Plowboys Defeat Haskell 44-14 in Opener

The Plowboy defense buries the Haskell ball carrier. (Photo by Tamara Alexander)

The Plowboys won their first game of the season Friday evening, defeating Haskell in Haskell 44-14. Roscoe jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in outplaying an inexperienced team with a new coach and several new starters.

The scoring began in the first quarter when Jayden Gonzales hit Jose Ortega with a touchdown pass of 21 yards, followed by a two-point conversion to put the Plowboys up 8-0. Later in the quarter Gonzales hit Ortega with another scoring pass, this time from 10 yards out. The conversion attempt was good again, and at the end of the quarter, the Plowboys were up 16-0.

They extended their lead in the second quarter with two more touchdowns. The first was a pass from Gonzales to Junior Martinez in a play that covered 31 yards. An extra-point kick followed and the Plowboys extended their lead to 23-0. The second was another Gonzales pass to Ortega, this one for 8 yards. The extra-point kick was once again good, and the Plowboys led at halftime 30-0. On defense, the Plowboys dominated Haskell throughout the first half and held the Indians scoreless.

Haskell didn’t get on the scoreboard until the third quarter when the Indians capped a drive with a one-yard run for a touchdown followed by a successful extra-point kick to get on the scoreboard but still trailing 30-7. However, they narrowed the score to 30-14 shortly thereafter when one of their players intercepted a pass and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown. That was as close as they ever got, though, as Francisco Garcia scored on a 29-yard run later in the quarter to put the Plowboys in front 37-14.

In the final quarter, Junior Martinez made his second TD of the game on a pass play from Gonzales that covered 41 yards, closing out the scoring for the evening with the Plowboys winning 44-14.

The Plowboy defense played strong throughout the game, limiting the Indians to 56 yards rushing and 71 yards passing for a total of only 127 offensive yards and one TD. Jose Ortega led the defense with 9 tackles and one interception. Paul Pantoja had 5 tackles, and Joel Guia and Junior Martinez both had four tackles. Martinez also had an interception.

On offense, Gonzales completed 14 of 25 passes for 139 yards and 5 TDs, while Garcia rushed for 210 yards and one TD on 27 carries. Ortega had 6 receptions for 45 yards and 3 TDs, and Martinez had 5 catches for 90 yards and 2 TDs.

The Plowboys face a much tougher opponent this Friday when they go up against Early in a second straight away game. Roscoe beat the Longhorns 40-21 at homecoming last year, but this year could be a different story. Early, a suburb community of Brownwood, is steadily growing and now has a population of over 3000 and a 3A division I high school with 375 students, i.e., over 2½ times the students of RCHS. They are in the same district as Comanche, Clyde, and Merkel.

They defeated Bangs 35-7 in their season opener last week, but it is difficult to know how good they are. Bangs, a 3A-II school, is a perennial loser at football, winning only two games in the past two years, and Early has a similar history, also winning only twice in the past two years. However, their Junior Varsity was 7-3 last year, and their QB Ryan Trumpler led the team in touchdowns, rushing, and passing. He is now the varsity’s starting quarterback, and many of his teammates are also off that winning JV team. In any case, their lopsided win over Bangs last week indicates they are a better team than they were last year. Whether they’re good enough to beat the Plowboys this time around is something we’ll find out Friday.

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ROSCOE’S RURAL MAIL CARRIER DAVID DUNCAN RETIRES AFTER 37 YEARS

David Duncan at his retirement party in the Post Office Friday.

After 37 years with the U. S. Postal Service, Roscoe’s rural mail carrier, David Duncan, is moving on to a new phase of life after retiring on Friday. He says he’ll be spending more time in his shop in town working on his pet projects there but will be doing essentially the same things he’s doing now—just more of them.

He began supplementing his farm income in 1980 by working as a substitute at the Post Office, a position he held until 1990, when Roscoe’s rural mail carrier Bob Emerson died. He then took over full time and his been delivering the mail ever since.

He says he’s delivered mail to five generations of the J. B. Cotton and Martin family, and to four generations of others. He probably knows more people in and around Roscoe—and where they live—than anyone else and will be missed on his daily runs by most if not all the country folks he’s served over the years.

Here’s wishing you a happy retirement, David!

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This is the new commercial for Young Farm Estates. All three houses on the site are now taken with two occupied and the other to be moved into soon. Plans are underway for the construction of more homes in the development.

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WEATHER REPORT: COOLER WEATHER

North winds had the flags at school flapping yesterday.

It’s been a relatively uneventful week for the weather on the local level with mostly sunny days and clear nights, even though on the national level the big news remains hurricanes. Folks in southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana are just now beginning to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and all its flooding while in Florida they’re battening down the hatches in anticipation of Hurricane Irma, which at the moment is barreling toward Florida as a Category 5 storm with 185mph winds.

We did get a little precipitation on Saturday. My rain gauge says we got .28” but weatherman Kenny Landfried recorded only .10” from the same shower. Temperatures remained a bit cooler than usual for this time of year. The high for the week was 93°F on Saturday and Monday’s high was 90° but the other days all saw highs in the mid to upper eighties with lows in the sixties.

Yesterday afternoon a cold front blew in with some blustery winds that cooled things off considerably. The high was 83°, but that was before the temperature started dropping. By seven o’clock it was down into the seventies and served as a reminder that fall is on the way. This morning it was down to 59°.

