SPORTS
Nocona volleyball beats Bowie 3-0
In the last game of the season, county and district rivals Bowie and Nocona squared off for the third time this season with playoff seeding on the line.
For the Lady Indians, it was senior night at home. A win would guarantee at least sole possession of runner-up status to Holliday, with a prayer the Lady Eagles would lose to Henrietta to give Nocona a share of the district title.
For the Lady Rabbits, not only would a win be pay back for losing the first two times against their rival and avoid the season sweep, it would also tie them with the Lady Indians for second place in the district and a chance at getting a second seed.
The crowd was raucous as Nocona’s student section was dressed up in Halloween costumes and ready to make noise. With both crowds joined together in one stand, it was a blast of noise coming from one direction on top of the court of play. The music seemed turned up even louder than normal. Both sides cheerleaders added extra noise during timeouts and even during opponent serves.
There were some jitters on both sides as some serves sailed far out of bounds as every point from the crowd was celebrated like it was match-point. Some three-point stretches leading to a timeout brought fans to their feet.
The first set was competitive, but it was Nocona who steadily built a sizeable lead, culminating in a 12-8 lead early on. Bowie stormed back to cut the lead to 18-17. The teams played point-to-point after that as neither team could get much of an edge over the next 10 points.
The Lady Indians held a narrow 23-22 lead, but a set that close was liable to swing either team’s way to close it out. It was Nocona who was able to keep their lead as they closed things out to win 25-23.
Things started catastrophic for the Lady Rabbits in the second set as they found themselves down 11-4 quickly. They cut the lead to five as they climbed back 15-10, but another good rotation ballooned the lead up to 19-11. From there it was only a matter of time as the teams played almost even for the rest of the set as the Lady Indians won 25-18 to go up 2-0.
The third set started much like the first. Bowie was competing well with Nocona, but the one point lead for the Lady Indians slowly turned into a two-point lead, then a three-point lead. Down 17-13 and in the exact same spot they closed the gap in the first set, it went the other way for the Lady Rabbits. Nocona reeled off five straight points to go up 22-13 and all but seal the win unless something magic happened for Bowie.
You could almost argue something almost did. The Lady Rabbits won eight of the 10 points as they cut the lead to 24-21. Unfortunately for Bowie, and relief from the Lady Indians, Nocona won the next point as a Lady Rabbit spike went wide to secure the win in straight sets from the Lady Indians.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The 19th annual Bullfest came to the county on May 4, hosted at the Saint Jo Rodeo Arena. With bulls provided Big L Rodeo Company, Locke Bucking Bulls and more, it attracted many great riders, both local and farther away. In the end, it was Colby Deel from Jacksboro who won the the senior division round. The junior division winner was Ringo Stummer from Mountain Springs.
To see more photos, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
With the track season firmly over this year, one school went out of its way to encourage its athletes to not only improve on their totals, but set some school records this season.
Brenna Briles set the school record in the girl’s high jump (5-4), triple jump (33 feet), 100 meters (13.11) and the 200 meters (27.87).
Kayden Dill set the school record boy’s 100 meters (11.08) and 200 meters (23.47). Tye Reid set the boy’s 110 meter hurdles record at 18.7 seconds. Jesse Wadsworth set the boy’s 800 meters record with a time of 2:06.
Some relay teams also set some records. The boy’s 4×100 meter team of Jeremiah Perez, Kyler Willett, Will Johnson and Dill set the record with the time of 45.29 seconds.
The 4×400 meter relay team with Christian Binanti, Johnson, Willett and Wadsworth ran a time of 3:40.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Prairie Valley Bulldogs will be seeing a new face around the gym and fields next fall with the hiring of a new Athletic Director and Head Coach, Kent Caruthers.
Caruthers will be replacing Coach Seth Stephens, who has accepted a coaching job in LaPoynor, moving closer to his family and hometown. Although Coach Stephens will be missed after six years of being a part of the Prairie Valley family, Coach Caruthers will step into his new role with a wealth of knowledge and experience.
Coach Caruthers has coached basketball, football, volleyball, cross country, track and golf.
He has a well-rounded background, which makes him the perfect candidate for a 1A coaching position.
He comes, most recently, from Matagorda where he was the athletic director, boys basketball, volleyball, and track coach.
He spent the majority of his coaching career at Tolar, where he was the head boys basketball coach, defensive coordinator for the varsity football team and head golf coach.
His record and experience speak for themselves, but when asked why he felt led to apply for this position, he said that the move north is all about coaching good kids.
His coaching philosophy revolves around hard work, stating “A winner is someone who recognizes their God-given talents, works their tail off developing the talents into skills and uses these skills to accomplish their goals.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
-
NEWS1 year ago2 hurt, 1 jailed after shooting incident north of Nocona
-
NEWS6 months agoSuspect indicted, jailed in Tia Hutson murder
-
NEWS1 year agoSO investigating possible murder/suicide
-
NEWS1 year agoWreck takes the life of BHS teen, 16
-
NEWS9 months agoMurder unsolved – 1 year later Tia Hutson’s family angry, frustrated with no arrest
-
NEWS1 year ago
Sheriff’s office called out to infant’s death
-
NEWS1 year agoBowie Police face three-hour standoff after possible domestic fight
-
NEWS1 year ago
Driver stopped by a man running into the street, robbed at knifepoint