Blazers still have a
shot at national title

After the first week of 2006 Metro Athletic Conference (MAC) championship play, North Lake's record is 1-2, for a tie with Eastfield and Mountain View for second place.

North Lake has emerged as a co-champion of MAC for Region V, Division III in the past two seasons and returns as a strong contender for the title this year.

However, there is a tremendous amount of parity this year. Entering the conference games, four teams in the district - Richland Thunderducks (14-5), Cedar Valley Suns (11-8), North Lake Blazers (10-9) and Eastfield Harvesters (9-10)- are leading the pack with Mountain View Lions (6-7) and Brookhaven Bears (6-13) not far behind.

"Richland probably will be right there with us. Cedar Valley is a good team and Eastfi eld hustles hard," said Tim McGraw, Blazers ' head coach. "I think that they have all had impressive wins during non-conference play that shows that they are just as capable of winning our conference as we are."

After leading the other district teams in the past month, North Lake dropped from the top 10 list of National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III poll in the week leading to the conference championship. On the contrary, Richland, the cross-town rival, entered the poll at No. 4 after it knocked off the defending NJCAA Division I champion, Paris College, and won the last four games.

According to MAC Administrative Assistant Paul Baldwin, North Lake is forced to forfeit three endof- year games upon discovery that a Blazers team member violated the NJCAA rule when he dropped below full-time status. The games were against Texas Wesleyan JV, Kingwood College and McLennan Community College from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3, 2005, which North Lake won. As a result, North Lake's winloss record dropped from 13-6 to 10-9.

Yet it has not changed the championship outlook, including the chances for the district leader Richland Thunderducks, which has won or shared four consecutive MAC championships from 2002 to 2005.

"The parity is so great. It's going to be very tough," said Chuck Taylor, Richland's new head coach. "We hope to stay healthy and continue to improve and grow as a team."

Anthony Fletcher, head coach for Eastfield, echoed the same sentiments, saying that whoever plays the best games has a chance to win the championship.

"It's wide open. Time can only tell," said the first-year Harvesters' head coach. "The bottom line is we're going to play the hardest every time we touch the floor."

Entering the conference with the second best record in the district, Cedar Valley's head coach Kyle Leath has never felt better about his team.

"I feel this is the best team we have in the last three years I've been here," said the third-year Suns coach. "We feel we have a team that can compete to win the championship."

North Lake won the conference opener against Mountain View Lions Jan. 21, 94-89, then lost Jan. 25 to the Cedar Valley Suns, 81-78, and on Jan. 28 to Richland, 83-64.

"I think that it will come down to which team wants to win enough to put all selfishness aside," McGraw said, who began his ninth season with the Blazers.