The week of October 24, 2016 was an extremely busy one on the calendar for a number of athletic programs at Lambert High School. All of the major fall sports were in action with the ladies from both the volleyball and softball programs competing in state championship competition as well as the Longhorn football field attempting to clinch its first region championship in the program’s history.

Volleyball: In a rare deviation from the typical sports schedule, the Longhorns traveled to Norcross on Saturday the 22nd of October for their Elite 8 match up with the highly touted Blue Devils. The first set was a highly competitive affair which ended with Lambert winning by a score of 25-23. Shortly after, the two talented teams engaged in a battle of a second set which ultimately ended in another Lambert victory by a score of 26-24. After winning the first two sets, the girls from Lambert were able to keep the momentum taking the third and final set by a score of 25-20.

For their Final Four match, the Longhorns had to travel to Lassiter High School to take on the Trojans. These teams were no strangers to each other after having met earlier in the season when Lambert won after an epic five set affair on their home court. Unfortunately for Lambert, the top ranked Trojans were able to prevail in front of their own crowd. The Longhorns were led by Ally Hall who had 7 kills/14 assists and Jordyn Moellering who finished the match with a total of 19 kills.

This volleyball season was a historic one for the school, going to the Final Four in the state playoffs for the first time in program history. Seniors Kendal Barrett and Jordyn Moellering were also named to the GVCA Senior All Star Team.

Softball: Following their Elite 8 victory over Hillgrove, the Longhorn softball team, similar to their court bound counterparts, were also on their way to their first Final Four appearance in program history. Facing Lassiter High School in their first game in Columbus, Lambert was able to keep it close during the first two innings but quickly fell into a 4-0 hole by the top of the 6th. The Longhorns bats seemed to come alive at the end of this game with a rally started by a single from Ansley Dean and continued by seniors Graham Bryant and Furman University commit Marissa Guimbarda. However, the defecit was too much for the Longhorns to overcome and the team lost their first game by a score of 6-3.

A loss to Coweta High School sent county rival South Forsyth into the losers bracket to play Lambert in a win or go home game two. The game remained scoreless until the 4th inning when the War Eagles were able to put up one run, however, this run was quickly matched by the Longhorns with some offense of their own courtesy an RBI basehit from junior Skylar Aledia. This wasn’t quite enough however as South was able to push another run across in the bottom of the 7th inning which gave them the victory and sent the girls from Lambert home from Columbus without a win in the state championship tournament.

Football: After a region win versus West Forsyth the week before, the Lambert Longhorns football team was all alone in the top of the standings for the region championship. With a win against the only non-Forsyth team in the region, Milton, the Longhorns claim their first region title in program history. Following an interception return for a touchdown by senior Noah Beck, Lambert took a 17-0 lead over the Eagles into the second half. However, after allowing a field goal in the third quarter, Lambert allowed Milton to score 17 unanswered points which allowed them to take a 20-17 lead. The Longhorns were driving with a chance to score with under one minute left on the clock, but this was stalled by a sack by Milton on fourth down which all but assured the victory for the Eagles on their home field.

The Longhorns return to Lambert tonight at 7:30 to take on the Bulldogs of Forsyth Central High School. A victory will clinch Lambert the region title and it also marks Senior Night for the players in the class of 2017.