SPORTS
Football Roundup
Nocona
It was a big win to start the season for the Nocona Indians at home playing Era.
The Indians won the one-sided contest 41-22 against the Hornets, though it was an admittedly sloppy performance that showed Nocona has plenty to work on as well.
From the beginning the Indians marched down the field and scored a touchdown in the first two minutes on a short run from Johnny Stone to go up 6-0. After a stop on defense it looked like Nocona was poised again to score when a fumble at Era’s six yard line turned the ball over and showed what kind of a night it would be for the Indians.
The turnover did not end up mattering as once Nocona got the ball back quickly enough quarterback Brady McCasland found Luke Fuller down the middle for a 23 yard touchdown pass. The score put the Indians up 14-0 heading into the second quarter.
Nocona scored once again early in the period as McCasland scored from a yard out to make it 20-0.
Unfortunately, intensity was lost and some offensive execution suffered for it. The Hornets forced a turnover on downs on Nocona’s next drive and recovered a fumble in the Indian’s territory on the one after that.
This time Era capitalized as it scored on a short touchdown run to cut the lead to 20-12.
Nocona was trying to answer back before the half, but stalled out at the Hornet’s 27 yard line with 1:08 before to go.
Completing some big plays, Era hooked up on a deep 41-yard touchdown pass with two seconds left to make it a one-score game 20-14 heading into halftime.
Luckily for Nocona, that would be as close as it would get.
The Hornets got the ball first to start the second half and looked to tie or take the lead with a touchdown. Stone put an end to that on the very first play of the drive, flying threw the line to blow up a handoff in the backfield, causing a fumble and recovering it himself.
The Indians would then take the short field and drive for a quick touchdown as Stone finished what he started with a short run to put Nocona up 28-14.
Era tried to answer as it drove into the red zone. The Indians were able to come up with a stop inside their own 10-yard line. Getting the ball back, McCasland then took off down the left side line for a 97-yard touchdown run to Nocona up 35-14 heading into the fourth quarter.
Era added one more score early in the period on an 11-yard run and the Indians answered with a little less than four minutes to play as Arturio Garcia scored from 21 yards out to make the final score 41-22.
The Indians dominated on the ground, with 412 of its 453 yards of offense coming from running the ball. McCasland led the team with 171 yards rushing and two touchdowns while also completing three passes for 41 yards and one touchdown. Stone also rushed for 134 yards and scored two touchdowns. Fuller led the team with one catch for 23 yards and one touchdown.
Unfortunately, the offense also lost four fumbles to the Era defense. It equaled out at the Nocona defense also forced four turnovers, with interceptions coming from Cooper Waldrip, Bodie Davis and McCasland along with Stone’s fumble recovery.
Saint Jo
Outside of the opening minutes, it was all Saint Jo in the Panthers’ first game playing against Wichita Christian on Friday.
The Panthers won by the 45-point mercy rule in the fourth quarter 54-8 against the Stars.
Early on it looked like Wichita Christian was looking to pull an upset against Saint Jo. The Stars grabbed an interception on the Panther’s first offensive drive. Saint Jo answered back with Kile Thurman intercepting a pass, but unfortunately fumbled the ball right back to Wichita Christian within the same play. The Stars then went on to score on a long 44-yard touchdown run to put them up 8-0.
Saint Jo answered on its next offensive drive as Matthew Butler-Everson threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Devin Stewart to equal the score at 8-8.
Both offenses stalled on their next drives and the game looked competitive heading to the second quarter. However, this is where the Panther offense came alive.
Saint Jo scored on all three of its possessions in the second quarter. Caleb Workman scored on a 25-yard run, Trevor O’Neal would score on a 24-yard run and Butler-Everson would complete another pass to Stewart for a 16-yard touchdown.
Saint Jo led 32-8 at halftime.
The Panthers kept up that pace, scoring on both drives in the third quarter. O’Neal would complete a one yard pass to Stewart for a touchdown before Butler-Everson hooked up with Dylan Brockman from 16 yards out for another touchdown to go up 48-8.
The game ended in the fourth quarter as O’Neal scored on a seven-yard run to make the final 54-8.
