By: Dillon Myers

The Eagle boys during their playoff game.

The head coach of Boys’ Basketball, Coach Marquez, stated his expectations for the season is, “To do the best they can during district. To go as far as we can during the playoffs.” When asked what his favorite thing about basketball is, Coach said, “My favorite thing about basketball is the competition, to see the boys compete every single day. They push themselves to compete and play as hard as they can every single day. Whether it’s in basketball practice or during school.” 

The Eagle boys won by a long shot on November 17th up against Brooks Collegiate Academy. Three days later, they had a close game against Lanier, once again coming out on top. The next day, on the 21st, the Eagles lost 63-65 against Wimberley. On November 24th, the Eagle boys lost to Young Men’s Leadership Academy. The Eagles stomped Winn four days later, with the score coming out to be 76-34. Bandera took quite a beating on the first day of December, with the final score being 84-49. Hondo lost to our Eagle boys on the fourth of December, with the score being 76-40. The following day, the Eagles won against Del Rio by 22. Nearly a week later, the Eagle boys won against Luling. The next week, Uvalde and Jones both were crushed by our Eagle boys. This was followed by a three-game losing streak by our Eagles on the 19th, 21st, and 30th by Southwest, New Braunfels, and San Antonio Christian, respectively. On the second of January, the Eagle boys won against Davenport. Three days later, they won against Fox Tech, with the score ending as 74-47. On the 8th, the Eagle boys barely lost against Brooks Academy of Science and Engineering, with the score being 61-69. On the twelfth and nineteenth, the Eagles beat Navarro and Gonzales, with the scores being 60-52 and 68-38, respectively. The Eagle boys lost to Cuero on the 22nd and lost to La Vernia on the 26th. On the 29th of January, the Eagles won against Navarro. Then, on the fifth of February, the Eagle boys won yet again against Gonzales, with the score turning out to be 85-42. The Eagle boys´ playoffs game, which took place on the 23rd, ended with a losing score of 53-57. 

Coach Marquez commented that the end to their season was unfortunate, later adding, “The guys did a really good job. It’s one of those things you hate to see ending…” Coach Marquez went on to say, “I’m looking forward to seeing the boys play hard. For them to come out and grow as players. We strive to push them as hard as we could in sports, school, and life in general.”

That’s All, Folks!

By: Kori Miller

Senior, Kayli Kennedy prepares for a layup against the Gonzalez Apaches.

The Pleasanton High school girls basketball team began their second round of district this season, going head to head against La Vernia, but falling to the Lady Bears with a score of 57-29. On January 29, Navaro traveled down to face off with the Lady Eagles for the second time. After a close game, Navaro ultimately won 42-30. On February 2, the Lady Eagles traveled to play the Gonzolez Apaches to determine who would place 4th in the district to make it to the playoffs. Pleasanton triumphed, scoring 32-29. However, because the Apaches had won the first round of district against the Eagles, the teams would have to go to a pre-playoff game to determine who would make the cut. On February 5, the girls played in Lavernia and after a tough game, Gonzolez won 39-34, knocking the girls out of their shot at playoffs. We’re very proud of the fight our Lady Eagles showed us this season, packed with determination and will. We´re all looking forward to seeing what our PHS athletes have in store for us next season!

By: River Reyes

Team gathered for a photo with their trophy

The Pleasanton Highschool Mens’ soccer team has had quite the successful month in February with great performance befitting the top team in the district. So far the team goes undefeated with a record of 4 wins and 0 losses this month.
The boys played four games until the time of writing (February 23rd), winning each game. They played against the following schools: La Vernia Highschool (3-0), Poteet (unlisted), Uvalde (1-0), and Somerset (3-1). When asked about his favorite game, Coach Brieten said “The games have been fun, my favorite game this month has been our game verse LaVernia. It was an intense and well played game.”

With a strong hold on the season, the boys continue to improve their skills and teamwork. They will without a doubt continue to uphold both their position and standard for the rest of the season.

By: Adelena Vera 

Continuing their season, the Women’s Soccer team played Fredericksburg on January 26th and tied, 0-0. They kicked it up a notch with a 7-0 win at Fox Tech on January 29th. Four days later, on February 2nd, the team played hard against La Vernia, the game ending with a 0-0 tie. The girls played hard on February 5th and won 8-0 against Poteet. 

Last week’s soccer games that were scheduled for February 16th and 19th will be rescheduled for a later and warmer date. We wish the Women’s Soccer team good luck on their future games.

By: Eileen Jaksik

Elly Hernandez playing against East Central High School, January 15, 2021.

