Nocona
The Nocona Indians opened their season with a win on the road at Era on Thursday.
The Indians won 42-22, breaking the game open in the third quarter as they pulled away from the Hornets in a game that was closer than the final score would indicate.
Nocona did not start the game well as a turnover on its first drive gave Era the opportunity to drive down the field using its passing attack to score first.
The Indians answered on their next drive as Brady McCasland found Charlie Fuller for a 40-yard touchdown pass to tie the game up at 7-7.
Nocona’s defense buttoned down after the first drive and shut the Hornets down for the rest of the first half, including an interception from Carson Peters that possibly saved a touchdown.
The Indians went ahead on their next offensive series, driving down the field on a 14-play drive that ended with McCasland scoring on a run. Nocona led 14-7 at halftime.
The third quarter was when the Indians broke the game open. First Era went down to score to open the quarter.
The Nocona defense stepped up and got a big interception that was returned for a touchdown from Fuller, thanks in large part to Gavin Miller getting pressure on the Hornet’s quarterback.
The next series, Fuller again made a big play on defense, forcing and then recovering a fumble which led to a score on offense.
The Indians marched down the field with some big runs from Jose Gomez before McCasland found Caden Gaston for a 16-yard touchdown pass. Johnny Stone then scored twice on the ground, once in the third and then in the fourth quarter to ice the game.
Era scored once more in the fourth quarter, but Nocona’s lead was too great as it won 42-22.

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers opened their season earning an easy win at Trinidad on Thursday night.
The Panthers won 62-12, winning by mercy-rule during the third quarter as they ran away from the Trojans.
Saint Jo has a lot of new faces on both sides of the ball. With so many players new to varsity play, Trinidad took advantage scoring first on a 20-yard run to go up first.
The Panthers didn’t immediately respond as they turned the ball over on their next drive. Finally they took the lead with Wade Lucas scoring on a 32-yard run to give Saint Jo an 8-6 lead heading into the second quarter.
From there, the Panthers dominated. The defense shut Trinidad down while two returning starters on offense, Devin Stewart and Lee Yeley went to work.
Yeley scored on runs of 74 and 1 yard runs while Stewart scored on runs covering 19 and 35 yards.
Saint Jo led 40-6 at halftime.
The Panthers got others involved offensively in the third quarter with Charlie Evans scoring twice on runs covering 29 and 27 yards while Damon Byrd scored on an eight-yard run to end the game.
The Trojans scored once more in the third quarter on a short pass against Saint Jo’s second string as the Panthers won 62-12.

Gold-Burg
The Gold-Burg Bears got some revenge, opening the season on Friday with a home win against Perrin-Whitt.
The Bears dominated, winning 64-16 against the Pirates with the mercy rule kicking in about halfway through the third quarter.
Gold-Burg was trying to avenge a close loss in its season opener the previous year against Perrin-Whitt and did so from the jump.
Grace led the team with 141 yards rushing on just five carries and scored three touchdowns. Jayton Epperson rushed for 77 yards and scored a touchdown.
Levi Hellinger completed seven passes for 160 yards and five touchdowns. Three went to Aidan Foster for 47 yards as he led the team. Keelyn Case caught one touchdown for 27 yards and Grace also caught one touchdown.

Forestburg
The Forestburg Longhorns lost their opening game on the road against private school Dallas Lakehill on Friday.
The Warriors won 42-6 against the Longhorns as they failed to execute well against Lakehill.
Forestburg Coach Greg Roller thought too many mistakes put his team in a hole it never could dig itself out.
“We simply had too many breakdowns on assignments early in the game,” Roller said.
The Longhorns hope they can move on quickly as they look to play Wichita Christian next, which Roller thinks is a winnable game for this team.

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