Tag: Jayton Jaybirds

by Evan Ren

CLASS 1A STATE SEMIFINAL PREVIEW: Jayton, Benjamin head to San Antonio pursuing title

SAN ANTONIO — In terms of style and experience, you’d be hard-pressed to find a wider variance than the Big Country’s two representatives — Jayton and Benjamin — at this year’s UIL Boys Basketball State Championships. 

But while their approaches are radically different, the success rate of each is nearly the same.

For Jayton, the big stage is nothing new. The defensive-minded, balanced-scoring Jaybirds, who qualified for their eighth regional in nine seasons this year, are now making their third appearance at state since 2019. For coach Ryan Bleiker, this is his fourth trip to a state semi, having also guided Rule there in 2008.

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by Evan Ren

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN: Jayton standouts may very well have reached state tennis tournament

The “What Might Have Been” feature series is Big Country Preps’ effort to celebrate area athletes who have seen their seasons affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The series will continue through June 15. If you have a suggested story for the “What Might Have Been” series, please contact Big Country Preps at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.

For those who keep track of Big Country high school athletics, the names of Tye Scogin and Tripp Scott are likely to ring a bell. The Jayton High School standouts have become familiar to area fans as key elements in back-to-back trips to the state basketball tournament by JHS. 

What very few realize, however, is that they were about to form what was anticipated to be one of the area’s top boys doubles teams in tennis — one that may have had a shot at a regional title and trip to state. 

We’ll never know. 

With the University Interscholastic League’s mandatory lockdown of all school activities across Texas due to COVID-19 and the subsequent cancellation of all spring sporting events as a safety measure, the Scogin and Scott duo never had a chance to materialize.

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by Evan Ren

FEATURE: Jayton’s miracle man, Hunter Gilbert just happy to suit up these days

JAYTON — While some high school basketball players may lament about their playing time, the officiating or the number of touches they get in a game, it’s all good to Jayton’s Hunter Gilbert. 

As a matter of fact, the 17-year-old doesn’t have time to worry about such trivialities. At this stage, he’s simply happy to have a pulse. 

Everything else? All Gravy.

Gilbert, who has been battling cancer since the summer between his freshman and sophomore years, has gained an entirely new perspective on what’s important and what isn’t. 

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by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Jaybirds sweep Paducah in varsity doubleheader

JAYTON — In the realm of Big Country 1A basketball, matchups don’t get much bigger the visit No. 5 Paducah paid eighth-ranked Jayton on Friday before a packed house at the JHS gym. 

Pecos Smith and Tripp Scott scored 16 and 13 points respectively and Tye Scogin tossed in 10 to lead Jayton (20-5, 3-0 District 15-1A), which took control of the game with a 17-5 first quarter and managed to hold for a 46-37 win. 

Paducah, which trailed by 17 points at the end of the third quarter, began a late rally behind full-court defensive pressure, eventually cutting the lead to seven with a jumper from Mark Flemons with just under two minutes to play. But the Dragons never got any closer — falling victim to a combination of cold shooting down the stretch, three Jayton free throws and a jumper by Scott. 

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by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Slidell tops Jayton to capture Class 1A state championship

 

SAN ANTONIO — A fast start and strong finish propelled Slidell to a 49-36 win over Jayton in the Class 1A state championship game Saturday, ending the Jaybirds’ best season ever one win shy of the ultimate prize.

Making their first state tournament appearance since 1955, the Greyhounds (33-8) used a 13-5 first quarter and an 18-9 fourth period to hold off a scrappy Jaybird squad.

Hunter Horner scored 12 points and Ben McCasland added 11 more to lead Slidell offensively. But it was tournament MVP Slayton Pruett who did most of the damage, hauling in 21 rebounds and blocking five Jayton shots to go with 10 points. 

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by Evan Ren

EVAN REN: Three keys for Brock and Jayton to win their semifinals

You won’t find cupcakes at a butcher shop. 

