SPORTS
Bowie loses heartbreaker in overtime
It was a hugely disappointing ending to Friday’s game for the Bowie Jackrabbits.
Iowa Park came back to not only tie the score in the final seconds, but eventually win in overtime 25-22.
The Jackrabbits came into the game still seeking their first win of the season, though they had come close more than once. After a better than expected showing against Jim Ned the previous week and facing a similarly struggling Hawks team that came in with only one win, expectations were high for Bowie to get its first win.
The first quarter went by scoreless as neither team had much success moving the ball. The Jackrabbit defense early on seemed to be winning the line of scrimmage and shutting down Iowa Park’s run game, pushing the Hawks backwards on most plays.
That did not spread to the offensive side of the ball as Bowie’s offense failed to get much push running the ball consistently.
Still, the Jackrabbits did have the most successful drive of the quarter as quarterback Brody Armstrong used his legs to extend a pass play before hitting deep on a pass that put Bowie into Iowa Park territory. Unfortunately, the Jackrabbits stalled at the Hawks 24-yard line.
A beautiful punt from Iowa Park was downed at the one-yard line and Bowie’s offense embarked on the first scoring drive of the game. Armstrong plunged in from a yard out about midway through the second quarter to put the Jackrabbits up 6-0.
The defense kept up its energy for Bowie and forced a turnover on downs near midfield. The offense took over and then drove down the field again, punctuating the drive with running back Matthew McCarty scoring on a short run. A successful two-point conversion put the Jackrabbits up 14-0.
Running out of time before halftime, the Hawks offense made their first real bid to score hitting on some big run plays from quarterback Parker Allen. With less than two minutes to play, Allen hit his receiver on a contested 14-yard catch in the end zone cut the lead to 14-7.
Bowie tried to answer, but ended up punting the ball away with a little more than a minute left to play. The Hawks bid to try and tie the score up before halftime was interrupted as Brycen Park intercepted a pass on the drive’s first play to keep the Jackrabbits lead heading into the second half.
Bowie’s offense started the second half driving into Iowa Park territory. A touchdown run that would have put the Jackrabbits up two scores was called back thanks to a taunting penalty during the run. Later in the drive a desperate throw to the end zone was intercepted by the Hawks, wiping out that score and coming back to haunt Bowie later in the game.
The Jackrabbit defense held strong on the next drive, forcing a turnover on downs at their own 24-yard line, but they could not hold forever now that Iowa Park’s offense had some momentum running the ball from the end of the first half.
After Bowie punted the ball away, the Hawks drove down the field and scored on a short jet sweep run to tie the score at 14-14 right before the end of the third quarter.
Coming into the final period, the Jackrabbit offense responded on their next drive. Armstrong scrambled up the middle of the defense mostly untouched on a 12-yard run. The good two-point conversion put Bowie up 22-14 with 9:08 left to play.
The Jackrabbit defense then tried to seal the game. On the next drive Braden Rhyne intercepted a pass near midfield.
After the offense could not do much, the Hawks drove down into Bowie territory before the defense again got a big stop, forcing a turnover on downs at its own 17-yard line with 1:42 left to play.
Iowa Park had two timeouts left and the Jackrabbit offense failed to move the ball after three plays and had to punt the ball back to the Hawks with less than a minute left.
Unfortunately, disaster struck as an Iowa Park player came through to the punt and recovered the ball at Bowie’s one-yard line with 34 seconds left.
The Jackrabbit defense somehow held on the first quarterback sneak attempt, but could not stop the second hurried attempt that was pushed over with seven seconds left.
The Hawks then needed to convert on the two-point conversion and succeeded to tie the game up at 22-22 to force overtime.
Bowie got the ball first at Iowa Park’s 25-yard line. If the Jackrabbits scored first and then held the Hawks then they would have won.
Unfortunately, the first offensive play saw Bowie throw an interception. Iowa Park then got the ball on the Jackrabbit’s 25-yard line and just needed to score in any way, even a field goal, to win the game.
The Hawks moved the ball to Bowie’s 12-yard line, but was stalled on third down.
This set up Iowa Park for a 29-yard field goal to win the game. The kick went through the uprights to give the Hawks the 25-22 overtime win.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
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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