SPORTS
DCTF previews local football season

With less than a month before practices start, it time to start thinking about high school football.
One part of that is a Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine, a yearly magazine that gives a preview of every Texas high school and college football team for 64 years. It is lovingly called “The Bible” of Texas high school football.
Trying to cover the whole state and sending questionnaires to coaches as early as the spring, before some teams even have a coach hired, means there are some blind spots. As well as a team preview, every district gets a surface level preview of the final standings.
These predictions are not gospel, but it is the first bit of expectations teams can start to have about themselves heading into the season. Teams can either use it as fire if they are picked to finish lower than they think they are or as validation and the first outside weight of expectation if they are state favorites.
For Bowie, playing in a new district 3A-4 in division I, the Jackrabbits are predicted to finish seventh. Bowie went 1-8 last season in Tyler Price’s first year as head coach. The team is expected to return 16 of 22 starters on both sides of the ball according to the magazine.
For Nocona, the Indians are predicted to take a step back. After winning the district title and going 8-2 last year, Nocona lost half of their starters to graduation and is picked to finish fifth in the district, just missing the playoffs.
Trying to replace several four year starters on both sides of the ball is a hard task for Coach Blake Crutsinger and his staff, but several underclassmen showed promise last year. With it being largely the same district, familiarity should be pretty high for the Indians as they know the level they need to get to.
Of all the teams in the county, Saint Jo, as usual, has the highest expectations from outsiders looking in. The Panthers went 6-5 last year to finish second in the district to state-ranked Union Hill and lost in bi-district round of the playoffs to eventual state champs Gordon.
Saint Jo returns eight of its 12 starters from last year, including its top two offensive weapons. The biggest change will be on the sideline. CJ Hanz takes over for the beloved Mark Stevens. Hanz comes from an equally successful Throckmorton program.
What he and the staff brings will be the biggest difference since the Panthers are again expected to finish second to Union Hill in the district despite being ranked 16th in the state in 1A.
For Gold-Burg and Forestburg, both are relieved to no longer be in a district with Strawn and Newcastle.
The two programs are now back in an only three-team district with familiar Fannindel. While the Falcons have traditionally been at the top of the district in the past, Fannindel losses five seniors and is expected to be rebuilding which leaves the door open for the Bears and Longhorns.
Gold-Burg is going to have to recover from losing two four-year starters to graduation, including a talent like Jayon Grace that seemed to give the Bears a chance no matter what, but returns almost everyone else from the last several seasons.
This generation of Gold-Burg athlete is used to the team winning. Despite falling just short of the playoffs last year, the team went 6-4 and beating the bigger Saint Jo program for the first time in 12 years was almost just as important. Several will have to step up to do it together with no outlying talent at the top to rely on.
With that in mind, the Bears were picked to win the district title in the magazine.
For Forestburg, the Longhorns are picked to finish second in the district. Forestburg is in a similar boat, losing two four year starters that were their top talent from last year.
The Longhorns went 1-8, but the continuity of several key seniors all coming together, a raved about freshman class along with the team being more competitive than that record indicate is what gives them the edge over the unknown Fannindel team according to outside sources.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
Bowie track runs at Peaster in final meet before district

The Bowie track team competed in its final meet before district last week on March 27 at Peaster.
The boy’s team finished fourth overall while the girl’s team got seventh place.
The boy’s team had three athletes who won their events.
Russell Anderson won the 400 meter race, Braden Rhyne won the triple jump and Tyler Richey won the pole vault events.
Some other highlights for the team included Cody West getting second in the shot put, the 4×400 relay team getting second place, Richey getting fourth in the 110 meter hurdles, Rhyne getting third in the 300 meter hurdles and Jorge De Leon getting fourth in both the discus and shot put.
Brayden Willett got second place in the 3200 meters, third place in the 1600 meters and fourth place in the 800 meter race.
The Lady Rabbit highlights included Dallie Monroe getting fourth in the shot put, Laney Segura getting fifth in the 800 meters and Olivia Richey getting sixth in the 100 meters.
The 4×200 relay got fifth place and the 4×100 relay got sixth place to earn points.
Bowie competes in the district rack meet this week at Iowa Park. The running finals are scheduled for 5 p.m. on April 4.
Results for all Bowie varsity athletes who finished sixth or better are in the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
Montague County has nine named all-region basketball players

Nocona’s Meg Meekins (above) not only earned all-region honors, she also earned all-state honors and was named the Texas Girls Coaches Association 1A-4A Player of the Year.
Other Montague County basketball athletes who were named to all-region teams including Rayder Mann from Bowie and Reagan Phipps from Nocona. From Saint Jo, Payzlie Cervantes, Taylor Patrick and Barrett Johnson were named to the all-region team. From Forestburg, Jesus Sanchez, Brenna Briles and Kyler Willett were named to the all-region team.
For pictures of all nine athletes, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
Baseball Roundup

