SPORTS
Bowie gives Brock its best shot
It was always going to possibly be the toughest game of the year for the Bowie Jackrabbits, and despite losing their opening district game against state-ranked Brock, they came out of the game with more hope than anything.
Bowie got off to an inspired start, but it did not last as the Eagles outplayed them the rest of the game on their way to a 31-13 win. With the Jackrabbits having been outscored by Brock 115-6 combined the previous two seasons, the deficit does not ring as bad as many expected.
Bowie exploded on their opening possession as running back Ty Harris ran up the middle and down the left sideline for a 60-yard touchdown run. They missed the two-point conversion, but they were up 6-0 against the Eagles.
Brock’s ever effective wishbone offense grinded its way down the field against the Jackrabbits. As the Eagles neared Bowie’s red zone, the Jackrabbit defense held its own and forced a turnover on downs on their own 13-yard line to keep Brock out of the end zone.
It seemed like the picture perfect first quarter for Bowie trying to pull an upset until they fumbled the ball on their own 40-yard line right before the quarter ended. Still, not many people in the area thought the Jackrabbits would have the lead at any point during the game, let alone at the end of a quarter.
The Eagles rumbled down the field a bit at a time, picking up some big plays here and there, but mostly just consistently picking up positive yards to keep the chains moving with runs.
Brock’s Toby Morrison scored from four yards out and with the made extra point, the Eagles led 7-6 early in the second quarter.
Hope was not lost for Bowie. They had moved the ball well enough before their big scoring play, mostly through short passes and direct snap runs to Harris with the defense spread out, to know that if they executed their offense to perfection they could score again to take back the lead.
Unfortunately, the Jackrabbits threw an interception to one of Brock’s lineman, who read the screen pass perfectly and returned into Bowe’s territory. A couple plays later Morrison broke through for his biggest run of the game so far, scoring from 32 yards out to put the Eagles up 14-6.
The Jackrabbits were able to drive into Brock’s territory on their next drive after picking up several first downs. They were stopped on fourth down on the Eagle’s 29 yard line. With the momentum switched, it looked like Brock was going to be able to score once more before the half to make it a two-score game.
Fortunately, Bowie was able to stop Brock’s offense and force them to punt with a little more than a minute left. The Jackrabbits were able to make some big plays to move the ball within scoring distance to the Eagle’s 32 yard line. Just outside field goal range, Bowie chucked the ball up Hail Mary style as the half ended, but no one came down with the ball. The Jackrabbits went into halftime trailing 14-6.
With their last two drives only stalling deep in Brock’s territory and their defense stopping the Eagle’s rushing attack two out of four chances in the first half, Bowie still felt like they had a chance coming out for the second half, especially with the score still being so close.
The Eagles received the ball to start the second and drove the ball inside of the Jackrabbit’s 10-yard line. Bowie’s defense bowed up and forced a fourth and goal and Brock elected to kick a short field goal to make the score 17-6.
The Jackrabbits responded with another successful offensive drive, powered by a big run from Harris deep into the Eagle’s territory. Unfortunately, Bowie’s drive again stalled outside of field goal range as they turned the ball over at Brock’s 25 yard line.
The Eagles did not take long to take full control of the game as Morrison broke free for his longest run of the game for a 62-yard touchdown run to put Brock up 24-6 heading into the fourth quarter.
Things did not get better for Bowie. Their offense went nowhere and was forced to punt, but their defense also forced the Eagles into their first punt of the game. Brock’s punter shanked the punt off the side of his foot and it went much shorter than it was expected and it was outside of the Eagles kick coverage.
The Jackrabbit’s returner made a gamble to try and return it off the bounce as the coverage from Brock was disorganized due to the shank, but fumbled the ball trying to gather it, allowing the Eagles to recover the ball near midfield. The next play saw Morrison score on a 48-yard touchdown run to put Brock up 31-6 with most of the fourth quarter still to play.
For most outside observers, it was worrying to think how much worse the score would get for Bowie now that it seemed everything was going wrong, and it seemed likely the Jackrabbits would submit to the inevitable.
Fortunately, Bowie was not done trying to compete. After both team’s exchanged punts, it was the Eagle’s turn to muff a punt, with the Jackrabbit’s Joey Crawford recovering the fumble deep in Brock’s territory.
Bowie had been trying to take advantage of their two tall outside receivers all night in Jed Castles and Boo Oakley by throwing fades to them all night. Despite some pass interference calls, they had not been too affective until the Jackrabbit’s Payton Price threw one to Oakley from 15 yards out for a touchdown to cut the lead to 31-13.
The defense forced one more turnover on downs deep in their territory for good measure to show they had not given up even late in the game, but there would be no magic comeback for Bowie.
To read the full story, including the full stat sheet, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
A solid day was had by Montague county high school tracksters at the State Track and Field Meet May 16 in Austin.
Bellevue’s Mattie Broussard had a pair of second place finishes in both the 800-meter run with a time of 2:21.41 and the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:31.33. Broussard also was 4th in the 1,600-meters with a time of 5:22.18.
Her teammate Brylie Hager was 9th in the 110-meter hurdles in 19.93.
Forestburg’s Brenna Briles was 4th in the triple jump with a 35’9 1’2” leap. Her teammate Jocelyn Rich was 4th in the pole vault with a 9’ leap.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
Bowie had a pair of top four finishes at the State Track and Field Meet May 14.
