Nocona
Nocona won possibly its biggest game of the season as it won a high-scoring game at Tioga to take first place in the district standings and stay undefeated.
The Indians won 62-38 against the Bulldogs in another game where it was a shootout in the first half.
Nocona was coming off a game where it scored 41 points in the first half against Trenton. It would need that fire power to show up again against the explosive passing game of Tioga.
With both teams coming into the game with a 2-0 record in district, the winner would take sole possession of first place.
Nocona scored on its first two offensive drives as it led 14-6 heading into the second quarter.
The flood gates opened for both teams as the Indians scored 34 points and the Bulldogs 24 points in the quarter. Nocona led 48-30 and it was only halftime.
The scoring calmed down in the second half even with some developments. A controversial play saw key senior running back/linebacker Johnny Stone getting kicked out of the game in the middle of the third quarter. He had 55 yards rushing on offense before then.
Thankfully, Nocona’s defense limited Tioga to only one more touchdown in the fourth quarter while the offense scored twice more in the second half to not make it much of a game.
The Indians won with little drama at the end 62-38.
Quarterback Brady McCasland nearly equaled his seven touchdown game from the previous week. He completed 13-of-15 passes for 374 yards and four touchdowns. He also led the team with 131 yards rushing while scoring two touchdowns.
Charlie Fuller grabbed a team high seven passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns.
Caden Gaston had five catches for 185 yards and one touchdown, with the score coming on a 92-yard catch and run. He also scored a rushing touchdown as he finished with 39 yards on the ground. On defense, he also intercepted two passes, returning one 68 yards for a touchdown.
Brody Langford also returned an interception for a touchdown, this one covering 45 yards. The other turnover forced on defense came when Fuller forced a fumble and Cooper Waldrop recovered it. Oscar Salmon led the team with 10 tackles.

Gold-Burg vs Forestburg
The Gold-Burg Bears beat county team Forestburg on the road Friday night to open up district play for both teams.
The Bears won 66-30 against the Longhorns.
Gold-Burg came in as the favorites with a 5-2 non-district record while Forestburg was 1-5.
The Bears led for most of the game by two or three touchdowns, up 14-0 after the first quarter and 36-14 at halftime. It was a low-scoring third quarter with both teams scoring once as Gold-Burg led 44-22 heading into the final quarter.
The Bears got within one-point of the 45-point mercy rule that would have ended the game early, but Forestburg battled and was able to survive until the end as the team played one of its best games of the season despite the loss.
Gold-Burg Coach Christian Healer thought his team started the game rusty and was thankful his team got better as the game went along. Following a bye-week and two tough losses, Healer was glad his team was able to get some good things going.
Forestburg Coach Greg Roller thought his team played well. Knowing his team would have trouble stopping Bears player Jayon Grace, he was glad his team was able to tackle him on some plays after barely touching him in last year’s matchup.
Also, Roller opened up the passing on offense and the team relied on quick passes as quarterback Jesus Sanchez attempted the most passes he has in a game this season.

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers lost their opening district game against Union Hill last week.
The Bulldogs won 68-22, ending the game early due to mercy-rule.
The Panthers had been preparing all non-district for this game, knowing the best chance to win a district title would be to beat Union Hill. The state-ranked Bulldogs were undefeated heading into the game, though they had shown flaws with close losses against Milford and Gold-Burg.
Unfortunately, Saint Jo’s were exploited more.
After a back-and-forth beginning with the team’s trading scores, it was a sequence where Union Hill recovered two straight onside kicks and converted them into touchdowns later that broke the game open.
Needing to come back, the Panthers tried to change some things up to be more aggressive on both sides of the ball, but unfortunately those adjustments backfired and they fell behind by more.
As things started to get worse, Saint Jo could not change the momentum caused from those onside kicks as Union Hill pulled away.

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