SPORTS
Saint Jo beats Prairie Valley
For the third year in a row the Saint Jo Lady Panthers and the Prairie Valley Lady Bulldogs met in the regional quarterfinals.
On Thursday night in Forestburg’s gym, it was the Lady Panthers who came out on top winning 3-1.
While both teams have several new members who were not on the varsity team two years or even last year, there are still several players on both sides who have felt both the burn from losing as well as the triumph in this matchup.
Saint Jo won two years ago and Prairie Valley returned the favor last year.
Despite expanded districts for both teams, the teams seemed destined to meet again for the third straight time to settle things.
The Lady Panthers initially started well in the first set, but the Lady Bulldogs came back to tie things up at 10-10. Both sides early on were scoring heavily thanks to its serving as which led to several fast points won in a row.
As both teams settled down and their serve-receive grew more consistent, the first set stayed close. The score was tied at 20-20 when Prairie Valley went on another run at just the right time. The Lady Bulldogs won five of the next six points to win the first set 25-21.
The second set saw Saint Jo start to pull away early in the set. The Lady Panthers 6-4 lead grew to 14-6.
It looked like Saint Jo was going to get away with an easy win in set two to tie the match up, but Prairie Valley was not going to go away. Down 23-17, the Lady Bulldogs picked up momentum and won four of the next five points to cut into the lead 24-21.
The Lady Panthers were able to win the next point to win the set 25-21 and tie the match 1-1, but learned nothing was going to come easy or comfortable.
The third set saw Prairie Valley start off great, leading 11-4 early on. Saint Jo woke up and won nine of the next 10 points to come back and take the lead 13-12 and control of the set.
The lead gradually grew for the Lady Panthers to 16-14, 19-16 and 22-18. It looked like Saint Jo was going to be able to coast to the finish of the set, but again the Lady Bulldogs were not going to make it that easy.
Prairie Valley won four of the next five points to cut the lead to 23-22. It went into extra points, but the Lady Panthers came out on top to win 26-24 to take the lead in the match.
It looked early on like Saint Jo was going to carry on that positive momentum in the fourth set as it steadily grew a 9-6 lead. The Lady Bulldogs made their play again, winning the next five points to take the lead 11-9.
It would be a back and forth ride for the next 20 points as neither team got more than one or two points ahead of the other. The Lady Panthers led 21-19 as the set came down to the final few points.
It was here where Saint Jo got on another streak at just the right time. With all of the momentum and with victory within reach, the Lady Panthers closed out the set to win 25-19 and the match 3-1.
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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