Bay City Tribune

It was an up-and-down season for Van Vleck, Tidehaven and Palacios' football teams who finished their schedules last Friday night here in Matagorda County

The Tigers beat the Leopards 43-7 to finish at 4-6 on the season and tied for third place in the District 29-2A standings with Boling at 2-3. The Leopards finished at 2-8 and 14.

Palacios beat Gonzales 49-18 to finish at 4-6, going 4-1 at Shark Stadium. The Sharks went 2-3 in District 28-3A play.

Palacios entered the season with only a handful of starters returning from last year.

"The expectations of this team were relatively low," said Palacios coach Mike Treybig. "But one thing that I tell the kids is that you never remain the same. You either get better or you get worse and we got better."

Palacios only lost to Brazos 21-20 when the Sharks gambled on a two-point conversion to end the game.

"We matched the number of district victories when we went 2-3 in 2007 and went to the playoffs," said Treybig. "In the five years that I've been here this will go down as the second best and I'm really proud of the kids for that."

"All of the coaches from the other teams said that our kids played with a lot of heart and desire."

"We were always out-manned by the numbers we had on our football team. We were never the biggest, fastest or strongest on the field."

"I was really proud of the kids for being able to do that. We went out with a 'W' and felt our seniors did a good job of being leaders. They will be truly missed. Six of those 12 seniors were not in our program last year."

Treybig has several priorities for the off season.

"We need to get in the weight room and work to get stronger and faster," said Treybig. "I'm gong to open up the program to anyone that wants to come out and play that hasn't been."

"We have 105 kids in our athletic program and approximately 50 kids play football."

Tidehaven first-year coach Jim Sides was proud of his team's efforts.

"It was a big win to end the season," said Sides after last Friday night's game. "Now we have something to build on for next year."

Van Vleck second-year coach Mike O'Guinn was disappointed with the season despite being in playoff contention.

"The win against Boling was big and gave us a chance," said O'Guinn. "We had a chance to win but just didn't get it done."