For the most part, the 2021 sports seasons were a refreshing change from the year prior where cancellations and postponements flooded the schedules at the onset of the pandemic.

Although things are still not where they were pre-pandemic, this past year of Austin County’s high school sports seemed to start giving everyone a sense of normalcy again. Of course, seeing the local high-caliber teams competing against the best of the best from around the state certainly helped provide a returning sense of normalcy as well.

It was another record-setting, trophy-winning year for all of the local programs and The Sealy News compiled some of the top stories of the year on the news and sports sides. Enjoy excerpts from the top sports stories from around Austin County this year and for the full stories and even more, visit sealynews.com.

We’ll start as we normally do, recognizing the local athletes who signed their National Letters of Intent to continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level at No. 10.

Zaskoda signs with Southwestern

Sealy senior Blake Zaskoda signed his National Letter of Intent to play baseball for the Southwestern University Pirates next year during a joint signing ceremony at Sealy High School May 19.

Zaskoda helped the Tiger baseball team to a third-place finish and a bi-district championship.

On the mound, Zaskoda started three games and recorded four relief appearances where he registered 16.2 innings pitched with 16 strikeouts, an ERA of 3.78 and a WHIP of 1.74.

Behind the plate, he racked up 121 total chances and recorded 13 assists and 103 putouts for a fielding percentage of .959. In the batter’s box, he recorded 10 hits including two doubles and triples each, seven RBI and an OPS of .553.

Parker signs with MSSU

Sealy senior wide receiver Draper Parker officially signed his National Letter of Intent to play football for the Missouri Southern State University Lions in Joplin during a joint signing ceremony at Sealy High School May 19.

Parker announced his commitment May 8 and signed, sealed and delivered the decision with family at his side and friends filling up the gym foyer.

He was a slot receiver on the 2018 team that went three rounds deep in the playoffs, rotated in at quarterback as a junior on the 2019 team that missed the playoffs then returned to a fulltime wide receiver as a senior and registered 1,025 receiving yards and 14 receiving touchdowns.

Manak signs with Jacksonville JC

Sealy High School senior distance runner Madison Manak signed her National Letter of Intent to run for the Jacksonville Junior College Jaguars during a ceremony May 26.

Manak saw a successful senior season on the cross country course where the Lady Tigers claimed the district championship and Manak went all the way to regionals.

Now Manak gets the chance to help the Jaguars get back to nationals as only the second runner to sign a National Letter of Intent in Head Coach Anthony Branch’s six years at Sealy. Colton Gajewski, a member of Sealy’s Class of 2017, went to run for the Southern Arkansas University Muleriders and just before Branch arrived, Charlette Janicek, a 2015 graduate of Sealy High, competed for the UTSA Roadrunners.

Reece, Briggs make commitments official

Bellville’s top running backs made their college commitments official Wednesday, Dec. 15, when they signed their National Letters of Intent during a ceremony at the high school.

Richard Reece, this year’s District 12-4A- D2 Offensive MVP, inked his pledge to Baylor University and Robert Briggs, the district’s Overall MVP, signed on the dotted line to join the Utah State program for next season.