SPORTS
Longhorns break nine year drought with playoff win
The Forestburg Longhorns won their first playoff game in nine years by beating Newcastle on Tuesday night.
The Longhorns won 53-46 against the Bobcats in a close and emotional game before losing in the area round to Dodd City on Thursday night 61-26.
Forestburg came into the playoffs in a bit of a funk. With second place wrapped up in the district standings, the Longhorns had lost their three previous games, with the most recent two being close heartbreakers.
Newcastle was a shorter and athletic team that was led by an electric point guard Isaac King who seemed to score on any transition opportunity.
Forestburg had the size advantage and seemed to handle Newcastle’s press defense the majority of the time.
The Longhorns wanted to slow it down and play inside out, using their size advantage in the post or finding openings in the mid-range against the Bobcats zone defense.
Forestburg led 15-13 after the first quarter, with Newcastle being carried by King who scored 11 of his team’s points. He had to sit for long stretches in the middle quarters due to foul trouble and the Longhorns took advantage.
Forestburg led 25-19 at halftime and got out to a double-digit lead in the third quarter despite key post player Kyler Willett sitting with his own foul trouble.
Leading scorer Jesus Sanchez put an exclamation point on his team’s momentum by sinking a half-court buzzer beater heading into the fourth quarter, putting the Longhorns up 41-30.
Newcastle picked up the intensity on its press and started to create some turnovers. Forestburg was trying to run some clock at the same time, but the Bobcats picked up momentum and started closing the gap.
Newcastle cut it to two points, down 48-46 in the final two minutes. The Bobcats had an opportunity to tie the game following a steal, laying the ball up with 1:25 left in the game.
However, the basket was wiped away as the player was called for traveling.
Newcastle had one more opportunity to tie the game in the final minute, but Forestburg’s Angel Cruz stole the ball away and threw the ball ahead to Sanchez who was fouled following his layup. He made the free throw to complete the 3-point play and clinch the game.
Forestburg scored one more basket at the very end to make the final score 53-46.
The playoff win was the first for the Forestburg boy’s basketball program since 2015.
The Longhorns did not have much time to bask in the win as they played the ninth ranked team in the state in 1A Dodd City on Thursday night.
Unfortunately, it was not a close game.
Forestburg had trouble scoring all game, only scoring in double-figures in the fourth quarter.
The Hornets were raining 3-pointers early on and led 29-12 at halftime. With Dodd City then scoring 24 points in the third quarter, the game was out of reach.
Forestburg did outscore the Hornets in the fourth quarter, but the lead was too big as Dodd City won 61-26.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Red River High School Bass Club competed this past weekend, May 31 – June 1, at the State Tournament on Lake Conroe for the two-day tournament.
Two of the teams from Montague County traveled south to try their best at the culmination of the year for the state title. Teams were able to pre-fish on Friday before the Saturday and Sunday competition. On Friday, there was a flipping contest for the youth and Cooper Johnson won third overall and won a $500 scholarship and an Academy gift card.
The club’s two teams who competed were Lane Smith/Colt Henry with boat captain Jimmy Smith. The team placed 63rd with a total of 16.22 pounds. The second team of Cooper Johnson/Corbyn Patton and boat captain Jayson Toerck placed 169th with a total weight of 2.29 pounds.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
The Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl is this week on June 6-7 and graduating athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo are confirmed to be playing.
In total, seven athletes from Bowie, five from Nocona and three from Saint Jo are planning to play in the all-star games this week. Nocona also will have a pair of coaches participating as well.
The girl’s basketball game kicks off events on June 6, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Wichita Falls Memorial High School. In the game, the east team will have Nocona players Avery Crutsinger, Meg Meekins and Reagan Phipps playing while Kyler Spitzer and Clayton Brown coach them one last time.
On the west team, Saint Jo’s Payzlie Cervantes is confirmed to be playing.
The boy’s basketball game is scheduled to follow at 7:30 p.m. On the east team, Bowie’s Boston Farris and Nocona’s Jose Gomez Jr. will be playing.
On June 7, the volleyball games are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. with the small school game. On the west team, Nocona’s Kaygan Stone and Saint Jo’s Taylor Patrick are confirmed to play. On the east team, Saint Jo’s Aubrey Morman will get to play her teammate.
There are no local athletes confirmed to be playing in the big school volleyball game.
The final event is the football game, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. It is an all Bowie affair with six players confirmed to be playing for the east team: Justin Clark, Jorge De Leon, Hunter Fluitt and Braden Rhyne, Preacher Chambers and Moh Azouak.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona Independent School District officials looked inward for a new athletic director/head football coach, selecting Jeff Hill for the position.
Hill, who served last year as Nocona football’s offensive coordinator and also led the softball program to the playoffs for the first time in a while as its head coach, was upgraded to the role.
This came on the heels of former Athletic Director Blake Crutsinger, who served in the role the last four years, resigned in May.
For Hill, the choice to apply for the position was a no brainer. His one year in Nocona had impressed upon him and his wife that it was the place they would like to be long term.
“I’m looking for a town to raise my kids in and Nocona has treated my family really well,” Hill said. “There are some really good people. The kids work hard. Everything I am looking for in a hometown is right here in Nocona and I want to try and make it as best as it can be, especially through athletics.”
Before Nocona, Hill served as the athletic director at S&S Consolidated while also spending time at Hebron and Whitewright in his coaching career.
Hill expresses great respect for the departing Crutsinger and besides changing a few small things in how he personally wants to do things, he is not trying to come in with a sweeping restructuring of the whole athletic department.
The program had five of its six team sports make the playoffs, with volleyball playing in the regional final and the girl’s basketball team winning the state championship.
That along with two athletes competing at the state championship in cross country and track with one earning a gold medal, it was one of the more successful school years in athletic program history.
“Coach Crutsinger was awesome and did a great job so honestly just little tweaks, a little bit of structure and cohesion amongst the coaching staff between boys and girls,” Hill said. “I hope to keep the winning tradition going overall in the athletic department.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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