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County football teams open season this Friday night

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Bowie
The Jackrabbits will open the season at home against Godley. The Wildcats are a bigger school, classified as 4A division II, and coming off a 9-3 record with an exit in the area round of the playoffs.
“They have big, physical kids,” Coach Dylan Stark said. They have a real athletic receiver. They are coached by a former Bowie coach, Duke Dalton.”
Dalton coached in Bowie back in the early 2000s. The Wildcats have two good running backs and wide receiver Easton James on the outside. The team plays out of the spread formation and plays a standard 4-3 defense.
Stark knows playing a bigger school coming off a playoff run is a tough challenge and that is exactly what he wants to see his team face.
“It will be a real good test for us at the start of the year, kind of see where we are at,” Stark said.

Nocona
The Indians open the season on the road at Boyd. A 3A division I team coming off of a 3-8 season, the Yellow Jackets feature a lot of up and coming freshman and sophomores Nocona will have to deal with.
Despite the youth, Coach Brad Keck has said Boyd has more than held their own in their scrimmages against Bridgeport and Godley the last two weeks. Keck knows one of the keys will be trying to stop their quarterback Kody Risenhoover from making plays.
“Their quarterback from last year is a really good athlete,” Keck said. “He throws the ball well on the run. He does a real good job of scrambling around and keeping his eyes down the field to his receivers.”
Keck knows the key will be the size and experience the Indians will have up front on the offense and defensive side.
“We can’t have stalemates up front,” Keck said. “We need to be pushing on them pretty good.”

Saint Jo
The Panthers play division II team Fannindel to open the season at home. Sharing the same district with old rivals Forestburg and Gold-Burg, the Falcons are picked to win that district from outsiders.
Coach Derek Schlieve knows his team is up for a challenge Friday night. “They have a whole lot of speed,” Schlieve said. “We have to try to bottle that speed up, contain it and make the tackle when we get to that spot.”
Fannindel was a 5-5 team last year and finished second in their division I before losing in the first round of the playoffs. Their quarterback Layne Miller threw for 25 touchdowns last year and running back Dayton Dunbar ran for 23 touchdowns.
Saint Jo is a bigger school and will have more fresh bodies to throw at the Falcons to stay fresh all game.
“We are going to need to play physical at the point of attack,” Schlieve said. “We are going to have to hold our blocks whistle to whistle. We have to make sure we take care of the football.”

Gold-Burg
The Bears play private school power Wichita Falls Notre Dame at home.
Coming off a down year where the Knights missed the playoffs after consecutive years in the state title game, Notre Dame is looking to bounce back this year.
“They have got two players that can really run,” Williams said. “We are going to have to do a good job of bottling them up because if they break one tackle in the open field or outside, it is a touchdown.”
The Knights still have some players from those title game appearances and that experience will be a huge test for Gold-Burg.
“I feel like we can run the ball on them to keep possession and take time off the clock,” Williams said.
Knowing the value of home field advantage, Williams hopes the familiar playing site along with the support from home fans will give his team the edge it needs to beat such a good program.
“Everyone feels so much more prepared for the first game this year compared to last year,” Williams said. “We feel ready for the season.”

Forestuburg
The Longhorns head into their opening game at home against private school Lone Star North banged up.
Several players are fighting through injuries that plagued the team in their two scrimmages.
It also is a team that is still trying to figure things out and has unproven players stepping into big shoes.
Coach Kyler Roach feels he still has the personnel to execute his game plan.
“I feel like our offense is like a second defense,” Roach said. “I’m a big believer in ball control. The more we have it, the less time they have to score.”
Lone Star North has some fast kids, but Roach hopes the physicality and toughness his team has will be the difference for the Longhorns.
“I am preparing for a close game,” Roach said. “Friday night is going to come down to who is tougher.”

