Sports

STEPHENVILLE — Tarleton State women's soccer head coach Pete Cuadrado announced the addition of former professional and Division I women's soccer player, Bayleigh Chaviers who joins the Texans' staff ahead of the 2024-25 season. Chaviers spent 10 seasons playing at or above the high school level including a pair of professional stops in Iceland and with the Chicago Red Stars of the NWSL. "I am super excited to add Bayleigh to our coaching staff," Cuadrado said. "Her success playing at the collegiate and professional levels will help continue to push our program forward." Chaviers enjoyed a four-year prep career at Stephenville High School, where she was a three-sport star. She helped the Yellow Jackets to a pair of area and bi-district championships as well as a district title. During her time, she was a two-time First Team All-District selection. She also won District MVP and was named Academic All-State following her senior season.

As promised last week, we’re taking our first look at the Stephenville Yellow Jackets’ defense this week.

Most high school football teams line up these days in some kind of spread-formation offense. The backs and receivers don’t wear knee pads because they basically can’t be hit in the knees anymore — at least not in the open field.

STEPHENVILLE — Tarleton State's offensive coordinator Adam Austin received special recognition this week, as Dave Campbell's Texas Football named him on its 40 Under 40 list. "Dave Campbell's Texas Football is proud to honor the best young coaches across Texas with our fifth annual 40 Under 40, recognizing 40 of the rising stars in the coaching ranks," Dave Campbell's Texas Football detailed. Austin is entering his fourth season with Tarleton State, and his first as the offensive coordinator. He spent the last three seasons as the quarterbacks coach and pass game coordinator for the Texans. Austin will continue to lead the quarterbacks in 2024. Dave Campbell's Texas Football wrote that Austin "has a penchant for developing quarterbacks into all-conference and national award contenders." Last season with Austin's guidance, the Texans averaged 33.3 points per game, the second best average in the United Athletic Conference, 13th most in all of FCS. They also averaged 430.5 yards per game (second in the UAC, 14th in the FCS) with 6.4 yards per play (most in the UAC, 11th in the FCS). Over the past three seasons, Austin's quarterbacks have consistently put up elite performances. Victor Gabalis ranked first in yards per completion in the conference, as well as fourth in overall passing efficiency last season. His best game was in Tarleton's 59-17 romping of Stephen F. Austin, where he threw for 389 yards and four touchdowns on 15-of-19 passing.

Alec Bryant, who has been the head coach at Class 3A Grand Saline for the last seven years, has been hired as the new head baseball coach of the Class 4A Stephenville Yellow Jackets, athletic director Sterling Doty confirmed this week.

With 2023 state champion Anna, which beat Stephenville in last year’s state quarterfinals, elevated to Class 5A earlier this year, the Yellow Jackets drew the No. 1 preseason ranking in Class 4A Division I by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football (DCTF) magazine.

Six current and former Stephenville High School athletes were selected to the Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA) Super Elite teams in their respective sports for the 2023-24 school year.

STEPHENVILLE — Kickoff times for Tarleton State Football's six home games are officially set, the Texans announced this week.

STEPHENVILLE — Former Tarleton State assistant coach in the 2022-23 season, Zach Settembre, returns to Tarleton State to join head coach Billy Gillispie's staff for the 2024-25 season. "We are extremely excited to have Zach back at Tarleton State," said head coach Billy Gillispie. "He was outstanding in his time here before and we look forward to having him here again. Zach is a tireless worker with a great approach to coaching and teaching and can do everything to help the players and program succeed. He's a great recruiter who has a passion for bringing the best players he can to Tarleton State. He can 'do it all' and will become a division 1 head coach in the very near future. Hes been a winner everywhere hes been and were lucky to have him here to help us in our quest to play in the NCAA tournament." As a member of coach Gillispie's staff, Settembre will assist in recruiting and academics. He will also play a role coaching on the floor, community involvement and promoting the players and the program. Settembre spent the 2022-23 season on Texans' bench where he helped guide the squad to the most wins in their Division I era at the time, posting a 17-17 record. In his first season at Tarleton, the team posted a 12-2 home record and landed a spot in the Paradise Jam Championship. The Texans earned their first bid to the WAC Tournament as the seventh seed. The Texans knocked off 10th-seeded UTRGV, 74-70, before falling to second-seeded Utah Valley, 72-58. The squad earned its first non-WAC Tournament postseason berth in their D1 era, earning the seventh seed in the CBI. Tarleton dropped to the 10th-seeded Radford Highlanders, 72-70 in overtime. "I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to rejoin Coach Gillispie's staff at Tarleton State. Coach Gillispie is an elite teacher of the game of basketball, and more importantly, a leader who relentlessly helps his players and coaches pursue excellence on and off the court," said coach Settembre. "I have seen first hand the positive impact he has on the young men he coaches. The relationships forged within the Tarleton men's basketball program are forever, and I am very thankful for another opportunity to work alongside the best in the industry." Settembre joined the Texan staff in the 2022-23 season, before departing at the end of the season to join the New Mexico State. In his one season on the Aggies bench, Settembre helped the defense be one of the toughest in the CUSA. He broke into the Division I ranks in the 2021-22 season as an assistant coach at Coastal Carolina. The Louisville, Kentucky native was instrumental in engineering one of the most successful seasons in Coastal Carolina men's basketball history during his year in Myrtle Beach. The Chanticleers posted a 19-14 overall record and won three postseason games to advance to the finals of The Basketball Classic. Settembre coached Vince Cole to All-Sun Belt Conference second team selection. The senior guard led the Chanticleers in scoring and ranked fifth in the Sun Belt and ranked 27th among all D1 players. Settembre previously served as the head coach for Tallahassee Community College (TCC) from 2019-2021 after serving as an assistant coach for the 2018-19 season. Settembre led TCC to unprecedented success during his two-year run as head coach. He led the Eagles to back-to-back Panhandle Conference Championships and a 46-9 overall record while at the helm. Settembre was named the Panhandle Conference Coach of the Year in both seasons. He joined current D1 head coaches Chris Jans (Mississippi State), Steve Forbes (Wake Forest) and former D1 coach Greg Heiar (New Mexico State) as one of four coaches to claim Panhandle Conference Coach of the Year honors in their first season as head coach. In Settembre's two seasons at the helm of the Eagles, he produced a 46-9 record, two Panhandle Conference Championships, an appearance in NJCAA Region VIII/FCSAA State Tournament and an at-large bid to the NJCAA National Tournament for the first time in school history. Settembre's team produced the Conference Player of the Year in each of the two season and the Conference Newcomer of the Year in each of the two seasons. In his second year, the Eagles posted a school-record 13-game winning streak. All 15 players from his first team signed National Letters of Intent with four-year schools, nine going D1. Two of Settembre's players were named to the FCSAA All-State men's basketball team, marking the first time TCC had two members named to the all-state team in more than a decade. He received his first head coaching job as the lead man at Louisville Collegiate School for the 2017-18 season. Settembre guided the program to a school-record 23 victories and a trip to the All "A" State Tournament. He was named the KABC (Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches) and Courier-Journal Seventh Region Boys Basketball Coach of the Year. Settembre is a 2012 graduate of Syracuse and served as a student manager under Jim Boeheim. Following his college graduation, Settembre returned home to Kentucky and worked as a freshman head boys basketball coach at Iroquois High School (2012-13) and Ballard High School (2013-14). He then pivoted to the college game, as he joined legendary coach Happy Osborne's staff at Kentucky Wesleyan College.

GLEN ROSE — A love for basketball started at a young age for Glen Rose sharpshooter Alexis Rynders.