The Pleasanton tennis season has once again begun! There have only been three tournaments since the spring season started, but there have been great outcomes so far. On Friday, January 15, 2021, they had their first tournament of the spring season. It was the East Central Winter Classic tournament at East Central High School. The team had been practicing everyday for this tournament and it paid off. Elly Hernandez and Bennack Conroy received first place in varsity mixed doubles. Luke Harlos and Blake Moose also received first place in varsity boys doubles back draw. On Friday, January 29, 2021, they participated in the tournament, Dogfight in River City. Elly Hernandez and Bennack Conroy got first place in varsity mixed doubles. Makenzie Richter and Evelynn Caraway got a trophy for girls doubles. Coach Schwab said, “All the players were playing in every division boys and girls but only came back with two trophies.” The third tournament was on Tuesday, February 9, 2021; the tournament was the Southwest Dragon Tournament in Southwest. Blake Moose and Luke Harlos won first place boys doubles in the main draw. Cian Martinez and Gage Pawelek won second place boys doubles in the main draw. Elly Hernandez and Bennack Conroy won first place mixed doubles in the back draw. Josh Schmahl and Illianna Solorzano won second place mixed doubles in the back draw. Cade Macmanus won first place boys singles in the back draw. 

When Coach Schwab was asked if he had any encouraging words to his players, he said, “Every time you step out on that court, you should be there to win; there should be no reason why you can’t win a game with the talents that you have when you step out on that court. It’s all you; you take to the court. … It’s what’s between your skills and your hearts; you should be able to win every game, and there is no doubt in my mind with that. One of our mottos is, ‘Respect all, fear no one.’” 

Elly Hernandez was also asked if she had any encouraging words for her teammates. She said, “Do your best and don’t give up because you never know the outcome of the game. Win, go through the match until it’s over ‘cause you can always pull through and get the W[in].”

This spring season has been a challenge for all the tennis players. Due to Covid, there are a lot of restrictions while at the tennis tournaments. Elly had a lot to say about the Covid restrictions. She said, “Covid kinda sucks, because at tournaments we all got to walk around to like other teams we know, and we got to hang out with our friends from other schools who play tennis also. There were normal concession stands that we could buy from, but we can’t do any of that anymore due to Covid. Also playing with the masks is pretty difficult too, it’s hard to breathe.” The tennis players push through the hard restrictions and fight to play a great game. 

Good luck to the Pleasanton Varsity Tennis team. Pride! Pride!  

By: Libby Sanchez

The Pleasanton Lady Eagles Softball Team’s season has officially started. Last year’s season was unfortunately cut short due to Covid-19, and the girls are ready to step up to the pitch and pick up where they left off. “The majority of last year’s team is back and ready to continue what we started last season. We plan on being aggressive and adding some different options in our offensive game,” stated Coach Savage. 

The girls have been practicing new game strategies and plans since January. “So far the season has started off really well! Everyone is contributing and doing what is best for the team, so I can confidently say that if it continues, our team will only continue to get stronger. Everyone is working as hard as possible, and I know that all our hard work will pay off in the end,” stated Anai Gonzalez, sophomore. Both teams are proud of their progression shown at practices. On February 2nd, both Varsity and JV went up against Natalia in a friendly scrimmage. Despite Natalia’s hard-hitting offense, our Pleasanton Lady Eagle’s came out on top with good bats and great defensive stops. On February 5th, both teams scrimmaged Cornerstone. Scores were not kept during this game but it was a well fought match. Again on February 9th, both teams went up against Cotulla and brought home a win of 8-2. Their first official games were cancelled due to weather, but the girls are looking forward to adding new strategies to their game and having a great season!

By: Kristina Mertz

Did you know that for every 1,000 births, only 32 are twins? Well, here at PHS we have a whopping six sets of twins. Summer and Autumn Webster (freshman), Ayden and Andrew Parker (sophomores), Jaclyn and Jonathan Gonzales (sophomores), Logan and Mitchell Alexander (sophomores), Kelly and Kristina Mertz (juniors), and Reagan and Ryan Moore (juniors).  

Sophomores, Jaclyn and Jonathan Gonzales.

There are many highs and lows to being a twin, and all twins have different opinions on what it really means to be a twin. Sophomore Jonathan Gonzales states, “The perks of having a twin, is that you’re never alone and you always have someone to talk to.” Jaclyn Gonzales added, “He always makes me laugh when I am not in a good mood.” They both fight around two or three times a week and have twins on both sides of the family. When asked if they wished they weren’t twins, both replied “No” and “No never.” Jaclyn said, “I can tell by his facial expressions when something is wrong… You’re never alone and they are there for you when you need them the most.” Jonathan concluded with, “The best thing about my sister is that she is my best friend and that she can turn anything from a positive into a negative.”

