SPORTS
Jackrabbits come up just short in opening district game at Peaster
A week after scoring the second most points in program history, the Bowie Jackrabbits lost their opening district game on the road at Peaster in a defensive struggle.
The Greyhounds hung on to win 10-9, doing all of their damage in the first quarter while the Jackrabbits came up just short of coming back in the final three quarters.
Bowie came into the game with something to prove. While the Jackrabbits and Peaster both came into district play with 3-1 records, the Greyhounds played what was perceived to be the better teams and were a preseason playoff pick within the district.
Bowie was picked to finish last and now that district was starting, it was time for the Jackrabbits to get exposed.
In the first quarter it looked like that was coming to fruition. Peaster hit on a some explosive pass plays down the field that set up a short touchdown run to start the game up 7-0. Later in the first quarter, the Greyhounds then hit on an impressive 35-yard field goal to take 10-0 lead heading into the second quarter.
Bowie’s defense made the adjustments in its secondary on defense and ratcheted up the pressure on the quarterback.
While it did not completely shut down Peaster’s run game, it did make Greyhounds running back Kaden Albert earn every bit of his 101 yards on the ground and not let anyone else hurt the Jackrabbits.
Peaster only gained 46 yards of offense in the final three quarters.
The Bowie offense were finding some success running the ball, but not quite enough success to get out of third and long situations it kept finding itself in when something went wrong.
Twice the Jackrabbits entered the red zone in the second quarter. On one trip, Bowie was able to settle for a short 23-yard field goal from Nick Salazar.
The other trip saw a holding penalty back the team up too far for another field goal chance and the Jackrabbits turned the ball over on downs.
Bowie went into halftime trailing 10-3.
The Jackrabbits defense continued to keep Bowie in the game. In what has emerged as a trend, the Jackrabbit defense pitched its third second half shut out of the season in five games. It would be in four of the games, but the team allowed Dublin to score once in the second half in the previous week’s blow out win.
The Jackrabbits racked up seven sacks, with Noah Metzler leading the team with three while Preacher Chambers and Zac Harris each added two.
The team also forced and recovered two fumbles in the game. Metzler forced one and Tyson Jordan the other one while Hayden Rodriguez recovered both. As a team, Bowie finished with 30 tackles for loss in the game.
On offense, the Jackrabbits continued to struggle in the second half, but got a boost on their biggest play of the game. Running back Justin Clark proved to be a workhorse all game as he finished with team high 151 yards rushing. He also scored the team’s only touchdown when he found a lane on a sweep to the left for a 25-yard touchdown run.
Unfortunately, a special teams gaff would come back to bite Bowie later.
A high snap on the extra point led to a missed kick opportunity and the Jackrabbits trailed 10-9. With it still being the third quarter and the defense playing well, Bowie had time to not dwell on the missed opportunity. Unfortunately, that would be the Jackrabbits last good chance.
Bowie’s offense turned the ball over twice in the game on a fumble and an interception. The Greyhounds played tight and physical coverage which seemed to limit the Jackrabbits wide receiver screen passing game as Bowie was held to 75 yards passing.
Trying to make Peaster pay with passes down the field unfortunately did not produce the big plays Bowie needed to exploit the strategy, which Coach Tyler Price thought was the difference in the game.
“A couple of times we just didn’t make plays in the air,” Price said. “We had a couple of dropped passes. We didn’t win one-on-one matchups outside and those are things we have to get better at. When the ball comes to you, you have to make plays.”
It made the final score that much more crushing as the Jackrabbits fell 10-9.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
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.
The Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl is this week on June 6-7 and graduating athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo are confirmed to be playing.
In total, seven athletes from Bowie, five from Nocona and three from Saint Jo are planning to play in the all-star games this week. Nocona also will have a pair of coaches participating as well.
The girl’s basketball game kicks off events on June 6, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Wichita Falls Memorial High School. In the game, the east team will have Nocona players Avery Crutsinger, Meg Meekins and Reagan Phipps playing while Kyler Spitzer and Clayton Brown coach them one last time.
On the west team, Saint Jo’s Payzlie Cervantes is confirmed to be playing.
The boy’s basketball game is scheduled to follow at 7:30 p.m. On the east team, Bowie’s Boston Farris and Nocona’s Jose Gomez Jr. will be playing.
On June 7, the volleyball games are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. with the small school game. On the west team, Nocona’s Kaygan Stone and Saint Jo’s Taylor Patrick are confirmed to play. On the east team, Saint Jo’s Aubrey Morman will get to play her teammate.
There are no local athletes confirmed to be playing in the big school volleyball game.
The final event is the football game, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. It is an all Bowie affair with six players confirmed to be playing for the east team: Justin Clark, Jorge De Leon, Hunter Fluitt and Braden Rhyne, Preacher Chambers and Moh Azouak.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona Independent School District officials looked inward for a new athletic director/head football coach, selecting Jeff Hill for the position.
Hill, who served last year as Nocona football’s offensive coordinator and also led the softball program to the playoffs for the first time in a while as its head coach, was upgraded to the role.
This came on the heels of former Athletic Director Blake Crutsinger, who served in the role the last four years, resigned in May.
For Hill, the choice to apply for the position was a no brainer. His one year in Nocona had impressed upon him and his wife that it was the place they would like to be long term.
“I’m looking for a town to raise my kids in and Nocona has treated my family really well,” Hill said. “There are some really good people. The kids work hard. Everything I am looking for in a hometown is right here in Nocona and I want to try and make it as best as it can be, especially through athletics.”
Before Nocona, Hill served as the athletic director at S&S Consolidated while also spending time at Hebron and Whitewright in his coaching career.
Hill expresses great respect for the departing Crutsinger and besides changing a few small things in how he personally wants to do things, he is not trying to come in with a sweeping restructuring of the whole athletic department.
The program had five of its six team sports make the playoffs, with volleyball playing in the regional final and the girl’s basketball team winning the state championship.
That along with two athletes competing at the state championship in cross country and track with one earning a gold medal, it was one of the more successful school years in athletic program history.
“Coach Crutsinger was awesome and did a great job so honestly just little tweaks, a little bit of structure and cohesion amongst the coaching staff between boys and girls,” Hill said. “I hope to keep the winning tradition going overall in the athletic department.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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