CROSS COUNTRY:
By BRIAN PIERSON Banner Press Sports
The Fayetteville High School cross country team has had tons of success over the years and it seems like they make the state tournament every year.
Fayetteville is good in a lot of sports and has great athletes across the board, as well as coaching.
This is definitely put on display when it comes to cross country as they're pretty much a shoe in for the state tournament year in and year out.
With high expectations, it would be a surprise to not see Fayetteville in the state tour- nament in '27. That's how great they've been.
The Lions have a knack for making it far in sports and cross country is towards the top of that list of sports that succeed at a high level.
BASEBALL:
COLUMBUS
By BRIAN PIERSON Banner Press Sports
The Columbus High School baseball team has been solid for a while now and they had another nice showing last year as they made a nice run in the playoffs.
This team has hitting as well as pitching and it seems like head coach Kyle Bludau has really settled in with this group and is getting them to play solid baseball.
Columbus always has athletes, but it's the ability to mesh as a team and win games that separates a decent team from a great team, and Columbus baseball is continuing to put themselves in the elite category of teams that put the stats up and W's in the win column.
BOYS BASKETBALL:
FLATONIA
By BRIAN PIERSON Banner Press Sports
The Flatonia High School boys basketball team has had a different look for the past couple years after the Chris Sodek departure, but they hired from within as they promoted former assistant Lance Giese to the head coaching role.
This team was a little younger last year, although they did have four seniors.
Flatonia is known for the "run and gun" style of play, so we'll see what kind of tempo Giese wants to go with this year with a little more experienced lineup.
Either way, this team has the tools to be successful with Giese's vocal coaching style and more upperclassmen filling the void.
GIRLS BASKETBALL:
COLUMBUS
By BRIAN PIERSON Banner Press Sports
The Columbus High School girls basketball team has been dominant for many years now and there's no reason why they won't be dominant again this year.
They have elite personnel and elite coaching under head coach Mike Albers and they are certainly a heavy favorite to make it all the way to states this year.
Columbus is strong in every category you can think of, but they are especially good at shooting the ball, which gives them an advantage against most teams with their ability to shoot the outside shot.
The Lady Cardinals will likely be just as good this year as they've been in years past.
FOOTBALL:
LA GRANGE
By BRIAN PIERSON Banner Press Sports
The La Grange High School football team has shown a lot of good signs in recent years.
As soon as head coach Kyle Cooper took over the helm, they were immediately good on offense.
It's just getting things figured out on defense. They've now had a good amount of time for Cooper to implement his schemes and it's shown with the way the offense continues to perform.
La Grange always seems to have a tougher schedule, so if they can play well in these games, it will better prepare them for the schedule later down the road.
The Leopards are a team that can tweak a few things, just like many teams, but it's their improvement under Cooper that bodes as a positive sign for La Grange.
GOLF:
COLUMBUS
By BRIAN PIERSON Banner Press Sports
The Columbus High School girls golf team has had a bunch of state tournament ap- pearances over the last few years and it's likely they'll be heading back to state again with just how much depth they have in their line up.
It's not just that Columbus qualifies for state, they usually have a bunch of golfers qualify and even qualify as a team for some of the years.
As stated previously, Columbus is good in a lot of sports and golf is one of them. This is a team that has become so good that the expectation for them now is state tournament or bust.
SOFTBALL:
BELLVILLE
By BRIAN PIERSON Banner Press Sports
The Bellville High School softball team has made drastic improvements over the last few years in just about every aspect of the game.
Newly hired head coach Lauren Caka seems to have already been working her magic over this team because they looked solid on both sides of the ball last season.
Bellville has really good pitching as well as really good hitting. They don't make many mistakes at all in the field either.
The future seems very bright for a team that has seemed to figure things out and made a really nice run in the playoffs last year.
VOLLEYBALL:
BRAZOS
By BRIAN PIERSON Banner Press Sports
The Brazos High School volleyball team has had a lot of success in recent years with quality players on their roster who've made a difference in terms of how far they make it throughout the season.
Head coach Amanda Hatton knows what it's like to having a winning ball club, so there's no doubt she can lead this team back to a nice playoff run with state tournament implications.
Brazos has the experience of playing on the big stage, which better prepares them for the future, especially with getting the underclassmen quality minutes in big moments.
With the coaching and athletes that Brazos has, this is definitely a team that has poten tial for a lot of success sooner rather than later.
