GAMES
RANKINGS
Fort Bend Christian Academy Magazine: Fall Wrap
EAGLES' VOLLEYBALL LOADED FOR 2021 RUN
THE EAGLES ENTERED THIS SEASON UNDER NEW HEAD COACH ALEX EDWARDS, WHO HAD COME OVER FROM EPISCOPAL. FBCA MADE THE PLAYOFFS AND WON ITS OPENING ROUND MATCH AGAINST THE GENEVA SCHOOL OF BOERNE. THE WIN PUSHED THE EAGLES INTO THE AREA ROUND, WHERE THEY FELL SHORT TO EVENTUAL TAPPS 5A STATE CHAMPION ST. JOSEPH HIGH SCHOOL VICTORIA.
After the season was complete, the awards rolled in.
The team was led by Bailey Hanner, who earned TAPPS first-team, all-state honors and first-team, all-district honors as well. She was joined on the all-state team by Avery Hodge, who was an honorable mention and also a first-team, all-district pick.
Madison Glenn
Both Hanner and Hodge are just juniors and are slated to return to the nest in 2021.
Caitlyn Harraman was a first-team, all-district pick in her senior campaign. Second-team picks included Madison Glenn and Shea Stone. The pick of Stone is impressive, considering she is only a sophomore. Finally, juniors Reagan Heflin and Brooke Byers were honorable mention picks.
CROSS COUNTRY SENDS TRIO TO STATE
FBCA Cross Country
ON THE CROSS COUNTRY COURSE, THERE WAS A LIMITED AMOUNT OF RACES THIS FALL FOR THE AREA'S BEST RUNNERS TO COMPETE IN PRIOR TO STATE.
FBCA qualified three individual runners for the TAPPS Cross Country State Meet back at the beginning of November.
Freshman Kyra Whitman was the lone girl to qualify for the race and ended up finishing 109th overall with a time of 15:49.6. Whitman will be a runner to watch in the coming years as she works her way up the ranks.
On the boys' side, Wilson Whiles finished 112th overall with a time of 21:17.4, while Jackson Champion took 137th overall with a time of 22:33.4. Both Whiles and Champion are just sophomores and will be back in 2021.
FOOTBALL CONTINUING IMPRESSIVE RISE
FBCA Football
THE EAGLES SOARED INTO THE PLAYOFFS FOR A SECOND STRAIGHT SEASON AFTER AN IMPRESSIVE OUTING IN TAPPS DIVISION II-DISTRICT 4 PLAY, WHERE THEY WENT 4-1 IN LEAGUE PLAY. OVERALL, THE EAGLES POSTED A 7-3 RECORD WITH NOTABLE WINS OVER CONCORDIA LUTHERAN, TWCA, CYPRESS CHRISTIAN – WHICH REACHED THE TAPPS STATE SEMIFINALS – AND THEN SAW ITS SEASON COME TO AN END WITH A LOSS TO REGENTS.
Brady Dever was the story of the year for the offense. The move-in from Foster came in and lit up the stat sheet. In 10 games, Dever was 157 of 244 for 2,377 yards and 26 touchdowns. He has a bright future and FBCA has their quarterback for the next two years.
Solomon Cole
Solomon Cole was one of Dever's top targets as he finished with 68 catches for 1,084 yards and 13 touchdowns. Cole also had one rushing score and on the defensive side of the ball had seven interceptions. Overall, the senior racked up 1,881 all-purpose yards for the Eagles.
Other key performances this fall came from JD Migl, who transitioned from quarterback to running back and even receiver. David Kasemervisz, Braylon Gardoni and Michael Kasemervisz also played big roles.
The talk of this team prior to the year was the strength of the offensive line anchored by Texas A&M signee Remington Strickland. Along with Strickland, guys like Jalon Zuber, Rob Walter, Clifton Self and Cohen Carpenter helped open holes for the backs and protect Dever throughout the season.
Two years ago, Fort Bend Christian couldn't even complete the season because they didn't have enough players. Now, Jordan Black is building a program on the southwest side of Houston that teams will have to fend off for the District Championship year after year.
Cohen Carpenter
FEATURE: Despite injury, Zion Granville gets opportunity to play football at Illinois State
HOUSTON - Zion Granville has been around sports his entire life.
His father Billy played football at Duke followed by spending five years with the Cincinnati Bengals and then one year with the Texans before calling it a career. With football playing such an integral part of his father's life it is no surprise that in the first grade Zion started his football career and played through middle school.
It was then that Zion went through some growing pains.
Due to the growing pains, playing football became unenjoyable, and decided then to play only basketball for the first three years of high school.
When the pandemic hit things changed.
AAU was postponed, live recruiting became non-existent, gyms were shuttered closed and even rims at parks were removed to prevent people from gathering to play. So, one day in May, JD Migl invited Granville out to play 7-on-7 football.
"I went and I fell in love with the sport," Granville said. "He had always been a brother to me, so I wanted to return the favor and decided to play football. The more I played football the more I loved it."
Being back in football and strengthening in the weight room - going from 176 to 205 pounds - Granville became a specimen at the defensive end position towering to 6-foot-6.
Fort Bend Christian Academy coach Jordan Black worked with him to become a ruthless pass rusher as a defensive end or outside linebacker with his combination of length and quickness.
"My two favorite go-to moves in basketball were my hesitation and spin move. When I got on the gridiron everything at the defensive end spot came naturally," Granville said. "It literally felt like I was playing basketball."
With so much raw talent and promise after not having played football for three years, Granville was anticipating a major senior year.
Unfortunately, it only lasted two-quarters of a scrimmage and one game before Granville's year was over, due to injury.
"I learned that nothing in life is promised except death," Granville said. "So whenever I play or workout, I do it with the most enthusiasm. I also learned that you need strong faith in God."
2021 6'6 Defensive End/WR Scrimmage(2 QRTs) & Game 1 Highlights pic.twitter.com/c0P6i0hZak
— Zion Granville (@chosenzi_one) November 28, 2020
That faith carried him through the rest of the fall. And despite not having a ton of tape on him or years of playing experience at the varsity level, Granville still received offers.
Abilene Christian, Illinois State, and a preferred walk-on opportunity from Texas came. Lamar, University of Houston, Fresno State, San Diego State, Nevada, Dartmouth, and Stephen F. Austin also showed interest.
In the end, Granville picked Illinois State University.
"I chose them because it was a full scholarship offer, best fit and they relentlessly recruited me," he said. "They want to invest in me long-term and they have a good track record of developing players. Also, I would have time to get stronger and develop through being redshirted. I had several phone and zoom meetings with the coaches and they loved my twitch, unique abilities, and potential as a pass rusher."
Having literally played almost zero high school football, getting an opportunity at the next level is "very humbling" Granville said and he is focused on winning and getting better every day at Illinois State.
Outside of football, Granville enjoys Star Wars, art, and design and still playing basketball and he wants to study political science, graphic design, or business at Illinois State.
COMMITTED‼️ #RedbirdsRi21ng pic.twitter.com/j8QQqC6XAK
— Zion Granville (@chosenzi_one) January 22, 2021