SPORTS
Football Roundup
Nocona
The Nocona Indians had a happy homecoming as they blew out Ponder for their second win.
The Indians won 50-22 in a game they never trailed as both sides of the ball showed what they could do when things went right.
Nocona’s offense took a little bit to get warmed up, but thanks to its defense forcing several three-and-outs, the Indians took the lead with a short run from Willy Salsman to end the first quarter and never looked back.
The short passing game from quarterback Carter Horn was working first for Nocona as the Lions sold out to stop the run. He found receiver Jason Sparkman twice in the second quarter for touchdowns as the Indians built a 20-0 lead at halftime.
The run game opened up in the second half for Nocona as the touchdowns really started to come. The Indians doubled their score in the third quarter alone offensively.
Ponder was able to score on some long passes during the game, but it was not enough to keep up with Nocona as it won 50-22.
Horn passed for 265 yards and three touchdowns while adding one more on the ground. Two went to Sparkman who caught 10 passes for 146 yards. On the ground Chandler Fenoglio led the team with 168 yards and one touchdown while Willy Salsman punched in two from the red zone.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers won their third straight game on Friday to stay undefeated as they beat Throckmorton at home.
While the Greyhounds gave the Panthers their toughest challenge so far this season by extending the game to the fourth quarter, Saint Jo still won by mercy rule 60-14.
The first quarter was competitive as the Panthers just could not get things rolling offensively. The game was tied 6-6 after the first quarter, but Saint Jo established its dominance in the second quarter by scoring 28 points, heading into the locker room leading 34-6.
Throckmorton scored on a big run to start the second half, but the Panthers made sure it did not lead to any momentum from the Greyhounds as the offense continued to score. A touchdown early in the fourth quarter was enough as Saint Jo won 60-14.
Eli Jones led the team with two touchdowns passing and two on the ground as he finished with 146 yards of offense. Logan Brawner led the team with 93 yards rushing on the ground and three touchdowns.
Pepe Gam led the team with three catches for 42 yards and the game ending touchdown catch in the fourth quarter. Gam also intercepted a pass along with Chance Bennnett. Bennett returned his for a touchdown early in the second quarter that Coach Mark Stevens felt was a turning point early in the game.
Forestburg vs Gold-Burg
A district matchup preview was played on Friday as Forestburg hosted Gold-Burg.
The Longhorns got some revenge from last year’s loss to the Bears with its first win in more than a season by the score 75-26.
A scary moment happened in the second half as Gold-Burg’s Will Hodges had to be care-flighted from the field as he sustained a neck injury. Bears Coach Leo Murguia said it was just a precautionary measure since it was a neck injury and that Hodges was able to check out of Cooks Children Medical Center at 4 a.m. with a muscle strain.
Murguia commended the people at Forestburg for how they responded and helped deal with the situation.
“We are small communities that look out for each other,” Murguia said. “When we compete against each other its one thing, but when one of us is hurt its great to see all of us in individual communities banding together and showing care and respect for each other.”
On the field Forestburg’s big Zach Bradley was too much for Gold-Burg as he had more than 400 yards of total offense and 10 touchdowns combined (six passing, four rushing).
Hayden Berry led the team with three touchdown catches while Braxton Osteen had two and Levi Balthrop had one. Tony Smith added one more touchdown on the ground.
The win was the first for Forestburg Coach Trey Cumby, but he chose to see it more as the first for this group of players after not winning last year.
“Winning can be contagious, but losing can get contagious too,” Cumby said. “More than my first head coaching win I think the big thing was to get our guys on the right side of a game and prove that we are a better team than we were after all of the hard work during the summer and in practice.”
Before going down, Hodges led the Bears with 121 yards on the ground and two touchdowns, a touchdown catch and nine tackles on defense. Kani Grace also scored on the ground as well, but it was not enough to keep pace with the Longhorns.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
Nocona boys beat Saint Jo 55-48
The Nocona Indians were able to beat Saint Jo at home on Thursday night in a tight contest.
The Indians won 55-48 against the Panthers in a game where both teams played hard, but made plenty of early season mistakes.
Nocona came into the game following a low-scoring win against Bells earlier in the week 35-30. For a young Indians team that only has a few players with varsity experience this year, every early season win builds confidence.
For Saint Jo, the Panthers were still without several returning starters since football is still going on. Despite that, new Coach Jacob Nocktonick is trying to build what he can with his group of basketball first players that include several key players even when the football team is integrated.
Despite Saint Jo being the smaller school, overall it had the height advantage in the front line since Nocona features only one player, Kasch Johnson, who is built like a post player. That is nothing new for the Indians, who featured a short team the previous year as Coach Brody Wilson emphasizes full-court pressure on defense and pushing the ball in transition in his system that makes up for a lack of height and size.
Initially Nocona’s pace and energy, grabbing several offensive rebounds, got it the lead 9-3. Eventually, the Panthers adjusted and trailed only 12-11 after the first quarter.
Saint Jo got the lead early in the second quarter. Post Trent Gaston took advantage of his size advantage, especially when the Indians had Johnson out, and led 17-12. Both teams had trouble scoring in a rough second quarter as open perimeter shots just were not going in and shots at the rim were tough to convert.
The Panthers led 23-20 heading into halftime.
Both teams had better offensive success pushing the ball when it could in the second half.
