Mac wins big against school rivals

This past week was double trouble for McCallum sports rivalries, with the volleyball team facing Ann Richards for the district title on Tuesday and the football team seeking to defeat Travis and extend its 12-year winning streak for the Battle of the Bell on Thursday. By the week’s end, both teams emerged victorious in closely contested games.

Not only did the volleyball team suffer a 3-1 loss to the Ann Richards Stars earlier this season on Sept. 22, but last year’s team was the district champion, raising the stakes for Tuesday’s game. After dropping the first, the pressure grew heavier, but the Knights regrouped in that desperate moment to seize the momentum and sweep the Stars out of their own gym. It was a mirror result of their earlier meeting in which the home team won the first set and the visitors won the rest.

The football team struggled to put Travis away, trailing 14-10 late in the first half until Marc Sanchez forced a late second quarter fumble inside the Rebel 10-yard line, which led to a Luke Dunham touchdown that gave the Knights a lead they would not surrender the rest of the way. But Travis kept it close, pulling to within four points heading into the fourth quarter before the Knight pulled away to win 35-24.

We are proud to present this week’s Tuesday Top 10, the ins-and-outs of last week’s two big rivalry wins.

STELLA X2: Senior Stella Shepard and sophomore Stella Little pose for a photo before the Battle of the Bell game.

To prepare for the game, the cheerleaders had to increase their practice times.

“We had our usual class practices, which are an hour-and-a-half, and then we did extra practices that week for like another hour each day,” Little said.

Little said the practice has paid off because she has been able to improve her cheerleading skills and gain more experience.

“I have been doing cheer for three years and overall I have gotten better at everything like stunting, cheering and dancing,” Little said.

She says having a strong bond with her teammates is the key to success.

“I think we’re a really good team,” Little said. “We have a close bond. We did a sleepaway camp over the summer for three days that really helped bond us, and I think that our bond really helps us cheer.”

Caption by Shila Gill. Photo by Dave Winter.

Junior Luke Dunham sprints down the field, ball in hand. Dunham’s huge rushing day won the Battle of the Bell for the Knights as he scored all five Knights touchdowns on quarterback runs, which more than made up for three turnovers on interceptions. Despite this, Dunham felt that personally, the game wasn’t his best performance.

“I threw three interceptions and offense only scoring 35,” Dunham said.

Still, Dunham enjoys the tradition of the Battle of the Bell game.

“It’s always a physical game,” Dunham said. “And there’s a lot pride in keeping the bell.”

Photo by Julia Copas.

FINISHING OUT THE SEASON: Freshman Lila Chilton serves the ball as the freshman volleyball team plays Ann Richards on Tuesday. The team lost in straight sets, 25-9 and 25-15. Even though the Knights were able to continue rallying against the Stars and keep the ball in play, they ultimately fell due to their inability to block spikes.

After beating Ann Richards the first time, Chilton noticed how she and her team didn’t go into the game overconfident because the Stars are a good team. She said it was their communication and group effort that let them down.

“I think overall it went fine,” Chilton said. “I feel like we could have definitely played better. We weren’t talking, and it wasn’t everyone’s day necessarily. For example, two people called for a ball and they would both go for it instead of calling it off. Overall, there was just a lot of miscommunication.”

The Knights were able to score some points on their serves and hits.

“Our serves were really good,” Chilton said. “Natalie [Cross] was doing really well at setting, so our hits were good.”

This game marked the end of the regular season for the freshman volleyball team. The team, however, will continue to play together in the spring for their spring league. Chilton believes the team made remarkable progress from the beginning of the season to the end.

“I think we did pretty well,” Chilton said. “We definitely did improve from the first game to the game before this one. We were really good [against Crockett], and our whole season kind of built up to us finally having a really really good game. We had struggled before with either starting off strong and ending badly, but we stayed strong throughout the [Ann Richards] game.

Chilton feels the friendships that the team has created throughout the season have been beneficial to their playing.

“I feel like we all got really close, and there wasn’t a lot of drama on the team, which kind of helped—especially on the court,” Chilton said. “Not being against each other off the court helps us be together on the court.”

While the freshman team has a break until the spring, the varsity volleyball team traveled to Cedar Creek last night to play in their bi-district playoff game, winning three sets to one. They play Brenham on Thursday at Cedar Creek. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.

Caption by Maya Tackett. Photo by Lanie Sepehri.