Summer and Autumn Webster are surprisingly fraternal twins. Summer, a freshman said, “For us two, 90% of the time we have the same interests, so we can talk about lots of things… since you’re  often close to each other, you also have someone who can accompany you when you’re lonely.” Autumn added, “The best part about Summer, is that she’s very interesting. She likes what I like, she listens to me with patience and understanding and… she’s generally a very likeable and cool person.” When asked if their parents could tell them apart, Summer responded with, “ Mostly, our mom can tell us apart via our voices, but she does get us mixed up sometimes.” Autumn later contributed, “We don’t argue that much I’d say maybe a few times a week but most of the time they’re small and petty quarrels and usually get resolved fast.” Both of them said that they would never want to change being a twin.

Logan and Mitchell Alexander are currently sophomores this year and are fraternal twins, with Logan being the oldest. Mitchell said he is, “Not sure” about what the perks are of being a twin, while Logan said, “You have someone to go talk to if you need something and someone to look up to.” When asked what the best part about each other was, Logan said, “He’s kind, when he wants to be at least, and he’s understanding.” and Mitchell added, “He doesn’t annoy me.” Both brothers said they don’t argue very much, and they have a set of twin girl cousins. Logan said he would, “never change [being a twin] for anything.”

Ayden and Andrew Parker are also sophomores this year, and are fraternal twins. Ayden said the perks of being a twin are, “Fighting, having the same birthday, being minutes older than each other, being competitive with each other, and arguing all the time.” He said if he had the choice he would change being a twin and the best part about Andrew is that “He’s annoying, he’s funny sometimes, and he’s a couple centimeters taller than me, he’s smaller than me.” Ayden added that he and his brother argue “like three times a week.” He later said, “Sometimes we will say the same thing at the same time.”

Juniors, Reagan and Ryan Moore.

Most students are familiar with juniors, Ryan and Reagan Moore. Reagan says the perks of being a twin are, “Having a built-in best friend.” While Ryan stated, “Some perks are just having a friend that’s always there for you and someone to compete against to make yourself better in sports.” Ryan said the best part about his brother is, “I’d say how smart he is and he applies himself before anything else” while Reagan added, “Probably his height.” Both twins said they argue almost every day and Reagan said he wouldn’t change being a twin, while Ryan said “I think I would, of course there’s moments where I wish we weren’t [twins] but he’s always been there for me.”

Juniors, Kelly and Kristina Mertz.

Lastly, Kelly and Kristina Mertz are fraternal twins and juniors this year as well. Kristina said, “There really is no other words to describe the kind of connection we have as twins, she just always gets me. I think the perks are always being able to have someone to believe in you and what you can do, never in my life has Kelly doubted me and she always encourages me to be my best.” Kelly said the perks of being a twin is “For a lot of memberships that require your picture Kristina and I could share a membership like for Six Flags, Sam’s Club, Costco, you know the drill.”  Kristina later said, “The best thing about Kelly, is she is very forward and knows what she wants from life. I think, no, I know, she is going to go very far in life. She also gives some pretty good hugs when I need it the most.” Kelly wanted to add, “[We’re] always being compared like, which ones the fatter twin, the prettier twin, the smarter twin, the funnier twin, or the nicer twin… being a twin you have to kind of gauge your level of tolerance for it. Most of the time Kristina and I are like, ‘okay this guys a tool’ but sometimes you just can’t handle it and it’s very sad, like sometimes it can really get to you so, a word of advice to anyone please do not compare twins.” Kristina said they fight, “Every day, we could go up to five times a day if we have to, for anybody that knows us, we are either laughing or yelling at each other.”

Thank you to all the wonderful twins we are fortunate to have at PHS!

By: Wanish Tortes- Mcginnis

    Mrs. Olavarri

From teaching classes like Audiovideo 1 and 2, Digital Media, and Business Professionals of America Mrs. Olavarri does it all. 

Mrs Olavarri was born in Jourdanton, Texas at Mercy Hospital in the 1970s. She graduated from the University of Incarnate Word in 1998 with a Bachelor Business Administration with a concontration in Marketing. Most of her work in college was Business and Marketing. In Mrs. Olavarri’s senior year she took an internship at a non profit and got to be a marketing coordinator for an organization.

