SPORTS
My look back at 2018 state title
It has been only two years and a little less than four months since the last state title team from Montague County, the Bowie boy’s basketball team, won it all.
Like most things looking back, it feels simultaneously like it was long ago and just yesterday.
While I could tell the state title was a big deal for the town and community, it also felt like a big deal for me personally. I was brand new at the paper during the run.
My first day at the paper was Dec. 1, 2017. I was just coming off of getting laid off at my previous job at the Kaufman Herald when they terminated the sports editor position the week before Thanksgiving.
Luckily, I got a job interview at The Bowie News the very next week, though unfortunately it came because of the tragic death that befell the new hire before me. I was able to find housing in less than a week and moved from the metroplex to Bowie.
I had covered some state level events at Kaufman. There was a cross country and tennis team coming up just short of winning the state title along with some individual track medalists, but never the overall state champion.
I did not get into covering sports to exclusively cover winners and champions.
I was taught in college to try and keep a neutral position covering your teams that I have tried to keep, even though I have seen some high school sports editors embraced for their homerism like coverage.
My ideal team to cover is one that makes their season interesting. That does not always equate to winning or losing. Blowouts are not fun to write about or watch, whether it’s the team I am covering or otherwise.
When I was hired I was told the Bowie boy’s basketball team was rated number one in the state during the preseason. Despite the Kaufman area having pretty great sports year round, I had never covered a basketball team that had any type of expectations beyond winning the district title and winning a playoff game or two.
My first game was the Jackrabbits playing in the Decatur tournament against Weatherford. Even though they are not a household name, the Kangaroos were still a 6A program with a size advantage. I watched in awe as that did not seem to matter at all as Bowie easily controlled and won the game 73-56.
Of course I first noticed the biggest and best player on the team Daniel Mosley. It was hard not to. I had covered guys similar in size and athleticism, but not one with the type of consistent motor, fundamentals and ability to dominate the game with just his presence beyond just scoring in the post.
It was not just Daniel though since Bowie played as a true team. Over time I came to appreciate every player for the role they played, big or small, which I saw in this cog.
I did not realize the impressive resume Coach Doug Boxell had at the time. While I never had a casual conversation with him like I do with some coaches, he was always able to give me exactly what I needed after games in usually less than two minutes.
With his experience and the team’s state level expectations, his post game quotes were the only thing that made writing about a lot of the blowouts interesting for me. They were always in service towards building towards a state title.
The team had its stumbles in the brutal pre-district schedule. The lowest I saw them was at the Whataburger Tournament, where Bowie scored only 12 points in three quarters in a loss to Central Heights 38-32. From the outside it seemed like there were line up issues and players were still trying to figure out their roles.
The team was good and was mostly winning, but it seemed like everyone was waiting for them to go to another level since they had realistic state level expectations.
District was mostly a breeze after playing bigger schools besides two teams that easily would have won the district title in any other year.
That Nocona team was one of the best in school history, with an all senior starting five with few holes. Holliday had the size to match up with Bowie along with a guard who could get anywhere he wanted on the court that was hard to contain.
No one knew it, but the Eagles 46-43 win on their court would be the last game the Jackrabbits would lose that season.
From the outside it seemed like Bowie simplified its game plan after that game. There seemed to be a renewed effort to play inside-out instead of letting it fly so judiciously from 3-point land.
With a frontline featuring the Mosley brothers, no team had the overall size and athleticism to shut both down or keep them off the offensive glass. Why not play up that advantage.
After close games against the Indians and a rematch win against Holliday, the rest of the games seemed mostly easy even as the playoffs started.
I distinctly remember how uninterested the team seemed after every win during this time. They seemed so locked in on trying to get to state, most of the playoff wins rolled right off of them. Banner pictures after every win, usually filled with beaming smiles, were mostly stoic affairs.
As the competition got harder, I thought Peaster seemed like it might be a bad matchup from what I saw on film. As a good shooting team, all it would take was one hot night from 3-point range to end Bowie’s season.
It turned out it was the opposite as the Jackrabbits made nine 3-pointers and won by 26 points. Only then did I really start to believe this team might have it.
After hearing the story of how the previous year ended against Brock, it seemed destined these teams were going to meet. Throw in the father-son coach dynamic and this storyline writes itself.
It was my first drive that far west of Texas and the farthest I had ever driven for work. Missing two days in the office, including a deadline day, only something as important as a chance for a state tournament birth would have made it worth it.
The Jackrabbits 54-47 win against the Eagles was not only the first close game Bowie had had in a month, it was the most emotion I had seen from the team all season. The scene was almost on pair with winning a state title in my estimation as tears flowed easily in the post game celebration.
What is your favorite memory from that season? Email me at sports@bowienewsonline.com.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
A solid day was had by Montague county high school tracksters at the State Track and Field Meet May 16 in Austin.
Bellevue’s Mattie Broussard had a pair of second place finishes in both the 800-meter run with a time of 2:21.41 and the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:31.33. Broussard also was 4th in the 1,600-meters with a time of 5:22.18.
Her teammate Brylie Hager was 9th in the 110-meter hurdles in 19.93.
Forestburg’s Brenna Briles was 4th in the triple jump with a 35’9 1’2” leap. Her teammate Jocelyn Rich was 4th in the pole vault with a 9’ leap.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
Bowie had a pair of top four finishes at the State Track and Field Meet May 14.
