By: Libby Sanchez

The Pleasanton Women’s Soccer Varsity Team continues to fight through their district season, making their record 6-0-1. On January 31st, the girls hosted Hondo here at home for the district opener and made sure they knew who’s field they were on, taking the 5-0 win. It was quite the way to start district, and the girls were determined to keep the energy up. On February 3rd, the Eagles hosted Pearsall, a first year team. Taking charge was a no-given and the Varsity girls won 13-0, with nearly every player on the field getting a goal, including long-time defender Grace Keylich. Coach Joseph relented and decided to give the center back defender her time to shine, and she did not disappoint. Though this was a great game, they didn’t let this boost their ego too much before their big game the next week. On February 7th, both teams traveled to play against our longest and biggest rival, the Uvalde Lobos. “This game is one we look forward to every season, we haven’t been able to beat them yet, but we’re always close and we’re gonna work hard to win this game,” said senior, Grace Keylich. JV played first at 5pm, and unfortunately fell short by one goal that slipped through. As for varsity, early on in the first half Slayde Huggins got a break-away over the Lobo’s goalie and scored the first goal of the game. Putting us in the lead over Uvalde 1-0. Later in the first half, Uvalde was able to tie it up to 1-1 where it stayed for a majority of the game. Both teams fought to beat the other and midway through the second half, only one team gained the lead. One of two freshmen to make the varsity team, Emerie Lopez scored the game winning goal against the hardest team in our district. The girls were able to hold their own the rest of the game, playing phenomenal defense to bring home the win they’ve worked so hard for. The only other freshmen on the varsity team, Kathrin Banda, played her first full 80 minute varsity game, and did not let her team down with her performance. She stood her ground on the defensive line the entire time, not letting the Lobos deter her even as one of the youngest on the team. “It was a feeling like no other to beat this team, the rivalry tension has been here all four years of high school for me, and finally beating them is worthy of a celebration,” said senior, Brylee Miller. Days later on February 10th, the Eagles hosted Floresville as a new opponent. This time, the senior and freshman duo of Slayde Huggins and Emerie Lopez switched timing, and Emerie scored the first goal, and Slayde scored the game winning goal. Somewhere in between Floresville was able to sneak one in, but our girls came out on top once again, setting the final score 2-1. As for JV, it was a tough game and they came short 2-0, but are working hard to get them next time. On February 14th, both teams spent the holiday in long, tough matches against Somerset. Both games ended in a tie of 0-0, and the determination to not let that happen again has been showing at their practices since then. The following Friday, the varsity team traveled to Poteet for a 5pm game. The girls won with a final score of 10-0, continuing to dominate through district. The next week, they went back to face off against Hondo for the second time this season, ultimately starting the official countdown to playoffs. Emerie Lopez once again scored the winning goal that brought the final score to 1-0. On February 26th, Pearsall traveled to us for the second time, and the game ended with yet another win for our varsity girls, with a final score of 9-0. As of now, both teams are pushing it to their limits, training to go up against Uvalde for the second time this season on March 3rd here at home. Though proud of beating them last time, the girls plan to go into Friday’s game with a “down one mentality” and beat the Lobos on our home field this time. It’s a game nobody wants to miss, the adrenaline always runs high for both players and fans. We wish the best of luck to the Pleasanton Women’s Soccer Team on securing their first place district title!

 By: Brian Avery

 

The last two months have been full of action for the Men’s Soccer Team, with two games almost every week. The Varsity team has played in two tournaments, and 12 since we left off in the last article, and the JV has played in 5 games since then. 

We pick up in the first tournament Varsity played in, which was at Ingleside. The Varsity won their first two games of the tournament, but lost the third game, which placed them in a game battling for third, which they won, securing a trophy. After that, on 11/10, both teams played Memorial High School, and unfortunately, the JV lost 1-3 and Varsity tied 3-3. Shortly after, the Varsity participated in their home tournament, but were unable to secure a top 3 ranking, as they won their first game but lost the other two. From there, the JV and Varsity went on to play Foxtech, where JV won 1-0 and Varsity tied 1-1. After that game, both teams played Eagle Pass, where JV (Missing), while Varsity lost 1-3. Next, both teams played JFK, JV winning 3-1 and Varsity tied 2-2. Next, both teams played Gonzales, with JV (missing) and Varsity won 2-1. Next, both teams played Hondo, where both teams lost 0-1. Then the Varsity played Persall in Persall’s first ever high school soccer game and the Eagles won 9-0. Both teams played Uvalde, where JV 1-0 and Varsity 2-0. Varsity lost to Floresville 0-1, won against Somerset 2-0, beat Poteet 8-0, and tied Hondo 2-2. 