You won’t find them at the state basketball tournament either. In fact, the expiration date for easy-to-beat pastries usually doesn’t extend beyond the area round of the playoffs, depending on what the pairings dictate.  

So when I say that Big Country representatives Brock (3A) and Jayton (1A) are in for a real challenge when they open play at the state tournament in San Antonio on Thursday, a shrug of the shoulders and a raise of the eyebrows is expected. 

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by Evan Ren

FEATURE: Young, guard-heavy Jayton heads to San Antonio

While it’s generally accepted that height and experience are advantages in basketball, the Jayton Jaybirds have managed to work around the fact that they have neither. 

All the way to San Antonio. 

Fielding a 14-man roster in the Region II-1A tournament over the weekend, no fewer than 12 Jaybirds who dressed at Abilene Christian University were listed as guards, and none of them stand taller than 6-foot-2. 

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by Evan Ren

REGIONAL SIDEBAR: Confidence, focus lift Jaybirds to state tournament (w/four videos)

After three close calls with the state tournament that had died on the regional vine, even Jayton coach Ryan Bleiker had begun to wonder if he would ever guide the Jaybirds to the final four. 

But somehow, someway, this weekend in Abilene, he saw it coming — a two-game regional sweep with consecutive wins over Eden (58-25) and Irion County (47-32) to send Jayton to its first-ever state tournament in boys basketball.

Something in the Jaybirds’ demeanor told Bleiker that his stretch of losing three regional semifinals in four years was over. 

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Jayton knocks off Irion County for first state berth (w/ video)

https://twitter.com/sportsfreaknut/status/1101956563894456321

Start spreading the news!

The Jayton Jaybirds boys basketball team is heading 332 miles south to the state tournament for the first time in school history.

Some of coach Ryan Bleiker’s final instructions to his squad in the locker room before the game were: “Never been done before. Never been done. There’s not many things in Jayton you can say has never been done before. This is one of them.”

The Jaybirds punched their ticket to San Antonio with a 47-32 win over Mertzon Irion County on Saturday afternoon at Abilene Christian University’s Moody Coliseum.

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by Daniel Youngblood

Daniel Youngblood: Region tourneys offer challenges for area’s three survivors

After nearly four months of basketball, just three Big Country boys teams remain.

Brock, Jayton and Eula stand alone as the area’s last remaining survivors, and each now finds itself two victories away from a trip to San Antonio for the state tournament.

The Eagles, ranked No. 1 in Class 3A, must survive the field at the Region I-3A tournament in Plainview, while the Class 1A No. 9 Jaybirds and 11th-ranked Pirates will compete in the Region II-1A and Region III-1A tournaments, respectively.

Which, if any, of those teams will still be playing after this weekend? Only time will tell. But let’s take a look at what each group is up against, and what it will need to do to reach high school’s equivalent of the Final Four.

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by Evan Ren

FEATURE: Jaybird tandem has ties to Jayton hoops that go waaaaaay back

JAYTON — The last time Jayton guards Pecos Smith and Tye Scogin weren’t regulars on the Jaybird bench during basketball games was so long ago, one may have to examine a photo archive to accurately lock it down. 

In the case of both, it’s roughly eight years, though the details are a bit sketchy. 

No, Smith and Scogin are not in violation of UIL rules. Nor are they at the tail end of the world’s longest high school term. 

Both players are former team managers, who assisted the Jaybirds while still in elementary school until they themselves became players as freshmen.

If that sounds unusual, it is.

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by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Jayton, Paducah split consecutive thrillers

JAYTON — With Jayton’s gym packed to near capacity, Friday’s doubleheader between Paducah and JHS was expected by many to produce two games with playoff intensity.

It delivered, with the Jayton girls taking Game 1, 34-32 and the Paducah boys edging JHS in the nightcap, 45-43 in a pair of late-season nail-biters.  

Both games decided playoff seeding in District 15-1A, the latter of which iced the league title for Paducah, which holds a two-game lead and a tiebreaker over Jayton with two games to play.

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