ITALY — The Italy Gladiator (3-2) defense posted their second shutout in a row and earn their third straight win after annihilating charter school Red Oak Life, in this their first varsity season, 63-0 at Willis Field in Italy Friday night.

The Italy Junior High and Junior Varsity football squads traveled to Dallas to take on Red Oak Life Thursday. Without one of their own, ROL shares the Dallas Life School’s football field. The location was of no concern to the younger Gladiators who will play anytime, anywhere…

No Italy sporting events have been cancelled during the week of September 20-25. This article contains scheduling information concerning this week’s sporting events including IJH/JV/V Football, JV/V Volleyball and IYAA Sports. The Junior Varsity football game will be played in Dallas on Thursday.

Hubbard — In what was a well played scrimmage by both sides, the Italy Junior High Football team (7th & 8th) traveled to Hubbard to take on the Jaguars this past Thursday.

After the freshly painted football field had dried, and after the town’s participation in the Italy High School Homecoming Parade, and after the pre-game pep rally and the 18th Annual George Scott Memorial Scholarship Fund Dinner, and after honoring past players and alumni, there was just two things left, to announce the 2010 Homecoming Queen and to play the Homecoming game!

On Thursday, Italy ISD School Board members Jon Mathers, Curtis Riddle, Paul Cockerham and Italy ISD maintenance crewman Michael Chambers painted both endzones at Willis Field in preparation for the Homecoming game Friday night. More painting scheduled early today as well.

The intensity has definitely picked up on the Gladiators’ side of the ball this week as Italy prepares to do Homecoming battle against the Hubbard Jaguars. Gladiator practices are no place for the weak. Former players returning for the Friday night festivities would cringe at some of the hits being dished out in preparation for the game.

Palmer — When Italy Gladiators’ fans awoke Saturday morning, the sun was shining brighter, the grass was a bit greener and the old gold had returned some of its luster. After an 0-2 start to their season, the Italy Gladiators(1-2) get into the win column by handing the Palmer Bulldogs(1-2) their second loss of the season, 27-7 in Palmer’s own backyard.

Pouring rains may have cancelled Thursday’s Junior Varsity and Junior High football games but that didn’t keep the Junior High team from getting in a few practice reps. IJH’s excited players will have to wait until next week to showcase their skills against Hubbard.

The Italy Gladiators challenged another tough opponent in the Mart Panthers on Friday night. Head coach Craig Bales hopes the experience gained from playing strong teams before district will make the Gladiators that much stronger. Italy survived the Panther attack, but can Palmer survive the Gladiators?

The Italy JV Gladiators battled back in the fourth quarter to give themselves a chance but the Mart JV Panthers finally put the game out of reach in the final minutes.

Gladiators’ fans have been down right restless waiting on the football season to get here. Thursday’s JV game offered a taste of the season ahead but Friday night’s varsity loss to Maypearl has left “Gladiator Nation” hungry for a win over the Mart Panthers next Friday.

Willis Field, Italy — After a rousing “Meet the Gladiators” pep rally inside Italy Coliseum before the JV game, Italy’s JV Gladiators kicked off their 2010-2011 season against the Maypearl Panthers on Thursday.

Thursday, August 26, at 4:30pm, there will be a community pep rally held in the dome at the Italy High School Campus. The entire community is invited to come and meet our varsity and JV football players and the varsity cheerleaders. With the Gladiators’ preseason opening this week with games against the Maypearl Panthers it is a perfect time to come together and pump our Gladiators up. Beat Maypearl !!!

The Gladiators must recover quickly from a rough outing with three-time defending TAPPS State Champions, the Waco Reicher Catholic Cougars. Italy will be marching into Maypearl to tangle with the Panthers on Friday, August 27, at 7:30 p.m. It may be a pre-season game but the Gladiators will be using their long-time rivals as a gage to measure how good they could be this season.

The JV and Varsity Gladiators will scrimmage the Waco Reicher Cougars on Friday, August 20, starting at 6:00 p.m. at Waco Reicher. The game was originally scheduled to be played in Italy but it has been relocated to Waco.