The program held their Senior Night, honoring the Seniors of the program, which includes Stefon Torres, Morgan Garcia, Adriano Guitierrez, Sergio Banda, Brian Avery, Toby Bird, Timothy Klein, Donovan Alaniz and Alex Cabrerra. The Varsity team played Persall that night, winning 8-0. 

We got in contact with JV captain Louis Manzanares and Varsity captain Timothy Klein. When asked about the team’s improvements, both captains said that their respective teams were improving on communication and passing, but they still struggle with communicating. As Tim said “We struggle with communication and talking in certain games, and just showing up ready to play as well.” Tim went on to say that they struggled to clean up the little things, from passing in practice to showing up, ready to play and focused in, with Louis saying similar things. When asked what was going better than expected, Louis said communication once again, “The attitude has changed a lot, which improves the ease of communication and teamwork between them.” Tim mentioned that he was impressed with some individuals’ drive and work ethic, and how they’ve become better because of it.

Good luck to both teams!!

By: Farah Standley

 

The Pleasanton women’s basketball team ended their season round 1 in the playoffs, with an overall record of 16-21, and District record of 7-5. The Eagles had a fulfilling season, having lots of seniors on the team, and we are extremely proud of their determination and hard work. Though the season was cut semi-short, the girls made the playoffs, put up a fight against some really tough teams, and went out with their heads held high. When asked about the end of the season, Senior Captain, Mary Martinez stated, “It was a bittersweet feeling, because it was my senior year, but I’m glad that I won’t have to run 5’s anymore at practices”. With so many seniors on the team, there were a lot of team goals and accomplishments, and according to Mary, one of the goals of the team was to go further in the playoffs than the previous years, and one of the team’s favorite accomplishments was almost beating the #1 team in the District, Somerset. Mary’s favorite personal accomplishment of basketball was surpassing a former PHS athlete’s stealing record. Her favorite thing about the game of basketball is making new friends and simply playing the game. Mary has no certain favorite memory from high school basketball, because it was all amazing, but she says the rides home were always fun, as they always had fun together even after a loss. As for after high school, she intends to major in kinesiology/education to someday become a teacher-coach and to possibly continue her love for basketball and join a college basketball team as a walk-on athlete. Goodbye for now, Pleasanton Women’s Basketball. We are excited to see what you have in store for next year.

By: Jayden Palacios

State season is underway. The Eagles started this new track season at Holy Cross High School where the Eagles dominated in every event. In the field, the Eagles had six first place medalists (Kiley Wiechring, Layla Rodriguez, Megan Mayse, Ciarah Garcia, Preston Pilgrim, Evan Guardiola). In the track aspect, the men’s track team had no first place medalist, but would rack up points through relays winning the 4×1 and 4×4. The men’s team has some strong headed athletes like Daniel Coronado, who believes “No matter what, never back down from a challenge…You can achieve anything you put your mind to” Athletes like Daniel set the standard for this team. The women’s team would blow the other teams out racing up a total of 317 points total winning the overall meet. The women’s team had 5 first place finishes (Svetlana Martinez, Alexandria Balderas, Shalyn Gutierrez, Syrena Clark, Megan Mayse), the women’s team would also sweep the relays winning the 4×1 4×2 and 4×4. Coach Leal has helped turn the women’s team around with her first year coaching at PHS “A (coach) should be supportive and understanding, students have a lot going on in their lives, and especially in high school we need to be able to motivate students, not all of us have it on the inside so we have to provide it a bit.”