O’Neal led the team with 184 yards rushing and two touchdowns while also throwing one touchdown. Butler-Everson completed eight passes for 126 yards and three touchdowns. Stewart led the team with five catches for 66 yards and three touchdowns. Brockman also caught four passes for 61 yards and one touchdown.
Defensively the team force three turnovers with Workman getting an interception to join Thurman’s as well as Brockman recovering a fumble.
Forestburg
The Forestburg Longhorns won their opening game of the season against the home schooled North Texas Spartans on Friday night.
The Longhorns won 45-31 against the Spartans in a game which Forestburg led for most of the game.
Both teams came into the game with no film on the other. North Texas had played no scrimmages and had no film to trade so both teams came in blind.
After some adjustments, it was the Longhorns who proved to be the better team at the end of the night. Forestburg led 13-7 after the first quarter, 26-19 at halftime and 39-25 at the end of three quarters.
The Spartans did cut the lead to one point 26-25 midway through the third quarter, but that was as close as it would get.
Jeremiah Perez did everything for Forestburg. He rushed for 275 yards and scored four touchdowns. He also completed a pass for two yards and a touchdown to Nathan Payne. On defense he also led the team with 18 tackles, including nine that were solo tackles.
Angel Cruz also scored a rushing touchdown and was second with 85 yards rushing. Jesus Sanchez also led the team completing four passes for 16 yards.
Payne was second with 14 tackles while Tye Reid and Sanchez each recovered a fumble on defense.
Coach Greg Roller was proud how his team played overall and where his young team is starting from as compared to last year.
Gold-Burg
The Gold-Burg Bears lost a disappointing game at Perrin-Whitt on Friday night to start the season.
The Pirates won 37-27 against a Bears team that came into the game already banged up and left the game in even rougher shape.
Gold-Burg fell behind early 13-0 and trailed 19-8 at halftime. The Bears rallied to take the lead back 21-19 before the Pirates answered back with a kickoff return for a touchdown. Gold-Burg could never recover and ended up losing.
Coming into the game, Coach Brady Hibbitts said several of his starters had been limited in practice with injuries they had suffered during scrimmages. While they all played, some players were reinjured and missed the crucial fourth quarter where the team was trying to come back.
The most serious was a neck injury to a player that was taken by an ambulance to the hospital, though he would later be cleared as it was nothing too serious.
A solid day was had by Montague county high school tracksters at the State Track and Field Meet May 16 in Austin.
Bellevue’s Mattie Broussard had a pair of second place finishes in both the 800-meter run with a time of 2:21.41 and the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:31.33. Broussard also was 4th in the 1,600-meters with a time of 5:22.18.
Her teammate Brylie Hager was 9th in the 110-meter hurdles in 19.93.
Forestburg’s Brenna Briles was 4th in the triple jump with a 35’9 1’2” leap. Her teammate Jocelyn Rich was 4th in the pole vault with a 9’ leap.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
Bowie had a pair of top four finishes at the State Track and Field Meet May 14.
Sophomore Brayden Willett made it onto the medal stand, finishing 3rd in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:17.89. Bowie junior Tyler Richey finished 4th in the pole vault after a 14’6” effort.
The top two finishers from Holliday, also in Bowie’s district, celebrated with him after he crossed the finish line.
“It was kind of surprising,” Willett said about Ryder and Noah Stroman embracing him in a celebratory hug. “They’re good guys, so it was kind of cool.”
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
This past week found your outdoor scribe doing some rather mundane things such as yard work, vegetable gardening and repairs around the old cabin. Oh, I also wrapped up a couple of magazine articles. I always enjoy sharing my adventures with all of you in this column but to be perfectly honest, not nearly as much as my ‘field work’ hunting and fishing which is an iatrical part of any good outdoor column. If you’re like me, you much prefer reading about an adventure that you can also partake.
I am far more comfortable telling you about an outdoor experience I had firsthand knowledge of rather than the reporting part of my job as an outdoor communicator. So, this week, I’d do a bit of ‘reporting’ and share some planned adventures I have scheduled for the next couple weeks. By the time you’re reading this, I will have already been in the woods in quest of a fat ‘eater’ hog and probably have some freshly caught blue catfish fillets in the freezer, details will follow in the next couple of weeks.
