Nocona
The Nocona Indians were able to hang on to win their triennial homecoming game against Valley View on Friday.
The Indians won 37-34 against the Eagles in a game that featured a furious comeback from Valley View.
In the previous two seasons, two of Nocona’s three wins have come against the Eagles on homecoming as the Indians could count on sending the town home happy on that night. Valley View struggled the previous two seasons as well, picking up only one win during that time.
Both teams came in completely different this year, with Nocona unbeaten at 4-0 and the Eagles already doubling its win total at 2-2.
Nocona was up 34-14 a little more than midway through the third quarter. Running back Johnny Stone was a lot of the Indian’s offense most of the night as he scored on runs from 89 yards, 41 yards and 10 yards on the night. Quarterback Brady McCasland scored on a short run earlier, but was banged up by the end of the night where the coaches did not want to risk him in the run game.
On special teams Cade Gaston also returned a kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown.
The Eagles scored on a short run to cut the lead to 34-20 right before the fourth quarter. Midway through the final period Nocona was in the red zone but faced a fourth down. The Indians elected to kick the short field goal and Arturo Garcia and company executed, hitting the 24-yard kick to make it a three score game with 7:10 to go in the game.
That would prove to be crucial as Valley View rallied to score on its next drive to make it a 37-27 with 5:28 to go.
Shortly later they scored on another short run to make it a one-score game with Nocona up 37-34 with 2:36 left to play.
The Eagle defense had tightened up as they were keyed in on Stone and with the Indian coaches not wanting to risk McCasland at that point in the game running the ball, decided to try and pass since everyone was expecting them to run.
It was intercepted and gave the Eagles the ball back.
Thankfully a last ditch throw was intercepted by Luke Fuller to ice the game and give Nocona the win.

Saint Jo vs Gold-Burg
The Saint Jo Panthers won big at Gold-Burg on Friday night.
The Panthers won 70-14, with the game being overt at halftime due to mercy rule.
Saint Jo came in undefeated, but knew things could be improved since it had fallen behind in the first quarter of every game so far.
The Bears were coming into the game following two straight wins and looked like they might be turning the corner on good play after struggling with losses in their first two games.
Gold-Burg had some hope it could give the county favorites a challenge early on.
The streak of giving up first quarter leads continued for Saint Jo as the Bears Ian Grissom took the opening kickoff back 78 yards for a touchdown.
Unfortunately for Gold-Burg, that would be one of the few bright spots on the night.
The Panthers answered with a quick offensive drive as Trevor O’Neal scored on a 10-yard run to go up 8-6.
The Saint Jo defense got stops on the next three drives with little yardage being given up. The offense then would take advantage as Lee Yeley scored on a 22-yard run, O’Neal scored from 45 yards away and Matthew Butler-Everson completed a touchdown pass to Devin Stewart from nine yards out.
Right before the first quarter ended, Saint Jo got its first takeaway as O’Neal recovered a fumble near the Panther’s goal line. Saint Jo led 30-6 heading to the second quarter.
The first play for the Panthers saw Yeley go 77 yards for a touchdown. Things continued to get worse for the Bears as Saint Jo recovered the onside kick. Butler-Everson then found Stewart again for a touchdown, this time from 35 yards out.
Gold-Burg had its longest offensive drive of the game as it tried to answer back. Unfortunately for the Bears, the team turned it over on downs deep in Panther territory.
Saint Jo then scored on its first play of the next drive as Butler-Everson completed a pass to O’Neal who caught and ran it in for a 64-yard touchdown.
The Panthers then repeated things as the defense got another stop and Butler-Everson found Dylan Brockman for a 44-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the drive.
The Bears showed some life with less than two minutes to play. On the first play of Gold-Burg’s next offensive drive, Jayton Epperson completed a pass to Aidan Foster for a 44-yard touchdown.
The Panthers added one more score in the final minute as O’Neal scored from 19 yards to make the final score 70-14.

Forestburg
The Forestburg Longhorns had a happy homecoming on Friday night with their win against Cornerstone Christian Academy.
The Longhorns won by mercy rule 58-12 early in the third quarter, giving them their second win of the season and breaking a three game losing streak.
The Warriors scored two touchdowns in the passing game in the first quarter, but Forestburg could not be stopped offensively. The Longhorns were up 26-12 after the first quarter and did not let Cornerstone score again in the game.
As the lead kept growing, Coach Greg Roller was able to get some of his other players some playing time and they did some good things. The team went into halftime ahead 46-12.
Roller felt like in the team’s first win against North Texas the team let up after getting a big lead. On Friday night, he saw his team lay down the hammer and finish things early in the third quarter with two more touchdowns.
Jeremiah Perez scored on five of his nine touches in the game as he led the team with 248 total yards. He also threw a touchdown pass while leading the team with 10 tackles and two fumble recoveries.
Angel Cruz rushed for 101 yards and scored two touchdowns. Jesus Sanchez completed four passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns. Nathan Payne led the team with four catches for 84 yards and one touchdown. Kayden Dill caught one pass for a touchdown.

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