Connect with us

SPORTS

Bowie, Forestburg seasons end in the playoffs

Published

on

The Bowie Lady Rabbits fell in the bi-district round of the playoffs to Peaster on Tuesday.

Bowie
The Bowie Lady Rabbits’ season ended Tuesday night with a loss against Peaster in the bi-district round of the playoffs in Decatur.
The Lady Greyhounds won in straight sets against the Lady Rabbits.
Bowie knew the match would be tough. The two teams had played nearly two months previously where the result was similar to this week.
That win in September was the second of what would be an 18-game win streak the Lady Greyhounds were riding heading into the bi-district match against the Lady Rabbits.
Bowie started the match playing competitive against Peaster, but were playing from behind. The Lady Greyhounds control of set one grew as it went along.
The Lady Rabbits had spots of good play here and there, but just could not close the gap. With the end in sight midway through, Peaster then went on an 8-2 run to close set one, winning 25-15 to go up 1-0.
The start to set two was promising for the first 10 points. Bowie was playing well and it was back-and-forth, showing with the score tied at 5-5.
Then the Lady Rabbits struggled through the rest of the set with their serve-receive and unforced errors, scoring only two points on the way to losing 25-7 and going down 2-0.
The third set could only be better than set two. Unfortunately, that was not enough to steal the set.
Peaster went up 10-5 early on and never looked back. Even with the end in sight for the eight seniors on the team as their high school volleyball careers were counting down a point at a time, it seemed like Bowie’s players were still playing with joy.
While a comeback win was not in the cards on Tuesday, it looked like the players were trying to relish every single moment they had together on the court or bench, sensing the end was coming.
Peaster closed the set to win 25-13 and the match 3-0.

The Forestburg Lady Horns won their first playoff match since 2016 before falling to Dodd City on Thursday night. (Photo by Cindy Roller)

Forestburg
The Forestburg Lady Horns went from winning their first playoff match since 2016 earlier in the week to ending their season a couple of days later.
The Lady Horns won against Covington on Tuesday 3-1 before falling on Thursday night against state-ranked Dodd City 3-0.
Forestburg was coming into the playoffs this week fresh off a disappointing loss in its play-in match against Prairie Valley for second place.
Still, it was the first time the Lady Horns were in the playoffs since 2019 and even heading into it as a third seed, Forestburg had a good shot at competing for a win.
It took everything the Lady Horns had against the Lady Owls in the bi-district game. Forestburg won the first set 25-23 before losing the second set 25-19 to tie the score at 1-1.
The third set was another nail-biter that went into extra points before the Lady Horns won 26-24.
It took the wind out of Covington’s sails and Forestburg rode the momentum into the fourth set were it won the most one-sided set of the match 25-13 to wrap up the win 3-1.
It was the Lady Horns first playoff win since 2016.
Still, the road ahead was tough with the state-ranked Lady Hornets next.
Not many people outside of Forestburg gave the team much of a chance to even compete with a program like Dodd City, which is used to long playoff runs and state rankings.
The Lady Horns fell behind early in set one, trailing 14-6 early on. Forestburg caught fire and came all the way back to cut the lead to one point down 20-19.
Unfortunately, the Lady Hornets broke the streak and ended the set on a 4-1 run to win 25-20.
The second set saw Forestburg fall behind at the beginning again, down 17-8. The Lady Horns competed better the rest of the set, but could only make up so much ground as Dodd City won the set 25-17.
With its back against the wall, the Lady Horns came out ready to fight in set three. Forestburg caught fire, serving well and playing solid everywhere as it got its first lead of the match.
The lead was as big as 11-5, but the Lady Horns lead held firm until Dodd City came back to tie the set up at 19-19. Still Forestburg had a chance up 21-19 and then 23-22.
Unfortunately, the Lady Hornets won the last three points of the match to steal the set 25-23 and close out the match 3-0.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.

Continue Reading

SPORTS

District awards for 1A released

Published

on

Bellevue’s Bryce Ramsey was named his district’s newcomer of the year.

With the baseball and softball seasons over for the area 1A schools, district awards have been released.
Listed below are those earned honors on the field and in the classroom for Saint Jo and Bellevue.

Softball
Saint Jo
Honorable mention

Utility player: Taylor Patrick; Catcher: Jordyn O’Neal

Baseball
Superlatives
Offensive MVP: Devin Stewart, Saint Jo
Newcomer of the Year: Bryce Ramsey, Bellevue

Pitcher: Trent Gaston, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Jayden Curry, Saint Jo

Second team
Pitcher: Charlie Barclay, Saint Jo
Infielder: Brycen Bancroft, Bellevue; Sam Martin, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Rylan Forrester, Saint Jo
Catcher: Charlie Evans, Saint Jo
Utility: Logan Hoover, Saint Jo
DH: Amzy Barclay, Saint Jo

Honorable mention
Cody Gaston, Saint Jo; Xander Joyner, Saint Jo

To see academic awards from Saint Jo players, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.

Continue Reading

SPORTS

Forestburg coach retiring

Published

on

Forestburg boys basketball coach Eldon Van Hooser helped lead the program to its first playoff win in nine years in his last year coaching.

Eldon Van Hooser is leaving Forestburg better than he found it.
The head boy’s basketball coach is retiring after more than 30 years, spending the last five at Forestburg.
Van Hooser did not come to this decision because of a lack of fire or feeling tired after decades in the profession. He had to for family reasons.
“My wife has MS (multiple sclerosis) and it’s a disease where you have trouble standing and walking and she needs help,” Van Hooser said. “I am able to so I am going to step away from teaching and coaching to be there for her.”
Van Hooser was hired in 2019. Along with being the boy’s basketball coach, he also was the football team’s defensive coordinator.
There were some lean years for Forestburg on the boy’s athletic side, with numbers being low and the available athletes being mostly underclassmen.
For two years, the Longhorns’ boy’s basketball team won few games and one of those seasons saw the team field five players on the high school team.
“One of those years we had COVID-19 and the other we had five kids,” Van Hooser said. “It was very rough. After that we worked with the kids and we had a good freshman group coming up. Next year they are going to be seniors.”
That group has helped to turn the program around. Last year the young Longhorns team contested for a playoff spot and just barely missed it finishing fifth in the district.
This season, that same group took a leap and finished second in district with a record of 7-5.
Despite losing its last two regular season games in dramatic fashion heading into the playoffs, the team stepped up in the bi-district game.
Playing against an athletic Newcastle team, Forestburg led for most of the game.
Unfortunately, the previous game against Bellevue saw the Longhorn team blow the lead late in the fourth quarter against a hard pressing style team and they were suffering the same fate against the Bobcats down the stretch.
Fortunately, Forestburg held on just enough to win 53-46. It was the first boy’s basketball playoff win in nine years for Forestburg.
“It was huge for our program,” Van Hooser said. “This new year we will have new goals. The new coach will have some goals of his own, but I set some for the team and think that we have come a long way.”

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.

Continue Reading

SPORTS

Bowie Sports Banquet

Published

on

The Bowie sports banquets was on Monday night. Olivia Gill and Tucker Jones were named Jackrabbit and Lady Rabbit of the year. Pick up the mid-week paper for all of the sports team awards and pictures.

Continue Reading
Ad
Ad
Ad
Ad
Ad

Trending