SPORTS
Nocona moving down to 2A
On Wednesday the University Interscholastic League released the conference cutoff numbers for the 2022-2024 school years.
The big news for Montague County is Nocona will drop down from 3A classification to 2A for the first time since 2014.
The Indians turned in a 249 enrollment number back on Oct. 29. It turned out to be one student short of the 250 barrier that would have required Nocona to stay in 3A.
This will make the Indians one of if not the largest 2A school in the state for the next two years which has coaches, fans and athletes alike excited for the future.
“This is really big for the town of Nocona,” Athletic Director Blake Crutsinger said. “I know people have been wanting this for a long time and it just helps us be a lot more competitive in everything. We are no longer one of the smallest schools in 3A. Being on the top end of 2A will really help our kids be a lot more competitive.”
Crutsinger also mentioned that besides helping compete better in athletics, this also will help Nocona UIL academics and band.
Outside of the Indians, no other schools in The Bowie News coverage zone are reclassifying. Bowie turned in 497, a good 47 kids away from threatening to go up to 4A. The Jackrabbits will stay in division I when it comes to football.
Among the 1A schools, Saint Jo was the closest to having to reclassify.
The Panthers turned in 99, with the cutoff number being 105 to move up to 2A.
The move up to 2A also would mean transitioning from six-man football to 11-man, which would have caused a whole host of logistical changes Saint Jo avoided.
All of the other 1A schools did not have to worry about going to 2A, but some did have to worry about going up from division II to division I in football. The cutoff number for division I was 59.
Forestburg (52) and Gold-Burg (47) were thankful to be short of that number.
Prairie Valley and Bellevue did not have to worry about that since neither school plays football. The Prairie Valley Bulldogs turned in the second highest number (56) out of the 1A schools in the area while the Eagles turned in the lowest with 40.
You can look up the conference cutoff numbers and enrollment numbers for all of the schools in the state at www.uiltexas.org.
The official district realignments will be released at 9 a.m. on Feb. 3.
Bowie had six players play in the Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl football all-star game. For pictures from not just the football game, but the basketball and volleyball games as well that feature athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6875584&T=1
Nocona is welcoming back Coach Sandy Langford, former coach and alumnus for the Lady Indians, as its new volleyball head coach.
Langford comes back to Nocona after spending the past 11 years leading the Glen Rose volleyball program.
Her circumstances with her family allowed her to jump at the opportunity once she became aware the position at Nocona was available.
“My youngest graduated and is playing football at Midwestern (State University),” Langford said. “All of our family is here and I knew that Coach Kara (Lucherk) was leaving. We were eventually going to retire here. Our oldest son plays college football at West Texas A&M and we’ll be two hours closer to him as well.”
She again will lead the Lady Indians volleyball program, one that she led all the way to the state title game in 2011, which is the farthest the volleyball program has ever gone in its prestigious history.
Langford kept up that level of success during her 11 years at the bigger 4A Glen Rose. She won less than 20 games only twice during her time, winning her 500th career game back in 2023. Her teams were ranked among the top 10 in the state five times and Langford led Glen Rose to the state tournament in 2017, the best finish in program history.
With the Lady Indians also having its own string of success, appearing in back-to-back regional finals while finishing atop the district standings both years, Langford is excited to not just keep the success going, but shoot for the stars.
“We are not expecting anything less than a state championship,” Langford said.
She has stacked the non-district schedule with strong, state-ranked 3A and 4A teams as well as big tournaments that will test Nocona’s mettle early next season in the hopes it will prepare them for a long playoff run.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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.
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