SPORTS
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL: All out ballin’
By ERIC VICCARO
The Bowie High School boys’ basketball team will be opening its season on one of the grandest stages of them all.
The Jackrabbits will play Krum at 1 p.m. on Wednesday in the American Airlines Center, the second time these teams have played each other there in the past three seasons.
Nocona opens the season on Tuesday at Petrolia, which features the talented Dane Williams.
Saint Jo embarks on its journey with a rare Monday tip-off versus Grayson County Christian, as part of a girls-boys doubleheader.
Forestburg finally played its first game of the season on Friday at Perrin-Whitt.
Gold-Burg, Bellevue and Prairie Valley all captured their first victories of the season on Tuesday with the Bears topping Bryson, Bellevue eclipsing Poolville and Prairie Valley knocking off Christ Academy of Wichita Falls.
Both the Gold-Burg and Prairie Valley teams are under youthful first-year head coaches with Michael Ball leading the Bears and Zac Tabor piloting the Bulldogs.
Ball came to Gold-Burg from Conference 2A basketball powerhouse Martin’s Mill, where he was an assistant. Tabor was a student assistant at Midwestern State University last season.
Four of The Bowie News coverage area schools made the playoffs a year ago, with the Jackrabbits advancing the farthest – falling to Dallas Faith 39-32 at Justin Northwest High.
Bowie
Bowie needs to find scoring in the absence of graduates Chase Hall, Ezekiel Vaughan and Trace Hardee – plus the loss of Jeffery Howard due to injury.
It’s still unclear if Howard will be available for any portion of the season, and the Jackrabbit faithful are still holding out a chance.
Nocona
Like Bowie, Nocona must also compensate for the loss of a co-district most valuable player as Kameron Hill has graduated and now plays for Austin College.
Nocona (22-11) will field a talented lineup nevertheless with Brenton Vineyard, Marcus Carter, Riley McCasland, Jose Ogeda and Cade Breeze. The Indians are guard heavy.
Bellevue
Bellevue will replace the scoring touch of Jakob Watkins, but judging by a Nov. 15 victory over Poolville, the Eagles will have plenty of options.
The starting lineup features athletic post Layne Morris, power forward Michael Hanson and guards Gabriel Garza and Dalton DeBose.
Saint Jo
Brian Blank enters his third season guiding Saint Jo, coming off a tough year with a 5-21 overall record.
But there’s plenty of reason for hope in “The Jo” thanks to athletic players such as Blake Anderson, Preston Lyons and Bret Haney – all of whom are familiar with the coach’s up-tempo offense.
Prairie Valley
Lane Roof has developed into Prairie Valley’s primary scoring punch, and new coach Tabor is expected to lean on him heavily.
Tabor hopes to play an up-tempo style, attacking the basket, and employ a press defense.
Forestburg
The dean of boys’ basketball coaches in Montague County is 12-year veteran Steve Sandusky at Forestburg.
And he has another strong playoff contending group this season.
Gold-Burg
Anthony Rios is Gold-Burg’s version of Lane Roof, a player with definitive scoring abilities.
Rios will guide a Bears’ squad with a new coach in Ball and returning player Matthew Gilbert. Read more of this preview in the Nov. 19 Bowie News.
Bowie High School’s Keck Jones (22) dribbles upcourt during a Nov. 15 intrasquad scrimmage in the auxiliary gymnasium. The Jackrabbits open the season on Nov. 23 versus Krum at the American Airlines Center. (News photo by Eric Viccaro)
Nocona got its new press box into place this week at Jack Crane Stadium. The old press box, which was in place for more than 60 years, was taken out in early June and moved to Indian Valley Raceway. The new press box was by the Southern Bleacher Company out of Graham. Athletic Director Black Crutsinger said they looked at a lot of press boxes and decided they liked the one at Lindsay High School and went with that model. Sean Hutson operated the crane from the Hurd Crane Service that put the press box up for Nocona.
Sunset native Cason Richey (right) and his team roping partner Beldon Cox from Weatherford repeated as the International Finals Youth Rodeo champions last weekend at Shawnee, OK. Richey and Cox won the previous year and were able to complete the repeat by catching three steers in a combined time of 16.6 seconds. Richey is expected to compete attend Texas Tech University this fall and compete on the rodeo team.
The Chisholm Trail Youth Rodeo had its awards ceremony this week, giving out plaques and buckles to the top competitors throughout the summer season.
There were four age categories with five events to compete in for the young athletes.
Along with the best results in each event, at the end the overall best cowboy and cowgirl in each age division was awarded as well.
The lead line division, in which an adult helps the young competitors, saw Rylee Stewart win the first in poles, barrel racing and mystery event on her way to win top cowgirl.
Hattie Snow got the fastest time in the flags event and Lany Shupak got the fastest goat time. Riggin Bishop got named the top cowboy in the division.
In the eight-and-under division, Whitley Goins won the top cowgirl and Trell Carpenter won top cowboy. Goins got the fastest times in barrel racing, flags and mystery event. Carpenter got the fastest time in poles and goats.
In the 9-12 age division, Sage Keck won the top cowgirl while Chisum Carpenter won the top cowboy. Keck got the fastest times in four of the five divisions. Only Layna Taylor getting the fastest goat time prevented her from winning in a clean sweep.
In the 13-18 age division, Tess Egenbacher won the top overall cowgirl award.
Kiley McCracken won both the barrel racing and flags event. Emma Strahan won the poles and mystery event. Hadlee Bryan won the goats event.
There was no top overall cowboy in the age division.
To see the times for the winners of each event in all four age categories along with pictures of all of the top cowboys and cowgirls, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
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