![The cross country team poses for the camera after finishing the district meet. The varsity boys, JV boys and JV girls all placed third and the varsity girls placed fourth. “Coach put in the right training for us for this season, so I think we will be peaking this week and the next couple of weeks,” varsity runner and junior Nathan Kukla said. “The chances of making it to state are very high, but we don’t settle for the lowest and there is always going to be that chance, so [we] race for the best.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Heidi-831-1200x900.jpg)
![Sucking in a breath of air, freshman Lily Pope competes in the 200 yard individual medley. On Oct. 25, the swim team competed in the AISD Swim Invitational. Overall, the girls team took second place and the boys team came in eleventh. “My favorite stroke is butterfly because I do the best in that stroke,” Pope said. “I feel like [butterfly] can test how [your ability] to convince yourself to keep going. The hardest part of swimming is convincing yourself to stay strong and keep pushing during a hard race [when] everything is tired.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/POPE-1200x804.jpg)
![Smiling at the camera, Author Ehigbor Okosun, members of Page Turners, and other students reflect on the author's visit. “I thought the visit was great,” Senior Amia De Leon said. “It was interesting talking to her and [getting to know] her process and her thoughts and books in general. But I think the reason it went well [was that] people got to ask questions. I'm glad that she said so much in response to the questions and it wasn't just one and done. [The author’s responses] felt very articulate.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Sebastian-5-1200x800.jpg)
![Standing in front of the field at a freshman football game, cheerleader freshman Jacob Gaudreau along with teammate freshman Bella Gibson pose for a photo during halftime of game. “[Cheer has] definitely given me a much more outgoing personality,” Gaudreau said. “I used to be very introverted, so it's definitely made me more extroverted towards people.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Ingrid-204-1200x800.jpg)
![Holding a wooden pizza toy, senior Taylor Peterson plays with small children in Bucaramanga, Colombia. During the summer, Peterson traveled to Colombia to help build an elementary school that only had two classrooms but five or six grades with one teacher. “We add[ed] two more classrooms,” Peterson said. “It’s kind of hard when you have two or three grades in one classroom and you only have one teacher. It’s very hard to actually get some beneficial learning. [The extra classrooms will give the students] a better quality of education because they’ll actually have a place specific for their learning.” Photo by Taylor Peterson](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Taylor-P.png)
![Swinging with his arm extended, senior Nolan Park hits the ball smoothly over the net and to the opponent’s side. Park is one of four varsity tennis captains and helped the team win district championships. “Winning district champs was a pretty awesome feeling,” Park said. “We had lost to Liberty Hill a couple of weeks before, but when we played them [again], we came out and really took care of business. We took them out and it was just a really awesome night.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Kassidy-419.jpg)
![Standing proud, varsity senior athletes Rafael Escobar, Griffin Jacobs, Jakob Martin, and juniors Jackson Springer and Jack Morris pose with their newly earned medals. The varsity team finished third out of 14 teams on Sept. 25. “The team's primary goal is to win the district championship,” head coach Cody Price said. "We're confident that with our action plan in place, we can accomplish this mission. [For the next tournament], our preparation involves assessing our strengths and weaknesses, celebrating milestones and creating individual development plans." Photo courtesy of Cody Price](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/golf.jpg)
Stepping up to the mic, he clears his mind and readies to answer their first question as his friends listen in from the tables behind him. He talks about his strengths, weaknesses and opinions about his performance on the football field, laughing at their jokes and chiming in where he can. Then, he is told to send another player up to the mic, chooses one and returns to his half-eaten taco.
Every Tuesday night at 7 p.m., a radio broadcast show called Timberwolf Night in America featuring the varsity football team is held at Taco Palenque and broadcast online. Each week, a different position group is interviewed by hosts Josh Willard and Brad Cone, who discuss player details, ask silly questions and go over team statistics. Last night, the O-Line was featured on the show.