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News. All games scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

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Baseball Roundup

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Saint Jo vs Bellevue
The Saint Jo Panthers got out of their early season funk as they beat fellow 1A Bellevue twice last week on two different days.
The Panthers won the first high-scoring game 15-9 before shut out the Eagles 10-0 in the second game.
Saint Jo had a rough beginning to its season, with mostly ugly losses and only one win.
Bellevue came in with no wins, but it was not unexpected due to it being the Eagles first year as a program since the late 1990s.
Bellevue led the first game for most of it scoring five runs in the first inning and just holding off the Panthers 5-4 heading into the sixth inning.
Saint Jo then caught fire, scoring six runs in the sixth inning to take its first lead since the first inning. The Eagles kept it close and scored four runs to make it a one run game 10-9 heading into the final inning.
The game had to be postponed due to Bellevue’s new field not having any lights to play past a certain time.
When the game was picked up three days later, the Panthers added five more run to their lead. The Eagles could not answer and Saint Jo won the game 15-9.
Devein Stewart and Logan Hoover led the Panthers four RBIs each while Charlie Evans and R Forrester drove in two runs each.
Trent Gaston pitched 4.1 innings and allowed two runs and struck out seven batters to lead the team.
Saint Jo’s defense committed four errors.
For Bellevue, Brayden Moore led the team with three RBIs while Bryce Ramsey and Ryan Jones each drove in two runs.
Ramsey pitched five innings and allowed four runs while striking out nine batters to lead the team.
The second game picked up right after the end of the first game. Unfortunately for the Eagles, the second game went similarly to the end of first game.
Saint Jo scored three runs in the first inning, four in the second inning and three in the third inning.
The Panther defense shut out Bellevue and the game ended with Saint Jo winning 10-0 after four and half innings due to run rule.
Sam Martin led the Panthers with four RBIs while Evans drove in two runs. Stewart pitched three innings and allowed one hit and one walk while striking out six batters. Hoover pitched two innings and struck out four batters while allowing no hits and walking two batters. The team committed no fielding errors.
For Bellevue, River Trail got the only hit in the game for the team. The team drew three walks, but could not get on base.
Blake Reese led the team with two innings pitched and three earned runs on two hits and five walks while striking out two batters. The defense committed no fielding errors.

Nocona
The Nocona Indians lost their second game against Muenster on Friday on the road.
The Indians lost 10-0 after five innings due to run-rule as the Hornets picked up all of their runs in one horrible inning for Nocona.
The score was tied at 0-0 heading into the bottom of the third inning. The Indian defense had navigated one out singles the first two innings without letting it morph into anything threatening.
Unfortunately, the third inning saw Muenster get going from the first batter.
Five singles, two doubles, two walks and a hit batter later saw the Hornets score 10 runs.
Nocona’s bats had been able to get someone on base in most innings despite Walker Murphey getting the team’s only base hit, but could not get a run to score.
The Indian defense did bounce back to not allow any runs in the fourth or fifth inning, but with no runs coming through for Nocona, the game ended after five innings.
Muenster won 10-0.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.

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Softball Roundup

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Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians lost at home on Friday night against Muenster.
The Lady Hornets won 9-0, with most of the damage coming in the fourth inning against the Lady Indians.
Nocona gave up two runs in the first inning, but kept the game within reach after shutting out Muenster in the second and third innings.
Then came the fourth inning. Five fielding errors and two singles contributed to the Lady Hornets scoring six runs to go up 8-0.
The Lady Indians struggled to get their bats going all game though they did get some base runners that could have been worked home with some timely plays in other games.
Muenster added one more run in the sixth inning to make the final score 9-0.

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers lost a shootout at Era on Friday night.
The Lady Hornets won 25-15 in a game that ended early after six innings due to run-rule.
Saint Jo was trailing the early part of the game down 9-1 after three innings.
The Lady Panthers then had a huge offensive inning, scoring nine runs in the fourth inning to go up 10-9.
Era bounced back in the same inning and scored three runs to retake the lead 12-10, but Saint Jo then scored four runs in the fifth inning and one in the sixth inning as it lead 15-12.
The Lady Hornets then embarked on an inning from hell for the Lady Panthers, more than doubling their score and not ending until Era was up by 10 runs to end the game early.
The Lady Hornets had scored 13 runs to win 25-15.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.

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Nocona’s Stone signs to play football

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Nocona senior Johnny Stone, son of Chelsi and Haydan, signed his letter of intent to play football at Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie on Monday. Stone played running back and linebacker for Nocona on varsity for three years, helping the Indians go from two wins his first season to winning 16 games the last two seasons that resulted in playoff berths and a district title this past season. Stone has also spent time playing baseball, golf, basketball and track during his four years at Nocona. “They have a great program there,” Stone said. “Their business and financing program, it is five years for a masters so I thought that was a really good choice. They have a nice indoor gym. They really focus on the relgious part of school.” Stone plans to focus on business and financing major with maybe a minior in religious beliefs.

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