The Bowie Jackrabbits golf team finished with a bronze medal at the state tournament on Tuesday at the Grey Rock Golf Club in Austin.
The Jackrabbits got bronze for the second straight year at state and in the program’s third appearance in the last four years.
Bowie came into the tournament with confidence and experience. After last year’s team came back from several shots down to yank third place at state on the second day of competition, this year’s team was aiming for the number one spot since everyone from that team was returning.
The Jackrabbits knew it would be tough. Coming off a third place finish at regionals, with Brock beating them by 16 strokes and Lubbock-Cooper Liberty winning by 31 strokes, Bowie knew it needed to play better.
The team also knew its region was the best in the state and it showed as the state tournament played out.
The course was a new one not just for the Jackrabbits, but all of the teams at state. The plans were changed a few weeks before from last year’s course, Jimmy Clay Golf Course, to this year’s course the Grey Rock Golf Club.
The practice round for Bowie two days before was great, but it rained the day before the first round and when most of the other teams were playing on it. Thankfully, the two days of competition saw perfect conditions besides it being a bit wet early in the morning on day one.
That was when the Jackrabbits played their best. The previous two trips to state have seen Bowie teams play not its best the first day and before improving a lot on day two to jump up in the standings.
After day one, the Jackrabbits were sitting in second place. Their team score of 316 was eight shots behind first place Lubbock Liberty and four shots ahead of third place Brock. The team was even 16 shots ahead of fourth place, meaning at least a medal looked likely.
With the opportunity Bowie had, the team decided to push it and go for it, knowing both Brock and Lubbock Liberty were liable to shoot similar scores on day two after competing against both teams at regionals.
Day two was not as good as day one for the team. Three of the five players shot worse. The team shot 334, which was 18 shots worse than day one.
Brock and Lubbock Liberty only saw its scores increase by two and one, which allowed Brock to jump Bowie for second place.
The Jackrabbits still finished 18 shots ahead of fourth place Diboll to earn a medal definitively. Their two-day total of 650 was eight shots back of Brock and 33 shots from Lubbock Liberty.
Cy Egenbacher led Bowie with 80-79 for a 159 total that tied him for 10th place individually.
Andrew Sandhoff was right behind him, shooting 81-79 for 160 as he finished tied for 11th place individually.
Both are seniors and have been a part of all three state appearances dating back to their freshman season.
Rayder Mann shot 79-86 for a 165 total that tied him for 15th place. Zac Harris shot 76-90 for a 166 total as he finished in 16th place.
Hunter Lea shot 83-92 for a 175 total as he placed tied for 20th individually.

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

The Nocona Indians wrapped up their first playoff berth since 2005 with a dominant win against Chico on Thursday at home.
The Indians won 10-0 in four and half innings due to run-rule to earn the district’s final playoff spot and break a nearly two decade drought.
Nocona was in a similar situation last year after beating Chico in the first game before losing twice more to the Dragons, once in the regular season finale and then in the play-in series.
The Indians won the first game earlier in the week 9-4, but knew they could play better. On Thursday they then proved it.
In the bottom of the first inning, Nocona got the scoring going as Wesley Murphey hit an RBI double. Two batters later, Landon Fatheree drove in two runs with a double.
Konnor Harrington followed with a groundout that scored another run as the Indians led 4-0.
In the second inning, Nocona kept up the pressure. Brody Langford drove in a run with a single. Later with the bases loaded, Caden Belcher was hit by a pitch that scored a run. A later passed ball allowed one more run to score as the Indians extended their lead to 7-0.
Nocona got one more run in the third inning. With the bases loaded, Wesley Murphey grounded into a fielder’s choice out that scored one run to make it 8-0.
The Indians got the final two runs they needed in the fourth inning. Walker Murphey and RJ Walker hit back-to-back RBI singles to put Nocona up 10-0.
Chico needed to score at least one run to prevent the game from ending early due to run-rule. Instead Walker Murphey completed the shutout performance by retiring the next three batters to end the game and the Dragon’s season.
The Indians won 10-0 and earned the district’s final playoff spot.
Wesley Murphey and Fatheree drove in two runs each to lead the team. Walker Murphey led the team with three hits. The team finished with 11 hits and drew six walks.
Walker Murphey also allowed zero runs and one hit while striking out five batters and walking none. The defense behind him committed only one fielding error.
Coach Zach Denson was beyond proud of this team for breaking the playoff drought.
“The amount of growth that they have shown throughout the year has been the most incredible I’ve seen in 13 years of coaching,” Denson said. “We went on a little skid in the middle of the year and that could have derailed our young team, but it actually brought us closer together as a unit.”

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.

The Bowie Jackrabbits were able to clinch the final playoff spot on Thursday with a senior night home win against Henrietta.
The Jackrabbits won 6-1 in a game where all of the offensive action happened in the first three innings for both teams.
Bowie came into the game needing to win. Failing to do so would mean setting up a series with the Bearcats for the final playoff spot. If the Jackrabbits just took care of business against a team they had already beaten once pretty easily then they could avoid that whole situation.
Henrietta knew it was playing for the future of its season and struck first. A one out double followed by a single two batters later put the Bearcats up 1-0 against Bowie’s top pitcher Edmond De Leon on the mound.
The offense responded in the same inning with a two-out rally. Troy Kesey hit a single and Hayden Rodriguez drew a walk. De Leon then hit a double to drive one run in.
Cooper Hammer was then hit a by a pitch to load the bases up. Rayder Mann then drew a walk that scored one run and the Jackrabbits led 2-1 before the next batter popped up for out three.
Bowie added to that lead in the second inning. Boston Farris led off with a triple. Tucker Jones then hit a groundball to second base that resulted in an error that allowed Farris to score and make it 3-1 for the Jackrabbits.
Bowie then extended the lead in the third inning. Hammer hit a one-out single. Mann and Cy Egenbacher followed with hits that resulted in fielding errors for the Bearcats. The Jackrabbits scored one run on the second error.
Farris then hit a single that drove in another run. After a strikeout, a wild pitch then allowed another runner to score as Bowie was up 6-1. Another strikeout ended the scoring for the Jackrabbits.
The next three and half innings saw neither team score runs, though both had several chances with two runners getting on at times.
Henrietta’s best chance came in the fifth inning with two singles, but De Leon and Bowie’s defense shut that down. De Leon retired the final seven batters he faced as the Jackrabbits won 6-1.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.