The outlook is for continued temperatures that are slightly below normal. The forecast high for today is 83° although tomorrow should be a bit warmer at 87°. The days following will all see highs in the mid to upper eighties with lows in the low sixties.

And, once again, there is no rain in the forecast.

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† DIANA LYNN CANTRELL CONNOR

Diana Lynn Cantrell Connor, the most gung-ho Aggie who never attended A&M, the most indulgent mother who never had her own child, and the toughest fighter who never threw a punch, died on Friday, September 1, 2017, in Bryan, surrounded by family and friends. She was 61.

Diana was born in Sweetwater on August 24, 1956. When she was two, her family moved to Cooper, Texas, where they lived until moving to Roswell, NM in 1967. In 1971 the family moved back to West Texas, and Diana graduated from Cooper High School in Abilene in 1974. She attended TCU, graduating in 1978 with a degree in home economics, after which she went to work for the Texas Agricultural Extension Service as a home demonstration agent for Johnson County in Cleburne. In 1980 she moved home to Abilene to work as an electric living consultant with West Texas Utilities.

A lifelong Baptist, she met her future husband Mike Connor in Sunday school at the First Baptist Church. They were married in 1986. In 1989 Diana and Mike moved to Dallas, where she worked as an administrator for the Junior League. After moves to Tulsa in 1994 and Longview in 2000, the Connors settled in Bryan in 2003. Diana worked as a membership investment representative for the B-CS Chamber of Commerce from 2005 until 2011. Her outgoing personality made her tremendously successful, just as it won her legions of friends at every stop along her journey in life.

That journey was never easy. At age thirteen Diana was diagnosed with Type I diabetes, a disease which over the decades led to two organ transplants, open-heart surgery, the loss of a leg, and countless hospital stays. Her steadfast perseverance in the face of adversity and her refusal to complain about the lousy hand fate had dealt her would be remarkable enough. But even more extraordinary is the fact that she never let her physical hardships define her. Faced with challenges that would defeat a lesser person, she viewed each new health crisis as a bothersome nuisance to get past so that she could resume the urgent business of living.

For Diana, living meant helping others. Unable to have children of her own, she became a substitute mom and mentor to dozens of young people. She and Mike became the foremost boosters of the A&M Singing Cadets, a group to which her husband and brother had both belonged. For her many services, including the creation of an endowment to buy class rings for needy members, she was named an Honorary Singing Cadet, the organization’s highest honor. She likewise became a fanatical supporter and beloved friend of the A&M women’s basketball team, never missing a home game and traveling with the team to many tournaments and championship games. The number of home-cooked meals she served to Singing Cadets and basketball players would be impossible to count. Diana also became mom-away-from-home for many children of friends and relatives who attended A&M. That support for Aggies included Diana and Mike quietly paying a cousin’s entire way through A&M and launching him on a successful career.

As Diana’s health grew more precarious in her final two years, she summoned even greater determination to live with purpose and enthusiasm. A trip to Tennessee to root for the Aggie football team landed her in a Nashville hospital, which mostly irritated her because she had to miss the game. Typically, she insisted that Mike still attend. Her many trips chaperoning the Singing Cadets included a trip to Boston and New York just before her final illness. There was exactly zero chance that she going to miss the Cadets’ performance in downtown Manhattan or their visit with President George H. W. Bush in Kennebunkport.

After having her leg amputated, she was thrilled to be fitted with a prosthesis that briefly gave her new mobility. Only two weeks before her death, despite her family’s concerns, she made the trip to Dallas-Fort Worth for a reunion with old Tulsa friends. While in Fort Worth she insisted that her nephew Calvin show her his new fourth-floor dorm room at TCU, even though she was confined to a wheelchair. The next day she attended her final sporting event, cheering the Texas Rangers on to victory over the Astros. Clearly, nobody could tell Diana Connor what to do, although she never hesitated to set the rest of us straight when she thought her way was the right way. Her kid brother thought she was bossy, but in fact she just didn’t have time for foolishness.

Diana’s zest for life and her service to others were exceeded only by her devotion to her husband and best friend Mike. Few couples have ever shared so many of the same passions, and their marriage set an example for others to follow. Diana did not wear her Christian faith on her sleeve, but it enabled her to face the end with the same courage and resilience that characterized her entire life. Hers was truly a life well-lived, and she will be sorely missed by all who knew her.

Diana was preceded in death by her father-in-law Harold Connor of Daingerfield and is survived by her husband Michael Connor; her parents Jimmie and Mary Lynn Cantrell of Abilene and formerly of Roscoe; her mother-in-law Laverne Connor of Bryan; and her brother Gregg Cantrell, sister-in-law Stephanie Cole, and nephews Calvin and Nolan Cantrell of Fort Worth.

A memorial service will be held at the First Baptist Church of Bryan on Thursday, Sept. 7, at 2 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Bryan. Visitation to immediately follow.

The family requests donations be made in her honor to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (jdrf.org).

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Note: The memorial service for Diana Cantrell Connor will be livestreamed Thursday from First Baptist Church Bryan.  The Singing Cadets of Texas A&M will sing, and the women’s basketball coach will speak—among others.

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