SANCHEZ SPRINTS: Junior wide receiver Mark Sanchez makes a run with the ball in Thursday’s Battle of the Bell against local rival Travis Rebels. During the second offensive drive of the game, junior quarterback Luke Dunham threw a screen pass to Sanchez, who ran in the play for a 40-yard touchdown. The score was then overturned for a holding penalty against the Knights, but Sanchez said their momentum only built from there.

“We started off slow both offensively and defensively,” Sanchez said. “But in the second half we made adjustments on offense and had big stops on defense that helped us pull out the win.”

Sanchez also remarked on the Knights’ ability to keep their winning rivalry streak alive.

“It felt good to be able to get a win for the seniors and keep the bell back at McCallum for everyone.”

Caption by Camilla Vandegrift. Photo by Julia Copas.

THE SENIORS ARE SET:

For senior Rylee Hissey, her final district season ended in a familiar place. Just as they did last year, the girls volleyball team won district champs, propelling them into playoffs. As it was the three-yea- letterman and senior captain’s final district game, emotions were running high. The team knew they had to beat Ann Richards for a chance to see their name on the district champion plaque, to whom they had previously lost.

“I knew that we had the skill and strength to make it this far, I was just a little worried about our mentality,” Hissey said. “I know if we get in our heads then we won’t play our best.”

In order to remedy this, Hissey kept up a positive attitude, both making sure her teammates knew they were in this together and making sure her last season was a good one. She knew if spirits were high, they had a better chance, and even if the scoreboard hadn’t pointed in the Knights direction, at the end of the night, the team would be happier with how they ended the season.

“I would rather go out having fun playing the sport I love with the team I love than to dwell over a simple mistake someone made,” Hissey said.

She didn’t have to go out having fun though, instead, the team won in a heated 3-1 battle. Instead of finally becoming an onlooker, Hissey now gets to continue her senior season, one that she knew was going to be a special one. After four years of playing and three years on varsity, her teammates have become family, and she’s glad to continue playing with them.

“I was able to appreciate and really see the advancement of skill and personality of myself and my teammates play out over the years on the court as we play the harder teams,” Hissey said.

Every win in the playoffs is another chance to play the sport she loves, which for Hissey, is enough.

“I want to go out playing the best we can so I know none of us leave any regrets as we move on from the end of the season,” Hissey said.

Caption by Helen Martin. Photo by Lanie Sepehri.

BATTLE OF THE BELLE: Sophomore Liliana Escamilla plays the alto saxophone during the halftime show while dressed up in her Blue Brigade costume: Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

“I was very nervous going into the run of the show because I knew I’d stick out so much because of my bright yellow costume,” Escamilla said. “But once we started playing I felt better and confident in my ability to finish the show strong.”

Not only was last game the Halloween game, but it was also the Battle of the Bell, which is the annual game played against what Escamilla claims to be one of McCallum’s biggest rivals: Travis High School.

“This game is such an iconic rivalry,” Escamilla said. “And it has always been an exciting game because the school spirit is always very high.”

As both a band and Blue Brigade member, Escamilla got to witness the whole game from the stands.

“It felt intense because we knew the pressure that was on our team since we had a winning streak,” Escamilla said. “But our team didn’t let us down.”

With winning the game came the prize of the Victory Bell, a trophy that has become a cherished tradition.

“When we won it [the bell] everyone was very happy because we’d been looking forward to it for a while,” Escamilla said.

Caption by JoJo Barnard. Photo by Julia Copas.

JV FACES TOUGH LOSS: Last Tuesday, the JV volleyball team took on the Ann Richards Stars, for a game full of surprises. Winning the first set 25-23, the Knights were off to a competitive start, but were unable to win the second and third set, losing respectively 25-11, and 15-13.

Sophomore Kafia Jackson-Woods said that going into the game they were a bit nervous, as they were missing a few people.

“After winning the first set we were way more confident than before,” Jackson Woods said.

Not too long after the Knights won the first set, they struggled in the second set. It was the second time the Knights lost to the Stars in a close 2-1 match, yet Jackson-Woods said they still played much better the second time around.

“Even though we didn’t have as many people, we had a better mindset than when we played them the first time,” Jackson-Woods said. “Our only goals for this game were to talk, get our service over, get good hits and win.”

Caption by Priya Thoppil. Photo by Julia Copas.

THREE CHEERS: Senior cheer captain Hannah Van Houten sings the school song with junior Avi Zeifman, sophomore Larkin Long and junior mascot Ben Polega before the football team took on the Travis Rebels for the 70th annual Battle of the Bell.

