid team, coming out of a really tough district that they competed well in. Behind Huckabay, the next three teams out of that district were all neck-and-neck, so I would expect a good game with them Tuesday.”

As the fourth-place team in District 19-1A, the Bobcats will be led by six-foot, six-inch senior Robby Barton along with seniors Adrian Saucedo and DJ Wood.

“They have a big guy inside, and we’ve seen some height like that this year,” Schur said. “In some games, it hasn’t given us any issues. And in others, it has given us a problem. We’ll work hard this week on minimizing his impact on the game.”

Putting on a dominating performance, the Jackets sank the Iredell Dragons, 67-35, Feb. 7 to clinch the District 20-1A title, their first championship since the 2002-03 season. The Jackets jumped out to a commanding early lead and never looked back against Iredell (3-9, 7-18).

“This was a huge win for us, this win secures the outright district championship for us with two games remaining,” Schur said after the game. “Being district champs was a goal we had set, so it is nice to already have that achieved. I have talked in the past about the maturity of this group, and this just speaks to it. We really came out and played really well from the start. Defensively, I thought we looked better than we did in our last game. And offensively, we did a better job of moving the ball and moving without the ball.”

With eight different Jackets scoring points, senior Camron Sheffer led Meridian with a game-high 20 points, 10 rebounds, eight steals and five blocks, followed by senior John Bernal with 13 points, nine rebounds, three assists and five steals, along with sophomore Jordon Sheffer with 10 points.

Sophomore Matty Jones added seven points, senior Braxton Allen scored six points and pulled down five rebounds, senior Brady Taylor tossed in six points and grabbed four steals, while senior Junior Rodriguez came up with five steals.

“We still have plenty of things we want to work on and get better at, but I feel like we are trending in the right direction heading into the playoffs. We need to finish these last two games the right way and make sure we are mentally and physically prepared for the playoffs. I think the thing I like the most about it is that our kids don’t want to celebrate it yet. Winning district is great, but they want to go 12-0 through district play.”

But the Blum Bobcats had something to say about that. The Bobcats shocked Meridian by starting fast to build a commanding 30-15 lead in the first quarter. Despite steadily battling back over the next three periods, the deficit proved to be too much to overcome for Meridian. And coming off the disappointing loss, the Jackets desperately needed to rebuild their momentum going into the postseason.

“It definitely didn’t go the way we wanted it to go,” Schur said. “But like I told the kids last night, we can either use it to refocus us and build from it, or we will let it hang over us and none of us want that. There were things that didn’t go our way, or the way we thought it should have. But at the end of the day, Blum got the job done and we didn’t.”

Jordan Sheffer led Meridian with 16 points and five assists against Blum, followed by Camron Sheffer with 13 points and eight blocks, Allen with 12 points and 10 rebounds, as well as Bernal with 10 points and seven steals while Taylor pulled down eight rebounds.

“For sure, some things I wish I had done differently, and I know there are things the kids wished they had done differently,” Schur said. “The big question for us is how are we going to respond to it. We haven’t had to face adversity in quite a while now. Personally, I think this could end up being a really good thing for us if we respond correctly. The Morgan game is going to be big for us. That will really let us know how we are responding to the loss, and then regaining some momentum going into the playoffs.”

Rising to the occasion, the Jacket did just that against Morgan last Tuesday night, but it wasn’t easy. Playing in what proved to be a postseason atmosphere between two teams headed to the playoffs, Meridian hung onto a one-point lead at halftime. In a defensively dominated third period, the Eagles managed to take a two-point lead into the final frame, but the Jackets rallied in the fourth before escaping with the overtime victory.

“It was a big win for us, and hopefully helped to get the Blum loss off us a little bit,” Schur said. “It’s also good to have gotten the experience of playing in overtime. I do think it is nice to have finally gotten to celebrate the district championship and get that weight off our shoulders as well. Now, we can just focus on the playoffs and moving forward.”

With three players scoring in double figures, Bernal led the Jackets with 15 points, 10 rebounds and six steals, followed by Camron Sheffer with 14 points, 20 rebounds and seven blocks, as well Jones with 13 points and four steals. Jordon Sheffer added nine points, Taylor pulled down eight rebounds, dished out four assists and grabbed four steals, while Braxton had seven rebounds and Junior Rodriguez five steals.

“It was a great atmosphere,” Schur said. “Hats off to Morgan and Coach (Chris) Gannaway – they played a heck of a game. They have a lot to be proud of in that game. Those kids over there in Morgan play hard and get after it.

“I think our side of the stands were almost completely full. So to win a game like that – with a crowd like that – it is big for our guys. We really appreciate all the support we have gotten from the community. It has been amazing all season long.”

Despite playing in a game postponed four days due to the icy winter weather event across North and Central Texas, Meridian posted an overwhelming 76-28 home victory over the Kopperl Eagles Feb. 4.

“Due to the weather, we didn’t get to do anything again until Friday,” Schur said. “So, it really felt like the five-day dead period over Christmas Break between playing Covington the previous Friday and us practicing Friday before playing the makeup game against Kopperl.

“When we jumped out 19-2 in the first quarter, that really eased my mind on things. You never know how kids will react to things like that. Coming off a huge win against Covington and playing on a Saturday, the recipe was there for a letdown. The kids did a great job of staying focused and playing really well.”

Against Kopperl (0-12, 3-23), Jordan Sheffer led the Jackets with 16 points along with four assists and four steals, followed by Bernal with 13 points, five assists and six steals, and Camron Sheffer with 12 points, a team-high six blocks, four assists and five steals. Junior Rodriguez grabbed a team-high seven steals and five rebounds, while sophomore Alex Rodriguez pulled down five boards.

“Those guys at Kopperl are doing a great job,” Schur said. “I said after we played them the first time they would keep getting better, and they have definitely done that. They play really hard, and they are getting better and better every game. We need to stay focused and continue to get better getting ready for the playoffs.”

While the Jackets take on Bluff Dale in a Bi-District playoff matchup, other District 20-1A postseason representatives will be second place Covington (9-3, 21-9) battling Lingleville, and third place Blum (7-5, 9-8) taking on Gordon Monday night, while fourth place Morgan (6-6, 14-8) faces Huckabay Tuesday night.

“I think if we can limit our mistakes, work the offense better than we have the last couple games, and kind of get back to playing like we would like to, I feel good about our matchup with Bluff Dale,” Schur said. “That is the fun part of this time of year – anything can happen, and you have to be your best every game.”