SPORTS
Sports district realignment released
On Thursday morning, the University Interscholastic League released the district realignment for the 2024-2026 school years.
When the cutoff numbers came out during December, there were no big splashes for any area school moving up or down from the current status quo, but that does not mean there were no big changes.
Bowie is in an almost brand new football district, with only Iowa Park and Vernon returning. The other schools are familiar, but have not recently been in the Jackrabbits district.
The teams are Boyd, Paradise, Peaster, Ponder, Iowa Park and Vernon. While more than half the teams made the playoffs last year, only Paradise threatened for the district title.
The big news is there is no blue-blooded state-ranked every year opponent sitting at the top of the district that Bowie will have to endure like Brock or Jim Ned were expected to be.
Bowie had no other changes to its district layout in other sports. Holliday, Henrietta, Jacksboro, City View, Iowa Park and Vernon return to compete in every other sport.
Outside of district play is the news state power Brock is not just removed from the region, but out of the conference as the Eagles move up to 4A. Playoff runs will no longer die at the hands of Brock like so many Bowie teams have in the past.
For Nocona, the Indians staying in 2A was the biggest news back in December. Looking at the new football district, there is only one difference. Alvord, Tioga, Tom Bean, Trenton and Whitewright are all back. The district added one new team, Wolfe City. The Wolves finished in third place in their district the previous three seasons.
The basketball district stays the same except for the addition of Electra. Nocona will stay be in a district with Archer City, Olney, Petrolia, Seymour and Windthorst.
The biggest change is the Lady Indians volleyball district. Nocona moves from region II to region I and has a whole new district. Archer City, Olney and Petrolia are in it, but the big news is the inclusion of volleyball state power Windthorst.
For the 1A programs, some big changes came in the football districts. Gold-Burg and Forestburg moved out of region II to region III and will again be in a district with only Fannindel.
After two tough seasons sharing a district with Newcastle and Strawn, going back to a familiar opponent and a scenario where one win can get a team into the playoffs is welcomed.
For Saint Jo, the only change to its football district comes with the inclusion of Leverett’s Chapel, a team that won its district with ease the past two seasons. The Panthers will again have a long trip and tough team to play for the district title with Union Hill returning as well.
Campbell and Savoy have not been challenging for Saint Jo the past several seasons, so the addition of another playoff team will make the district schedule tougher.
The basketball district stays almost the same as Bellevue, Gold-Burg, Saint Jo, Forestburg, Prairie Valley and Midway return. The big news is the departure of district power Slidell as the Greyhounds moved up to 2A. With both boy’s and girl’s teams having won the district title almost every year for the past decade, it’s a big deal for the rest of the schools.
Also included in the good news is the departure of state-power Graford, which moved up to 2A, and Gordon moving out of the region.
In volleyball, the district stays the same as only area schools Bellevue, Forestburg, Saint Jo, Gold-Burg and Prairie Valley return.
The biggest change comes with two-time defending state champs Blum moving out of the region. Saint Jo has fallen each of the last two seasons to the Lady Cats in the regional final. Still, Harrold is coming off a state tournament appearance and will prove tough for the Lady Panthers in the upcoming season, according to volleyball Coach Kelly Skidmore.
This is just the district alignment for football, basketball and volleyball high school sports. Alignments for all other events will be releases in the spring of 2024.
To see the full breakdown of all of the new districts across the state in those three sports, you can go to the UIL website at https://www.uiltexas.org/alignments.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona
The Nocona Indians picked up dominant wins against Chico in their series against the Dragons last week.
The Indians won both games 11-0 by run-rule after five innings to get their first district wins of the season.
Nocona was coming off losing both games against Lindsay the previous week in its first district series and bounced back in a big way.
In the first game at home last week, the Indians scored six runs in the first inning and five in the third inning which proved to be all the offense they needed.
Kutter Cabrera led the team with three RBIs while Miller Jentry was second with two RBIs. The team finished with nine hits and drew eight walks.
On the mound, Walker Murphey pitched a shut out while striking out seven and allowing three hits. Defensively, the team committed one fielding error.
The second game saw Nocona score all of its runs in the first three innings, highlighted by scoring six runs in the second inning.
Murphey hit a three-run home run to lead the team while Brody Langford and Landon Fatheree each had two RBIs.
On the mound RJ Walker had a big day, throwing a perfect four innings which means he did not allow a hit or walk anyone. He also struck out eight batters, which put him over 100 career strikeouts in high school. The defense committed no fielding errors.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers lost their series against Bryson last week.
The first game was a close 3-0 loss, but the second game was 11-0, done after four and half innings due to run-rule.
The Panthers were coming off close losses to Perrin-Whitt from the previous week. They were hoping they could turn their fortune around playing another 1A program.
Unfortunately in the first game, the Cowboys got off to a good start, scoring three runs in the first inning, with two coming with two outs due to an error and a dropped third strike.
Saint Jo’s pitching and defense tightened up after that to not allow another run in the final six innings. Unfortunately, the Panthers had only two hits and four base runners all game as they lost the close game 3-0.
Charlie Evans and Rylan Forrest had the only two hits for Saint Jo in the game as the team struck out 18 times. Trent Gaston ended the game allowing three runs (one earned) on six hits while striking out five batters and walking two in six innings of work. The defense committed five fielding errors.
Unfortunately, things did not go as well several days later in game two. Bryson scored three runs in both the first and second innings before scoring five runs in the third inning. Saint Jo was not able to get a hit and drew two walks in the game.
The Panther defense committed six fielding errors which led to only three of the 11 runs given up were earned by the pitching staff who gave up five hits, walked six and hit four batters.
Bellevue
The Bellevue Eagles played Perrin-Whitt last week in a series.
The Pirates won the first game 11-1 by run-rule and the second game score was not updated on Game Changer.
The Eagles were coming off one-sided losses to Bryson the previous week in their first district series and was hoping to play better.
Bellevue did get out to an early lead in the first inning. River Trail hit an RBI single in the top of the first inning to go up 1-0, which proved to be the highlight of the game.
Perrin-Whitt scored three runs in the first inning, one in the second inning, two in the fourth inning and five in the fifth inning to win 11-1.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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