Bowie
The lightning storm that spread all across Montague County on Friday night put a pause to all four football home games, with three games canceled due to delays going past two hours or more.
Bowie might have been hit the hardest as it was the Jackrabbits homecoming game. Playing a Henrietta team following their first win, Bowie will never know how the game would have gone.
The Bearcats took the opening kick-off and drove down to the Jackrabbits 11-yardline. With 7:09 still left in the first quarter, the first and what would ultimately be the never-ending lightning delay came and everyone was cleared off the field.
After more than two hours, the game was canceled with no opportunity for a makeup game since it was a non-district game. While the homecoming king and queen ceremonies moved into the high school gym, it was a buzzkill for the night.
Bowie is next scheduled to play a tough 4A Burkburnett team in the Jackrabbits first road game of the season. Both teams come into the contest sharing wins against Bridgeport, though the Bulldogs have lost their last two games against Krum and Iowa Park.
Coach Tyler Price said Burkburnett comes into the game featuring an athletic quarterback who likes to scramble around and make plays with his arm and legs which will be a major challenge for the Jackrabbit defense.
Still, if Bowie’s offense can continue to ground and pound and build off that solid foundation it has laid in its first two games, it can maybe turn the game into an old-school war of low-scoring, time of possession based football.

Nocona
The Nocona Indians’ home opener against Electra was short-lived with the game canceled due to lightning after about two hours of delays.
The Indians came into the game 2-0 and was hoping it could fire up their home crowd with another win early in the season, but the game action was over after one drive.
The Tigers nearly returned the opening kick-off for a touchdown, but was stopped near Nocona’s goal line by Cooper Waldrip. The Indian defense then staged a goal line stand to prevent Electra from scoring, but then the first delay came that cleared the playing field.
Nocona will have a redo with an arguably bigger home opener this week against Chico as it will also be the Indians homecoming.
Coach Blake Crutsinger singled out the Dragons’ Willie Lacey as the player to stop for his team on defense. He rushed for nearly 400 yards and scored seven touchdowns in Chico’s lone win this season.
The Dragons have been shut out since then in their losses against Trenton and Tom Bean.
Offensively, Crutsinger singles out his team’s history of turning the ball over last year and the beginning of this season as a concern.
If Nocona avoids them, he feels confident his balanced attack led by key senior players will score just fine.

Forestburg
The Forestburg Longhorns were hoping to get their first win of the season against Penelope at home on Friday, but the weather did not allow it.
The Longhorns early start to the game meant the teams were able to play into the second quarter with the score tied at 8-8.
Unfortunately, no one will ever know who would have actually come out on top.
Coach Greg Roller liked what he was seeing from his team.
He thought his team was playing the best they had shown from the first two games and the Wolverines were not any better or worse than those teams.
While Roller said he was willing to wait all night, but with Penelope having a two and half hour drive back home afterwards, the game was cancelled at 9:14 p.m.
Forestburg is next scheduled to host county rival Saint Jo. The Longhorns were able to get an early lead on the Panthers last year which has been about as competitive as it has been the last five seasons.
Roller hopes this older team can play well and compete better than it has against Saint Jo in recent years, relying on a smash brand of football the team has embraced more this year than in other years.

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