Nocona
The Nocona Indians kept their season undefeated as they started district play on Friday at Whitewright.
The Indians won a close game 25-18 against the Tigers, having to drive late into the game for the winning score after Whitewright tied the score in the fourth quarter.
Nocona came into the game following a bye-week and scraping by in its tightest game of the season against Valley View that kept the Indians undefeated. They were confident they could keep up the good play against a 2-3 Whitewright team, but knew it would be no walk in the park.
The Tigers struck first on a 22-yard pass in the first quarter. The Indian offense answered back running the ball as Michael Wetmore dove into the end zone on a 12-yard run to tie the game at 6-6.
The Nocona defense held twice in the second quarter, keeping Whitewright out of the end zone on a first and goal from the two yard line with some help from some penalties. The Tigers then intercepted a pass to stop the Indians next offensive drive, but did nothing to take advantage of it.
Driving right before halftime, Nocona quarterback Brady McCasland found Luke Fuller open behind the defense for a 32 yard touchdown pass with 19 seconds left, putting the Indians up 12-6 heading into the second half.
The Indians lead extended more than midway through the third quarter when Wetmore again found the end zone, this time running from 24-yards out to put Nocona up 18-6.
The Tigers would come storming back though, scoring quickly on a short run before the third quarter ended and then on a six-yard catch midway through the fourth quarter.
The Tigers had no luck all night on extra point tries, but the third one hit the goal post to keep the score tied at 18-18 with 6:13 left in the game.
Nocona needed to do something on offense or risk relying on its defense to get the ball back or surrendering the lead and getting it back with limited time to use.
The Indians executed a successful drive, with McCasland and his receivers converting two third and longs to keep the drive alive on their way towards the end zone. In the end, it was running back Johnny Stone who scored from two yards out to give Nocona the lead. Arturo Garcia’s successful extra point put the Indians up 25-18 with 1:49 left to play.
The defense put the game away on Whitewright’s first offensive play of the drive as a deep pass down the right sideline was picked off by Nocona’s Caden Gaston.
The Indians ran the clock out and sealed up the win 25-18.

Saint Jo
After a rough first loss the previous week at Knox City, the Saint Jo Panthers bounced back with a dominant win against Bynum at home on Friday night.
The Panthers won 53-8 with the game ending early in the third quarter due to the mercy rule.
There was little that did not go Saint Jo’s way against the Bulldogs as the Panthers scored on every offensive possession. Besides a long touchdown run from Bynum’s speedy running back, the defense shut down the Bulldogs for most of the night. Taking out the touchdown play, the Panthers only gave up 80 yards and recovered two fumbles.
On offense after turning the ball over six times against Knox City and failing to score, Saint Jo played clean and scored seven touchdowns.
Matthew Butler-Everson led the team with 128 yards passing and three touchdowns. Two went to Dylan Brockman and one went to Trevor O’Neal who led the team with three catches. Also scored once on the ground and finished with 61 yards rushing.
Devin Stewart led the team with 122 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Lee Yeley scored the other touchdown on the ground and finished with 26 yards.

Forestburg
The Forestburg Longhorns got one final tough non-district lesson playing tough Knox City at home on Friday night.
The Greyhounds dominated 65-0 with the game ending at halftime due to mercy rule.
Forestburg knew a win was unlikely as Knox City was coming off a game where it smacked Longhorn rival Saint Jo 52-0.
Still, with district play upcoming it was the team’s last and perhaps toughest test of the season before games start to count.
The highlights came in the first few plays of the opening drive for the Greyhounds. Coach Greg Roller liked what his team did on the opening plays in limiting the big Knox City team running the football.
It did not last long as the Greyhounds scored on fourth down and then never looked back.
Roller did like his team on offense limited the amount of negative plays that sent them backwards against such an opponent. Most drives stalled out facing fourth and medium types of distances.
Roller thinks his team is ready to compete in a district that he sees as more wide open then what most people thought at the beginning of the season.

Gold-Burg
The Gold-Burg Bears lost a tough matchup in their final non-district game on Friday playing tough Union Hill.
The undefeated Bulldogs won 70-18 against the Bears in what they are hoping is their toughest game of the season.
Unfortunately, it was the same story as recent losses for Gold-Burg as execution was cited as the main mistakes from Coach Brady Hibbitts.
Union Hill recovered four onside kicks which severely limited the Bears from trying to get back into the game with limited offensive possessions.
Still, it was not all bad. A win was probably too much to hope for, but there were good things to get from playing a team like that.
“I wanted to see small victories out of it and I did and I was happy with some of the things I saw,” Hibbitts said.

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