Gold-Burg
The Gold-Burg Bears easily won their fourth straight game with a home win against Throckmorton on Friday.
The Bears won 78-19, winning by mercy rule at halftime against the Greyhounds.
Gold-Burg came into the game confident on a three game win streak while Throckmorton had yet to win a game and had a young team overall.
The Bears got on the board first when Levi Hellinger found Eli Freeland for a 25-yard touchdown pass. Surprisingly, the Greyhounds answered back, capping their first drive with a short run to cut the lead to 8-6.
That would be the only kind of pushback Gold-Burg would allow as the Bears woke up and started to dominate.
Keelyn Case scored on a 20-yard run to extend Gold-Burg’s lead to 16-6. The defense got a quick stop and Caleb Epperson then got loose for a 35-yard touchdown run.
The Bears then recovered the onside kick and then scored when Hellinger found Case for a short touchdown pass. Following another stop on defense, Paul Jones scored on a 65-yard run.
Still in the first quarter, Gold-Burg’s Epperson recovered a fumble at midfield to force a turnover. Jones again found a lane and scored one play later on a 39-yard run.
The Bears led 46-6 heading into the second quarter.
Gold-Burg kept the foot pedal on the gas. Hayden Chambers recovered a fumble on defense on the first play of the new quarter. A few plays later saw Case score on a 15-yard run.
The next drive the defense not just recovered its third straight fumble of the game, but Barrett Allen recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown.
Even as Gold-Burg started to pull starters from the game with the win wrapped up, the Bears just could not stop making plays.
Jones recovered a fumble on defense for Gold-Burg’s fourth forced turnover of the game.
Backup quarterback Payton Epperson then found Case open for a 25-yard touchdown strike that had the whole sideline fired up.
Eventually, with so many young and inexperienced bench players in the game and when Throckmorton finally got a handle on the ball, the Greyhounds scored on a long run to answer back. At that time it cut the Bears lead down to 70-12 with 5:38 still left before halftime.
Gold-Burg’s offense got one more highlight on the night when Payton Epperson unleashed a 43-yard bomb to Allen for a touchdown, again delighting the whole sideline for connecting on another unexpectedly perfect throw.
Throckmorton was able to score one more time on a 22-yard run before the Bears kneeled the ball to end the game at halftime.
Gold-Burg won 78-19.

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers started out district well with a blowout win at Savoy on Friday night.
The Panthers won 50-0, winning by mercy-rule early in the third quarter against a Cardinals’ team they knew they could beat with little trouble.
Saint Jo came into the game confident coming off its biggest win of the season against an undefeated Perrin-Whitt team to improve to 6-0.
On the other hand, Savoy came into the game with a 1-5 record, having last won in the second week of the season.
The Panthers were led by Devin Stewart who completed seven passes for 107 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 79 yards and scored one touchdown.
Blayton Calabrese had a team high 88 yards rushing and scored two touchdowns. Wyatt Lucas rushed for 37 yards and scored one touchdown.
Lee Yeley caught a team high three passes for 49 yards and two touchdowns. Mathew Sampson caught the other touchdown pass on a 19-yard catch.

Forestburg
The Forestburg Longhorns lost a competitive game against Azle Christian on Friday night.
The Fighting Crusaders won 61-45 against a Longhorn team that is getting a little healthier but still working through inexperienced growing pains.
Forestburg came into the game 1-5, but had hope it could play a 3-2 Azle Christian team well at home.
The Crusaders got on the board on their first two drives and led 13-0. The Longhorns answered right before the end of the quarter with Tye Reid running in a touchdown from 15 yards out.
Forestburg trailed 13-8 heading into the second quarter.
The Longhorns took the lead early in the quarter with Reid scoring on a 21-yard run, going up 16-13.
Azle hit on a long touchdown pass to regain the lead before Forestburg answered back with Christian Binanti scoring on a 41-yard run to go up 24-20.
The Crusaders then scored on back-to-back drives on touchdown passes to go up 10 points. Right before halftime, Jesus Sanchez found Binanti for a 17-yard touchdown pass.
The Longhorns trailed only 34-30 at halftime.
Azle opened the third quarter by hitting on another long touchdown pass to up its lead to 10 points.
Sanchez answered when he then returned the kickoff for a touchdown to again cut the lead down to one score 40-37.
Unfortunately, Forestburg’s offense ran out of juice in the second half while the Crusaders kept it up.
Azle scored on another long pass and a short run before the quarter ended to extend its lead to 54-37.
In the fourth quarter, the Crusaders added one final score on a short run. Right before time ran out, the Longhorns saw Sanchez deliver one final big offensive play when he got loose for a 35-yard touchdown run.
It made the final 61-45.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News. For pictures from the Gold-Burg game, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6869808&T=1