The 86th Oil Bowl all-star games were the last hurrah for 12 recently graduated athletes from Montague County on Friday and Saturday.
Playing with and against some of the best athletes in the Wichita Falls area and getting to put on their old high school jersey or helmet one last time super ceded anything they did during their final competition.
First played was the girl’s basketball game on Friday night at Rider High School. Both Bowie’s Maddie Mandela and Prairie Valley’s Carmen Gomez played for the east team.
Followed that night was the boy’s basketball game which had the most county athletes playing in the game. Both Bowie guards Brody Armstrong and A.J. Whatley played for the west team (the team selecting doesn’t make sense) while Saint Jo forward Brice Durham and Prairie Valley guard Tyler Winkler played for the east team.
On Saturday the all-star volleyball games started in the afternoon.
The first was the small school game which featured three girls from the county playing. Long time district rivals, Prairie Valley’s Karagan Ritchie and Gold-Burg’s Sadie Whitaker played on the west team with girls from state champion Windthorst and Christ Academy.
Saint Jo’s Kayden Skidmore played for the east team headlined by girls from state runner-up Lindsay.
In the football game, from Montague County the east team had Nocona players Arturo Garcia, Bodie Davis and Dayson Elliott playing mostly on the defensive side.
They also were coached by head coach Blake Crutsinger, defensive coordinator Zach Denson and special teams coordinator Payton Betts one last time as well.

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