Perceived contenders for the district championship this season, the Italy Gladiators are well on their way to making that goal a reality after a strong showing against the Valley Mills Eagles during a scrimmage on Saturday.

The Italy Gladiators went all pads on Friday during both 2-a-day practice sessions. Lineman worked the seven man sled for the first time and and receivers adjusted to catching with the shoulder pads on.

With the first scrimmage only days away, football fever is at an all time high. Attached are the schedules for the Varsity, Junior Varsity and Junior High Italy Gladiator Football teams. Go Gladiators!

With week one of 2-a-day practices coming to an end, the Italy Gladiators will suit up in full contact armor on Friday.

The 2010 Italy Gladiators, head coached by athletic director Craig Bales, began their 2-a-day football practices on Monday to kickoff a highly anticipated campaign to reclaim the district championship that has been so close yet so far away.

The 2009 Italy Gladiators football team had 15 players named to the District 21-A All-District list. Junior Jasenio Anderson was named District 21-A’s Most Valuable Player, 1st Team Punter and 1st Team Kicker. Anderson and his teammates helped to restore a winning football tradition in Italy by getting into the playoffs for the first time since 2005.

The Italy Gladiators(5-4) who finished tied for 2nd in District 21-A were matched against the Lovelady Lions(10-0) and their 19-seniors in a battle for the bi-district championship. Italy took an early 14-0 lead but the Lions came roaring back.

With a trip to the Playoffs guaranteed, the Italy Gladiators traveled to Patton Field in Itasca for one last district battle against their old rivals, the Itasca Wampus Cats. Italy’s sideline looked more like a M.A.S.H. unit before halftime as Itasca added insult to injury by taking a 16-8 lead over the Gladiators into halftime.

The Italy Gladiator Junior High and JV football teams capped off their 2009 seasons with home games against the Itasca Wampus Cats. For the 8th Graders, the night marked their final football game as Junior High Gladiators. For the JV, they were just glad to finally play a game before the sophomores move up to the Varsity level next season.

Under the direction of Coach Craig Bales who is in his second year as head coach, the Italy Gladiators have come full circle. Unlike three seasons ago when Italy didn’t win one game, the winning tradition is being restored in Gladiator country.

The Friday pep rally inside the old gym at Italy High School was a fun time for students, cheerleaders, players, faculty and the community. A speech from NFL great and Italy alum Keith Davis highlighted the event along with the IHS cheerleaders as they performed a dance routine to the song, “Thriller.”

The Italy JH Gladiators had their hands full, of mud mostly, against the Dawson Bulldogs on Thursday. It was a hard fought game between both sides but when the final buzzer sounded, the game ended in a tie, 6-6.

Friday, October 30 at 3:00 p.m., the whole community is invited to enjoy the Gladiator Pep Rally. Keith Davis will be the guest speaker at the Halloween themed event – Wear your costume!

The Italy Gladiators blasted into Wortham’s Bulldog Stadium and pounded “Big Blue” into submission. Italy’s high powered offense didn’t rely on it’s air attack in this one, instead the Gladiators defeated the Bulldogs at their own running game. The win puts Italy at 4-0 in District with the Dawson Bulldogs coming to town on Friday.

ITALY – The undefeated Wortham Bulldogs showed their might against Italy’s Junior High team on Thursday at Willis Field. Amazingly, with less than a minute to go and Wortham in control of the ball, a scoreless Italy team avoided being shutout by the Bulldogs in dramatic fashion.

The Italy Gladiators (4-2 overall) battled the Hubbard Jaguars (1-6 overall) Friday night at Willis Field in Italy. Early in the first quarter, the Gladiators gave the Jaguars a taste of what the rest of the game had in store for the spotted cats.

Reminiscent of Rocky III, when Rocky Balboa was pitted against Mr. T’s Clubber Lang character, the Italy Junior High whipped the Hubbard Jaguars in four rounds of football. Hubbard, with only a tie on their record coming into the game, now have a loss to go with that tie thanks to a surging Italy Junior High team that improved their record to 2-1.

