Taking their celebration for area student athletes to the next level, the Alvin ISD Athletic Department announced last week that they will be hosting the school district’s inaugural AIMS Awards Banquet, May 13 at the Liberty Alumni Hall in Iowa Colony at 6 p.m.

MANVEL - Behind the stellar pitching of ace Ryley Nihart and another multiple offensive RBI performance from battery mate Jaylie Miller, the Manvel Lady Mavericks rolled to a 4-2 victory over La Porte in 18-5A Softball action, Friday night.

PEARLAND - Receiving a stellar pitching performance from ace Cooper Williams, the Alvin Yellowjackets broke a three-game skid and edged AISD neighbor Shadow Creek, 2-0, April 2 in 23-6A Baseball action at Shadow Creek High School.

The Alvin Lady Yellowjackets got a no-hit performance in the circle from Marlee VanNess and a home run from Jocelyn Brisceno to pave the way for a 15-0 run rule rout of Alief Elsik, March 19 in 23-6A Softball action at Lady Yellowjacket Field in Alvin.

Iowa Colony delivered a banner season on the girls’ basketball front with its first ever district championship and also dominated the All-26-4A hoop selections.

The Alvin Yellowjackets exploded for a 13-0 victory over Alief Taylor in the 23-6A Baseball opener, March 12 at Nolan Ryan Field.

CLUTE - Sweeny entered Tuesday’s 4A  regional boys’ basketball quarterfinal with 26-4A champion and foe Iowa Colony on an upset playoff roll, having stunned Needville and Wimberly during the first two rounds.

MISSOURI CITY - Lockdown defense provided the Manvel Lady Mavericks’ ultimate key to advancing another round in the Class 5A Girls’ Basketball Playoffs, Friday night.

The AISD gridiron programs were once again represented heavily across the state with postseason honors with nine are players being named to the Blue Bell/Texas Sportswriters Association All-State Football Teams.

IOWA COLONY - B.J Gill and company tossed aside an almost two-year albatross off the Iowa Colony Pioneers’ backs, Friday night and head coach Jay Simon’s squad also moved a major step towards collecting the only regular season milestone that has eluded the Pioneers’ hoop path so far.

IOWA COLONY - B.J. Gill and Robert Greene combined for 43 points and Iowa Colony stayed tied with Stafford atop the 26-4A Boys’ Basketball standings with a convincing 83-57 romp over La Marque, Friday night.

Brad Butler, who guided the Shadow Creek Football program to a state championship in 2019 and back-to-back state finalist appearances, announced his retirement on Jan. 17 after eight seasons as the Sharks’ head coach.

MANVEL - Ifeanyi Okoro sank a fall-away shot at the buzzer to lift the Manvel Mavericks to a thriller 52-51 triumph over Galveston Ball in 18-5A Boys’ Basketball action, Tuesday night at the MHS Competition Gym.

Alvin Lady Yellowjackets’ Basketball standout Maddy Kincaide recently reached the 1,000-point plateau during a home game with Clear Springs on Dec. 8.

Two weeks into the postseason has done nothing to dull the Iowa Colony Pioneers’ resolve to bounce back from a shaky start.

BRYAN - Lindale wasted little time punching Iowa Colony in the mouth with a pair of touchdowns just six-and-a half minutes into Friday’s Class 4A Division I Area Football Playoff.

After polishing off Houston Furr, 37-0 for its first football playoff victory in school history, Nov. 9, the Iowa Colony Pioneers take to the road for a area round postseason match-up with Lindale, Friday night at Merrill Green Stadium in Bryan.

IOWA COLONY - While they didn’t need the type of last minute dramatics from the previous two weeks that propelled them to their first district championship in school history, the Iowa Colony Pioneers instead went the 48-minute domination route to capture their inaugural postseason victory, F…

Just as Iowa Colony has exploded upon the Texas high school football scene in 2023 with incredible 8-0 second season start, it seemed only fitting that the Pioneers’ inaugural playoff berth was clinched in much the same fashion, Friday night.

IOWA COLONY - There’s no truth to the rumor that “Wings over Houston” was performing its annual show at Freedom Field, Friday night.

While Iowa Colony continued on its torrid roll with a 38-31 victory last week in Stafford in its 12-4A Division I Football opener, how the Pioneers prevailed proved to be most telling moment for head coach Ray Garza’s squad in week six.

While temperatures soared in the triple digits to open the area high school football season, Thursday night, the Alvin Yellowjackets put on their own scorching performance, blazing past Aldine, 49-0 at AISD Memorial Stadium.

IOWA COLONY - Both Shadow Creek and Manvel’s defenses delivered a special point of making life miserable for each other’s offenses during Friday’s  football season opener between the AISD rivals.

After watching a seemly comfortable first set lead slip away into a frustration initial setback, the Iowa Colony  Lady Pioneers didn’t panic during Tuesday’s non-district volleyball match at home.

While Brad Butler has plenty to be excited about with his Shadow Creek Sharks returning five starters on both sides of the ball this fall from their 2022 area finalist squad, the seven-year head coach’s enthusiasm is also tempered a bit with the formidable task of having to fill several gaps…

The last time Kirk Martin stepped off the sidelines as the Manvel Mavericks’ head coach, he was more than a front row witness to one of the most exciting, yet heartbreaking defeats in Texas high school state  football finals history.

Delivering strong showings in the first and third sets paved the way to the Alvin Lady Yellowjackets coming away with a straight set victory in Amanda Tacquard’s head coaching debut, Tuesday night.

While coming off their second straight 4-6 season in 2022, the Alvin Yellowjackets once again stood just a few plays away from turning the 500 corner and ending an almost two decade long postseason drought.

The postseason honors keep rolling in for both Manvel’s Byron Robinson and Alvin’s Boston Lee.

Not many football programs receive raves for an upcoming year after going 2-8 the previous campaign.

David McCorkle remembers in 2019 about hearing about a new softball freshman coming to Alvin and that she would be participating in Alvin High School’s  summer strength and conditioning camp.

By Stephen Collins

Congratulations to both the Pearland Oiler Softball and Baseball teams for making remarkable runs to the state tournament last month.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is Part 2 of a column series on Father’s Day.

AISD Playoff teams Alvin and Shadow Creek combined for 20 selections to the All-District 23-6A Softball team.

Editor’s Note: The following column is done in honor of my dad, Arlie W. Collins, who passed away from complications of Parkinson’s Disease on Feb. 25, 2002. The column originally ran on Father’s Day in the Alvin Sun-Advertiser on June 16, 2002.

Upon entering high school last fall, Ashtyn Lewis admits she wasn’t exactly crazy about being an Iowa Colony Pioneer.

Sammy Haynes never thought the day would come.

Manvel’s Sammy Haynes and Iowa Colony’s Ashtyn Lewis both delivered history-making performances at the state track and field meet last weekend in Austin, while the Shadow Creek girls repeated as state champions in the 4X400 relay.

MANVEL - While Dickinson managed to hang with heavily favored Alvin for most of Friday’s Class 6A Bi-District Softball Playoff, the Lady Yellowjacket bats ultimately became too much for the Lady Gators to handle.

Cooper Williams entered Alvin’s key 23-6A Baseball showdown Tuesday with Dawson having not pitched in the last two weeks due to the Yellowjackets going through the soft part of their schedule.

PEARLAND - For the second time in as many 23-6A softball meetings this season, the Alvin Lady Yellowjackets and Dawson Eagles combined to leave a staggering 18 runners on base.