“Timberwolf Night in America is an opportunity for us to learn about who the players are, because the team changes every year,” Willard said. “It’s a chance to ask what they are looking to accomplish this week. We’ll go over the last game, preview this week’s matchup, and talk about the record book. It’s just fun talking about Timberwolf football.”
Position coaches are interviewed along with the players during the broadcast, which lasts about an hour. Online viewers have the option of listening in from a media website or YouTube on the VYPE LIVE channel.
“[Cone and Willard] do an awesome job of loving our kids,” Head Coach Michael Quintero said. “We want a lot more people to go over there during the radio station, to listen to it and support. [The broadcast] is not just for football players, it’s for fans, too. If you’re a Cedar Park fan, you have the opportunity to go to [Taco Palenque], eat dinner and listen to the interviews; they play out on the speakers so you can hear the kids talking. It’s pretty cool.”
Last night, varsity football player and senior John Woodall was interviewed on the show, where he was asked about his successes on the football field as well as his hopes for the future.
“This broadcast is a good thing for the team because the community can hear [the broadcast] and listen to the moments we talk about,” Woodall said. “My favorite part about the show is getting to hang out with my teammates and eat food.”
Co-Host Brad Cone started the broadcast out of his living room in 2011. Since then, the broadcast has been hosted from many locations, mainly restaurants or businesses that have sponsored the team. This year, Taco Palenque is the title sponsor and opens up its restaurant to the broadcast every Tuesday, where students and faculty can get 15% off food with a school ID.
Cone is also the arena voice for Concordia men and women’s basketball and the stadium voice for Concordia baseball. For six years, he worked as the stadium voice at the Erwin Center for the UIL state women’s and men’s basketball tournament. He has been the announcing stadium voice for Cedar Park since the school opened in 1998.
“[Cone] gets a lot of speaking engagements from this [line of work], and I’m trying to learn his ways,” Willard said. “He’s definitely my mentor in this field and has taught me everything I know. It’s been awesome to learn from him.”
During Thursday night games, the broadcast is patched into ESPN 102.7 Austin, which gives the broadcast its radio coverage. According to Cone, Timberwolf Night in America is the longest running high school sports broadcast in Texas.
“We have met a lot of good people over the years,” Cone said. “My wife and I can’t hardly go out to eat or go to H-E-B without somebody stopping us and saying, ‘Oh, you’re Brad Cone, the voice of the Timberwolves,’ and I’ll know who they are. [It could be] the mom of the quarterback we had eight years ago. We love all the people we meet; players, parents and coaches.”
Cone, who is retired, used to do the play-by-plays for the team and has been passing over more broadcast responsibilities to Willard. Both men broadcasted for free for several years, but now are contracted part-time by VYPE LIVE, a media company operating out of Houston, to cover high school sports.
“[Cone and I] are two of the longest tenured employees for VYPE,” Willard said. “I never thought I could make this a career until recently. I’ve got 10 years on the mic, doing this audio and visual work. I’m starting to put feelers out there to make this a career, [because] this is so much fun. I wish this was [my job].”
Willard graduated from Cedar Park High School in 2011, where he was on the football team. Two years after graduating, he began broadcasting, and now he does the game play-by-plays at home and on the road, as well as hosts Timberwolf Night in America.
“I just love Friday night lights,” Willard said. “I went to college and I would still come back every Friday night. My friends would be like, ‘Why are you not staying in college?’ I love this atmosphere. I love the coaches—the coaching staff has played an instrumental role in my life. It’s just a good community. I love getting to know each team each year, because they are all so different.”
Next Tuesday, the running backs position group will be interviewed at Taco Palenque at 7 p.m. Those who are not able to make it in-person can find the broadcast on the vypelive.com website.
“In Texas, high school football is just something special,” Cone said. “Even when you leave high school, you’re still drawn back to be a part of it. Here I am, 65 years old, and I still love high school football.”
