Breaking the Stereotype
Brianna Jones plays football, wrestles way to scholarship
Dec 20, 2018, 3:27 pm
Vype.com
Originally Appeared on VYPE
Brianna Jones has found success in sports that stereotypically were never meant for girls to play.
Jones is breaking barriers as she has thrived in the traditional boy-only sports of football and wrestling.
She enters her senior year at Klein Oak looking to get back to state again for the wrestling team. She has been rewarded for her hard work on the mat, committing to wrestle at Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas.
"It's amazing," Jones said. "I've worked so hard to get to wrestle in college and continue my career. I didn't think I would be able to. All the practice and hard work has paid off."
Of all the players who have come through, McCullough, coach Mark Johnson will always remember Brianna Jones.
"I ran through the middle. I had guys dragging on me but I kept going through," Jones said. "Then I knocked a kid down and finished it."
In Jones' first seventh grade football game, Johnson lined her up at nose tackle – she blew through the line and tackled the quarterback and running back at the same time.
On her first offensive play of that same game, Johnson watched as Jones carried the ball 40 yards, ran over five defenders and scored.
"She's one of my most memorable football players of all time because that girl is tough," Johnson said. "She just went and didn't care. I wish I had a million of them just like her. She's a tough, hard-nosed person."
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Oswald Peraza hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels snap a three-game losing skid by beating the Houston Astros 4-1 on Saturday night.
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The Angels third run of the ninth inning scored when Mike Trout walked with the bases loaded.
Kyle Hendricks allowed one run while scattering seven hits over six innings. He held the Astros to 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one hit coming on Jesús Sánchez’s third-inning infield single that scored Jeremy Peña.
Reid Detmers worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Astros scoreless in the seventh, and José Fermin (3-2) retired the side in order in the eighth before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save.
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Zach Neto’s third-inning solo home run.
Yordan Alvarez had two hits for the Astros, who remained three games ahead of Seattle for first place in the AL West.
Key moment
Peraza’s two-run single to deep right field that broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth.
Key Stat
Opponents were 5 for 44 against Abreu in August before he allowed four straight hits in the ninth.
Up next
Astros RHP Hunter Brown (10-6, 2.37 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (9-9, 3.85) when the series continues Sunday.