Sophomore Brayden Willett made it onto the medal stand, finishing 3rd in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:17.89. Bowie junior Tyler Richey finished 4th in the pole vault after a 14’6” effort.
The top two finishers from Holliday, also in Bowie’s district, celebrated with him after he crossed the finish line.
“It was kind of surprising,” Willett said about Ryder and Noah Stroman embracing him in a celebratory hug. “They’re good guys, so it was kind of cool.”
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
This past week found your outdoor scribe doing some rather mundane things such as yard work, vegetable gardening and repairs around the old cabin. Oh, I also wrapped up a couple of magazine articles. I always enjoy sharing my adventures with all of you in this column but to be perfectly honest, not nearly as much as my ‘field work’ hunting and fishing which is an iatrical part of any good outdoor column. If you’re like me, you much prefer reading about an adventure that you can also partake.
I am far more comfortable telling you about an outdoor experience I had firsthand knowledge of rather than the reporting part of my job as an outdoor communicator. So, this week, I’d do a bit of ‘reporting’ and share some planned adventures I have scheduled for the next couple weeks. By the time you’re reading this, I will have already been in the woods in quest of a fat ‘eater’ hog and probably have some freshly caught blue catfish fillets in the freezer, details will follow in the next couple of weeks.
I’ll kick things off early in the week heading down to my friend Jeff Rice’s Buck and Bass Ranch located on the upper end of Lake Fork. Jeff produces our weekly TV show “A Sportsman’s Life” which airs on Carbon TV and YouTube. Our plan is to film a segment of our show on stalking wild hogs. It will be a challenge to capture the shot with all the thick grown spring vegetation. It could happen fast and require a fast shot. We will be breaking in my CVA Cascade scout rifle in 308 caliber. This short barrel little rifle is light and easy to handle in thick cover, ideal for this type of hunting. Our plan is to hit the woods during the last couple hours of daylight and ease along the trails, watching and especially listening for hogs. Wild porkers are vocal critters and it’s common to hear them before seeing them. We will play the wind and attempt to get downwind and then close the distance for a shot but you can never guess how a hog hunt will unfold. Wild pork or not, Jeff and I always have a great time together and I plan to bring a side of wild pork ribs already slow smoked and covered in brown sugar and BBQ sauce with a side of camp baked beans!
After a tasty dinner we plan to get a good night’s sleep and head out the next morning for a planned fishing trip with guide David Hanson at Lake Tawakoni. Both channel and blue catfish are on a very good bite right but it’s hard to pass up those snow white blue catfish fillets when the bite is good. David is, to my knowledge, the most veteran catfish guide on the lake and became friends close to a quarter-century ago when we first began fishing
together. The plan is to use freshy cut shad in shallow water and target eater size blues weighing between 2 and about 10 pounds but as every catfish angler knows, it’s always possible to connect with a big trophy size blue when fishing Tawakoni.
Next week, I plan to join my long-time friend J.C. McCollough on the Red River below the Texoma dam. I’ve been fishing and hunting with J.C. for many years and look forward to getting with him again. I would describe this to catching big catfish in a barrel but in this case the deep holes in the river are comprised of several acres. The water level in the river below Texoma are dictated by the water release at the dam by the Corp of Engineers. When there is a current in the river, fish move upstream to feed on baitfish coming through the dam. When the water recedes, they fish move into the deeper holes where baitfish also seek refuge from the falling water. Catching will be fast paced with the chance to connect with some big fish as well as limits of “eater” size fish. We’ll be rigging with big live gizzard shad fished weightless on a free line, using medium spinning gear. The bigger fish will often nail the frisky live shad and the fresh cut bait is a sure way to connect with lots of smaller fish. There is something very exciting about fishing big live baits on a slack line. One minute your bait will be darting around and you will occasionally feel it taking up slack and the next when a big blue catfish grabs the bait, the rod will bow and the fight will be on. There is usually no ‘setting the hook’, by the time you feel the fish, it will already be hooked and making a strong run to the nearest submerged brush. Your job will be to keep the drag set just enough to keep pressure on the fish but not so much as to cause the line to break.
J.C. uses his airboat to access these deeper holes because of the very shallow water. While it’s not impossible to portage a kayak or small boat in the river, it often requires a few miles travel to get to these deep holes, this is best accomplished by experienced kayakers with plenty of endurance. There was a time when I was game for this type fishing but I much prefer to do my river fishing these days from a boat designed to negotiate the shallow waters.
Squirrel season is underway in many of the east Texas counties and there’s some pretty good fox squirrel hunting here close to home in Kaufman county and I’ve been thinking about how tasty a big skillet of smothered squirrel with rice, gravy and biscuits would be. Bream are on the beds now and my friend Edgar Cotton invited me to come do some ‘perch jerking’ with him and his son David-it’s in the plans! Well, hopefully next week I will have a ‘sure nuff’ adventure of two to relate you you-I’m ready to get some relief from all this work around the homeplace! LC
You can contact Tawakoni/Fork catfish guide David Hanson at 902-268-7391. Contact J.C. McCollough at 580-372-0320.
Listen to Luke’s podcast, “Catfish Radio” just about everywhere podcast are found.
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