The Eagles would travel to St. Mary’s Hall to compete against twenty two teams in a relay only meet. The men’s team would start off strong winning the 4×1, and finishing second in the 4×4, they would place in several other events, but wouldn’t medal. The women’s team would have five medalists, three through field and two through relays. (Kiley Wiechring, Ciarah Garcia, Layla Rodriguez, 4×2 team, and 4×4 team) 

By: Libby Sanchez

The Pleasanton Eagles Boys Basketball team has been hard at work this month, pushing their limits into the playoffs. On February 3rd, the boys traveled to Floresville to play the Tigers in one of their last few district games. For the second time this season, they beat the Tigers by a final score of 57-41. A few days later on February 7th, they hosted Uvalde on their home court and won once again with a score of 84-53. For the last and final district game of the 2022-2023 season, Carrizo Springs traveled to us and had a disappointing bus ride back home when they lost 91-51. Varsity ended district with a 11-1 record, placing them second in our district. The Eagles were well on their way to the playoffs, and the team that consists of mostly seniors was determined to make their last one, the best one. “We’ve been here all four years of my highschool career but the excitement never goes away. Being there with guys I’ve known since I was really little made me stop and take it all in, more than I’ve done in the past,” said Layne Dowdy, senior.

For the first round of playoffs, the Eagles traveled to Kennedy High School Gym to play against the Ingleside Mustangs on February 21st. At the end of the first quarter of the Bi-District matchup, the Eagles were short to Ingleside 15-13. Max Sauceda didn’t let this slide for long, and tied the game in the second quarter, making the score 26-26 with only a few minutes left before half time. Trey Martinez then got hold of the ball and sank a 3 pointer at the buzzer to officially give the Eagles the lead in the game, sending the score 31-30 into half time. Picking up their game up into the third and fourth quarter, the Eagles ended the game as Bi-District Champions with a final score of 68-60 over Ingleside.  An intense and well fought game, sending the boys well into the second round of playoffs. Jake Casias, a four year varsity player, surpassed 1,000 career points in this game, an accomplishment not taken lightly in this sport. 

Round two of the playoffs took place on our home court, and the gym was loaded with lots of green and Eagle Pride! The boys were set to play the Calallen Wildcats on February 24th and they were just as amped up, if not more, than their previous game. Luke Thornton got a hold of the ball early on and started the Eagle’s game off on a good note with his point. Throughout the first quarter, Luke had collected 6 rebounds, while RJ Marquez led the Eagles with nine points of his own. Going into the second quarter the Eagles and Wildcats were neck and neck with a score of 15-14, the Eagles barely leading. Second quarter went by in a breeze for our boys as RJ Marquez sank one 3 pointer after another, leaving the score 33-21 in the Eagle’s favor. Third and fourth quarters flew by as the Eagles continued to dominate, sending them onto round three with a final score of 55-42 and earning their title as Area Champions. Luke Thornton was recognized for his amazing game where he finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds. 

Just like that, the Eagles were round three bound and they had every campus supporting their send off from Pleasanton to Cuero where they would play the Sinton Pirates on February 28th. Early in the game, the Eagles jumped at the chance to take the lead in the first quarter, and secured it 20-10. Come the second quarter, the Pirates had also stepped up their game, but the eagles were determined to keep their lead up by a few points. The score between the Eagles and Pirates was 34-25 going into halftime. Both teams fought hard well into the third and fourth quarter, but once again our boys came out on top with a score of 62-52, this time as Regional Quarterfinal Champions! This win was sending them straight to the Regional Tournament!

The Regional Tournament took place at Steinke Center at Texas A&M Kingsville on March 3rd. The Eagles record was now 31-6, and they were up against another tough team, the Stafford Spartans, whose record was 30-7. Round four for both teams, and the thrill could be felt in the gym. Both sides were packed with team spirit and encouragement. The first quarter they kept it close, and the Eagles knew this was gonna be their toughest match yet, so they gave it their all. The quarter ended 5-6 in Stafford’s favor. The Eagles began to trail the Spartants at the end of second and third quarter with a score of 19-34. Unfortunately, after fighting hard all season and investing four years into this program, the basketball season for the 2022-2023 Pleasanton Eagle’s came to an end after losing to Stafford with a final score of 25-50. Though a majority of the team is graduating this year, the future of this program looks beyond bright. Senior, Layne Dowdy, leaves the future players of the Pleasanton Eagle’s Basketball Team with these words of advice, “Take it all in. There’s going to be good and bad moments but they’re all learning experiences. It’s bittersweet to be leaving the program, but I’m so thankful for every memory. Cherish it.” The PHS Journalism staff looks forward to writing about next year’s season, and we thank this year’s team for giving us the opportunity to write about such a great run!