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers lost a close game at home against Perrin-Whitt on March 28.
The Pirates won 8-3, only taking the lead in the seventh inning after the Panthers had come back to tie up the game.
Saint Jo was coming into the game after a close one-run loss in extra innings against Perrin-Whitt earlier last week.
The second game started with two scoreless innings before the Pirates got on the board in the third inning. A line drive into left field resulted in a fielding error that allowed one run to score. A double followed that drove in another run as Perrin-Whitt went up 2-0.
The Pirates added to the lead in the fourth inning, driving in a run on a single to extend its lead to 3-0.
Saint Jo answered back in the same inning. Charlie Evans drove in one run with a single. Later in the inning, with a runners on second on third base, the Perrin-Whitt pitcher balked twice, an illegal pitching motion, that allowed both runners to advance to home plate. The Panthers had tied the score at 3-3.
After a scoreless fifth and sixth inning, the Pirates had the pressure on in the seventh inning.
With the bases loaded, a hit batter and later a walk scored two runs for Perrin-Whitt. Then a bases clearing double scored three more runs to break the game open in the final inning.
Saint Jo tried to answer in its final at-bats, getting two singles and drawing a walk but could not get enough things going to score.
The Pirates won 8-3.
Evans led the team with one RBI and two hits as the team finished with five hits and drew six walks.
Sam Martin allowed eight runs (two earned) on seven hits while striking out six and walking three batters in 6.2 innings of work. The defense committed three fielding errors overall.
Nocona
The Nocona Indians had a tough start to district last week, losing both games in their series against Lindsay.
The Knights won 11-4 and 7-3 against the Indians last week as Nocona hopes to get back into the playoffs.
Nocona was coming off a string of good wins the previous week against smaller schools, but knew Lindsay would be tough.
The first game saw Lindsay continually score runs in the first four innings, building a 9-0 lead before the Indians could get on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning with two runs.
Nocona added two more runs in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 9-4 and get some momentum heading into the final two innings.
After a scoreless sixth inning, the Knights scored two runs in the seventh inning to extend their lead and eventually win 11-4.
Miller Jentry led the team with two RBIs while RJ Walker also drove in two runs. The team had only two hits, but drew nine walks in the game.
Brody Langford allowed six runs (two earned) on five hits while striking out three in three innings pitches. Landon Fatheree allowed five runs (two earned) on seven hits while striking out one and walking four. The defense committed five fielding errors.
Nocona knew it could play better and tried to in the second game later in the week while playing on the road at Lindsay.
The Knights again took the early lead, scoring in three of the first four innings and going up 6-0. The Indians scored two runs in the fifth inning and one in the top of the sixth inning to initially cut the lead to 6-3. Lindsay answered with one run in the bottom of the sixth inning and held on to win 7-3.
Walker Murphey led the team with two RBIs after hit a double. Kutter Cabrera drove in the other run for Nocona. The Indians finished with three hits and drew only two walks, making the most of their limited opportunities.
Walker got the start on the mound and allowed seven runs (two earned) on eight hits while striking out six batters and walking two in six innings of work. The defense committed six fielding errors overall.
Bellevue
The Bellevue Eagles started district last week playing a series against fellow 1A team Bryson.
Unfortunately, the Cowboys won both games handily 11-1 and 10-1.
Bellevue was coming off a tough week where it hung tough playing 2A teams Nocona and Chico, not getting wins but competing well against the more experienced and bigger schools.
Unfortunately against Bryson in the first game, a few bad defensive innings threw away a good start to the game. Bryce Ramsey drew a leadoff walk in the first inning and stole his way around to second base, third base before eventually coming home on a steal.
Bellevue led 1-0 after the first inning.
That was the highlight as the Cowboys scored four runs in both the third and fourth inning to take control of the game. Bryson eventually added three more in the sixth inning.
The Eagles needed to score at least one run to avoid getting run-ruled and play the seventh inning, but could not do it. The Cowboys won 11-1.
Walker Strahan, Ryan Jones and Ramsey each had one hit to lead the team. With the Eagles drawing only one walk, it was a tough day swinging the bats for Bellevue.
Defensively, the Eagles allowed 12 hits and walked four batters, though avoided committing any fielding errors.
The second game on the road was not much better.
Bryson built up a 6-0 lead before Bellevue scored in the fifth inning. Cam Blaylock scored on the base paths to cut the lead to 6-1. The Cowboys responded in the same inning scoring four runs to go up 10-1.
The game cuts off on the Game Changer app from there.
Ramsey led the team with three hits in the game and Strahan was behind him with two hits as the team finished with six total and drew one walk.
Defensively, Bryson had nine hits and drew eight walks, but Bellevue did not commit any fielding errors.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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