Galveston County topped last year's total of athletes signing letters of intent to play collegiate sports on Wednesday morning when more than 40 local players made it official. There were a few surprises in the list, but as always, the sport of football was ever prevalent in helping Galveston County's college-bound athletes secure scholarships.

Football

Clear Creek

Brent Wagner, OL, Southeastern Louisiana
Cory Zunker, OL, Southern Arkansas
Austin Smith, QB, Texas A&M Commerce

Clear Springs

Marcus Johnson, WR, University of Texas
Jesse Washington, DB, Air Force
Brendon Brinkmann, DL, UTSA
Dallas McClarty, DL, Texas State
Damani Alexcee, S, Texas State
Jake Blackledge, QB, Cisco
Chaz Edgerson, WR, Cisco
Ladarius Carpenter, DL, Cisco
Eddie Terry, DB, Cisco
Andrew Doster, Trinity Valley

Dickinson

Tyrell Preston, RB, West Texas A&M
Byron Williams, OL, Stephen F. Austin
John Baker, QB, Oklahoma Panhandle
Nicholas Stirn, OL, Oklahoma Panhandle
Tim Jenkins, DL, Southeast Texas Prep

Friendswood

Seaver Myers, OL, Southern Methodist
Trevor Stevens, TE, UTSA
Benson Chidester, LB, Cisco
Bobby Brown, OL, Colorado College of Mines
Hayden Gardner, QB, Truman State

La Marque

Tim Wright, RB, Navarro
Ken Butler, LB, Blinn
Kendall Hill, WR, Oregon State
Brian Allen, WR, Utah
Emanuell Williams, QB, Alabama State
Ja’Core Aldridge, DB, McMurry
Justin Williams, DB, New Mexico Highlands

Santa Fe

Jacob Sumney, DE, Trinity Valley
Robert Garcia, WR, Concordia (Nebraska)

Other sports include:

Golf

Clear Springs

Kylee Emerson, Colorado Christian
Ryan Hargrove, Arizona Christian

Basketball

Clear Springs

Aaliyah Brown, George Washington

Soccer

Clear Springs

Maryan McElligott, Central Oklahoma
Jordan Oliver, Tennessee Tech
Shelby McDaniel, Sam Houston
Madison Raines, Louisiana Tech

Clear Creek
Kristi Leonard, Texas A&M

Dickinson

Kati Betancourt, Stephen F. Austin

Friendswood

Landry Lowe, Texas State
Bridget Richie, Texas State

Softball

Dickinson

Kassidy Armstrong, Williams Baptist
Marci Seymour, Trinity Valley

Friendswood

Lauren Massar, UT-Tyler
Joan Gray, Trinity Valley

La Marque

Jessieka Palmer, University of Houston

This is where things get heavy rolling.

Ladies first: Clear Creek, Friendswood and Clear Falls have volleyball teams in the regional quarterfinals to be played Tuesday night. You can follow all the volleyball playoff action in Tuesday night’s volleyball playoff chat, beginning at 6 p.m.

To our football followers, there will be a magic word in tonight’s volleyball chat that you’ll need in the Pigskin Preview chat on Thursday — yes, Thursday — at noon.

The preview chat is a day early this week because La Marque will take on Terry on Thursday night in Alvin. The Cougars lost the season opener to Terry by one point, but Cougar fans wanted their revenge. They’ll get it tonight against one of the Houston area’s top teams.

On Friday night, we’ll have the Friendswood Mustangs facing Angleton, a team that beat them earlier this season. That game will be played in Robertson Stadium at the University of Houston, and if Friendswood’s defense can slow Angleton, the Mustangs might have a chance.

On Saturday, Clear Springs will face Fort Bend Marshall at 1 p.m. at Pasadena Memorial. The Chargers are the overwhelming favorites in this game, but the rival Clear Creek Wildcats will have their hands full later that day at 6 p.m. against Fort Bend Bush.

So much playoff action, but of our seven remaining playoff teams (including volleyball) how many will be left on Sunday? I’ll predict four. 

For all the baseball and softball fans of Galveston County, your moment has arrived.

The much anticipated Galveston County baseball teams were released this past Sunday, and I received mixed reviews. There was little contention to the fact that Clear Creek’s C.J. McElroy was the county’s Hitter of the Year and Ball High’s Aaron Garza was the Pitcher of the Year. Both were selected in the MLB Draft earlier this month, along with Clear Creek pitcher/slugger Chris Morales.

But beyond that, what did you guys think of the All-County teams? I didn’t worry much about balance or fairness to different schools. I thought to myself, “If I were picking the very best players for a backyard baseball game, who would I pick?”

And these were the results.

The softball All-County teams will be announced this Sunday, and you should expect plenty of respect given to the Class 4A state champs. But there were also plenty of other very promising softball stars around the area who will have their place, too.

What’s your take? Were the baseball All-County teams accurate? Who got left off the list? What about softball — any must haves?

The school year is winding down, but Galveston County’s top athletes are busier than ever before.

Clear Creek’s mixed doubles pair of Hunter Carrithers and Sammy Siegel competed in Monday’s opening round of the Class 5A tennis tournament. The couple faced a tough team in San Angelo Central and failed to advance to the next round.

In the Class 4A bracket, Clear Falls’ Krishna Jana was also denied in the opening round, and Friendswood’s boys doubles team of Conner Callaway and Matt Kibikas saw the same treatment. But with plenty of youth in this talent, Galveston County will undoubtedly come back strong next season.