By: Jauslyn Ramirez

BPA or Business Professionals of America is an organization of students striving to become an innovator in career and technical education, providing their members opportunities for growth through education, competition, community service, and personal development. 

Mrs. Olivari is the sponsor of the school’s business program and strives to make students better and excel. 

BPA members competed at Medina Valley High School for their regional conference this past weekend; Individuals qualifying for state:

 

Jadyn Swan – Economic Research – 1st place

Elynore Hernandez  – Digital Media Production  – 1st place

Delanie De La Fuente – Prepared Speech – 1st place

Alexis Ramos – Presentation Individual- 1st place

Stefon Torres – Health Leadership Topics – 1st place

Michaela Anguiano – Administrative Support Project – 1st

Alexandria Balderas – Administrative Support Project – 2nd place

Lauren Miles – Fundamental Word Processing  – 2nd place

Bennack Conroy, Elynore Hernandez,  Gage Pawelek – Video Production

 

Team  – 1st place

Tanner McDougal, Maribel Cerrillo, Sophie Zeng – Global Marketing Team – 1st place

Adyson Pawelek, Geneve Turner, Isabella Trapp – Presentation Team – 1st place

Other competitors earning State Alternates placings are:

Alejandra Martinez – Banking and Finance – 9th place

Preston Pilgrim – Banking and Finance – 8th place

Alexandria Balderas, Preston Pilgrim – Podcasting Production Team – 3rd place

Emree Adamitz, Sadie Hartmann – Small Business Management Team – 4th place

 

In addition, Alexandria Balderas has been installed as the next Area 2 Region 2 President!

 

Starting March 2nd these candidates will travel to Dallas for state to compete their hearts out. Lets go eagles!

By: Kassidy Vickers

Back in January, Atascosa County held a livestock show in which many Pleasanton FFA members participated in. Everyone worked really hard to get to where they were with their SAE projects and their progress showed. With hard work and a little friendly competition, this year’s show was very successful and overall great.

First off is Agriculture Mechanics. In this event, people build or make their own project. Pleasanton overall where the sweepstakes winner and got 1st in ag mechanics. Some participants were Evelynn Caraway, Micheial Castio,Mathew Gudea, Mallory Fey, Tanner Hollis, Brady Stevens, Wyatt Tom, and Kassidy Vickers. Wyatt Tom on top of that also earned Grand Champion for showmanship. 

Moving on to the Livestock show which had many participants. In the swine classes, there was lots of success. In senior showmanship, Jayce Krauskopf got Grand Champion and Kinsley Barker received Reserved Champion for showmanship. Kinsley also earned Champion in the senior light cross class. In the steer classes, Jayce Krauskopf also won sr. cattle showmanship as well as Champion Brahman Steer. Grayson Chessher was also Reserve Champion for Sr. British Steer class. For Turkey Hen, Ally Sherley received Reserved Champion Turkey. 

 

Class 3 Other Cross: Kinsley Barker- 8th, Brooke Rankin- 4th and 3rd, 

Class 2 Hampshire: Kinsley Barker- 4th, Corgin King- 5th, Luke Smith- 10th

Class 1 Light Cross: Kinsley Barker- Champion, Jayce Krauskopf- 4th, 

Class 3 Duroc: Kinsley Barker- 7th, Jaxson Bryan- 2nd, Corgin King- 5th

Class 2 Duroc: Jaxon Bryan- 9th, Brayden Ratliff- 14th

Class 1 Duroc: Jayce Krauskopf- 3rd, Brennan Lopez- 13th

Class 1 Hampshire: Kaydin Olle- 2nd

Class 2 Light Cross: Corgin King- 3rd, Jayce Krauskopf- 1st

Class 1 Other Cross: Jayce Krauskopf- 3rd

Class 2 Yorkshire: Brennan Lopez- 1st

Class 1 Light OPB: Connor Lopez- 4th

Class 2 Dark OPB: Connor Lopez- 4th, McAda Rutherford- 5th

Class 1 Yorkshire: Bryndan Olle- 2nd

Class 3 Hampshire: Sadie Schimelpfening- 5th

 

