SPORTS
Football practice starting next week with an emphasis on safety
Monday is the beginning of a four-month journey for high school football teams around the state.
While temperatures are not expected to be as soul destroying as they were two weeks ago, no one can deny temperatures in the mid-to-upper 90 degrees is not hot, especially when you are sprinting around a football field in a helmet.
Two-a-days in Texas high school football are for the most part a thing of the past as University Interscholastic League passed more and more stringent rules since the mid 2000s to limit pre-season practices. This followed the trend at all levels of limiting football practices, from pro and college as well, in the names of player safety.
The main concern during this time is protecting players from heat stroke which can be fatal. Gone are the days where coaches held water from their players to “toughen them up.” Science shows this is a dangerous game to play and no player performs better when they are dehydrated.
Coaches and organizations know now athletes almost cannot drink enough water. Every 15 minutes is a required water break by UIL. Some schools have trainers with water bottles at every drill constantly filled with water.
At Saint Jo, they are monitoring how much water each player is drinking throughout practice to make sure they are drinking enough.
“We take a page out of the Louisiana State University manual,” Saint Jo Coach Derek Schlieve said. “They have each player bring a gallon jug of water and mark it off with different lines throughout the day so we can gauge where our athletes are at in the hydration process.”
Other schools hope educating their athletes on the importance of staying hydrated while also always having it on hand will let players take care of it themselves.
Still, every year there are reports around the country of players dying due to heat stroke. Players not conditioning themselves physically and getting used to working in the heat are more susceptible. Also, getting plenty of hydration in the days leading up to the first day and not just on the day is important.
A lot of teams do their best to avoid the summer heat as much as possible by scheduling their practices earlier or later in the day.
“I like to get the guys used to practicing early and with athletics being the first period of the day, it just works out for us,” Forestburg Coach Kyler Roach said.
“As much as we can, we are going to try to practice early,” Bowie Coach Dylan Stark said. “We have a trainer and we make sure we always have plenty of water available.”
Along with changes over the years, amount of days players practice in full pads has cut down to help players bodies stand up to the months of hitting. Teams this year cannot have their first full contact practice until after Friday, making Bowie move its Midnight Madness practice from Thursday to Friday.
This has been the trend at all levels to try to help cull injuries as much as possible. Opponents of this trend have argued this has led to what is perceived to be a decrease in tackling fundamentals due to less full contact practices, but coaches know they have no choice but to adjust their practicing habits as new rules are put into place.
“I think the good coaches take it in stride and they can adjust,” Schlieve said. “There is a lot of things you can do without hitting. It forces a coach to focus on things like the fundamentals instead of just lining up and scrimmaging. It can be a challenge, but we like to look at it as glass half full and gives us an opportunity to work on other things with our athletes.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians lost a tough game at Muenster on Tuesday night.
The Lady Hornets won 13-2 after four and half innings due to run-rule, but most of the damage came in one inning for Muenster.
Nocona was coming into the game after a one-sided win against a smaller Saint Jo team, but knew it would have to play well if it wanted a chance to win.
The beginning of the game was competitive as the Lady Indians got on the board first with Skye Kirby driving in a run on a single.
The Lady Hornets loaded the bases up with no outs in the first inning, but Nocona almost got out of the jam unscathed before a passed ball and a single allowed two runs to come in and score. Muenster led 2-1 after the first inning.
The teams exchanged scoreless innings in the second and third before the Lady Hornets broke open in the game in the bottom of the fourth.
Muenster scored 11 runs on three singles, two triples, two walks, three fielding errors and a two-run home run. The Lady Hornets led 13-1.
Nocona needed to score at least three runs in the fifth inning to prevent the game from ending early due to run-rule.
The Lady Indians leadoff batter A Sutton got on base by drawing a walk. She got moved to second base on a groundout and later went to third base on a passed ball.
Heidi Atteberry then grounded out, but it was enough to get Sutton home for a run.
It looked like Nocona would score more as Shelby Sewell hit a single to get on base.
Avery Crutsinger hit a groundball that resulted in an error that allowed her and Sewell to advance to third and second base. Unfortunately, the next batter grounded out to end the game.
The Lady Hornets won 13-2.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers lost a high-scoring shootout at home Tuesday night against Era.
The Lady Hornets won 31-15, but the Lady Panthers avoided getting run-ruled in a game that was going their way in the beginning.
Saint Jo was ahead 8-2 after the first three innings and was playing well, until its pitchers started having deep troubles finding the strike zone.
Era scored 11 runs in the fourth inning and took a 13-8 lead and the Lady Panthers could not get the game back in control.
Too many walks and hit batters just could not keep the Lady Hornets off the board and scoring great in the final three innings.
While Saint Jo had success offensively, scoring runs in every inning in the game, it never had an explosive inning it needed to catch back up.