I’ll kick things off early in the week heading down to my friend Jeff Rice’s Buck and Bass Ranch located on the upper end of Lake Fork. Jeff produces our weekly TV show “A Sportsman’s Life” which airs on Carbon TV and YouTube. Our plan is to film a segment of our show on stalking wild hogs. It will be a challenge to capture the shot with all the thick grown spring vegetation. It could happen fast and require a fast shot. We will be breaking in my CVA Cascade scout rifle in 308 caliber. This short barrel little rifle is light and easy to handle in thick cover, ideal for this type of hunting. Our plan is to hit the woods during the last couple hours of daylight and ease along the trails, watching and especially listening for hogs. Wild porkers are vocal critters and it’s common to hear them before seeing them. We will play the wind and attempt to get downwind and then close the distance for a shot but you can never guess how a hog hunt will unfold. Wild pork or not, Jeff and I always have a great time together and I plan to bring a side of wild pork ribs already slow smoked and covered in brown sugar and BBQ sauce with a side of camp baked beans!
After a tasty dinner we plan to get a good night’s sleep and head out the next morning for a planned fishing trip with guide David Hanson at Lake Tawakoni. Both channel and blue catfish are on a very good bite right but it’s hard to pass up those snow white blue catfish fillets when the bite is good. David is, to my knowledge, the most veteran catfish guide on the lake and became friends close to a quarter-century ago when we first began fishing
together. The plan is to use freshy cut shad in shallow water and target eater size blues weighing between 2 and about 10 pounds but as every catfish angler knows, it’s always possible to connect with a big trophy size blue when fishing Tawakoni.
Next week, I plan to join my long-time friend J.C. McCollough on the Red River below the Texoma dam. I’ve been fishing and hunting with J.C. for many years and look forward to getting with him again. I would describe this to catching big catfish in a barrel but in this case the deep holes in the river are comprised of several acres. The water level in the river below Texoma are dictated by the water release at the dam by the Corp of Engineers. When there is a current in the river, fish move upstream to feed on baitfish coming through the dam. When the water recedes, they fish move into the deeper holes where baitfish also seek refuge from the falling water. Catching will be fast paced with the chance to connect with some big fish as well as limits of “eater” size fish. We’ll be rigging with big live gizzard shad fished weightless on a free line, using medium spinning gear. The bigger fish will often nail the frisky live shad and the fresh cut bait is a sure way to connect with lots of smaller fish. There is something very exciting about fishing big live baits on a slack line. One minute your bait will be darting around and you will occasionally feel it taking up slack and the next when a big blue catfish grabs the bait, the rod will bow and the fight will be on. There is usually no ‘setting the hook’, by the time you feel the fish, it will already be hooked and making a strong run to the nearest submerged brush. Your job will be to keep the drag set just enough to keep pressure on the fish but not so much as to cause the line to break.
J.C. uses his airboat to access these deeper holes because of the very shallow water. While it’s not impossible to portage a kayak or small boat in the river, it often requires a few miles travel to get to these deep holes, this is best accomplished by experienced kayakers with plenty of endurance. There was a time when I was game for this type fishing but I much prefer to do my river fishing these days from a boat designed to negotiate the shallow waters.
Squirrel season is underway in many of the east Texas counties and there’s some pretty good fox squirrel hunting here close to home in Kaufman county and I’ve been thinking about how tasty a big skillet of smothered squirrel with rice, gravy and biscuits would be. Bream are on the beds now and my friend Edgar Cotton invited me to come do some ‘perch jerking’ with him and his son David-it’s in the plans! Well, hopefully next week I will have a ‘sure nuff’ adventure of two to relate you you-I’m ready to get some relief from all this work around the homeplace! LC
You can contact Tawakoni/Fork catfish guide David Hanson at 902-268-7391. Contact J.C. McCollough at 580-372-0320.
Listen to Luke’s podcast, “Catfish Radio” just about everywhere podcast are found.
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