“Battle of the Bell is a much bigger deal than most other football games just because of the tradition behind it,” Van Houten said. “This game has been played for so many years, and each year the winning team gets to take home the bell for the next year. We’ve won the bell for the last many years so it’s important to everybody to keep it with McCallum.”

For Van Houten, the game was not only a reminder of school tradition but a marker of her time on the cheer team.

“It’s a mix of emotions,” Van Houten said. “On one hand, I’m sad my last football season is coming to an end, but on the other hand it makes me want to have as much fun as I can during these last few football games.”

Reporting by Alice Scott. Photo by Dave Winter.

KEEPING THE STREAK ALIVE: Senior Edward Bomba rings the bell after the Knights’ victory over Travis on Thursday while quarterbacks junior Luke Dunham and senior Jack McGinnis wait their turns. Bomba, a defensive end, suffered an injury earlier in the season but still supported his team from the sidelines.

Even though the Knights have won the last 13 Battle of the Bell games, the Knights still see the Travis game as a rivalry game, and they wanted to keep their streak alive.

“Their coach was saying he thought they were going to win, and we couldn’t let that Battle of the Bell 12-year win streak end,” Bomba said. “Their coach told us he wanted to keep [the rivalry game] going even if they went down to 4A. They obviously want another shot at us.”

Going into the game, the team had the mentality of this being a rivalry game and that they needed to be prepared to go out and play their hardest. The Travis coach’s statement fueled their desire to win.

“We wanted to do what we do best, which is playing more physical than our opponent and starting and finishing the game strong,” Bomba said.

Caption by Callen Romell. Photo by Julia Copas.

A WIN FOR THE BOOKS: By coming from one set down to defeat the Ann Richards Stars 3-1 on the road Tuesday night, the varsity volleyball team finished the 2023 District 24-5A season as repeat sole district champions.

For sophomore Lexi Rosenblatt, the win was a shining moment for the team, one that she will always remember.

“I was just immensely proud of everyone,” Rosenblatt said. “It was such a hard-earned win.”

Receiving the district trophy and knowing it was coming home with the team made the win surreal.

“It’s a great feeling to be handed that trophy two years in a row knowing that we worked so hard,” Rosenblatt said.

While the Knights ultimately came away with the win, losing the first set provided the team with an opportunity to regroup and improve its strategy.

“We overcame a lot of personal errors,” Rosenblatt said. “Slowly throughout the game, we started giving them fewer points and being more intentional with our playing.”

While the regular season has come to an end for the Knights, Rosenblatt looks forward to the playoffs and beyond.

“I look forward to continuing to improve the program and having fun and being competitive,” Rosenblatt said. “Our strategy helps us be efficient and intentional with our wins, whether we play competitive teams or less competitive teams.”

The Knight extended their season this evening with another 3-1 road win after a first set loss, this time at Cedar Creek High School. The face Brenham in the area playoffs site and date to be determined.

Caption by Chloe Lewcock. Photo by Julia Copas.

BELLS AND WHISTLES: Seniors Courtney Swinney and Stella Shepard and junior Jorge Adalpe (#31) smile after ringing the Victory Bell at the annual Battle of the Bell game. Swinney, a member of the Blue Brigade, is no stranger to the gridiron after dancing at each football game for the last four years. But this game was different, and not just because Battle of the Bell is a game steeped in tradition. Because this game was the last game before Halloween, members of both Blue Brigade and cheer dressed up and performed in costumes to celebrate. Swinney’s squad dressed up as football players, a plan that had been in the works for months.

“From the time we get our squads at orientation, [what costume we’re wearing is] really the first question we asked each other,” Swinney said. “We plan it months in advance. I’ve been a football player for two years in a row. But usually the other squads really have a deep-rooted joke or something that inspires their costume.”

According to Swinney, dressing up in costumes changed the typical atmosphere of the game.

“For starters, I didn’t have a headache, because our hat usually give us headaches,” she said. “But it felt much more like a relaxed game than it usually does. I feel like usually it’s more of a job, but this time it was just kind of like, hang out, perform and have a good time.”

Swinney said the moments off the sidelines made her last Battle of the Bell one-of-a-kind.

“Before the game, some of the members helped Mr. Winter put the bell on the bus,” Swinney said. “Apparently, it was really heavy. But at the end, [a football player] just picked up the bell and moved it by himself. It was really funny.”

Caption by Lanie Sepehri. Photo by Julia Copas.