SPORTS
Bowie loses but is not out yet
The Bowie Jackrabbits lost a tough game on the road Friday night against Vernon that puts their playoff hopes in the hands of fate going into their bye-week.
The Lions won 51-26, pulling away in the second half after the Jackrabbits had clawed their way back into the game in the second quarter.
Bowie came in as the underdog, playing a Vernon team with 5-2 record that had a lot of playmakers that could break the game open. Still, the Jackrabbits were fresh off their first district win and were already in survival mode if they likely wanted to keep their playoff hopes alive.
The game did not start out well for Bowie. Vernon drove down the field and scored on a short run to take the lead. The Lions followed it up with a long catch and run to the running back for 33 yards for another score.
Down 14-0, the Jackrabbit offense hit on a big pass play. Rayder Mann found running back Justin Clark streaking wide open down the middle of the field for a 44-yard touchdown pass. It cut the lead to 14-7.
Unfortunately, still in the first quarter, Vernon came right back to score on a big play. The Lions running back got loose for a 74-yard touchdown run to go up 21-7.
Early in the second quarter, Bowie was able to hit on another big pass play. Mann found tight end Zac Harris open down the seam for a 32-yard touchdown pass. Unfortunately, Vernon blocked the extra point and returned it the other way for two points. The Lions led 23-13.
Still, the Jackrabbit defense got a stop and the offense drove down the field into Vernon’s red zone. There, rolling to his right, Mann found Tyler Richey who caught a tightly contested pass for an eight-yard touchdown pass. It cut the lead to 23-19.
Unfortunately, that would be as close as Bowie would get. Hoping to hold that score until halftime, Vernon had other ideas. The Lions drove down the field and scored on a short pass right before halftime to extend their lead to 30-19 heading into the second half.
Vernon was able to feed off that momentum to start the third quarter since it was receiving the ball first. The Lions then scored quickly when their quarterback scrambled for a 54-yard touchdown run.
The earlier four-point deficit had changed in a hurry as now Bowie found itself down 37-19.
The offense struggled in the second half as explosive plays in the passing game were harder to come by. The Jackrabbits were not able to take their time running the ball for short gains like they usually like to establish since they were down multiple scores for the entire second half.
Vernon’s offense scored twice more on short runs after long drives to push its lead up to 51-19. Bowie scored once more at the end of the game when Lane Whitfield found the end zone after a five-yard run.
It made the final score 51-26.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
Two former Bowie boy’s golf members played in the PGA University Championship on Nov. 12-13. (L-R) Cy Egenbacher and Imanol Walker are both in the Sam Houston University PGA Golf Managerment program. The team finished 16th overall. Egenbacher shot 168 during the two rounds and finished tied for 67th. Walker shot 180 and finished 84th. The tournament is a fun one for univesities that have PGA Golf Management programs, which is for individuals who want to work in the golf industry after graduation.
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers came up short at the regional final for the third straight season, one game away from state, on Saturday at the regional tournament in Midlothian.
The Lady Panthers beat Evant in straight sets 3-0 on Friday to reach the final game against Harrold which they lost 3-0.
Saint Jo knew before the season even started it would likely come to this big challenge, but it still had to go through all the steps to get there.
The Panthers reached the regional finals the previous two seasons, losing both times to eventual state champion Blum.
With district realignment meant a new region so a rematch with a Blum program that had graduated several key players from those teams would have to wait until state possibly.
Instead, a showdown against last year’s state runner-up Harrold was forecast in the regional final.
With the team having six seniors, with five of them having been on varsity since they were freshman, it was this year or bust for Saint Jo.
First, the Lady Panthers had to beat Evant. The Lady Elks leaned heavily on a big front court player. When she rotated to the back row, Evant showed almost no net resistance which meant Saint Jo hitters had free reign during that time.
The Lady Panthers won each set pretty easily, with the scores being 25-17, 25-17 and 25-19.
This set up the match with Harrold the team had been anticipating. The Lady Hornets had been at or near the top of the state standings since the beginning of the season.
Harrold had so much respect it had even played bigger local schools this season, beating Bowie in straight sets and Nocona in five sets during its pre-district schedule.
The two teams had met earlier in the season when the Lady Hornets attended Saint Jo’s hosted tournament. The two teams met in the tournament championship where Harrold won 2-1.
Still, with the tournament format being a best of three instead of five and the match after playing an exhausting schedule of five matches the previous two days, that result was not gospel, especially two months later.
The challenge is Harrold had multiple big hitters at the net, which is a big deal since most 1A teams are lucky to have one or two, which meant constant pressure on Saint Jo’s defense.
This also meant the Lady Panthers constantly had to find ways to attack the Lady Hornet defense as well or it would face strong hit after strong hit which was unsustainable for any team.
The first set saw the Lady Hornets get out to a good start before the Lady Panthers rallied back and took a little lead 8-7. Unfortunately, it started turn from there.
Harrold had some good runs from the service line that Saint Jo struggled to make much offense out of and led to the Lady Hornets pulling away. Harrold won 4-1 to get the lead to 11-9 and then extended it to 14-11, 17-13. Another 4-1 run and the Lady Hornets could smell the end of the first set coming.
The Lady Hornets won 25-17 to take the lead 1-0.
Saint Jo needed to bounce back, but unfortunately never got anything going in set two.
Harrold led 4-1 and then 8-2. The Lady Panthers would have needed a huge run at some point from the service line to get back into the set, but it never came as the Lady Hornets lead grew more and more.
Harrold took set two 25-13 to go up 2-0 and had all of the momentum.
Saint Jo had its back against the wall, knowing the only option was to hope for a comeback that would lead to a fifth set, but to get there it needed to win set three.
The Lady Panthers initially started on the right foot. After falling being 4-1 to start the previous two sets, it was Saint Jo that started well up 4-1. Unfortunately, the Lady Hornets came roaring back, going on an 8-2 run as it led 9-6, then 12-8 and 15-10.
It looked like it was heading towards a similar place as set one with Harrold slowly running away with the set before the Lady Panthers made one last gasp.
Saint Jo eventually cut the lead down to one point, trailing 20-19 as the set entered the final stretch and the Lady Panthers had their best momentum of the match.
Unfortunately, it was Harrold that was able to close the set out with momentum, earning the final five points to win 25-19 and the match 3-0.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News. For pictures from Friday’s match, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870620&T=1
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