Saint Jo broke Nocona’s press and punished the Indians with quick baskets. Nocona ran whenever it could and seemed to put up an array of perimeter shots and drives, getting offensive rebounds it seemed at will to keep the pressure up and infuriate the Panthers coach.
The Indians got a big push from Landon Fatheree in the second half. After scoring eight points in the first half to lead the team, he scored 10 of his team’s 14 points in the third quarter.
Nocona got the lead back, but only led 34-33 heading into the final period.
The Indians had a comfortable lead up 44-36 when Saint Jo’s Gaston fouled out with 4:56 left in the game. Still, the Panthers did not give up and a minute later had whittled Nocona’s lead down to one basket 44-41 with 3:45.
The game stayed a one-possession game for the next two minutes as Saint Jo had several chances to tie or take the lead not go through.
Nocona made its free throws down the stretch to win with a little more comfort, with the final score being 55-48.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News. To see more pictures, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870682&T=1
SPORTS
Nocona’s Meekins signs to Lubbock Christian
Nocona senior Meg Meekins signed her official letter of intent to play college basketball at Lubbock Christian University on Wednesday. Meekins, the daughter of Brandi and Lance, is a four-year starter on the volleyball and basketball court. She has earned several accolades like being named to the All State Teams for TGCA, TABC, Associated Press and was selected to the All Tournament Team at the UIL State Basketball Tournament in San Antonio last year.“The coaching staff and the community of the LCU program and just knowing you have a staff that coaches you, but also looks over you just like Coach (Kyle) Spitzer did here was a huge part in the recruiting process,” Meekins said. She plans to pursue a degree in either physical or occupational therapy.
For more pictures, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870680&T=1
SPORTS
Bowie girls survive Bellevue 44-40
The Bowie Lady Rabbits got more than they bargained for when they traveled to Bellevue on Tuesday night.
The Lady Rabbits escaped with the win 44-40, taking the lead with less than a minute to go after trailing whole game.
Bowie came into the game confident. The larger 3A school was supposed to play Windthorst, but had to reschedule because the Lady Trojans volleyball team was playing in the state tournament.
Finding a last minute replacement, the Lady Rabbits thought they would have an easy game playing the 1A program down the road. Little did they know.
Bellevue had a couple of players out with injury to limit its depth a bit and a new coach in Celsey Hoffman, but the Lady Eagles were coming off of nearly beating a Nocona team the previous week. While the Lady Indians were missing four starters who were still in volleyball, it still showed this was not a 1A team to take lightly.
Bellevue came out fast showing tough defensive pressure despite giving up size at nearly every position. Within a few minutes the Lady Eagles had used that pressure to force turnovers and convert those steals into transition opportunities.
Also, the energy showed in other areas as Bellevue seemed to grab every loose ball and fought for offensive rebounds despite lacking in height compared to Bowie.
After a little more than four minutes into the game the Lady Eagles led 15-0. The Lady Rabbits had barely been able to set up their offense or attempt a shot against the pressure.
Bowie Coach Matthew Miller had to reset his shell-shocked team during multiple timeouts. The young ballhandlers was reminded how the team was going to break the press defense so it could set up its offense.
Bellevue led 19-4 after the first quarter, led by Mary Grace Broussard and Brittany Gill who each scored six points.
The Lady Rabbits settled down and made some good progress in the second quarter. Their defense switched between man-to-man and 1-3-1 to keep the Lady Eagles off balance. With them taking care of the ball better, there were less chances for Bellevue in transition and the Lady Eagles offense struggled to consistently find ways to score against Bowie’s length.
The Lady Rabbits offense found some success as well. Five different players made at least one basket and the team made two 3-pointers.
While the game was physical from the start, now that Bowie knew what type of game it was in the team responded back. It was not pretty and only enough fouls were called to make the game watchable, but individual foul trouble affected Bellevue harder than the Lady Rabbits in the second quarter.
The Lady Eagles still led heading into halftime, but Bowie had gotten it down to single digits trailing 25-19.
The third quarter was more even between the two teams as both had trouble consistently scoring baskets. Bellevue made three baskets and a couple of free throws to keep ahead.
The Lady Rabbits got a big lift from Lanie Moore, who knocked in all three of her 3-pointers in the quarter, scoring nine of the team’s 12 points.
Bowie still trailed, but had cut the lead down to one point earlier in the quarter and one basket 34-31 heading into the fourth quarter.
Bellevue grew the lead to 38-32 early in the final period. The Lady Rabbits struggled to get anything going offensively and trailed 40-34 midway through the quarter.
Bowie’s Kendall Fallis made a 3-pointer in transition to cut the lead to one basket 40-37.
The score stayed there for the next several minutes even as the Lady Eagles had two starters, Karis Denson and Mattie Broussard, foul out of the game.
With a little more than a minute left, the Lady Rabbits drew up and out of bounds play that got Laney Segura an open shot in the corner. Despite not having made a basket all game, she sunk the 3-pointer to tie the game at 40-40 with a minute still to play.
Bowie had been in a pressure defense for the second half of the fourth quarter to prevent Bellevue from passively running clock. Still in the defense, the team next stole the in-bounds pass and Railey Martin made the undefended layup to give the Lady Rabbits their first lead of the game 42-40 with 48 seconds left.
The Lady Eagles could not tie the score on their next offensive possession. Bowie would made two more free throws to make the final 44-40.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News. For more pictures from the game, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870678&T=1
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