SPORTS

Bears dominate in playoff win 59-14

Published

4 years ago

11/17/2021

The Gold-Burg Bears whooped up on Lueders-Avoca in their bi-district playoff win on Friday night in Woodson.
The Bears won by mercy rule early in the third quarter 59-14 as they beat up on a Raiders team like they did every team during district play.
Lueders-Avoca got the ball first and looked like it was mostly trying to drop back to pass and let Jacob Gaspar make plays with either his feet or arm. Gold-Burg sent rushers Kolton Whitaker and Aidan Foster to rush him, working in tandem to prevent him from breaking contain and hurry up his decision making.
The first drive the Raiders tried to throw it deep and Jayton Epperson intercepted the pass near his own goal line. Gold-Burg’s first drive saw the team go methodically down the field with runs from the Grace brothers. Epperson capped off the drive though with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Whitaker to go up 6-0.
The Bears defense forced the game’s first turnover on downs on Lueders-Avoca next drive. On the first play of Gold-Burg’s drive, it was the Grace brothers who found each other. Kani Grace threw a check down pass to Jayon Grace after scrambling a bit. Jayon then went the rest of the way to complete the 53-yard touchdown pass and put the team up 14-0.
The Raiders answered on their next drive as a 35-yard pass to the end zone was caught for a touchdown to cut the lead to 14-8. Still, Lueders-Avoca had no answer for the Bears offense.
The team quickly drove down the field and the drive ended with Kani scoring on a short run to put Gold-Burg back up by two scores 22-8.
There was a wild sequence next. Foster recovered a bobbled snap from the Raiders that put the ball near Lueders-Avoca’s goal line. The next play the Bears fumbled the ball right back to the Raiders while trying to fight for extra yards.
The very next play though an errant snap went over the head of Lueders-Avoca’s quarterback. Whitaker recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchdown to put Gold-Burg up 30-8 heading into the second quarter.
The Raiders next three drives went nowhere as the Bears forced turnovers on downs. The Gold-Burg offense took over with a short field each time. Epperson threw two touchdown passes to Jayon and Kani before Jayon scored on a 20-yard run.
The Bears were up 52-8 and were one point away from having to avoid coming out for the second half due to the mercy rule if they could score once more with 1:50 left to play.
Instead the Raiders drove down the field despite several players going out with injuries as the game went on. Lueders-Avoca was taking up valuable time, but also the Raiders ended up scoring on a short pass for a touchdown to make the score 52-14 right before halftime.
Gold-Burg did have to come out for the second half, but did not take long to end things.
The Bears got the ball to start the third quarter and a little more than a minute passed before Kani got loose and scored on a 55-yard touchdown run.
The converted extra point gave Gold-Burg the final margin to end the game early with the final score 59-14.

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

SPORTS

Two teams compete at state tourney

Published

5 days ago

06/05/2025

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Colt Henry, Lane Smith, Cooper Johnson and Corbyn Patton competed at the state high school bass tournament at Lake Conroe. (Courtesy photo)

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.

SPORTS

15 athletes playing in Oil Bowl

Published

5 days ago

06/05/2025

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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.

SPORTS

Hill upgraded to Nocona AD

Published

5 days ago

06/05/2025

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New Nocona Athletic Director Jeff Hill along with his wife Amy and their kids Kason, Camden and Kinsley. (Courtesy photo)

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.