SPORTS
Basketball Roundup
Saint Jo boys
The Saint Jo Panthers hosted Midway on Friday to wrap up the first round of district play on a good note.
The Panthers won thanks to shut down defense in the first half, surviving a strong comeback attempt by the Falcons to win 58-47.
“It was the classic tale of two halves game,” Coach Lyndon Cook said. “In the first half we jumped on them with great execution and focus on defense and used that to spark our offense in probably our best half of basketball so far this year. Then, the second half they came out shooting the ball very well and we had to re-up our intensity to fight off their comeback. They cut it as close as nine a few times, but we always had somebody ready to step up and keep things from getting too close.”
The senior duo of Connor Thompson and Logan Morman scored 17 and 16 points to lead the team. Logan Brawner led the team with 10 rebounds to go along with eight points.
The win improves Saint Jo’s record to 5-1 after the first round of district.
With the only loss coming against state-ranked and undefeated Slidell, the Panthers are sitting good in the standings for the second seed.
The Panthers next host Gold-Burg at 7 p.m. on Feb. 4.
Prairie Valley
The Prairie Valley basketball teams hosted state-ranked and undefeated Slidell on Friday.
It would be no night of upsets for the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs as the Greyhounds won 71-39 and the Lady Greyhounds won 79-38.
The Prairie Valley girl’s team had to struggle to break Slidell’s press all of the first half. This allowed the Lady Greyhounds to build a big lead until they backed off in the second half.
On the positive side, Coach Jeannie Carpenter felt her team rebounded the ball well and 38 points against a team like Slidell is good news as the Lady Bulldogs have struggled to score even in games they have won.
With a playoff spot still open, Prairie Valley hopes to make it in as either one of the third or fourth seeds.
Things were not much different for the Bulldogs. The Greyhounds press kept Prairie Valley from doing what they wanted to do while Slidell’s athleticism allowed them to get to the rim at will.
Nicholas Bell and Tyler Reid each scored 10 points to lead the team. With the Greyhounds giving every team in the district this type of spanking, Coach Seth Stephens hopes he and the team can look at it as a learning experience that will serve the team in the second round of district.
Both Prairie Valley teams next host Midway on Jan. 31. The Lady Bulldogs game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. The boy’s game will follow.
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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