SPORTS
Jackrabbits lose to Steers
The Bowie Jackrabbits opened their season with a tough home loss to Graham on Friday night.
The 4A Steers won 56-14 against the Jackrabbits in a game that was not close after the first quarter.
Bowie came into the game knowing it had a tough task. Graham is returning a lot of skill position starters from a team that went to the playoffs last year and is running an up-tempo spread offense.
The Jackrabbits are transitioning on both sides of the ball, learning multiple formations on offense to lean on while working a 4-3 defense.
With the Steers offense its strength, Bowie hoped it could lean on its flex bone formation and run it down Graham’s throat while keeping the ball away from its high scoring offense.
Both teams punted the ball away on their first possessions, but the Steers struck first. An errant snap to the quarterback Ty Thompson was scooped up by him who then scrambled around before finding a receiver just behind the Jackrabbits defense who pulled it down inside the 10-yard line.
From there, Graham scored on a short quarterback sneak to go up 7-0.
Bowie answered on its next drive. Sophomore quarterback Rayder Mann, starting his first game, found Troy Kesey down the middle of the field for a big gain deep in the Steers territory.
A few plays later, a sort of flea flicker type of pitch back to Mann allowed him to find Tucker Jones wide open for an 18-yard touchdown catch to cut the lead down to 7-6.
That was as competitive as the game was from then on. Graham immediately answered. Its success with receiver screens on the perimeter and runs up the middle with the its running back drew Bowie’s defense in which allowed the Steers to take a shot.
Thompson found speedy Peyton Kinman for a 46-yard touchdown pass with the safeties drawn closer to the line.
Graham was up 14-6 heading into the second quarter and it was only the beginning.
The Steers scored three more times in the half as it seemed Bowie’s defense had no answer for what Graham wanted to do. Whether through sustained drives that ended with red zone touchdowns or a big pass plays over the top, the Steers were running away with it up 35-6.
Before halftime there was an incident on the Jackrabbits sideline when Jones suffered an unnecessary roughness penalty during a kickoff return by getting slung into the bench. With Graham getting some calls for that back in the first quarter and with it happening in the middle of Bowie’s sideline, a teammate slammed the opposing player on the ground.
The two were separated before it became too ugly and both sat out the rest of the game.
The Jackrabbits had their second most productive drive of the game after that, but unfortunately stalled out at the Steer’s 33-yard line and it went to halftime.
Bowie came out in the second half with a renewed commitment on offense to run it up the middle for short but productive gains over and over. Unfortunately, it left little room for error as one not so good run could get the Jackrabbits off script. Bowie turned the ball over on downs on Graham’s 22-yard line this time, but its next drive would prove successful.
This time, the Jackrabbits got a big play as Jax Johnston got loose for a long run before getting caught inside the Steer’s red zone. From there, Seth Mann was able to punch the ball in from short yardage to give Bowie its second touchdown of the game.
Unfortunately, things remained the same on defense as Graham scored twice more on offense before that so Mann’s touchdown made the score 49-12.
Still, the Jackrabbits kept fighting. In the ensuing kickoff, Will Cross recovered a fumble. Unfortunately, Bowie gave the ball right back as a ball sailed out of reach for Kesey for an interception for the Steers near their own goal line.
Backed near its own end zone, Graham seemed to feel the Jackrabbits defensive pressure as Kason Martin came through to sack the quarterback for a safety and make the score 49-14 heading into the fourth quarter.
Bowie could not build from that momentum to score again. Another interception from Bowie and Graham scoring on one more big pass play were the only notable things to happen the rest of the game.
The Steers won 56-14.
To read the full story and see the game statistics, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
The Nocona Lady Indians won their area round playoff match on Saturday at Weatherford beating a tough Hawley team.
The Lady Indians won 3-1 against the Lady Cats in a match where three of the four sets were won with little drama.
Nocona was confident heading into the match after easily defeating Seymour while Hawley had nearly been defeated in its previous match that went five sets. Still, the Lady Cats were a 30 win team and a district champion as well.
