SPORTS
2021 Year in HS Sports Review
Bowie
To start the year, both of Bowie’s basketball teams made the playoffs. The boy’s team got the unfortunate matchup of state-ranked Peaster that ended its season, but for a team coming off its first non playoff appearance in many seasons the previous year, new coach Andy Atkins and the inexperienced roster pushed the program back to respectability.
The Lady Rabbits again went three rounds deep in the playoffs, punctuated by a dramatic win against Brock, before the mostly senior led crew and Coach Joe Crabb again fell to state power Jim Ned.
The start of some spring season redemption came with the girl’s powerlifting team. The team finished third at the regional meet and had four girls compete at the state meet.
With state being cancelled literally the day before it was supposed to start the previous year, this year was time for redemption. While it was not Jessie Henry, Ashley Aguirre or Kerstin Kindsfather’s day, it was for Chelsea Price. The senior set a new personal record of 980 total pounds and finished second in the 220 pound weight class.
The same could be said for the golf program. The season was cancelled before it could really get underway, but both teams were rolling before then. Despite some key graduations, the team came back stronger than ever under Coach Matthew Miller. Both the boy’s and girl’s teams swept the team district titles and went on to the regional meet.
While the Lady Rabbits season ended there, the boy’s team rebounded from a bad first day to a great second day to finish third and qualify for the program’s first state appearance. The Jackrabbits then did well to finish sixth playing against the state’s best.
Further into spring, the baseball team had barely played a month before the previous year’s season was cancelled.
With new Coach Tyler Price and a team filled with players who had little experience of varsity baseball, the team exceeded expectations by finishing second in district play and beating Bangs in the playoffs. The season came to an end in the area round against state-ranked Jim Ned.
The tennis team sent several players to the regional meet while the boy’s team won the overall district title.
Going into the fall season, the volleyball team was able to finish third in district play and make the playoffs again. Along the way, senior libero Taygon Jones collected her 3,000th career dig. Unfortunately, the Lady Rabbits lost in the first round to Brock.
The boy’s cross country team finished as district runner-up to qualify for the regional meet again, finishing 20th.
Nocona
To start the year, both Nocona basketball teams made the playoffs again. The Lady Indians won their third straight district title and went three rounds deep in the playoffs before losing to Peaster.
The boy’s team again made the playoffs as a fourth seed for the second straight year, but lost its playoff game to state-power Brock.
In the golf program, Laci Stone was able to qualify for the regional tournament individually where she finished eighth overall.
In the fall season, the volleyball team finished district play in fourth place and qualified for the playoffs. Unfortunately, state-ranked Peaster ended the team’s season in the first round.
Both cross country teams ended up qualifying for the regional meet, with the girls finishing second and the boys finishing third at the district meet.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo program started the year with its boy’s basketball team having a good run. The Panthers finished second in district play and got playoff wins against Bryson and Ector before losing to state-power Graford.
In tennis, Jacqueline Hanna was able to make it all the way to the state tournament competing in the tough girl’s singles division.
The Panther baseball team was able to go three rounds deep in the playoffs before losing to state-power Dodd City.
In track the boy’s team won the district title and the program had a list of kids qualify all the way to the regional meet.
In the fall season, every team did well. The football team won its third straight district title and won its playoff game against Leveretts Chapel. The team lost a tragic game to Coolidge in the area round.
The volleyball team overcame its youth to finish with the co-district title and qualify for the playoffs before it lost to county rivals Prairie Valley.
The boy’s cross country team finally broke through to win the district title while Aubrey Morman qualified for the regional meet individually.
At the regional meet, the team got fifth overall while Collin Thomas and Devin Stewart would qualify for the state meet individually. Thomas would earn his first medal at state while finishing 10th while Stewart finished 80th.
Prairie Valley
In the spring the program had some great individual performances. In track, Mason Allen came out of nowhere to not only qualify for the state meet in the high jump, but jump 6’ 1” and win the bronze medal.
The tennis team also had some athletes reach the state level. The mixed doubles team of Isaac Yeargin and Veronica Gutierrez qualified for the state meet where they lost in the first round.
In the fall season, the volleyball team was able to battle through a tough district to qualify for the playoffs again. Even as a third seed, the Lady Bulldogs were able to win against rival Saint Jo and Evant before falling to district foe Bryson in the third round.
In cross country, both teams were able to qualify for the regional meet with the girls finishing second and the boys third. At regional, the boy’s team finished ninth and the girls 15th, but the programs had something to celebrate individually.
