SPORTS
Boys Basketball Roundup
Forestburg
The Forestburg Longhorns were able to brush off a loss to Savoy early last week by winning their district opener on Saturday against Bellevue.
The Longhorns won 65-54 against the Eagles, coming back from double-digits in the third quarter to win.
Forestburg entered the game a little worried. The Longhorns last game before last week came all the way back on Dec. 20. Forestburg’s first game back from the holiday break was on Jan. 7 against Savoy.
Trying to shake off the holiday rust in one non-district game, the Longhorns were a bit sluggish due to trying to get back into shape in the days leading up to the game.
The Cardinals led 17-8 and Forestburg was playing catchup throughout. Despite competing better as the game wore on, the Longhorns could not take over the lead from Savoy.
The Cardinals held on to win 46-43.
Coach Curtis Enis was hoping a few more good days of practice would help the team prepare for the start of district play against a young Bellevue team that is an expected playoff team.
Then the snow came on Thursday and Friday which knocked off two potential days of practice and Forestburg went into Saturday’s rescheduled game feeling a little underprepared.
The Eagles had played a tournament as well as a game the previous week to shake off the rust and had been preparing for the game for about a week.
It showed in the opening minutes when Forestburg fell behind 10-1 midway through the first quarter.
The Longhorns got a bit together to tie the score at 10-10 by the end of the first quarter, but were not firing on all cylinders.
While Jesus Sanchez had a hot hand on offense to help Forestburg from falling too far behind, Bellevue’s offense was scorching hot. On top of making four 3-pointers, that opened up the lane to attack the rim against the Longhorns tight man-to-man defense.
Bellevue scored 24 points and led 34-23 at halftime.
The third quarter did not seem to change much. The Eagles made four more 3-pointers and were still giving the Longhorns fits on defense. Forestburg trailed by as many as 12 points during the quarter.
Thankfully, Wadsworth and Sanchez combined to score 17 of the team’s 19 points and the lead was narrowed down to single-digits 50-42 heading into the final period.
The fourth quarter seemed to be where the Longhorns defense seemed to truly commit to chasing Bellevue shooters off the 3-point line. This funneled the Eagle players to the rim where good contests and an increased in defensive intensity seemed to stifle Bellevue’s offense.
This left the door open for a Forestburg team that had scored well all game, but really turned it on in the fourth quarter.
Sanchez, who finished with a game high 39 points, scored 19 of his team’s 23 points in the final period.
What was an excitingly close game midway through the fourth quarter ended up seeing the Longhorns pull away by double-digits as they won 65-54.
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers had a great week, winning two games, including their opening district game, by double-digit scores.
The Panthers beat Christ Academy 53-32 and before winning at Gold-Burg 57-32 on Saturday to start off district play.
Saint Jo was playing the Warriors for the second time this season and were hoping to win by a lot like it had the first time the teams played in a tournament.
The Panthers started off well, going up 29-11 at halftime. Christ Academy had a better second half offensively, but it was not enough to make up any of the deficit. Saint Jo won 53-32.
It was a good feel good win for Saint Jo heading into the start of district play at Gold-Burg. The game was rescheduled to Saturday due to the snow last week, but it did not seem to effect the Panthers much.
Saint Jo raced out to a 26-8 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Even with the scoring pace slowing down the rest of the game, the Panthers defense still allowed them to outscore the Bears in every quarter until the last one.
Saint Jo won 57-32.
Nocona
The Nocona Indians lost a tough district game at home on Saturday against state-ranked Seymour.
The Panthers won 46-32 against the Indians in a game where Nocona just did not do enough to pull the upset at home.
The Indians had extra time to prepare for the game with a bye earlier in the week, so that even when the snow came to delay the game and limit practice time it did not hurt as much. Nocona was 2-1 in district and hoping it could give top 10 state-ranked Seymour its first district loss.
The game started and while the Indians did not allow the Panthers to go crazy on offense, Nocona had trouble getting easy shots.
The Indians trailed 26-12 at halftime.
Nocona equaled that first half total in the third quarter, but it was not enough to make up much ground since the Indians could not fully stop Seymour.
The Indians could not catch fire in the fourth quarter to make up the double-digit deficit as the Panthers won 46-32.
Bellevue
The Bellevue Eagles started off district on Saturday and let a prime opportunity slip away.
The Eagles allowed Forestburg to come back from double-digits to eventually win 65-54.
Bellevue was coming into the game prepared. The Eagles had played in a tough tournament in Windthorst and a game against Eula the previous week to shake off the rust from the holiday break. Bellevue had a bye earlier in the week to have extra time to prepare for the opening district game against one of the top teams.
The snow through a wrench into the preparation later in the week, but it was a problem every team had to work through.
The Eagles came out firing, going up 10-1 against the Longhorns, led by Ryan Jones who scored eight of the points. Forestburg came back to tie the score at 10-10 heading into the second quarter, but Bellevue really started to get hot, especially from the 3-point line.
The Eagles scored 24 points in the second period. While Bryce Ramsey and Jones each made two 3-pointers each, this opened up driving lanes for their teammates as five players made at least one basket. Bellevue led 34-23 at halftime.
The Eagles slowed down only a little bit in the third quarter. Ramsey made three 3-pointers in the period and Bellevue led by as many as 12 points at one point. Forestburg cut the lead down to eight points 50-42 heading into the fourth quarter.
Then the Eagles went cold offensively. The 3-point shot attempts were harder to come by. The drives to the rim, which had been there all game, were now being contested well and few free throw attempts were being awarded to either team all game.
On the other side, the Longhorns had their leading scorer get hot as Jesus Sanchez scored 19 of his team’s 23 points.
On the other side, Bellevue scored only four points in the quarter.
“In the fourth quarter Forestburg got really hot shooting and that really changed the momentum into their favor,” Coach Colby Broussard said. “I felt it was then that we started to try and carry our team individually and that hurt us.”
Forestburg pulled away to win 65-54.
Gold-Burg
The Gold-Burg Bears lost their opening district game at home on Saturday against a tough Saint Jo team.
The Panthers won 57-32, thanks in large part to a one-sided first quarter.
The Bears came into the game knowing they were the underdogs, but hoping they could surprise a Saint Jo team that came into the game confident. Gold-Burg had played tougher teams recently in the Bridgeport tournament following the holiday break and were more up to speed than it had been in other seasons.
Still, the Panthers came out of the gate hot, scoring 26 points in the first quarter and the Bears could not keep up, down 26-8.
While Gold-Burg did play better in the final three quarters, the Bears only really started to cut into the lead in the fourth quarter when the game was well and won. Still, Gold-Burg outscored Saint Jo 11-3 to finish the game on a good note.
The Panthers won 57-32.
Prairie Valley
The Prairie Valley Bulldogs lost their opening district game on the road at Midway on Saturday.
The Falcons won 77-53 against the Bulldogs, who scored much better in the second half than the first.
Prairie Valley came into the game feeling like the underdogs, being undersized in the post compared to Midway.
The Bulldogs could not allow itself to come out with anything less than their best and in the first half it was not the case. Prairie Valley scored six points in both quarters while the Falcons scored 20 or more points to build a big lead.
The Bulldogs picked it up offensively after halftime, scoring 16 and 25 points in the final two periods and actually outscored Midway in the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately, the defense was never able to stop the Falcons to allow Prairie Valley to get back into the game.
Midway won 77-53.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
For more pictures from the Forestburg vs Bellevue game, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6872189&T=1
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.
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.
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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