Sophomore Brayden Willett made it onto the medal stand, finishing 3rd in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:17.89. Bowie junior Tyler Richey finished 4th in the pole vault after a 14’6” effort.
The top two finishers from Holliday, also in Bowie’s district, celebrated with him after he crossed the finish line.
“It was kind of surprising,” Willett said about Ryder and Noah Stroman embracing him in a celebratory hug. “They’re good guys, so it was kind of cool.”
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
This past week found your outdoor scribe doing some rather mundane things such as yard work, vegetable gardening and repairs around the old cabin. Oh, I also wrapped up a couple of magazine articles. I always enjoy sharing my adventures with all of you in this column but to be perfectly honest, not nearly as much as my ‘field work’ hunting and fishing which is an iatrical part of any good outdoor column. If you’re like me, you much prefer reading about an adventure that you can also partake.
I am far more comfortable telling you about an outdoor experience I had firsthand knowledge of rather than the reporting part of my job as an outdoor communicator. So, this week, I’d do a bit of ‘reporting’ and share some planned adventures I have scheduled for the next couple weeks. By the time you’re reading this, I will have already been in the woods in quest of a fat ‘eater’ hog and probably have some freshly caught blue catfish fillets in the freezer, details will follow in the next couple of weeks.
I’ll kick things off early in the week heading down to my friend Jeff Rice’s Buck and Bass Ranch located on the upper end of Lake Fork. Jeff produces our weekly TV show “A Sportsman’s Life” which airs on Carbon TV and YouTube. Our plan is to film a segment of our show on stalking wild hogs. It will be a challenge to capture the shot with all the thick grown spring vegetation. It could happen fast and require a fast shot. We will be breaking in my CVA Cascade scout rifle in 308 caliber. This short barrel little rifle is light and easy to handle in thick cover, ideal for this type of hunting. Our plan is to hit the woods during the last couple hours of daylight and ease along the trails, watching and especially listening for hogs. Wild porkers are vocal critters and it’s common to hear them before seeing them. We will play the wind and attempt to get downwind and then close the distance for a shot but you can never guess how a hog hunt will unfold. Wild pork or not, Jeff and I always have a great time together and I plan to bring a side of wild pork ribs already slow smoked and covered in brown sugar and BBQ sauce with a side of camp baked beans!
After a tasty dinner we plan to get a good night’s sleep and head out the next morning for a planned fishing trip with guide David Hanson at Lake Tawakoni. Both channel and blue catfish are on a very good bite right but it’s hard to pass up those snow white blue catfish fillets when the bite is good. David is, to my knowledge, the most veteran catfish guide on the lake and became friends close to a quarter-century ago when we first began fishing
together. The plan is to use freshy cut shad in shallow water and target eater size blues weighing between 2 and about 10 pounds but as every catfish angler knows, it’s always possible to connect with a big trophy size blue when fishing Tawakoni.
Next week, I plan to join my long-time friend J.C. McCollough on the Red River below the Texoma dam. I’ve been fishing and hunting with J.C. for many years and look forward to getting with him again. I would describe this to catching big catfish in a barrel but in this case the deep holes in the river are comprised of several acres. The water level in the river below Texoma are dictated by the water release at the dam by the Corp of Engineers. When there is a current in the river, fish move upstream to feed on baitfish coming through the dam. When the water recedes, they fish move into the deeper holes where baitfish also seek refuge from the falling water. Catching will be fast paced with the chance to connect with some big fish as well as limits of “eater” size fish. We’ll be rigging with big live gizzard shad fished weightless on a free line, using medium spinning gear. The bigger fish will often nail the frisky live shad and the fresh cut bait is a sure way to connect with lots of smaller fish. There is something very exciting about fishing big live baits on a slack line. One minute your bait will be darting around and you will occasionally feel it taking up slack and the next when a big blue catfish grabs the bait, the rod will bow and the fight will be on. There is usually no ‘setting the hook’, by the time you feel the fish, it will already be hooked and making a strong run to the nearest submerged brush. Your job will be to keep the drag set just enough to keep pressure on the fish but not so much as to cause the line to break.
J.C. uses his airboat to access these deeper holes because of the very shallow water. While it’s not impossible to portage a kayak or small boat in the river, it often requires a few miles travel to get to these deep holes, this is best accomplished by experienced kayakers with plenty of endurance. There was a time when I was game for this type fishing but I much prefer to do my river fishing these days from a boat designed to negotiate the shallow waters.
Squirrel season is underway in many of the east Texas counties and there’s some pretty good fox squirrel hunting here close to home in Kaufman county and I’ve been thinking about how tasty a big skillet of smothered squirrel with rice, gravy and biscuits would be. Bream are on the beds now and my friend Edgar Cotton invited me to come do some ‘perch jerking’ with him and his son David-it’s in the plans! Well, hopefully next week I will have a ‘sure nuff’ adventure of two to relate you you-I’m ready to get some relief from all this work around the homeplace! LC
You can contact Tawakoni/Fork catfish guide David Hanson at 902-268-7391. Contact J.C. McCollough at 580-372-0320.
Listen to Luke’s podcast, “Catfish Radio” just about everywhere podcast are found.
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