Gonzales, Nixon-Smiley athletes compete in All-Star games

High school senior athletes across South Texas showcased their talents one last time at Floresville High School for the South Texas Coaches Association All-Star Games Saturday, May 18 — including seven Gonzales County athletes.

The Gonzales Apaches had Macy Sample (volleyball), Haley Cantu (basketball), Cole Duty (football), and Landon Holub (football); and the Nixon Mustangs had Jesus Espino (football), Kade Dixon (basketball and football) and Carl White (basketball) all competed in the games.

All of the Gonzales County athletes were on the East teams representing their schools and towns and wearing their own uniforms.

The games kicked off with the annual volleyball contest with Sample on the East team, and she was excited to get the opportunity to be part of the day’s events.

“It was just really fun getting to play. A lot of people usually have the whole preseason and all that but we just had a couple of days of practice. It was fun to play with all new girls and find some chemistry,” Sample said.

The East team fell to the West team in a five-set thriller.

The All-Star games continued with the All-Star boys and girls basketball games with Cantu on the girls team and White and Dixon on the boys team.

White said it was amazing to get an opportunity to show his skills on the East team.

Dixon was the other Nixon-Smiley player on the all-star basketball team and he was proud to be part of it as well.

“It felt pretty good. I’m glad to have the opportunity to do it. Just a great opportunity with guys that I've never got to play with before and be on the same team together,” Dixon said.

Dixon received a $1,000 scholarship from the STCA after the football game.

Cantu played for the East on the girls basketball team and said she enjoyed playing one more game before her high school basketball career is over.

“I thank them for giving me the opportunity to be a part of it and give me one more opportunity to show what I have,” Cantu said.

The All-Star games concluded with the annual football game with Duty, Holub, Espino and Dixon representing their schools on the East team.

Espino said it was great playing with the All-Star team and playing along side with players from Gonzales.

Espino has a message for the incoming juniors who can possibly have a shot in playing in the All-Star games.

“Give it your all and raise the bar. You can continue to do everything that your coaches tell you to do and perform your best ability,” Espino said.

Duty and Holub represented Gonzales in the All-Star game and loved getting a shot to play one last time.

“Glad I've come back out here with my best friend Landon to play one more snap,” Duty said.

Duty played in the second half and connected to Dixon for positive yards.

“It was just nice to have different faces around and get to learn here about new people and talk to people. It's cool,” Duty said.

Holub played center for most of the game and was glad to represent Gonzales one last time.

“It feels great to rep orange and black one last time, you know, along with all these guys meeting all these people, especially how the game ended was amazing,” Holub said.

Holub has a message for the juniors who want to be part of the game next year.

“Just play the way that I know they can. I mean, they're a bunch of talented guys over there. And just in general, don't maintain the bar that we've set, raise it.” Holub said.

The East team won the game, 27-25, with a four-minute drive to a game-winning field goal.