Every team, every program, every fran-chise has that one moment. Thatmoment in time that stands out. The

moment people talk about as either the rise orfall of an organization.

Mark it down: The week of Feb. 1-6 hasthat kind of potential for Midlothian HighSchool.

By Monday night, Midlothian will bemoved into the 5A classification and hired anew football coach. By Saturday morning, the

Panther basketballteam could be standing

alone atop the District 16-4A race and the soc-cer programs will be looking to make good onhigh preseason rankings. And there’s stillthree days of stuff in between.

After going over its enrollment numbers,Midlothian was moved into 5A competition at9 a.m. Monday. Nine and a half hours later,

Lee Wiginton was introduced as the new foot-ball coach of the Panthers at a board meeting.

It’s no accident those two events happenedon the same day. Since Robby Clark’s resig-nation in late November, athletic directorSteve Keasler has said he wanted to have anew coach in place before realignment.

Make no mistake, the hire might not beofficial until after the realignment, but Keaslerknew who the man for the job was.

Wiginton comes from a long line of successat his previous stops, although none as big aswhat he is about to encounter. The job ofmoving a 1-9 team into the upper level ofTexas high school football is a tough one. IsWiginton the right man? His credentials cer-

Sports irrorWednesday, February 3, 2010

ALEX

RILEY

MIRRORSPORTSWRITER

A week of historical signifcance for Midlothian athletics

See RILEY, Page 4C

The viewfrom thepress box

On Monday, LeeWiginton was hired as

Midlothian’s new football coach and theschool was moved into

5A for the next twoyears.

For details of the newcoaching hire, see 1A.

To see Midlothian’s newdistrict, see 1A (story) or

4C (list).

It’s been said that defense wins champi-onships. If that’s true, get ready to make room inthe Midlothian trophy case.

Making that big of a leap might be a bit tooearly in the season to try and do but if the thestart to the Midlothian boys soccer season is anyindication of how good its defense is, thePanthers might be on to something.

In just a few short weeks, the team hasalready established itself as one of the bestdefenses in the Metroplex. Still, they want more.

“I honestly think with the defensive playerswe have and the strategy coach gives we can bethe best defense in Texas,” senior goalie CraigAble said. “I think we’ve got players who justabsolutely work their butt off in practice, worktheir butt off in games and make absolutelyamazing plays.”

The stats back those kind of statements up. Through 11 games this season, the Panthers

have given up five goals with no team scoringon the defense more than once. All of the team’slosses or ties have been by 1-1, 1-0 or 0-0 mar-gins.

Those results have come against some upperechelon competition as Midlothian gave up onegoal each to 5A state-ranked Coppell and DallasJesuit.

Despite facing great opponents, the Panthershave shown why they started the season as theNo. 2 team in the 4A rankings. In fact, coachAustin Guest would expect nothing less.

“This is pretty much what we expected out ofthem. I’m not belittling what they’ve done, whatthey’ve done is tremendous but they’re tremen-dous kids and that’s what’s expected of them,”Guest said. “What we’ve got to learn to do nowis expect the same kind of results on both endsof the field.”

After notching three draws in the CementCapital Classic over the weekend, Midlothian

A defensivestate of mindBoys soccer team priding itselfon ability to limit other offense

By ALEX RILEY

Mirror sports writer

See BOYS, Page 4C

Photo by Alex Riley/The Mirror

Senior goalie Craig Able and theMidlothian defense have held all oppo-nents at one goal or less this season.

Photo by Chad Wilson/The Mirror

Students rush the court following Midlothian’s buzzer-beating win over Waxahachie last week. The noise and dis-tractions from the fans have thrown opposing teams off their game in recent weeks allowing for some key wins.

No one will ever know whatJamison Sterns saw or heard as helined up to take a free throw shot lastTuesday. You can bet the Blue Crewmade sure it was distracting.

Armed with pool floaties, flailingarms and loud voices, the Midlothianstudent section did everything itcould to throw the Waxahachiestandout off his shot with the gametied at 50 in the fourth quarter. Thereis no official way to measure theirimpact but Sterns’ miss set up abuzzer-beating shot by BlaineBlackburn for the Panthers.

Moments later, the Blue Crew waspart of a frenzied celebration at mid-court.

Trent Morgan called it surreal.Eddie Johnson labeled it the greatestgame he had ever been a part of.Blackburn titled the feeling as epic.The energy in the building rivaledthat of some colleges known for theirvocal student sections.

“That was crazy. Intense. The best(crowd) we’ve had all year,” seniorMason York said of the crowd.

Armed with a raucous crowd, theMidlothian gym has developed into aplace few opponents want to play.The noise can be deafening from thegroup gathered in the west end zone.

And that’s exactly how thePanthers like it.

“It started off one of my friendsDevin Rogers has been the main guyI’ve been talking to and I was like,‘Get people to come.’And he said hewas trying, he was working on it.And they had the Blue Crew last yearbut they made it an official club thisyear and people started joining andwe just spread the word,” Morgansaid. “In the end I really think ithelped out because they were socrazy and it fired everybody up.”

Some students wear official BlueCrew T-shirts. Others don costumesor goofy outfits. Some just wear aMidlothian shirt or jacket. All ofthem made a vocal impact.

After playing just three homegames prior to the start of districtplay, the Panthers have returnedhome to familiar surroundings. Theresults have shown up on the score-board.

Since district play started,Midlothian is 4-0 at home includingbig wins over Waco High andWaxahachie in its last two homegames to stay near the top of the dis-trict race.

Having an extra player in the

Home court advantageVocal crowd helping push Pantherstoward championship type seasonBy ALEX RILEY

Mirror sports writer

See CROWD, Page 4C

Photo by Chad Wilson/The Mirror

Junior Jackson Sandifer rides the crowd incelebration of Midlothian’s win overWaxahachie. The Blue Crew cheering sec-tion has been a big boost for the team.

Upcoming schedule

Feb. 5@Hewitt Midway5 p.m./6:30 p.m./8 p.m.(JV/ninth-grade/varsity)

Feb. 9vs. Waco University5 p.m./6:30 p.m./8 p.m.(JV/ninth-grade/varsity)

Feb. 12*vs. Ennis(ninth-grade/JV/varsity)*Senior night/final home game

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