SPORTS
Bowie graduate thriving in college
Not many college athletes stick with it long enough to ever see the field for any significant action, but for Bowie graduate Hunter Hutto, he enjoyed a fun season being a part of a winning Hardin Simmons University football team this fall.
The college sophomore and son of Jerry and Shirley Bellah, Hutto came into college as an undersized offensive lineman after a summer of doing manual labor that unexpectedly trimmed him down to 250 pounds.
“I graduated high school weighing what they wanted me to weigh,” Hutto said. “Over the summer I was working and spent a lot of time in the sun. I cut down about 30 pounds heading into my freshman year and I just couldn’t hold weight. I still have the same problem and I can’t gain weight now.”
His freshman season last year saw him bouncing around to several different positions on the offensive line. He was used to that from his last season in high school though it was because the Jackrabbits suffered a lot of injuries that he helped plug up along the line. Hutto still performed well enough to earn Bowie’s only first team all-district selection as a senior.
After a season on the developmental team his freshman year for the Cowboys, it was in the spring when coaches asked Hutto if he would consider changing positions to tight end. While still a position that does its fair share of blocking, it is also a skill position where he would go out to catch passes.
“I’ve always been real paranoid about fumbling,” Hutto said. “If I got the opportunity in a game and doing something like fumbling and allowing the other team to get a turnover. That is what wins and loses football games just off the bat. That’s definitely something in the back of my head.”
Thankfully, Hutto was mostly asked to block this year, his first on the big stage. He was in on special teams for field goals and on offense he was part of a short yardage formation when the team needed to get that that one tough yard.
“We had a package called rhino,” Hutto said. “That was whenever we had a three tight end personnel and it was kind of bigger dudes when we’re on the goal line. Anything with short yardage I was in. I got to be in when we scored touchdowns.”
Hutto also got to experience being on the winningest team he has ever been on. The Cowboys went 9-1 during the regular season, at one point winning seven straight, while claiming their first outright American Southwest Conference title since 2004.
The ride came to an end in the first round of the playoffs with a loss to Trinity University, but the tone had been set and Hutto was hooked on the experience.
“It was definitely a big change winning all the time because you didn’t know how to feel,” Hutto said. “Especially making the playoffs. We were in the first round and I was like, I’ve never really played football past November. I’m not used to playing in big football games. That was a change that you have to get mentally switched to play football games with big stakes to them.”
The jump up from playing 3A Texas High School football at Bowie to Division III football at Hardin Simmons was an adjustment in every aspect.
“To sum it up, at Bowie going against the practice team, you are going against younger guys every day,” Hutto said. “You turn around and you’re practicing against the older guys my freshman year at Hardin Simmons. That definitely made me a lot better. But this year being on varsity, practicing against the show team. Those guys are good. They’re not there for no reason. If you make the slightest error, those guys are going to find it. A lot of times our players that we practice against are better than the guys we play against in a game.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
The Nocona Indians wrapped up their first playoff berth since 2005 with a dominant win against Chico on Thursday at home.
The Indians won 10-0 in four and half innings due to run-rule to earn the district’s final playoff spot and break a nearly two decade drought.
Nocona was in a similar situation last year after beating Chico in the first game before losing twice more to the Dragons, once in the regular season finale and then in the play-in series.
The Indians won the first game earlier in the week 9-4, but knew they could play better. On Thursday they then proved it.
In the bottom of the first inning, Nocona got the scoring going as Wesley Murphey hit an RBI double. Two batters later, Landon Fatheree drove in two runs with a double.
Konnor Harrington followed with a groundout that scored another run as the Indians led 4-0.
In the second inning, Nocona kept up the pressure. Brody Langford drove in a run with a single. Later with the bases loaded, Caden Belcher was hit by a pitch that scored a run. A later passed ball allowed one more run to score as the Indians extended their lead to 7-0.
Nocona got one more run in the third inning. With the bases loaded, Wesley Murphey grounded into a fielder’s choice out that scored one run to make it 8-0.
The Indians got the final two runs they needed in the fourth inning. Walker Murphey and RJ Walker hit back-to-back RBI singles to put Nocona up 10-0.