The Lady Panthers scored to keep the game going, trailing 13-9 after four innings, 18-12 after five and 21-13 after six.
Era then ended the game with another 10 runs in the seventh inning to make the final score worse than it was for most of it.
Saint Jo added two runs in the final inning to make the score 31-15 at the end.
Taylor Patrick, Jordyn O’Neal, Krista Reeves and Aubrey Morman each drove in two runs each to lead the team. O’Neal led the team with five hits while her, Patrick and Reagan Wilson each scored three runs each. The team finished with 16 hits in the game and drew four walks.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona
The Nocona Indians lost in the final inning at Perrin-Whitt on Tuesday night.
The Pirates came back to score all of their runs in the seventh inning to steal a win from the Indians 3-2.
Nocona was coming off a dominant series against Saint Jo the previous week and was hoping it could further that against another 1A team.
It didn’t turn out to be the case despite the Indians leading almost the entire game.
Walker Murphey led off for Nocona and drew a walk.
An error trying to pick him off allowed him to go to second base before a sacrifice bunt moved him to third base.
Following a strikeout, Brody Langford hit a ball to left field that resulted in an error that allowed Murphey to come in and score to put the Indians up 1-0.
The next four innings were scoreless for both teams Nocona nursed its one-run lead into the sixth inning. There the Indians added to their lead.
Wesley Murphey hit a one-out double to get a runner in scoring position.
Langford came through and hit a single that drove in the base runner to put Nocona’s lead up to and feeling good 2-0.
Perrin-Whitt had a great chance to get on the board in the same inning as two singles and a hit batter loaded the bases up with only one out.
Pitcher Walker Murphey got out of the jam with a strikeout and a fly out in foul territory to keep the shutout going.
Unfortunately, that bit of momentum from the Pirates carried over into the seventh inning.
The leadoff batter got on base thanks to an error at shortstop. Two singles followed to load the bases up with no outs. The next batter then hit a bases clearing triple to end the game.
Perrin-Whitt won 3-2.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers completed a double-header on Tuesday at Muenster and lost both games.
The Panthers lost the first game against the JV team 7-3 before losing by run-rule against the varsity team 20-1 after three and half innings.
Saint Jo was coming off tough double-header losses to Nocona the previous week and was hoping it could bounce back.
The first game against the JV Hornets team only went five innings. Muenster lead after the first inning 1-0, but the Panthers answered with one run in the third inning to tie the game.
The Hornets responded with two runs scored in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
Saint Jo added two runs in the fifth inning, but it was not enough to catch back up as it lost 7-3.
The game against the varsity team saw most of the damage come in the third inning. Muenster led 2-0 before racking up 18 runs in a third inning that would not end for Saint Jo.
The Panthers answered with one run in the fourth inning to make the final score 20-1.
Charlie Barclay got the only hit for Saint Jo in the game.
The team drew four straight walks in the final inning to score its only run in the game.
Bellevue
The Bellevue Eagles lost a tough game on Tuesday night against 2A Chico.
The Dragons won 12-0 after four and half innings due to run-rule.
Chico scored most of the runs in the first and fourth innings as Bellevue limited the Dragons to just one run in the second and third innings combined.
Chico scored four runs in the first inning and seven in the fourth inning.
Bellevue had only one base hit in the game with Bryce Ramsey hitting a single.
On defense, the team gave up 10 hits and three walks while committing three fielding errors.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie Lady Rabbits lost a tough game at Holliday on Monday night.
The Lady Eagles won 12-2 after five innings due to run-rule.
Bowie was hoping it could compete well with Holliday coming off a good win against Vernon in its previous game. While the Lady Rabbits lost to the Lady Eagles in the first game, Bowie had avoided getting run-ruled and took that as a positive sign. Unfortunately, that was not avoided on Monday.
After a scoreless first inning, Bowie had gotten on the board first in the second inning. Sadie Britt led off with a double. Two batters later, Victoria Watson drove her in with a single to put the Lady Rabbits up 1-0.
Unfortunately, Holliday answered with nine runs in the same inning scored on six singles, a double, two walks and two fielding errors. Bowie was down 9-1 and could not get back into the game.
The Lady Eagles added two more runs on a two-run home run in the third inning to go up 11-1.
The Lady Rabbit offense answered in the fourth inning with the same two players coming through again.
Britt led off and hit a single.
Two wild pitches allowed her to advance to third base before two batters later, Watson got her home, this time on a sacrifice fly ball to make it 11-2.
Bowie’s defense allowed no runs in the fourth inning and after failing to score on offense in the fifth inning, it needed to do it again to prevent the game from ending early due to run-rule.
Unfortunately, Holliday loaded the bases up with two singles and a hit batter with no outs before a single drove in one run to end the game.
The Lady Eagles won 12-2.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
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