Class 2 Market Goats: Caylee Durbin- 7th

 

Broilers: Lillian Krause- 11th

 

Turkey Hen: Ally Sherley- Reserve Champion

Turkey Tom: Ally Sherley- 4th

 

Class 2 Charolais: Jayce Krauskopf- 3rd

Class 2 Brahman: Jayce Krauskopf- Champion Brahman Steer

Class 1 Brahman: Brooke Rankin- 3rd

Class 4 ABC: Sadie Schimelpfening- 6th

Class 5 ABC: Sadie Schimelpfening- 2nd

Class 1 British: Grayson Chessher- Reserve Champion

By: Kassidy Vickers

For this month, the journalism staff has chosen Isabela Osorio. Isabela is a Freshman here at PHS and is already involved in so many activities. She is kind to everyone and is always there to lend a friendly hand. We had the opportunity to meet with Isabela and interview her for this month’s article and learn more interesting facts about her. 

Isabela is not only a great student but also an amazing athlete. As a freshman, she was a member of the women’s varsity cross country team as well as a member of the tennis team. She enjoys running and is always trying to better herself in all aspects. Her main goal for high school consists of being a good student and athlete and making sure she always puts in her best efforts. Being a freshman this year, one of the most shocking things since coming into high school for Isabela, was becoming good friends with many people that she never really got the chance to communicate with.   

The journalism staff is very appreciative to have this opportunity to get to know more about Isabela and we are looking forward to all of the amazing things she will accomplish as she continues her career at Pleasanton High School. Pride, Pride! 

By: Myame Lara

Our spring sports are finally underway, which means it was only fitting that we focused on a spring athlete for this month’s athlete spotlight. Pleasanton High School junior, Bryan Jones, was our candidate for the athlete spotlight due to his constantly improving track skills. I gratefully got the chance to interview Bryan during his busy track schedule to get to know more about his love for this sport. 

Bryan, who is also currently running for Alamo City Track Club, started running track for Pleasanton in the seventh grade, and the sport ultimately stuck to him. Going into his fifth year of running track in Pleasanton, he has definitely faced many challenges along the way. Some of these challenges include injuries, dealing with self-doubt, and even having confidence troubles along the way. Bryan has stayed motivated throughout his track career by being able to be 1% better every day. He lives up to these statements, and broke one PR for this season at the Pleasanton Brush Country Relay in the 200-meter dash, at 11.74c, coming in the first place. 

With Bryan’s mentality to stay one percent better every day, he hopes his hard work will pay off to continue his track career in college. Bryan is an all star athlete and definitely deserves all the recognition he gets. We can’t wait to see what he has in store for his track career next. Pride, Pride!  

National Cancer Prevention Month 

By: Letizia Perrino

National cancer prevention month was established in 1938 by president FDR. He proclaimed April as National Cancer Control Month. 

Now February is the month dedicated to the raising of awareness for cancer prevention and treatment throughout the United States.

This month is an opportunity to spread the word and take action in order to live better, healthier, and happier lives.

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the world, causing millions of deaths every year. 

Thanks to this month people had learn ways to prevent cancer like:

• Reduce or eliminate the use of tobacco, smoking is one of the main causes of mouth,lung, throat, pancreas, voice box and bladder cancer.  
• Eat healthy, it’s recommended to eat fruit and vegetables, limit the use of processed meat and alcohol. 
• Do physical activities and maintain a healthy weight.
• Protecting the skin from the sun, using suncream, staying in the shade or covering your skin will prevent skin cancer. 
• Get regular medical care, this could help cure a possible cancer as soon as possible.  