Eli Croxton and Linzie Priddy both qualified for the state meet where Priddy finished 79th and Croxton finished 82nd.
Gold-Burg
The program had its biggest accomplishment in the spring in tennis as the girl’s doubles team of Shadie Whitaker and Kelly Contreras qualified for the state meet. The team won the regional tournament despite not winning the district title the previous week. At state the team was knocked out in the first round.
In the fall season, the football team got a lot of attention. Coach Joe Helms and the Bears built on their success from the previous year and turned in the best season in school history while setting several program firsts: winning nine games, winning an outright district title and beating Lueders-Avoca in the first round of the playoffs.
The ride came to an end in the area round against Gordon, but it was a fun ride for Gold-Burg football.
In cross country, Isaac Renteria exceeded everyone’s expectations by qualifying all the way up to the state meet. He finished fifth at the district meet, 19th at the regional meet and 48th at the state meet.
Forestburg
Playoff appearances did not happen for Longhorn teams and no one qualified all the way to the state meet, but athletes at Forestburg still did well despite the odds. The boy’s track team finished tied for third at the district meet and were only one point behind second place. The girls finished fourth despite only three girls competing. Reagan Ladewign scored in four different events. Several athletes qualified all the way up to the regional meet.
The football season had its host of challenges. With new Coach Greg Roller dealing with a roster full of almost all underclassmen and with depth being an issue that led to one game being cancelled, winning three games is more than impressive.
None more so than the epic seven overtime battle against Vernon Northside on homecoming where the Longhorns came out on top for their first win of the season.
Bellevue
The Bellevue program had several great accomplishments this year. The Lady Eagle basketball team again qualified for the playoffs where they won in the first round against Newcastle before falling to state-power Dodd City.
In track, Sky-Lar Embry won the district title in the 100, 200 and 400 meter races. She was then able to qualify all the way up to the state meet in the 100 meter where she would finish ninth overall.
In the fall in cross country, the girl’s team would return to the regional meet after finishing third at the district meet. At regional, the Lady Eagles finished 16th overall.
To see pictures from every school, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie News, the largest community newspaper in Montague County, has an immediate opening for a sports editor and we are looking for enthusiastic, motivated professional journalist to join our award-winning staff.
This job would involve covering (writing, page design and photography) across seven school districts (1A, 2A, 3A) in all aspects and levels of sports, as well as watching for breaking news such as coaching changes. Camera and lens provided for use.
The editor will coordinate the sports coverage schedule and work closely with the editor to make sure everything is covered each week.
This candidate should be experienced in InDesign, Photoshop, as well as 35mm photography and have knowledge of AP style. The sports editor is responsible for content and laying out the sports section each week, as well as posting those items on the website and social media.
The applicant should be someone who can work with a newsroom team and also be a self-starter who can take the initiative. The editor should be able to work under deadline pressure producing clean copy. Organizational skills are vital. A reliable form of transportation is necessary. The editor also may be called upon to assist when necessary in covering news, working on special sections or covering breaking news. Salary is based on experience.
Send resume, references and work samples to Barbara Green, editor@bowienewsonline.com
Sometimes the world proves itself to be small in certain ways, where running into someone from your past in towns hundreds of miles away is par the course.
I played football at Midlothian High School back in 2008, at the back of the depth chart as was the case my whole football journey since a lack of physical ability and shaky self-confidence did not pair well together.
Starting the second half of my freshman year, after the football season, the school district hired a new head football coach named Robby Clark.
Sixteen years later, I finally had the guts to go up to Coach Clark at the district track meet since I had been seeing him at Henrietta sporting events since the beginning of the school year, when I read his wife, Jaime Clark, was hired as Henrietta’s new superintendent. Funny enough, she also taught me pre-calculus the second half of my senior year.
Midlothian was a huge growing school at the time and the football program had more than 150 kids in it, so I was not sure if he’d remember me, but he said he did and we caught up. It probably helped in part by being in the same senior class as a player that would eventually go on to the NFL, quarterback Bryce Petty.
Seeing him recently at a 7-on-7 event at Bowie and hearing him coaching up kids like he did half my lifetime ago, got me thinking about things.
My memory is good, but the fact I can remember several distinct things about the offense we ran nearly 20 years ago shows how important it was to me during that time.
We ran a spread offense out of the shotgun formation almost every play, a sort of precursor to the pass-happy way football has been heading since then. We went through three different centers because we had trouble finding one wouldn’t at least once a game snap the ball over our pretty tall quarterback’s head.
