Saint Jo
Saint Jo became the one team in the county to score a win in their opening game Friday night as the Panthers outgunned Fannindel at home.
It was a good old-fashioned shootout that can happen in six-man as both teams offenses could not be stopped for most of the night. The difference maker turned out to be the leg of kicker Mario Lopez, as his nine two-point kicks ended up being the difference in Saint Jo won 78-64.
Both teams scored 10 touchdowns so Lopez’s 18 points ended up being the difference in the game.
Preston Lyons made the Panthers go, scoring 5 touchdowns on the ground while rushing for 164 yards. Lyons also completed 10 passes for 183 yards and 2 touchdowns. Logan Morman led the team with 4 catches for 93 yards 2 touchdowns.
Coach Derek Schlieve felt he and his players adapted well to trying to take way the Falcons main strength.
“We thought initially we would be able to use our size advantage, but they were just so fast, we had to spread the field out and get their speed going in different directions,” Schlieve said. “By doing that, we were able to nickel and dime it down the field.”

Nocona
The Nocona Indians started their season at Boyd on Friday night.
After cutting the lead to 18-13 in the fourth quarter on a 34 yard Lane Geurin run, the Yellow Jackets scored 20 unanswered points to pull away as they won 38-13.
Coach Brad Keck felt like his offense did not have as much success as he was hoping and that his team is still trying to figure things out on that side of the ball.
“We need to get better at executing offensively,” Keck said. “We just did not execute. We are not going to add anything to the offense until we master the basics first.”

Gold-Burg
The Gold-Burg Bears lost a heartbreaker as they opened the season at home against Notre Dame Prep Academy.
The Bears came up just short of completing their comeback as they lost 53-47. Down by a few scores in the fourth quarter, Gold-Burg was a pass interference call away from getting the ball back with 2 minutes to go to try and take the lead. Alas, it was not in the cards for the Bears.
“In my head, it was really like we are going to win this game,” Coach Gordon Williams said. “We are going to get this stop, go down and score and get this extra point to win.”

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