Chico needed to score at least one run to prevent the game from ending early due to run-rule. Instead Walker Murphey completed the shutout performance by retiring the next three batters to end the game and the Dragon’s season.
The Indians won 10-0 and earned the district’s final playoff spot.
Wesley Murphey and Fatheree drove in two runs each to lead the team. Walker Murphey led the team with three hits. The team finished with 11 hits and drew six walks.
Walker Murphey also allowed zero runs and one hit while striking out five batters and walking none. The defense behind him committed only one fielding error.
Coach Zach Denson was beyond proud of this team for breaking the playoff drought.
“The amount of growth that they have shown throughout the year has been the most incredible I’ve seen in 13 years of coaching,” Denson said. “We went on a little skid in the middle of the year and that could have derailed our young team, but it actually brought us closer together as a unit.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie Jackrabbits were able to clinch the final playoff spot on Thursday with a senior night home win against Henrietta.
The Jackrabbits won 6-1 in a game where all of the offensive action happened in the first three innings for both teams.
Bowie came into the game needing to win. Failing to do so would mean setting up a series with the Bearcats for the final playoff spot. If the Jackrabbits just took care of business against a team they had already beaten once pretty easily then they could avoid that whole situation.
Henrietta knew it was playing for the future of its season and struck first. A one out double followed by a single two batters later put the Bearcats up 1-0 against Bowie’s top pitcher Edmond De Leon on the mound.
The offense responded in the same inning with a two-out rally. Troy Kesey hit a single and Hayden Rodriguez drew a walk. De Leon then hit a double to drive one run in.
Cooper Hammer was then hit a by a pitch to load the bases up. Rayder Mann then drew a walk that scored one run and the Jackrabbits led 2-1 before the next batter popped up for out three.
Bowie added to that lead in the second inning. Boston Farris led off with a triple. Tucker Jones then hit a groundball to second base that resulted in an error that allowed Farris to score and make it 3-1 for the Jackrabbits.
Bowie then extended the lead in the third inning. Hammer hit a one-out single. Mann and Cy Egenbacher followed with hits that resulted in fielding errors for the Bearcats. The Jackrabbits scored one run on the second error.
Farris then hit a single that drove in another run. After a strikeout, a wild pitch then allowed another runner to score as Bowie was up 6-1. Another strikeout ended the scoring for the Jackrabbits.
The next three and half innings saw neither team score runs, though both had several chances with two runners getting on at times.
Henrietta’s best chance came in the fifth inning with two singles, but De Leon and Bowie’s defense shut that down. De Leon retired the final seven batters he faced as the Jackrabbits won 6-1.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
Last week all of the area schools competed in their district’s tennis tournament and several schools had athletes qualify for the regional tournament.
In the end, 10 athletes finished second or better at district to move on for a chance to qualify for state.
Unfortunately, no players from Bowie were able to break through and qualify.
Many faced early seeding opponents from tennis power Vernon that ended their tournament.
The highest finish for a Bowie player was Lily Hodges who placed fourth in girls singles.
From Nocona, one girl was able to break through as Kaygan Stone finished second in girls singles to qualify for regionals.
Stone has had a tough year, dealing with shoulder problems that shortened both her volleyball and basketball seasons, but she bounced back this spring to qualify for regionals in tennis.
Her teammate Melissa Segura was not so lucky, as she finished third in girls singles and just missed the cut, having to settle for an alternate spot
At the 1A tournament, several schools had multiple athletes in one division qualify.
From Saint Jo, last year’s state qualifying girl’s doubles team of Kyler Dunn and Taylor Patrick won the division.
They beat out the second place finisher and their teammates, the girl’s doubles team of Maxey Johnson and Bailey Nobile, who also qualified for regionals.
From Gold-Burg, Jimena Garcia and Alyson Rojas placed first and second in girls singles to move on to the regional tournament.
Other schools only had one team or individual.
From Forestburg, the mixed doubles team of Jesse Wadsworth and Alli Cisneros finished second as they qualified for regionals.
From Prairie Valley, Case Carpenter finished second in the boys singles division.
To read the full story and see pictures of all of the qualifiers, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
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