Sports6 Ellis County Chronicle Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The Red Oak varsitytennis team stepped out ofdistrict play for a chance toface off with cross-countyrival Waxahachie. Whilethe Hawks hadn’t lost asingle district match, theIndians edged out a 10-9win over the course of thematches. The followingwere winning match resultsposted by the squad againstWaxahachie:

Girls doubles:Lina Chehab and MeredithMilligan 8-6

Boys doubles:Will Temple and GarrettLambert 8-6

Girls singles:Latoya Jones 6-2, 6-4Erin Beattie 6-1, 6-1Meredith Milligan 6-4, 5-7,10-5Emily Wesson 6-4, 4-6,10-6

Boys singles:Brian Page 6-2, 6-0Jonathan Martinez 6-4, 6-1Will Temple 0-6, 6-3, 10-3

Tennis drops close matchto county-rival Waxahachie

Courtesy Photo

Red Oak’s Meredith Milligan picked up a win inboth doubles and singles play during theteam’s narrow defeat by Waxahachie.

There are two sides toMandel Dixon on the footballfield — the side that tries toscore touchdowns and theside that tries to prevent otherpeople from scoring touch-downs.

And that’s just how RedOak likes it.

Dixon, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound junior, is listed as atight end on the Hawks’ rosterbut his position is a lot morecomplicated than that.

“We call it H. It’s a mixturebetween tight end, fullback,sometimes wide receiver,wide out, stuff like that.Sometimes like a linemantoo,” Dixon said of his multi-faceted abilities. “It’s (thecoaches’) design but I thinkit’s good for me to play bothsides.”

What Dixon provides to theRed Oak offense is a powerplayer capable of bulldozinghis way for tough yardage.The Hawks have some of thebest speed in District 15-4Awith players like KentrellHolmes, Ishmael Harrisonand Jeremi Lewis all playingspeed positions.

But for Dixon, it’s all aboutbrute force.

During the Hawks’ 17-14win over West Mesquite twoweeks ago, he took a handofffrom quarterback TravisWallis and shook off threewould-be defenders en routeto scoring a go-ahead touch-down. He followed that up byscoring the game-tying touch-down against Mabank lastweek as the Hawks went on topick up a 14-7 win.

Dual-headed beastHawks’ Dixon enjoying productivity on both sides of the ball

Photo by Gary Puckett/Special to the Chronicle

Defensive end Mandel Dixon grabs hold of Lancaster quarterback ThedfordRhodes during a win earlier this season. Dixon, who splits time between theoffense and defense, has a team-high two sacks this year.

By ALEX RILEY

Chronicle sports writer

See DIXON, Page 7

Every time the Red Oakvolleyball players walk intothe home gym, they arereminded of the program’shistory. In the foyer, a glasscase holds the trophies,plaques and awards of tour-nament, district, regional andstate championships.

Walk through the doorsand onto the court, andinstantly they’re met with awall smattered in champi-onship banners from morethan two decade of success.

Each of the nine seniorsand five juniors has tastedsuccess. They’ve all been apart of the Hawks’ winningtradition.

On assumption, one couldsay it’s the winning thatdrives them. But according tothe team mantra, it’s the los-ing.

Over the past few matches,a majority of the Lady Hawkplayers have taken the courtwith an inscription on theirleft wrists. Done in maker orpen, the girls have “FSU”boldly written facing intoward themselves. Themeaning is simple yet heart-felt.

“It’s just a thing for ourteam that stands for ‘ForgetStupid Upsets.’ It’s just for usto get focused on the gameand it helps us to do that,”junior Gabby Pena said of the

letters. The idea is simple — for-

get about the past, you can’tchange it.

The Lady Hawks havenothing to be ashamed of.Over the last 19 years, RedOak has claimed 19 straightdistrict titles, three statechampionships and have

made it to at least regionalsemi-finals four years in arow.

Winning has bred morewinning. It’s the desire tocontinue that pushes them.But for these girls, it’s theend of last season’s statetournament run that drivesthem.

“We’re just starting towork hard for playoffs. Wedon’t want to let what hap-pened last year happen thisyear,” senior AndreaMcQuaid said.

Squaring off againstHighland Park in the regionalsemifinals last year, the Scotstook a 25-19 win in gameone. Red Oak responded bypushing Highland Park to thebrink with back-to-back 25-19 wins in games two andthree. The Scots forced adeciding fifth set with a 26-24 win in game four.

Highland Park ended RedOak’s run with a 15-9 win inthe final set.

That ending might havedriven some teams crazy. It’sdriven Red Oak to up itsgame. The letters are areminder to keep doing justthat.

“It’s pretty much for‘Forget Stupid Upsets’ andhow we need to stop worry-ing about bad things thathave happened on the court,”senior Nicole Adamcik said.

“Just any past that veteran,varsity players may have intheir head like HighlandPark, or Waxahachie or anyof those that were previousupsets that they don’t worry.This year is our year andwe’re going to go all theway,” Pena said. “It just helps

Leaving things in the past

Photo by Gary Puckett/Special to the Chronicle

Each of the 14 players on the Red Oak’s varsity roster is hoping to carry previous experience into the upcoming post season.

Photo by Alex Riley/The Chronicle

Red Oak junior Lindsay Prasifka shows the letters“FSU” that have become the team’s mantra thisyear. The letters stand for “Forget Stupid Upsets.”

Veteran team learning from recent history, attempting to add to rich program traditionBy ALEX RILEY

Chronicle sports writer

See PAST, Page 7

Another ‘banner’ seasonWith a 25-9, 25-9,25-13 win overMabank last week,the Red Oak volley-ball team ensureditself a fifth consec-utive season with32-plus wins. TheLady Hawks (32-4,

8-0 district) are in-line for a 20th dis-trict title with threematches to go.

Remaining scheduleOct. 16 vs. TerrellOct. 20 vs. LancasterOct. 27 at W. Mesquite

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