SPORTS
Dave Campbell’s Texas Football is out
Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine is out this week.
Along with high school recruiting, Texas college previews, the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans previews, the magazine, affectionately referred to as the “Bible” of Texas High school football, also has previews for every high school football program in the state with district predictions for the last 60 years.
Not all information is accurate. With every football team in Montague County featuring new coaches for this upcoming season, Saint Jo and Gold-Burg both have last year’s coaches listed as head coach.
According to Fieldlevel.com, there are 770 high school football programs in Texas alone, so for each team to get a little written about them, even if the big established powerhouses in 5A and 6A get more written about them, is an accomplishment unto itself.
Some coaches at smaller schools are still figuring out all the talent they have to work with heading into the start of practice in August let alone when they were providing information to the makers of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football months ago. Still, it is the magazine everyone looks at each year and the only one that will mention the likes of Highland Park’s football program in the same magazine as Gold-Burg’s.
So the early predictions are usually the first type of press these programs working out during the summer can use to either reinforce high expectations or use as bulletin board material to prove the doubters wrong.
Bowie is predicted to finish sixth in the district 4-3A division I. Coming off a 2-8 record, returning seven starters on both sides of the ball and featuring new coach Corey Mandrell, the Jackrabbits are picked to finish outside the playoffs from outsiders looking in.
Nocona is not predicted to finish much better. With district opponents Gunter and Holliday both ranked in the top six in the state according to magazine, the Indians are picked to finish fifth in district 5-3A division II and miss the playoffs.
Nocona returns five players on offense and four on defense with Rick Weaver taking over the program after a decade under Brad Keck. The magazine picked City View to jump the Indians in the standings from last year.
The Panthers are again picked to finish last in district 9-1A division I just like last year. They defied expectations by coming within a last second hook lateral touchdown away from finishing second in the district and making the playoffs.
Gone is Coach Derek Schlieve as well as reliable offensive playmakers Preston Lyons and Blake Anderson from last year. New coach Mark Stevens is coming from Muenster and will be transitioning to six-man football.
Many players are itching to replace that offensive production as the Panthers’ program numbers increase, but outsiders again will be doubting Saint Jo.
Forestburg and Gold-Burg are picked to finish second and third in district 9-1A Division II. The Bears beat the Longhorns last year to earn the final playoff spot in the district behind district champion Fannindel, which is favored to repeat this year. Both teams graduated some important players and both teams have new coaches.
Forestburg upgraded Trey Cumby to the head coach position. He split head coaching responsibilities in the Longhorns final two games last year, but he is returning big time athlete Zach Bradley to be his workhorse on both sides of the ball to help him transition.
Gold-Burg lost most of its offensive playmakers and hired Leonel Murgia as its new head coach earlier this month. New players will have to step up as everyone gets used to each other.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
The Red River High School Bass Club competed this past weekend, May 31 – June 1, at the State Tournament on Lake Conroe for the two-day tournament.
Two of the teams from Montague County traveled south to try their best at the culmination of the year for the state title. Teams were able to pre-fish on Friday before the Saturday and Sunday competition. On Friday, there was a flipping contest for the youth and Cooper Johnson won third overall and won a $500 scholarship and an Academy gift card.
The club’s two teams who competed were Lane Smith/Colt Henry with boat captain Jimmy Smith. The team placed 63rd with a total of 16.22 pounds. The second team of Cooper Johnson/Corbyn Patton and boat captain Jayson Toerck placed 169th with a total weight of 2.29 pounds.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
The Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl is this week on June 6-7 and graduating athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo are confirmed to be playing.
In total, seven athletes from Bowie, five from Nocona and three from Saint Jo are planning to play in the all-star games this week. Nocona also will have a pair of coaches participating as well.
The girl’s basketball game kicks off events on June 6, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Wichita Falls Memorial High School. In the game, the east team will have Nocona players Avery Crutsinger, Meg Meekins and Reagan Phipps playing while Kyler Spitzer and Clayton Brown coach them one last time.
On the west team, Saint Jo’s Payzlie Cervantes is confirmed to be playing.
The boy’s basketball game is scheduled to follow at 7:30 p.m. On the east team, Bowie’s Boston Farris and Nocona’s Jose Gomez Jr. will be playing.
On June 7, the volleyball games are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. with the small school game. On the west team, Nocona’s Kaygan Stone and Saint Jo’s Taylor Patrick are confirmed to play. On the east team, Saint Jo’s Aubrey Morman will get to play her teammate.
There are no local athletes confirmed to be playing in the big school volleyball game.
The final event is the football game, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. It is an all Bowie affair with six players confirmed to be playing for the east team: Justin Clark, Jorge De Leon, Hunter Fluitt and Braden Rhyne, Preacher Chambers and Moh Azouak.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona Independent School District officials looked inward for a new athletic director/head football coach, selecting Jeff Hill for the position.
Hill, who served last year as Nocona football’s offensive coordinator and also led the softball program to the playoffs for the first time in a while as its head coach, was upgraded to the role.
This came on the heels of former Athletic Director Blake Crutsinger, who served in the role the last four years, resigned in May.
For Hill, the choice to apply for the position was a no brainer. His one year in Nocona had impressed upon him and his wife that it was the place they would like to be long term.
“I’m looking for a town to raise my kids in and Nocona has treated my family really well,” Hill said. “There are some really good people. The kids work hard. Everything I am looking for in a hometown is right here in Nocona and I want to try and make it as best as it can be, especially through athletics.”
Before Nocona, Hill served as the athletic director at S&S Consolidated while also spending time at Hebron and Whitewright in his coaching career.
Hill expresses great respect for the departing Crutsinger and besides changing a few small things in how he personally wants to do things, he is not trying to come in with a sweeping restructuring of the whole athletic department.
The program had five of its six team sports make the playoffs, with volleyball playing in the regional final and the girl’s basketball team winning the state championship.
That along with two athletes competing at the state championship in cross country and track with one earning a gold medal, it was one of the more successful school years in athletic program history.
“Coach Crutsinger was awesome and did a great job so honestly just little tweaks, a little bit of structure and cohesion amongst the coaching staff between boys and girls,” Hill said. “I hope to keep the winning tradition going overall in the athletic department.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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