Second Baptist School Notebook: September serves as Strong Month for Eagles

HOUSTON – It seems like yesterday that the Second Baptist School teams were just gearing up for the fall seasons, but we just wrapped up the month of September, so it's time to take a look back at it.

We go sport by sport and tell you what has been happening with the Eagles' fall season thus far.

Cross Country

The Second Baptist School cross country teams competed in the Lutheran South Invitational back on September 11, and performed well.

Super sophomore Lauren Baker led the varsity women's team with a first-place finish in the 3200-meter race with a time of 13:03.79. This carries over the impressive performance from Baker in her freshman year where she took home the TAPPS 5A District 6 Championship in the 3200-meter race and also took second at the TAPPS State Cross Country meet in the two-mile run.

Senior Grace Lunsford finished tenth for the Eagles with a time of 14:39.77 and Angelique Hlavinka '24 took 26th overall with a time of 17:22.19.

On the men's side, CJ Hobbs '23 rolled in for a third-place finish with a time of 17:23.49. The junior was followed by senior Schulyer Clark in 25th with a time of 20:09.48 and Jack Going '24 in 30th posting a time of 20:41.02.

Junior Carson Bohannon (22:57.05 – 46th) and senior Bradley Taylor (23:13.35 – 48th) also had solid runs for the Eagles, who finished fifth overall as a team.

The following week, on September 18, Second Baptist School hosted the annual Fighting Eagles Cross Country meet on campus, which hosted 33 schools.

"The highlights of the event were the volunteer team and the fan base," Director of Athletics Mike Walker said. "We extend a huge thanks to the parents and volunteers for making this event a success, as well as athletic fellows Joanie Darnall and Garrett Hughes. In a notable win, our MS girls won second place overall.

Football

The Eagles have soared in the month of September, posting a perfect 4-0 record with wins over Houston Christian (41-7), Concordia Lutheran (48-13), Cypress Christian (49-14) and Port Lavaca Calhoun (23-19) to move to 4-1 on the year.

"Our kids have really bought into what we are doing," Second Baptist School head coach Terry Pirtle said. "But more importantly, they are bought into doing things for other people, not just themselves. It's not about the wins, but about becoming better teammates, better people, better fathers, better employers and employees one day as our kids get down the road."

CLICK HERE TO WATCH Coach's Corner With Coach Terry Pirtle

The Eagles offense has been led by Eli Smith '22, who has 599 yards and nine scores on 92 carries this season. Turner Murdock '24 has played well as the Eagles' signal-caller going 56 of 88 for 761 yards and 10 touchdowns to just two interceptions. Grayson Kim '22 leads all receivers with 274 yards and five scores on 15 grabs. Kim also became the all-time leader in games played at Second Baptist School last week playing in his 40th contest.

The Eagles are back on the field next week, October 8 to open district play against St. Joe's. The following week SBS celebrates Homecoming on October 15, when they will face The Woodlands Christian Academy, which will be featured to kick off the 2021 season of VYPE's Countdown to Kickoff Show starting an hour before kickoff on all of VYPE's social media platforms as well as VYPE.com. There will also be a 30-minute postgame show live from the field as well.

Volleyball

What a start it has been for Second Baptist School on the volleyball court under new SBS head coach Chandace Tryon.

After a 3-0 win over The Woodlands Christian Academy on September 30, the Eagles are now 21-6 on the season, which is an impressive start.

The group has been led in the early going by Madi Hobbs '25 (42 kills, 32 digs), Morgan Warren '24 (30 kills, 12 blocks), Emma Wentz '22 (26 kills), Julia Sauvageau '22 (74 digs) and Alexis Gill '22 (34 digs, 16 kills, nine aces).

CLICK HERE to learn more about New Second Baptist School Volleyball Coach Chandace Tryon.

Back on September 11, Second Baptist School competed in the FAST Private School Tournament, which took first in the Silver Bracket.

Since winning the final three matches of that tournament (all via sweeps), the Eagles are on a five-match winning streak and haven't lost a set in the current winning streak.

We look forward to watching the Eagles round out their fall season after such an impressive start!

TWEET OF THE MONTH!!