 

Be aware of these tips that will prevent cancer, will reduce both the incidence of cancer and the mortality.

Researchers have in fact showed that at least 40% of all cancer diagnosed can be attributed to preventable causes, like smoking, excess body weight, physical inactivity, and excessive exposure to the sun.  

Therefore National Cancer Prevention Month is important because it teaches people simple ways that will keep them away from cancer and it also highlights the fact that cancer is one of the main causes of death nowadays.

By: Brian Avery

 

We had two questions for you guys this month! The first one was about your Valentine’s Day activities, the one that seemed to be most popular was taking care of themselves. After that, we asked about your spring break plans, and it was quite an even split, with vacationing barely squeezed out on top. Now, for your questions!

What is the best thing to do when starting your summer?

What are some good ways to keep us motivated until summer? 🙂

How do you cope with a long distance relationship????

How do I become less controlling over things in my life?

What is the best thing to do to reduce stress

If friends are acting more distant than they used to, should i just let them go instead of trying so hard to keep them?

How would you know if you’re doing the wrong thing?

How to manage time at home and work

How can you have friends for so long that did nothing but be there for you and almost completely ignore them or turn them away for a whole “man”. Why does this happen? Is it worth it?

Why is working after school so stressful.

Email your answers to ajackson@pisd.us!

 

By: Kendall Zuniga

A doctor’s job is to help people in times of need and vulnerability, but that wasn’t the case with Harold Shipman also known as “Dr. Death ”. Between the years 1975 and 1998 Shipman is alleged to have killed over 250 people but was only convicted of 15 murders. 

Harold Shipman was born in Nottingham, England in 1946 and was known to be a promising young student and excelled in sports, rugby in particular. This all changed when at the age of 17 Shipman’s mother, Vera, was diagnosed with lung cancer. As Vera lay in her hospital bed, Shipman would closely observe how the doctor soothed his mothers pain by the use of administering morphine to her. It was later speculated that this would be the moment that inspires the sick and twisted mind of “Dr. Death ” to start his spree of killing. 

Shipman went on to study medicine at the Leeds University Medical School and graduated in the year 1970 as a junior doctor but quickly became a general practitioner at a medical center in West Yorkshire, England. Six years later he was found guilty of forging prescriptions for Demerol, an opioid used to treat severe pain, he was fined, fired from his job and was required to attend a rehabilitation clinic in York, England.

March of 1975 would be the year Harold Shipman took the life of his patient, 70-year old Eva Lyons the day before her 71st birthday, injecting a lethal dosage of Diamorphine into her bloodstream and killing her. Though Shipman was fired from his previous job that same year, he was not removed from the General Medical Council but yet instead received a warning letter. It is rumored that Shipman had killed 71 patients at his former practice and the remainder while operating his one man practice. Of his victims, 171 were female and only 44 were male.

In 1998, Harold Shipman’s killing spree would come to an end, at least that’s what you’re thinking now. When undertakers in his community became suspicious of the number of his patients who were dying, finding that his death rates were about 10x higher than the death rates of their own patients, a police investigation was ordered to be carried out but failed due to the the most basic of checks. Police hadn’t looked at shipman’s criminal records, resulting in “Dr. Death” to continue his spree of murders until later that year in 1998.

In August of 1998, Shipman’s crimes had been discovered after he made the mistake of trying to forge the will of one of his victims. His last victim happened to be Kathleen Grundy, Former mayor of Shipman’s town, Hyde. Grundy’s body was exhumed from its grave and was found with diamorphine in her muscle tissues. Shipman was arrested on September 7 of that same year.

Police verified 14 other cases where shipman had given lethal doses of diamorphine, falsely registered the patients deaths, and tampered with their medical history. Police could only charge him with 15 murders but it has been estimated that his kill count is anywhere between 250 and 450 victims.

In the year 2000, Harold Shipman was given life imprisonment with the recommendation of never being released. Harold was incarcerated in a Manchester prison before being moved to Wakefield prison where he eventually took his own life. The day before his 58th birthday, Shipman was found hanging in his cell. To this day no one really knows the true reason as to why he committed these murders, some speculate that it was a way to avenge his mother.