Mrs. Olavarri has been teaching for 21 years at Pleasanton High School;it would be 22, but she took a year to sell yearbooks. Business has always been a subject she had taken a liking to. In her senior year of college, she had her first child. She thought she would be a stay at home mom, but soon got bored of being at home all the time. At the same time she was looking for a job, Pleasanton High School was looking for a business teacher. Mrs. Olavarri’s favorite part about being a business and technology teacher at PHS is sponsoring BPA (Business Professionals of America). Every year, kids who want to join this club are driven and goal oriented.“It is so much fun helping these students build projects that they can compete and win with!” BPA definitely makes her job valuable and rewarding. This year was Mrs. Olavarri”s first year teaching AV (Audiovideo) Program of Study along with Digital Media, in recent years she taught career preperation and PIT classes which was a part of the Business and Industry field.  

This year, Mrs.Olavarri came up with a podcast called the Big E Broodcast to show that Pleasanton is a great school by interviewing students of PHS and those who have already graduated from PHS.  

By: River Reyes

Photo taken to commemorate the JPA inspection

This month the Pleasanton Highschool Eagle Battalion participated in the JPA (JROTC Program for Accreditation) Evaluation. The JPA Evaluation is designed to evaluate the JROTC program to see how well it is following the minimum program criteria.
Select Cadets were chosen to participate, creating portfolios that detailed their experience within the JROTC program. The Staff created several slides detailing the Battalion’s current state. The inspection would also extend to involve our principal (Ms. Guajardo) and superintendent (Dr. Mann). The Pleasanton Highschool Eagle Battalion performed extremely well, achieving the highest award – The Honor Unit with Distinction.
Following up last month, the Eagle Battalion held a Cadet of the month board as well as a Noncommissioned Officer of the month board. The winners of these boards were Cadet Pvt. Courtney Cearley and Cadet SSG. River Reyes from Bravo Company.

The month of February was a very exciting and productive month for the Eagle Battalion and we hope to keep the effort up for the rest of the school year.

By: Adelena Vera

The beautiful venue!

The annual Pleasanton High School Junior and Senior prom will now be held on May 1st at the Espee. The Espee was formerly known as Sunset Station and is located by the riverwalk in San Antonio. The change of venue will now allow seniors and juniors to invite a guest, either any underclassmen or someone from another town. The prom committee, junior and senior class officers, and Mrs. Guajardo have estimated that ticket prices will be about $40 and will be available after spring break, around March. The theme (The Great Gatsby), dress code guidelines, and the mask mandate has remained the same and is still in effect.

February’s students of the month are:

9th- Alexandria Balderas

10th- Angel Tucker

11th- Kevin Banks

12th- Emiliee Moron

Congratulations Everyone!

By: Kori Miller

Thrillers, albeit difficult to pull off, are probably one of the most diverse genres practiced in film. They’re usually pretty straightforward; keeping you on the edge of your seat down until the final seconds of the satisfying conclusion. They’re also probably the most popular genre to date. This month’s flavor of the week has been Don’t Tell a Soul, a film with an all-star cast that leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Matt and Joey are brothers robbing a tented house, making out with over $12,000 in cash. Although they manage to escape, the only witness, a security guard that goes by Hamby, ends up falling into an abandoned well in the midst of chasing them. The pair of boys have to make an important decision; leave the man to die and keep the cash, or save the life of someone potentially innocent. 

It’s hard to find a place to begin with this dumpster fire of a “psychological” thriller. When you read the cast list, there’s a lot to expect considering it is composed exclusively of very capable actors. However, the writing and motivations for the characters are so skewed that even the best of the best would seem as bland as a bowl of chowder. It’s almost embarrassing. It’s the kind of film you have to completely turn your mind off to enjoy, as one split second of complex thought will have you second-guessing

what it is you’re even watching. We’re meant to believe not a single character in this film owns a cell phone, none of them consider the legal repercussions of a single decision they make, and most of all, no one has a brain in their skull. It’s intensely distracting for the kind of film you’re supposed to sit around and think about. The issue with this one is that the longer you think about it, it ages like a slab of ham left out in the sun.

If you couldn’t already tell, this film is a complete pass. Without a second of its runtime being even minorly worthwhile, you’d likely find more entertainment in watching paint dry. It falls into the same tropes we’ve all seen a million times, from the brother dynamic to the ‘x is actually a serial killer’. It’s a tired script that should have been recycled the second someone sat down to write it, and I pity the stain this will leave on the filmography of everyone involved.

Don’t Tell a Soul currently holds a 69% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5.9/10 on IMDB.

By: Dillon Myers

Be sure you tell your loved ones that you love them not just on Valentine’s Day, but everyday. With that being said, Valentine’s Day came and went just as quick as high school relationships do… It is a time for couples to love, and a time for loners to party. A time for candy, and a time for chocolate. Of all the Valentine’s Day gifts, there are two that stand out amongst the others: sweet hearts and chocolate. We asked those at PHS which of the two they prefer, and these were the results:

Be sure to have some green clothes handy to be ready for St. Patrick’s Day!