SPORTS

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Saint Jo, Forestburg clash Friday

Published

9 years ago

09/30/2015

Forestburg and Saint Jo are roughly 12 miles apart.
Since Saint Jo dropped down to six-man football, the Panthers and Longhorns have formed a rivalry in Montague County.
The programs will play on Friday as Forestburg travels to Saint Jo for a non-district showdown at Harley Sewell Field. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
The match-up is made all the more dramatic knowing Forestburg head coach Wayne Tuckwell once served as an assistant at Saint Jo.
“Wayne’s done a great job at Forestburg,” Saint Jo head coach Chad Tallon said. “It’s always fun to play each other. The kids play each other in every sport. They know each other.”
Tuckwell moved from Northside, a six-man football powerhouse, to take a similar position in Saint Jo before eventually moving to the head spot in Forestburg.
“It’s always a big game,” Tuckwell said.
Tuckwell said the biggest thing is to keep the Longhorns focused, and beating Saint Jo would be a big part of that.
Last year’s game was a classic as Forestburg defeated Saint Jo 69-54 at Longhorn Stadium.
Tuckwell said it’s going to be important for the Longhorns to play disciplined football and be in the right position – especially against Saint Jo’s new spread formation with Blake Anderson and Preston Lyons making the Panther offense tick.
Most of the time, Saint Jo will run a 4-2 defense. For Forestburg, the task at hand will be to stay on their blocks in an attempt to move the ball.
Forestburg (2-3) is coming off 60-32 loss to Nazarene Christian based in Crowley. Meanwhile, Saint Jo (3-1) has had two weeks to prepare for the Longhorns.

Gold-Burg reaches bye week

The Gold-Burg football team lost on Homecoming 39-0 to Victory Life Christian of Durant, Okla.
This week, the Bears will spend time beginning a two-week crash course on Tioga, a six-man program on the rise. Read more, and see complete summaries and standings, in the mid-week Bowie News.

Gold-Burg’s Walker Bird (5) attempts to tackle Jake Hodge from Victory Life Christian during Friday’s 6-man game in Stoneburg. The Bears suffered a 39-0 Homecoming loss. Click on the image itself for the complete photo. (News photo by Ryan Evans)

SPORTS

District awards for 1A released

Published

9 hours ago

05/18/2024

bowienews

Bellevue’s Bryce Ramsey was named his district’s newcomer of the year.

With the baseball and softball seasons over for the area 1A schools, district awards have been released.
Listed below are those earned honors on the field and in the classroom for Saint Jo and Bellevue.

Softball
Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Utility player: Taylor Patrick; Catcher: Jordyn O’Neal

Baseball
Superlatives
Offensive MVP: Devin Stewart, Saint Jo
Newcomer of the Year: Bryce Ramsey, Bellevue

Pitcher: Trent Gaston, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Jayden Curry, Saint Jo

Second team
Pitcher: Charlie Barclay, Saint Jo
Infielder: Brycen Bancroft, Bellevue; Sam Martin, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Rylan Forrester, Saint Jo
Catcher: Charlie Evans, Saint Jo
Utility: Logan Hoover, Saint Jo
DH: Amzy Barclay, Saint Jo

Honorable mention
Cody Gaston, Saint Jo; Xander Joyner, Saint Jo

To see academic awards from Saint Jo players, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.

SPORTS

Forestburg coach retiring

Published

10 hours ago

05/18/2024

bowienews

Forestburg boys basketball coach Eldon Van Hooser helped lead the program to its first playoff win in nine years in his last year coaching.

Eldon Van Hooser is leaving Forestburg better than he found it.
The head boy’s basketball coach is retiring after more than 30 years, spending the last five at Forestburg.
Van Hooser did not come to this decision because of a lack of fire or feeling tired after decades in the profession. He had to for family reasons.
“My wife has MS (multiple sclerosis) and it’s a disease where you have trouble standing and walking and she needs help,” Van Hooser said. “I am able to so I am going to step away from teaching and coaching to be there for her.”
Van Hooser was hired in 2019. Along with being the boy’s basketball coach, he also was the football team’s defensive coordinator.
There were some lean years for Forestburg on the boy’s athletic side, with numbers being low and the available athletes being mostly underclassmen.
For two years, the Longhorns’ boy’s basketball team won few games and one of those seasons saw the team field five players on the high school team.
“One of those years we had COVID-19 and the other we had five kids,” Van Hooser said. “It was very rough. After that we worked with the kids and we had a good freshman group coming up. Next year they are going to be seniors.”
That group has helped to turn the program around. Last year the young Longhorns team contested for a playoff spot and just barely missed it finishing fifth in the district.
This season, that same group took a leap and finished second in district with a record of 7-5.
Despite losing its last two regular season games in dramatic fashion heading into the playoffs, the team stepped up in the bi-district game.
Playing against an athletic Newcastle team, Forestburg led for most of the game.
Unfortunately, the previous game against Bellevue saw the Longhorn team blow the lead late in the fourth quarter against a hard pressing style team and they were suffering the same fate against the Bobcats down the stretch.
Fortunately, Forestburg held on just enough to win 53-46. It was the first boy’s basketball playoff win in nine years for Forestburg.
“It was huge for our program,” Van Hooser said. “This new year we will have new goals. The new coach will have some goals of his own, but I set some for the team and think that we have come a long way.”

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.

SPORTS

Bowie Sports Banquet

Published

3 days ago

05/15/2024

bowienews

The Bowie sports banquets was on Monday night. Olivia Gill and Tucker Jones were named Jackrabbit and Lady Rabbit of the year. Pick up the mid-week paper for all of the sports team awards and pictures.