At the golf state championships, Friendswood’s Corey Hayford will compete for a state title. He was in the middle of the pack after Monday’s Day 1 score of 79. In the Class 5A bracket, Travis Dennis will represent Clear Creek on Thursday and Friday.

Clear Creek’s Amanda Mire is the lone Galveston County girl competing this week for a state title.  

At this weekend’s state track and field meet, Galveston County is well represented.

Friendswood has a dou of competitors. Ryan Teel will run the 3,200-meter run and the 1,600 run. Shannon Ellis will compete in the girls high jump.

The La Marque 4x100 relay team of Cornelius Gasway, Archer Mullins, Jamal Owens, Brock Vigier (and Floyd Simmons and Chris Jackson) has a strong chance of bringing home a medal. Gasway will also compete in the 200 dash, where he has the fastest seeded time.

In the 5A meet, Clear Creek will be represented by Matt Smythe in the 300 hurdles and CJ McElroy in the long jump. Dickinson’s Lauryn Caldwell looks to steal the show as a freshman in the shot put and discus. She has the second farthest seeded throw in the discus and has a strong chance of bringing home some hardware.

In baseball’s area round of the playoffs, three Galveston County teams remain standing.

Clear Springs will face La Porte on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at La Porte, host them in the second game at the same time on Friday, then travel to Baytown Lee at 2 p.m. if a third game is necessary.

Friendswood will play a one-game playoff with Houston Davis on Friday at 7 p.m. at Friendswood’s Bobby Black Field.

Santa Fe will face Houston Waltrip Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Delmar, Frieday at 7:30 p.m. at Santa Fe and Saturday at 1 p.m. at Santa Fe if necessary.

On the softball side, the Lady Indians will face Bay City at George Ranch High School in Richmond on 7 p.m. Thursday, 7 p.m. Friday, and 2 p.m. Saturday if a third game is necessary.

Spring football is also under way for many area teams.

After one of the busiest weekends in recent memory for sports in Houston, Galveston County takes center stage this weekend.

Houston had Connecticut’s glory at the Final Four, Phil Mickelson’s moment at the Shell Houston Open, the Rockets making a playoff push and the Astros, well, being the Astros. But this weekend, there couldn’t be much more going on for Galveston County sports fans.

On Friday, we have two high school girls soccer teams battling for a spot in the regional final.

In Friday’s regional quarterfinals, the Friendswood Lady Mustangs face Huntsville at 1 p.m. in Humble’s Turner Stadium. A little later, the Clear Springs Lady Chargers take on Seven Lakes at 2:30 p.m. in Galena Park ISD Stadium.

Soccer fans can also watch a huge match between the Galveston Pirate SC and the Houston Dynamo Academy team at Courville Stadium on Saturday.

The match starts at 4 p.m., and The Daily News has tickets. The first 10 readers to mail me at jordan.godwin@galvnews.com will receive four free tickets to this epic match.

There will be plenty of exciting baseball and softball action, but I’ve learned quickly that every Tuesday and Friday night is exciting for these sports in this area. I couldn’t believe Ball High’s thrilling 8-7 victory over first-place Friendswood with a walk-off two-run home run. And Santa Fe easily handled another top team in Pearland Dawson with a 10-5 win.

Outside of that, the Galveston Ironman 70.3 Triathlon raids the island on Saturday and Sunday. Hundreds of professional triathletes will be on the island to compete in this grueling race. See the Ironman schedule.

If you’re a rodeo fan, the 73rd annual Galveston County Fair and Rodeo kicks off on Friday. Friday will contain all sorts of judging, bull riding and mutton bustin’, including a concert performance from country singer Josh Thompson. See the fair and rodeo schedule.

There’s no shortage of sporting events going on around Galveston County this weekend. Did I leave anything out?

Last week was a good week of sports, but this week should be a great one. There’s just so much going on that it could make your head spin.

The soccer playoffs are under way, and most of the teams had strong showings in their opening games. For the soccer fans, which of these Galveston County teams has the best chance of going all the way? Clear Creek and Dickinson looked really solid in Alvin on Monday night, and we have plenty more soccer action today and later this week.

Baseball fans, what a night you guys had on Friday night. Wow. There were game-winning heroics left and right from the Clear Springs girls softball team, the Friendswood boys baseball team and several other squads that put together season-defining-type victories.

This week, we have even more exciting matchups on the diamond. The Fight for 518 between Clear Creek and Clear Springs has the boys facing off on Tuesday and the girls on Friday. Which school is most talented in both sports?

Friendswood softball hosts Texas City in a rematch of a thriller several weeks ago where the Lady Mustangs prevailed 2-1 in a pitching duel between Friendswood’s Lauren Massar and Texas City’s Samantha Robles.

After a few tough losses, the Santa Fe Indians host a very determined Ball High team with a lot of talent. I’m very interested to see how this one turns out. It’d be great to see Ball’s Aaron Garza against Santa Fe’s explosive offense.

And for those interested, it’s a busy weekend in Houston. The Shell Houston Open takes place for much of this week, the Final Four has every team that I picked to make it this far (just kidding, Virginia Commonwealth and Butler fans), and the local major league baseball team will be getting things started.

With so much going on, where will you guys be this week?