SPORTS
No offseason programs detrimental
With COVID-19 restrictions relaxing around the state at the moment, there is hope Texas High School football will happen this fall.
What it will look like and what changes there will be is anyone’s guess at this point.
Whether the season sees fewer games scheduled or if fan seating will be limited, anything is better than nothing at this point after almost two months of no sports played.
One thing is certain for high school football coaches. With their offseason programs halted, pre-season practices will be even more important than ever.
“We are going to have to take a little more time for everything,” Nocona Athletic Director Rick Weaver said. “Our kids are not going to be in the best shape. We will probably need to get more conditioning in during the season.”
Along with players getting bigger, faster and stronger comes with familiarizing players with certain schemes during the period so when practices start in August it is not from scratch.
At the time of this writing every head football coach in Montague County will be entering their second year on the job.
While it will not affect them as much, any new head football coaching hires happening now until the beginning of the season will only get to see the talent they are working with once the first day of practice starts.
The high school football offseason is an underrated part crucial for every upcoming season. Usually many coaches point to a successful offseason as the foundation that led to a great season the next year.
Besides athletes growing physically, it’s the confidence they grow mentally.
Leaders emerge during workouts that everyone gets used to hearing for months before they strap on the pads and start trying to win games.
Coaches can set the tone for what type of team or program they want by plugging in key words, phrases or actions that get repeated until everyone adopts them.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
Bowie had six players play in the Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl football all-star game. For pictures from not just the football game, but the basketball and volleyball games as well that feature athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6875584&T=1
Nocona is welcoming back Coach Sandy Langford, former coach and alumnus for the Lady Indians, as its new volleyball head coach.
Langford comes back to Nocona after spending the past 11 years leading the Glen Rose volleyball program.
Her circumstances with her family allowed her to jump at the opportunity once she became aware the position at Nocona was available.
“My youngest graduated and is playing football at Midwestern (State University),” Langford said. “All of our family is here and I knew that Coach Kara (Lucherk) was leaving. We were eventually going to retire here. Our oldest son plays college football at West Texas A&M and we’ll be two hours closer to him as well.”
She again will lead the Lady Indians volleyball program, one that she led all the way to the state title game in 2011, which is the farthest the volleyball program has ever gone in its prestigious history.
Langford kept up that level of success during her 11 years at the bigger 4A Glen Rose. She won less than 20 games only twice during her time, winning her 500th career game back in 2023. Her teams were ranked among the top 10 in the state five times and Langford led Glen Rose to the state tournament in 2017, the best finish in program history.
With the Lady Indians also having its own string of success, appearing in back-to-back regional finals while finishing atop the district standings both years, Langford is excited to not just keep the success going, but shoot for the stars.
“We are not expecting anything less than a state championship,” Langford said.
She has stacked the non-district schedule with strong, state-ranked 3A and 4A teams as well as big tournaments that will test Nocona’s mettle early next season in the hopes it will prepare them for a long playoff run.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly 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.
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