Varsity tennis began the season with nine new faces who joined the team over the summer. Their season began two weeks before school, with their first match in Waco against Westwood. Despite losing in Waco, the team was able to bounce back and ended up becoming district champions for the eighth consecutive season. The team won their Bi-District versus Flower Mound,  their Area match against Duncanville, and the Regional Quarterfinals match against Coppell. The team had the opportunity to travel to Abilene to play Amarillo Tascosa for the regional semifinals, but lost in a close match of 9 to 10. “Considering we lost six of our top 12 players to graduation from last year’s team, I feel as if our kids stepped up and didn’t miss a beat,” Head Coach Corey Aldridge said. “We always play a tough schedule, so even though we finished with a record of 15 to 7, our kids improved as the season progressed. We started with four freshmen in our top six, so we’re excited about the future.”

Volleyball started off strong this season winning 15 games before the school year even started. Their season began on Aug. 9 and ended on Nov. 10, with an overall record of 39 to 10. The Lady Dragons blew past their opponents, and successfully made it to playoffs and competed in their first playoff match against Hebron. They won 3-0 and continued to win their next match against Lake Highlands with a final score of 3 to 1. One of their biggest matches was their third playoff match against Waxahachie, which ended in a close score of 3 to 2. “Playoffs was my favorite part of the season,” junior Annabelle Smith said. “Spending time with the team and giving our best effort to win each game so it wouldn’t be our last was so awesome.”

Dragon football has been unstoppable ever since their first game of the season. The team went undefeated in the regular season with a record of 10-0, and they have won all three of their playoff matchups against Coppell, DeSoto and Trinity. For the annual Pink Out game on Oct. 5, the Dragons played the Denton Guyer Wildcats in one of closest games of the season, but the Dragons were able to pull through and score a touchdown in the final seconds of the game to win with a score of 33-29. Under the leadership of the new head coach Riley Dodge, the team is preparing for their upcoming playoff games, including the regional final versus Duncanville on Dec. 8. “The team really just cheers each other up by keeping the energy up at practice,” Linebacker Graham Faloona (11) said. “I always look forward to the energy that the community brings at each game.”

This fall, the cross country team ended their successful season with determination and high hopes for next year. At the beginning of the season, the team came face to face with puddles and downpours at the Carroll Invite at Bob Jones Park on Sept. 8. Even though some races were canceled due to the weather, the team finished with many first place titles at their local meet. “The conditions will never be perfect but the beauty of cross country is that it doesn’t matter what the circumstances are, we will always power through. Our mentality this entire season has been to beat the odds,” Caitlyn Midkiff (11) said. With many meets along the way, runners on the team were able to get an invite to State. At the Class 6A State Championships, the boys placed second overall and the girls took fourth place. After one of their biggest meets of the year, the top seven runners on the boys’ team were given the opportunity to travel to Portland, Oregon to visit Nike Headquarters and to compete in the Nike Cross Nationals along with some of the best runners in the nation.