PHOTO: MATTHEW SMITH
BY BRIAN GOSSET
X – @gosset41
GARLAND – After a historic victory on Friday, Clark Oberle is now 2 wins away from 800 in his career, but when it was brought to his attention, he simply smiled and said “Nope” followed with a chuckle.
Oberle announced his retirement before the season started during the summer and now goes out back on top – bringing home a memorable state championship for Boyd High School.
Led by state champ MVP, senior outside hitter Addy Delgado’s double-double of 15 kills and 10 digs, the Yellowjackets defeated Clifton 25-23, 25-21, 25-10 in the Class 3A D2 state final at the Culwell Center for their first title in program history.
Oberle ends his 32-year career with 798 wins and his third state title with as many teams. He won with Decatur in 2018 and with Argyle in 2015, which he was honored along with some of his former players for the 10-year anniversary, also on Friday.
Ironically, this year’s Decatur and Argyle teams are also playing for a state championship.
“I’ve been taking it all in all season, that’s why one reason I wanted to announce it early so I wouldn’t have to keep it a secret, and I could just enjoy and appreciate everything that happened,” Oberle said. “For the first time ever, there is no next year for me – it will hit me, maybe tomorrow or the next day, but right now I’m just so thankful that I could be a part of this team – I couldn’t be happier.”
Boyd ends at 36-9 while Clifton ends at 42-6.
It was the Cubs’ first state champ appearance and also the first time even making the state final four in 30 years. Meanwhile, the Yellowjackets get some redemption after falling to Stockdale in four sets during last year’s 3A D2 championship.
The other two times Boyd played at UIL state – the Jackets lost in the 2017 semifinals to Goliad, which won the 3A D1 title before Boyd on Friday, and in the 2018 champ game against Callisburg.
“We’ve been talking about this day for a long time,” Oberle said. “We’ve worked really hard and had this on our minds for a long time, so it feels fantastic to achieve such a big goal that we set.”
Each team had a four-point lead in the opening set – Boyd at 7-3 and Clifton at 15-11. Oberle called a timeout with his team down and came out with seven of the next eight. A pair of kills from Belle Nichter and one from Delgado got the Jackets back within one. Two more kills from Delgado, an ace by libero Bryleigh Wallace and an error on the Cubs and Boyd’s lead grew to 19-16.
Clifton was able to crawl back and tie it at 23 after a Kendall Houser kill. But it was Jalynn Starnes that scored points #24 and #25 to push the Jackets on top. She finished off a long rally by both teams for her first kill that gave Boyd set point and then added her second kill that gave the Jackets a 1-0 edge in the match.
Starnes finished the game with five kills and two digs.
The second set was just as close with 11 ties.
But after Clifton knotted the game at 18-all, Starnes and Nichter scored on a block combo. The Cubs called a timeout when an attack error gave the Jackets a 20-18 lead. Nichter added a kill off the set from Cami McIntire and Delgado added to her team lead. Another attack error on the Cubs and Boyd’s lead was 23-19.
One more kill from Delgado was followed by a Wallace ace to give Boyd a 25-21 win and 2-0 lead in the championship.
The third set wasn’t competitive as the Cubs ran out of juice. Boyd scored the first eight points of the game and nine of the first 10. Clifton got as close as 12-7 before Boyd reeled off six straight to own an 11-point advantage. Starnes had three kills during the run with McIntire picking up two and Nichter with one.
With an 18-7 lead, Boyd ended it with five Clifton errors and kills by Nichter and McIntire, who dumped a ball with her left hand that hit the court to win the match.
“I’m still kind of in shock – that whole moment was so surreal,” Delgado said after the game. “We came out more confident today. We felt like we had an advantage because we’ve played on this court before. We made sure some of the younger girls knew that you shouldn’t be intimidated, you should just go all out in our last game.
“We did a great job getting them out of system and keeping our offense moving,” added Delgado, who will continue her career with Hardin-Simmons.
Delgado added an ace while Wallace finished with three and a game-high 27 digs. Delgado set the record on Friday for most kills in a season for Boyd while Wallace added on to her record for most career digs in program history. Wallace will play at East Central University, along with Nichter who had seven kills and four total blocks. Bayleigh Medlock also chipped in seven kills on a 0.400 hitting clip. McIntire had 29 assists, five kills, four digs and three total blocks.
McIntire posted a triple-double in last year’s champ game vs. Stockdale.
“It’s well deserved,” Oberle said. “They’ve been really close three times before so it feels really good to take a state championship home after some silvers and bronzes – gold feels real good.”
Oberle was hired at Boyd before the 2022 season – finishing four years at Boyd with a 138-33 record, four playoff appearances (15-3 record), two state appearances, two district titles and now one state championship trophy.
Oberle spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons at Frisco Liberty. Before his time at Decatur, Oberle spent more than 15 years at Argyle, while starting that volleyball program in 1999. He took the Eagles to state in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016 – the last three playing in the title match, and bringing home their first championship 10 years ago.
“I’ve been blessed for sure,” Oberle said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to be in some good places with good kids that worked hard. This bunch here set goals and worked everyday to achieve them.
“I’ve been a really lucky guy.”