The first set proved to be the closest of the match and it could have gone either way. In the end it was the Lady Indians that executed at the end to win 25-23 to take the early lead.
Nocona then parlayed that win into the start of set two where it took control and never let go.
The Lady Indians won with a lot more wiggle room 25-16 to take firm control 2-0 and it looking like it might be a short match.
Hawley was not going to go down like that though. The Lady Cats came out with their backs against the wall in set three. Nocona was a little less intense being up and it allowed Hawley to grab control.
The Lady Indians were playing from behind and could never make up the difference as the Lady Cats won 25-15 to cut the lead to 2-1.
Having given Hawley hope it could turn the match around, it was important Nocona start set four playing well to not allow the Lady Cats a chance to come back.
Nocona played well with an early lead and pulled away to win 25-16, winning with little drama 3-1.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers came up just short on senior night against district rival Union Hill on Friday for the district title.
The Bulldogs won 40-32 to take their third straight district championship, with the Panthers finishing runners-up as a result as well.
It looked like this year would be Saint Jo’s year. The Panthers came into the game undefeated at 9-0, had won three close games along the way, with one of the wins coming against a Perrin-Whitt team that beat Union Hill earlier in the season by several scores.
The Bulldogs were 7-2, but had a younger nucleus than in years past. Combined with the two and half hour drive to Saint Jo, the Panthers wealth of senior talent playing in front of its home fans and the team playing better every week, all signs were pointing to Saint Jo getting some pay back.
Instead it was Union Hill that started out on top, leading 26-12 at halftime. The Panthers cut the lead to one score multiple times, but could not come back to tie or take the lead at any point.
The wet weather made throwing the ball more difficult for Saint Jo which did not help. The Panthers had one last opportunity at the end of the game to tie the game up with a touchdown, but did not come through.
The Bulldogs held on to win 40-32.
Devin Stewart completed four passes for 60 yards and one touchdown, which went to Wade Lucas on a 40-yard touchdown pass. On the ground, Stewart led the team with 127 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Lucas was second with 51 yards rushing and scored one rushing touchdown as well.
Nocona
The Nocona Indians’ tough season ended in a rough manner at district champion Tioga last week.
The Bulldogs won 62-0 against the Indians.
Nocona knew the game was going to be tough, having struggled scoring on offense during district play while Tioga had scored 34 or more points in its undefeated district run.
The Bulldogs passed the ball heavily out of the shotgun formation and it proved too much for the young Indians team.
Logan Gaston led the team with 47 yards rushing and had a team high nine tackles. Kasch Johnson forced a fumble and Walker Murphey recovered it as well.
Forestburg
The Forestburg Longhorns came up short at Fannindel on Thursday night as they missed the playoffs.
The Falcons won 43-26 against the Longhorns to earn the district’s final playoff spot as Forestburg’s season ends.
Coming into the season there was talk about how it was going to be a down year for Fannindel since the team had young players and some trouble finding a coach.
Then the Longhorns had to deal with a season full of things like injuries to key players, players leaving and reappearing, an assistant coach that resigned and more.
A team at the start of the season that had the most depth it has had in any recent years ended the season with eight players.
The Falcons actually came into the game with the better record at 4-5 to Forestburg’s 2-7, but the Longhorns still felt like they could come through.
The first half saw Forestburg’s defense make Fannindel earn every point. The Longhorns offense struggled despite playing their cleanest game of the season, but scored once as Jesus Sanchez found Tristan Cumby for a 14-yard touchdown.
Forestburg trailed only 19-6 at halftime.
The Longhorns then got a boost when Aiden White returned an interception for a touchdown to cut the lead down to one score 19-12 to start the second half.
Unfortunately, the Falcons were able to bust four long touchdown runs in the second half which grew their lead.
Forestburg could not keep up. It did score twice more as John Carranza found White for a 10-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. To end the game, Jesus Sanchez scored on a nine-yard run.
It made the final score 43-26 in favor of Fannindel.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
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