By Brice Cherry

Tribune-Herald youth sports editor

Break out the grunge shirts and spandex tights, because the 1990s are back.

That’s the case in Temple, at least.

Following last Friday’s 35-34 final-minute win at A&M Consolidated, the Temple Wildcats are 3-3 overall and, more importantly, 2-0 in District 13-5A. If the Wildcats can finish atop 13-5A, it would mark their first outright district championship since 1995.

“All the credit goes to our kids and our assistants,” Temple coach Bryce Monsen said. “We continue to get better every week.”

For the fans in Temple, it’s been a long time coming. The school ranks No. 1 among all Texas high schools with 679 wins, but those victories have been fewer and farther between since the retirement of Bob McQueen as head coach in 1999.

The Wildcats have made the playoffs only once since the turn of the century, going 8-4 under short-time coach Tam Hollingshead in 2003.

However, McQueen is back, and so are the wins. Upon Monsen’s request, McQueen returned to the program in an advisory role, and the school also bolstered its staff with the addition of Robert Murphy and Mike McMurtry, formerly the head coaches at Crawford and Troy, respectively.

With McQueen in the fold, Temple has returned to the Wing-T offense. Against A&M Consolidated, the Wildcats rushed for 318 yards, and two backs topped the 100-yard mark — Quentin Tuck (156) and Lache Seastrunk (112).

The Wildcats will look to keep the winning going against equally resurgent rival Belton (3-3, 1-1) on Friday.

Wait on steroid testing

State-imposed steroid testing probably won’t start this month despite what some published reports have stated, UIL spokeswoman Kim Rogers told the Tribune-Herald on Tuesday.

Rogers said the hope is to have the new program in place some time this fall, but that the UIL is still evaluating bids from the 14 companies vying to oversee the program.

Once in place, the program will randomly test student-athletes from 30 percent of the state’s 1,246 high schools. UIL assistant athletic director Mark Cousins said Sunday it would be “the largest steroid-testing program in the world.”

Hoops officials needed

The Waco basketball chapter of the Texas Association of Sports Officials is seeking people interested in becoming basketball officials.

Complete training is provided. For more information, call 836-4719 or visit www.waco basketballchapter.com.

China Spring still strong

China Spring lost several key seniors off its state tournament volleyball squad of 2006, but the Lady Cougars haven’t exactly dropped off the landscape.

China Spring jumped from 12th to 10th in the latest Texas Girls Coaches Association state poll. Heading into Tuesday’s home game with Connally, the Lady Cougars were 27-5 overall and 5-0 in District 17-3A play.

Gatesville, which lost to China Spring in four games on Sept. 28, is ranked 13th in 3A.

Still perfect on the season, Midway sits atop the 4A rankings at No. 1. Other ranked Central Texas teams include Kopperl (5th in 1A), Leon (8th in 2A) and Copperas Cove (4th in 4A).

Tough times at Frost

A chilly football season in Frost may soon be coming to an end.

Frost has moved its homecoming game against Evant from Friday to Thursday this week. Frost coach Jerry Baldridge was unavailable for comment about the reason behind the move Tuesday, but the Polar Bears, who have been outscored 247-0, have struggled with low numbers on their roster all season.

Grades at Frost ISD are scheduled to be released on Friday.

Meridian RB in running

Meridian senior tailback Tony Allen is in line for his fourth Super Centex Player of the Week honor in six weeks after rushing for 229 yards and three touchdowns in a 27-20 win over then-No. 9 Goldthwaite on Friday.

Allen’s challengers for this week’s honor on the weekly WacoTrib.com poll are Texas Christian Academy tailback Isaiah Thompson (150 rushing yards, 3 total TDs) and Chilton quarterback Xavier Shaw (103 passing yards, 2 TDs; 270 rushing yards, 2 TDs). Voting continues through 4 p.m. today.

bcherry@wacotrib.com

757-5714

CENTEX RANKINGS

Class 5A

Team Prev. rank

1. Temple (3-3) 2

2. Ellison (2-3) 1

3. Belton (3-3) NR

Class 4A

1. Copperas Cove (5-0) 1

2. Waco High (4-1) 2

3. Killeen (4-1) 3

Class 3A

1. China Spring (5-0) 1

2. La Vega (5-0) 2

3. Connally (3-2) 3

4. Robinson (3-2) 4

5. West (3-2) 5

Class 2A

1. Mart (5-0) 1

2. Salado (5-0) 2

3. Teague (5-0) 3

4. Itasca (5-0) 4

5. Marlin (3-2) 5

Class 1A/TAPPS

1. Reicher (4-1) 1

2. Bremond (3-2) 2

3. Meridian (4-1) 3

4. Valley Mills (5-1) 4

5. Chilton (2-3) NR

Six-Man

1. Kopperl (5-0) 2

2. Milford (5-0) 3

3. Abbott (4-1) 1

4. Jonesboro (4-2) 4

5. Iredell (4-2) 5