SPORTS
Bowie hires Mandrell as new athletic director
Bowie made it official Thursday morning at a school board meeting. Among other important hires, the district agreed on Cory Mandrell to be the new athletic director/head football coach of the Bowie High School Jackrabbits.
Mandrell has spent the past three years at his alma mater Snyder in the same position. After a rough first two years, the Tigers went 8-3 and made the playoffs this past season.
Before that Mandrell was offensive coordinator at Denison High School for five years. His first stint at Snyder lasted seven years, the last six of which he was offensive coordinator. Mandrell’s first stop was coaching at Lubbock High School.
Mandrell was interested in moving closer to his sons, who go to school in Denison. He is married to his wife Morganne and has four boys and one girl.
“It was a good family move for us,” Mandrell said. “For my wife’s family and I have three boys that go to Denison. It gets us closer to them. That’s really what first caught our eye.”
After looking into the district and town, Mandrell said he saw no red flags or problems and went after the job. Superintendent Blake Enlow said his approach and vision for the program stood out.
“He is very positive,” Enlow said. “He has a detailed plan for his programs. He focuses on all sports and wants to support non-athletic programs as well. He is very focused on student-athletes being involved in the community. Those are just a few things that stood out.”
As a football coach, Mandrell comes from an offensive background after serving so many years as offensive coordinators. He is not married to one offensive philosophy or certain formations, looking to get the most out of the existing talent by focusing on what they are good at.
As an athletic director, Mandrell knows there is still more to learn about the job and looks forward to the challenge of trying to make teams excel.
“Being an athletic director, you realize all these other sports are important too,” Mandrell said. “Those coaches think their sport is the most important and that’s good. You have to find a way to balance that out and make sure all the sports are taken care of and feel equally important.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
In its first match since last year’s state semifinal appearance, Saint Jo hosted Bryson Aug. 11 and took a 25-13, 25-12, 25-21 win over the Cowgirls.
The Lady Panthers lost some talent to graduation but have five seniors ready to have a successful season. Savannah Hil, one of the five, got Saint Jo rolling offensively with a four-point serving string, including a pair of aces. Abby Carter’s kill and Kamron Skidmore’s block helped put the Lady Panthers up 5-2 in game one.
Hadleigh Moore added a four-point string of her own to extend the lead to 10-3. Tatum Morman’s pair, helped by a Hill kill, gave Saint Jo a 14-5 lead. Bryson got within five before a Hill 3-pointer, with help by a Carter kill, put the lead back at 18-10.
After an Olivia Johnson kill broke serve, Jordyn O’Neal served up the final five points, with Johnson providing a kill to move things along.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
Despite being the smallest school in the Brock varsity classic volleyball tournament, the Lady Indians finished 4th out of the eight teams there.
After losing to the host team in its first pool play match Aug. 14 18-25, 14-25 and also to Class 3A Wall 12-25, 8-25, Nocona rebounded to close out pool play with a 20-25, 25-23, 25-20 win over Christoval. Sy Parker had 16 kills and 7 blocks in the three matches. Raylea Bowles had 12 kills, 17 digs and served up three aces. Maddyn Bowles had seven kills and 14 digs while Paige Davis had seven kills and 15 digs. Baylee Thomas added 11 digs.
From the setter spot, Kasi Castro had 20 assists, served up five aces and contributed 14 digs. Leah Meekins added 18 assists and six digs during the three matches.
To open Saturday’s bracket play, the Lady Indians posted a 25-18, 18-25, 26-24, 25-19 win over Fort Worth Christian. Castro staked Nocona to a 2-0 lead in game one. Kills by Parker set up pairs of points from Raylea Bowles and Leah Meekins helped Nocona negate an early deficit and take a 10-9 lead.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
County football teams had their first scrimmage of the season Aug. 14 with mixed results.
Forestburg hosted Azle Christian and Victory Christian. Under a new system with new head coach Cori Hayes, the Longhorns looked pretty good in the coach’s eye.
“The first team looked good,” Hayes explained. “Overall we need to work on our pace and blocking assignments and blocking assignments. Overall we looked good for the new regime.”
Forestburg hits the road to scrimmage Newcastle Aug. 21.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
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