The Bowie and Nocona football teams met for the first time since 2009 on Friday to start off the football season.
The Jackrabbits snapped a 13-game winless streak as they won a one-sided game on the road 35-6, with all of the damage coming in the first half.
The Indians got the upper hand to start the game. The defense recovered a fumble on Bowie’s 12-yard line on the opening drive. Unfortunately for Nocona, the Jackrabbits not only held the offense from scoring, but cornerback Tru’Vion Sansom intercepted a pass in the end zone on fourth and goal.
Bowie then marched down the field in a little more than a minute thanks to big plays in the running game. The drive was capitalized with a seven-yard pass from quarterback Colby Miller to fullback Devin Melton for a touchdown. The Jackrabbits were up 7-0.
It did not get better for the Indians. On the next offensive play, a bad exchange resulted in a fumble that was recovered by Bowie’s Braxton Hall.
Two plays later, the Jackrabbits scored as running back Ty Harris ran one in from 17 yards out. Bowie led 14-0 still early in the first quarter.
Before the quarter ended, the Jackrabbits drove down to score a touchdown with Harris scoring from two yards out to make the score 21-0.
The teams traded turnovers in Nocona territory, with Bowie’s Colton Covington recovering a mishandled snap and the Indians Jerome Travis intercepting a pass before the quarter ended.
A tipped punt from Nocona did not go far to start the second quarter as the Jackrabbits took over at the Indians 20 yard line. A couple of plays later Melton scored on a seven-yard run up the middle to make the score 28-0.
Both teams traded punts for most of the quarter until Nocona muffed a punt at midfield that was recovered by Bowie’s Jake Fallis.
Wanting to score once more before halftime, the Jackrabbits drove down the field inside the Indians 10-yard line. With 17 seconds left. Miller threw a fade to the endzone to receiver Alan Miranda for a seven yard touchdown.
Miranda’s fifth extra point made the score 35-0 heading into halftime.
The second half was much slower in comparison. Nocona completed a big pass play on its first drive as quarterback Michael Wetmore completed a pass to Bodie Davis inside Bowie’s 10 yard line.
For the second time, the Indians could not capitalize on getting the ball inside the red zone. The Jackrabbits defense held and forced turnover on downs to keep the score 35-0.
Nothing of note happened for the rest of the quarter and much of the fourth quarter.
Bowie’s players seemed content while Nocona found consistent success running sweeps to its left side, held back only by penalties that big losses those runs could not make up.
The Indians did score their only points of the game early in the fourth as running back Trent Sappington scored from seven yards out on a run to the left side. The extra point was no good though so the score was 35-6.
Not much changed after that besides Bowie’s defense stopping Nocona on its own 28 yard line as the game wound down. The Jackrabbits kneeled the ball to end the game to secure the win.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.