SPORTS
Indians lose shootout 18-13
The Nocona Indians lost a high scoring non-district game to Callisburg on Friday.
The Wildcats won the shootout 18-13 in extra innings despite the Indians getting out to a big lead early in the game.
The teams exchanged runs in the first inning as Colton Russell drove in Trey Pepper on a sacrifice fly ball.
Nocona then scored 10 runs in the second inning thanks to RBIs from Carlos Castro, Miguel Olivares, Vinit Patel, Russell, Kooper Hansard and Try Presley. The Indians led 11-1 heading into the third inning and looked to be on the verge of run ruling Callisburg in three innings with another batch of runs.
Unfortunately, the Wildcats hit back. Callisburg scored six runs thanks to four hits, four walks and one fielding error, cutting the lead to 11-7.
Nocona did get one run back as Olivares was able to lead off getting on base and then scoring thanks to two errors. The Indians still had a good lead 12-7 heading into the fourth inning.
The Wildcats first two batters in the inning were able to get on base thanks to fielding errors. Both were allowed to score later in the inning thanks to a sacrifice fly ball and a passed ball, cutting the score to 12-9.
Nocona looked like it was going to add to its lead as Presley and Castro had back-to-back one out hits, but they were left stranded.
The teams exchanged a scoreless fifth inning, both teams able to get one base runner on.
The sixth inning was where the Wildcats took the lead. Three fielding errors, a single and a hit batter allowed Callisburg to score four runs, taking a 13-12 lead.
Nocona was able to load the bases up and looked to either tie or take back the lead. Unfortunately, a batter struck out to end the sixth inning.
The Indians were able to prevent the Wildcats from scoring in the seventh inning despite an error allowing a base runner on with two outs.
Pepper drew a lead off walk for Nocona, but it looked like the game was about to end. The next two batters struck out and Pepper remained at first base.
Down to the final out, Pepper successfully stole second base before Wesley Murphy hit a single to move him to third base.
Hansard then hit a groundball to first base, but a fielding error allowed Pepper to score and tie the game up at 13-13.
The game went to extra innings, but unfortunately that would be the end of good news for Nocona.
The Wildcats scored five runs thanks to four hits, one fielding error and one dropped third strike to take the lead up to 18-13.
Despite Castro leading off with a single along with Olivares being hit by a pitch and Pepper also getting a hit, Nocona did not have enough juice to come back as it lost the game.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
On the Thursday the final Lone Star Cup standings were released for the 2023-2024 school year.
Montague County had two schools that finished among the top 25 in their classification.
Nocona finished tied for 13th place in 2A while Saint Jo was tied for 24th place in 1A.
It is the highest finish for Nocona ever since the Lone Star Cup started up in the late 1990s. While it is associated with and measures the overall success of a school’s athletic program, it also takes into account the school’s success in academic and other programs like band, one-act-play, robotics, etc.
Nocona scored points in volleyball, football, cheerleading, girls and boys basketball and baseball. Unfortunately, its state appearance in film did not count towards the total. It all added up to 41 points, which is the most in program history
For Saint Jo, the success of its volleyball, football, softball, baseball, girl’s and boy’s basketball teams led to 32 points.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The University Interscholastic League announced on Tuesday changes for the upcoming school year when it comes to playoff formatting.
For 2A-5A schools, playoff formatting for volleyball, basketball, softball, baseball and soccer will now be split up into two divisions that will model itself like the 6A football playoffs. For 1A schools, this will only be applied for basketball. In all, there will be 12 state champions in those sports now.
This means there will be two playoff divisions within every classification. Districts will stay the same and not be affected. Four teams from every district will still make the playoffs, but now the two biggest schools of the four will play in the bracket with the other bigger schools while the two smaller schools will play in the other bracket.
This will not be like 1A-5A football, where divisions are hard cut by enrollment numbers and district alignments are set up with this in mind. Some districts that feature schools with low enrollment numbers within a classification will have to send two schools to compete in the big school bracket.
At lower levels, it might still set up a scenario where a team faces a school with twice the enrollment numbers. The thought process is it should happen less.
With fewer teams in the playoff bracket, certain parts of the playoffs like the area round and the regional tournament will not be featured as there will be less games to play on the way to the state tournament.
While the announcement was surprising to some, other coaches said they first heard about it at the basketball state tournament. UIL polled coaches, who were reportedly all for the change according to Nocona athletic director Blake Crutsinger.
For some schools, the changes will not mean much besides fewer games. Bowie is in that spot. With an enrollment number of 493, only Vernon and Iowa Park are the schools in its district that are bigger and would have to finish at the top two spots in the standings in order for Bowie teams to play in the smaller bracket.
For other schools, the change could be a big deal. Nocona’s enrollment of 234 is only 20 short of the 2A limit. The Indians will most likely play in the bigger bracket in every sport.
The Lady Indians basketball team finished as runners-up at state this year and will return four of their five starters. The teams that have beaten them the last two years, Martin’s Mill and Lipan along with several other 2A basketball powers have low enrollment numbers and would probably be in the smaller school bracket.
For 1A schools, the change is welcome but the fact volleyball was not included was sad to see for some coaches. From a numbers perspective, there are almost twice as many schools that offer basketball (213) than volleyball (123) in 1A.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
These girls were all around winners at the June 8 Montague County 4H Horse Club show. High Point buckle winners were Emersyn Denoon and Laney Dyer, reserve all around halter winners were Kenzi McEwen and Audrey DeMore.
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