The Italy Gladiators charged into Longhorn country with quarterback Jasenio Anderson at the reins. It wasn’t exactly a shootout at the O.K. Corral as both sides relied on their running games. With pass attempts ricocheting off the mud-slicked surface, Italy did manage to post a shutout in their low-scoring win over Axtell, and that’s O.K. with Gladiator fans.

Italy’s Junior High and JV football teams had the visiting Axtell Longhorns back on their hooves in both games. Italy’s teams scored first and held their leads throughout. The Longhorns played tough but it was the Gladiators who were seeing red when Axtell unloaded their yellow wagons.

The Italy Gladiators challenged the Frost Polar Bears for the right to be 1-0 in district play during Italy High School’s Homecoming game on Friday. Italy head coach, Craig Bales, had his team ready to play and it did’t take long to realize that the old gold tradition has a new winning style. Once the balloons were filled, the ribbons were tied and the mums were pinned on, the Italy Gladiators got geared up for their championship run.

Apparently, when gold and blue collide together it makes red as the Italy Junior High played a hard-hitting football game against the Frost Polar Bears in their district opener.

Junior Gladiator Quarterback Jasenio Anderson was chosen by the Directors of www.1Atexasfootball.com as this week’s Player of the Week for his outstanding performance in the overtime loss to AA Malakoff. He was selected from a list of unbelievable games played by the most talented players across the State, and his stats and some photos from the Neotribune are featured on their website, which can be reached through the link provided above.

One For The Ages – The 1A Italy Gladiators traveled to take on the 2A Malakoff Tigers who Italy had beaten last season 33-8. Catching the Gladiators off guard, this wasn’t last years Tiger team. Malakoff brought in a complete new coaching staff for their 2009 campaign.

Malakoff made a clean sweep of the Italy 7th Grade, 8th Grade and JV football teams Thurdsay…even if it was muddy. Both Italy Junior High teams only had 11 players on each roster but all 22 players gave a valiant effort defending the home field. Malakoff’s JV Tigers started off slow but eventually slung enough mud into the air to win the game against the JV Gladiators.

The family of Justin Wood would like to express a sincere thank you to Coach Craig Bales and his Italy High School coaching staff, along with Stafford Elementary nurse Rita Garza, for their effective handling of Justin when he was injured during football practice two weeks ago.

Although Italy’s 7th Grade football team tied the Palmer Bulldogs 0-0 in their Thursday scrimmage, they did manage to beat the rain. Italy did forgoe it’s last offensive series due to lightning and ultimately rain. However, the 8th Grade and JV teams will have to wait until next Thursday against Malakoff.

Italy earned their first win on the season with an impressive victory over the Chilton Pirates. Chilton, who upset 1A power Mart (No. 16) last week 39-16, had the air pounded out of their sails Friday night by a determined group of Gladiators 33-27.

The Italy Gladiators began their highly anticipated football season by hosting, their long-time rival, the Maypearl Panthers Friday night. 2009 marks the second year Italy has returned to 1A competition where they have enjoyed trophy case after trohy case of success in years past.

After a JV Gladiator win on Thursday against Maypearl, the Italy student body threw a Pep Rally for the Varsity players before their game against the Panthers on Friday.

The Italy Gladiators had one of their best practices Wednesday. There is definitely an energy surrounding Willis Field in anticipation of the upcoming JV and Varsity football games this week against Maypearl. Playing under the Friday night lights will be fun but don’t forget about the JV game that will be played under the Thursday night lights in Maypearl.

Although the Italy Gladiators were out pointed 2-0 in the Friday scrimmage against 2-time defending TAPPS Division III State Champion Waco Reicher Cougars, you won’t find any gloom around the Gladiator practice facilities. Feeling good about their progress, Italy is ready to meet the Maypearl Panthers head-on, in the first non-district game of the season.