SPORTS
Football Roundup

Nocona
The Nocona Indians were able to brush off their early season struggles to come away with their first win of the season on Friday’s homecoming game against S&S Consolidated.
The Indians won 42-32 against the Rams, able to stretch out in the second half thanks to some turnovers on defense and a big day running the football for Nocona.
The Indians early season has been bereft with injuries to key players that has strained an already young roster. This has caused several players to come up from the JV team already.
Not having enough time to try and teach all of the intricacies of the varsity offense in one week leading up to a game, Coach Blake Crutsinger and his staff have had to scale back the offense while also building on what the younger kids talents are.
That so far is a run based attack which showed up big on Friday.
The score was tied 14-14 at halftime. Nocona had scored on two short runs, one in each quarter. S&S had scored on a long fumble recovery return and broke a long touchdown run.
The Indians had some big offensive plays in the third quarter. Christian Cortes got loose on a 60-yard touchdown run. Later Jax Fuller also scored on a long 43-yard touchdown run.
A field goal and another fumble returned for a touchdown kept the Rams in the game. Nocona led 28-24 heading into the fourth quarter.
McCrae Crossen scored early in the final period on a 24-yard run. S&S answered back on its next drive when it hit on a big touchdown pass. The good two-point conversion cut the Indians lead to three points 35-32.
The Indians answered with Carson Peters scoring on a 37-yard run to put Nocona up by two scores again 42-32.
The Indian defense held and Nocona won the game.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers escaped another close, low-scoring game on Friday with a win against Victory Christian Academy.
The Panthers scored in the final minute when Devin Stewart found Lee Yeley on a screen pass to give Saint Jo the 33-30 win against the Patriots.
The Panthers came into the game following a close win against Gold-Burg in which the team did not think it played well.
Victory Christian won both of its first two games with little trouble so Saint Jo knew it had another fight on its hands.
The Panthers led 19-16 after the first quarter. After that, both team’s defenses seemed to hold the other offense in check. The Patriots scored a touchdown in the second quarter to take the lead 22-19 at halftime.
Saint Jo scored once in the third quarter to take the lead back 25-22 heading into the final period.
Victory Christian scored to go up 30-25 and had the ball later in the game. The Panther defense got the stop and Saint Jo got the ball back with less than two minutes to play.
It only took the Panthers two plays for them to score when Stewart found Yeley for the big play.
Saint Jo went up 33-30 with 30 seconds left and was able to hold on for the win.
Gold-Burg
The Gold-Burg Bears lost a tough game at Newcastle on Friday night.
The Bobcats won 72-36, with the Bears avoiding being beaten by mercy rule despite the one-sided score.
Gold-Burg knew it had a tough game, expecting the toughest team it had played all season despite starting the season 0-2.
The two teams battled last year in an epic game the Bears narrowly lost before Newcastle went on to win the district title.
With the Bobcats moved up to division I and ranked in the top 10 in the state, Gold-Burg knew it was going to be difficult to compete.
The Bears got more bad news when it lost three starters to injuries or personal issues either before or during the game.
Still, Gold-Burg competed well and trailed only by one touchdown late into the game. Unfortunately, fatigue and mistakes caught up to the Bears and Newcastle pulled away to make the final score what it was.
Forestburg
The Forestburg Longhorns lost a tough game against Fort Worth Texas Home Educator Sports Association on Friday night.
The Riders won 59-14, with the game ending in the third quarter by mercy rule.
The Longhorns came into the game following a one-sided loss against Wichita Christian.
Forestburg started the game well. Keagan Willett ran for a 46-yard touchdown on the first play of the game to give the Longhorns a big boost.
Unfortunately, THESA took control after that and scored the next 30 points of the game.
Forestburg answered in the middle of the second quarter when Jesus Sanchez found Aiden White for a 36-yard touchdown pass. It cut the lead to 30-14.
The Riders answered with two touchdowns to go up 46-14 at halftime.
Forestburg tried to fight back and played better defense, but THESA eventually scored twice more in the third quarter to end the game early.
The Riders won 59-14.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
Oil Bowl Pictures

Bowie had six players play in the Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl football all-star game. For pictures from not just the football game, but the basketball and volleyball games as well that feature athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6875584&T=1
SPORTS
Langford coming back home

Nocona is welcoming back Coach Sandy Langford, former coach and alumnus for the Lady Indians, as its new volleyball head coach.
Langford comes back to Nocona after spending the past 11 years leading the Glen Rose volleyball program.
Her circumstances with her family allowed her to jump at the opportunity once she became aware the position at Nocona was available.
“My youngest graduated and is playing football at Midwestern (State University),” Langford said. “All of our family is here and I knew that Coach Kara (Lucherk) was leaving. We were eventually going to retire here. Our oldest son plays college football at West Texas A&M and we’ll be two hours closer to him as well.”
She again will lead the Lady Indians volleyball program, one that she led all the way to the state title game in 2011, which is the farthest the volleyball program has ever gone in its prestigious history.
Langford kept up that level of success during her 11 years at the bigger 4A Glen Rose. She won less than 20 games only twice during her time, winning her 500th career game back in 2023. Her teams were ranked among the top 10 in the state five times and Langford led Glen Rose to the state tournament in 2017, the best finish in program history.
With the Lady Indians also having its own string of success, appearing in back-to-back regional finals while finishing atop the district standings both years, Langford is excited to not just keep the success going, but shoot for the stars.
“We are not expecting anything less than a state championship,” Langford said.
She has stacked the non-district schedule with strong, state-ranked 3A and 4A teams as well as big tournaments that will test Nocona’s mettle early next season in the hopes it will prepare them for a long playoff run.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
Two teams compete at state tourney

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.
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