SPORTS
Basketball Roundup
Bellevue girls
The Lady Eagles traveled to play at 3A City View on Tuesday, hoping to test themselves against the bigger school and ended up winning 48-39.
Bellevue dominated the Lady Mustangs for most of the game and led 30-17 at halftime and by more than 20 points at one point thanks to its press defense and shoot first ask questions later offense.
Austin Ford led the team with 24 points. Sky-Lar Embry and Kaylee Trail both had eight points to help.
Bellevue plays at the Mesquite Pit Classic this weekend in its final few games before district play kicks of next week at Saint Jo at 6 p.m. on Dec. 17.
Saint Jo boys
The Panthers played the team that ended their season last year in the playoffs, number two state-ranked Graford at their gym on Tuesday.
With a little more than a week of practice and a recent tournament under its belt, an upset from Saint Jo would be asking a lot and the Rabbits showed why winning 72-28.
The Panthers could not keep up with that level of shooting early on.
Connor Thompson led the team with eight points while Logan Morman scored six points.
Saint Jo plays at the Era tournament this weekend before traveling to 3A Paradise next week to play at 5 p.m. on Dec. 17.
Prairie Valley girls
The Lady Bulldogs played at private school Sacred Heart on Tuesday.
The Lady Tigers got control early and won by a good margin 51-34. Prairie Valley struggled to keep up with their good shooting while also dealing with some injuries to the team and getting some younger players up to speed.
Shelby Roof led the team with 11 points. Emily Carpenter had eight points while grabbing seven rebounds. Hailey Winkler stole a game high seven times.
It was one of the few games this season Prairie Valley has not really been in. With one of those behind them now and the Mineral Wells tournament this weekend, the Lady Bulldogs only have a couple of games to regroup.
District play starts for Prairie Valley at district favorite Slidell at 6 p.m. on Dec. 20.
Prairie Valley boys
The Bulldogs traveled to play Sacred Heart on Tuesday.
The private school beat Prairie Valley in a physical game 47-38. A slow start was not ideal, but the Bulldogs closed the gap at the end of the first and most of the second quarter.
With a good start to the third, Prairie Valley was feeling good about being able to take the lead. Unfortunately, the Tigers came out on a 14-6 run to start the second half and the Bulldogs could never recover.
Nicholas Bell led the team with 13 points while Brock Tompkins was right behind him with 11 points.
Prairie Valley only has two tournaments left with no games in between before district play starts on Jan. 3. The Bulldogs play in the Blue Ridge tournament this weekend and will next play in the Wichita Christian tournament on Dec. 27-28.
Gold-Burg boys
The Bears hosted Era on Tuesday after a bit of break.
The Hornets took it to Gold-Burg, winning 68-19. A scoreless first quarter spelled doom for the Bears as Era got off to a good start offensively. In the end, the young Gold-Burg squad did not have the fire power to come back.
Will Hodges led the team with seven points while Dusty Weaver was second with five points.
The Bears have one final game before the holiday break and district play. They host Petrolia at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 19.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
With the baseball and softball seasons over for the area 1A schools, district awards have been released.
Listed below are those earned honors on the field and in the classroom for Saint Jo and Bellevue.
Softball
Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Utility player: Taylor Patrick; Catcher: Jordyn O’Neal
Baseball
Superlatives
Offensive MVP: Devin Stewart, Saint Jo
Newcomer of the Year: Bryce Ramsey, Bellevue
Pitcher: Trent Gaston, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Jayden Curry, Saint Jo
Second team
Pitcher: Charlie Barclay, Saint Jo
Infielder: Brycen Bancroft, Bellevue; Sam Martin, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Rylan Forrester, Saint Jo
Catcher: Charlie Evans, Saint Jo
Utility: Logan Hoover, Saint Jo
DH: Amzy Barclay, Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Cody Gaston, Saint Jo; Xander Joyner, Saint Jo
To see academic awards from Saint Jo players, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Eldon Van Hooser is leaving Forestburg better than he found it.
The head boy’s basketball coach is retiring after more than 30 years, spending the last five at Forestburg.
Van Hooser did not come to this decision because of a lack of fire or feeling tired after decades in the profession. He had to for family reasons.
“My wife has MS (multiple sclerosis) and it’s a disease where you have trouble standing and walking and she needs help,” Van Hooser said. “I am able to so I am going to step away from teaching and coaching to be there for her.”
Van Hooser was hired in 2019. Along with being the boy’s basketball coach, he also was the football team’s defensive coordinator.
There were some lean years for Forestburg on the boy’s athletic side, with numbers being low and the available athletes being mostly underclassmen.
For two years, the Longhorns’ boy’s basketball team won few games and one of those seasons saw the team field five players on the high school team.
“One of those years we had COVID-19 and the other we had five kids,” Van Hooser said. “It was very rough. After that we worked with the kids and we had a good freshman group coming up. Next year they are going to be seniors.”
That group has helped to turn the program around. Last year the young Longhorns team contested for a playoff spot and just barely missed it finishing fifth in the district.
This season, that same group took a leap and finished second in district with a record of 7-5.
Despite losing its last two regular season games in dramatic fashion heading into the playoffs, the team stepped up in the bi-district game.
Playing against an athletic Newcastle team, Forestburg led for most of the game.
Unfortunately, the previous game against Bellevue saw the Longhorn team blow the lead late in the fourth quarter against a hard pressing style team and they were suffering the same fate against the Bobcats down the stretch.
Fortunately, Forestburg held on just enough to win 53-46. It was the first boy’s basketball playoff win in nine years for Forestburg.
“It was huge for our program,” Van Hooser said. “This new year we will have new goals. The new coach will have some goals of his own, but I set some for the team and think that we have come a long way.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie sports banquets was on Monday night. Olivia Gill and Tucker Jones were named Jackrabbit and Lady Rabbit of the year. Pick up the mid-week paper for all of the sports team awards and pictures.
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