The year before my senior year, when we had a better running back and an offensive line that was both huge and experienced, it brought the beauty out of an offense that, despite appearances with three and four receivers lined up every play, was built around being balanced both running and passing the ball.
Instead of a traditional tight end, we employed an H-back, who could line up both in the backfield at fullback or line out wide like a receiver.
Despite having a quarterback who would go on to set records at Baylor and be drafted by the New York Jets, we found out my senior year when the running game struggled, the whole offense did as a result.
That experience proved to me how some team-focused activities, even ones that include having a superstar teammate, need everyone else to truly shine the way they are designed.
Football offenses shape entire teams. Some coaches are as defined by their systems as they are at every other aspect of coaching. It can be the identity of a team or program if one sticks for several years, but that is a luxury of either huge high schools, colleges and NFL teams.
At certain levels of high school, the best coaches try to be malleable enough to change with their available talent, not trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
Almost every football coach was once a player at the high school level. Those who are more interested in offense usually played on that side of the ball more before becoming coaches and their experiences there can shape them into the coaches they later become.
Bowie’s head football coach Tyler Price is a Jackrabbit alumnus, playing for Bowie 2007-2010. He played every offensive skilled position during that time, quarterback, running back and wide receiver, while playing in coach Brad Keck and later Josh Castles offenses. Both coaches operated out of the spread offense (shotgun formation with three to four receivers) but did things differently.
“Under Coach Keck, we really established the run with zone read plays and it forced teams to tie extra men to the box,” Price said. “When teams did this we would throw the ball to Cyler Matlock who was the area’s best receiver at the time. Under Coach Castles, we were true spread offense and threw the ball around a little more. A lot of quick passing game stuff with the idea of getting the ball to receivers in space. Both offenses really liked to run with the quarterback.”
When he was later a quarterback, he relished using his head as well as athleticism on plays where he would have to make a read on either to hand the ball off or keep it on a run.
That experience helped shape him as a coach.
“I think giving your quarterback a read on every play is so beneficial in every offense,” Price said. “I want our players to have fun playing the game. This offense allows that. The great thing about the spread offense is that it allows a lot of flexibility on how you want to attack each week.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
The Jim Bowie Days Celebration starts this weekend and lasts all next week, with several events taking place at Bowie’s Rodeo Arena.
The week kicks off on June 21 at Amon Carter Lake with the bass fishing tournament starting at 6 a.m. As of Tuesday, the lake is still closed due to water levels being too high from the abundance of rain, but look for updated information on if the tournament will take place at the Bowie News social media pages.
Also on June 21, Bowie’s Top of Lake is hosting a two-man golf scramble starting at 8 a.m. The cost to sign-up is $150 per team. You can call 940-531-1489 for more information.
Rodeo events start on June 22 with the Open 4D Barrel Racing event. Pre entries have been open since June 1 and will stay open until it is done.
This year the event will have two sections. Section one starts 2 p.m. Section two will start later at 7:30 p.m. Both section winners will have prizes of $3,500 awarded to the top riders.
For more information call either Blake Myers (254-977-2395) or Kellin Ann (254-223-1224).
The youth rodeo is set to start at 7 p.m. on June 24 and June 25.
The first night the activities are poles, barrels and goats.
The age brackets will be broken up into six and under, 7-10, 11-14 and 15-19.
No leadline category is available and the cost for entry is $35.
The second night activities will be breakaway roping, tie-down roping, ribbon roping and team roping. The age categories will be 13 and under and 14-19. Entry fee is $45.
All around buckles for one boy and one girl will be given for the person who earns most points on both nights.
Mutton bustin’ will be both nights before activities start, limited to 15 contestants per night for kids aged 4-6.
The books will open on June 23 from 6-9 p.m. Call Tennile Green at 940-577-9740 to sign-up.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
-
NEWS3 years ago2 hurt, 1 jailed after shooting incident north of Nocona
-
NEWS2 years agoSuspect indicted, jailed in Tia Hutson murder
-
NEWS2 years agoSO investigating possible murder/suicide
-
NEWS2 years agoWreck takes the life of BHS teen, 16
-
NEWS2 years agoMurder unsolved – 1 year later Tia Hutson’s family angry, frustrated with no arrest
-
NEWS2 years ago
Sheriff’s office called out to infant’s death
-
NEWS2 years agoBowie Police face three-hour standoff after possible domestic fight
-
NEWS3 years ago
Driver stopped by a man running into the street, robbed at knifepoint