SPORTS
Nocona football plans tougher schedule
Even with a strong senior class graduated, the Nocona Indian football team feels like they have the players in their program to challenge themselves more than they have the past few seasons.
Specifically, the Indians have bumped up the size of schools in their pre-district schedule more than they have in the past. The past two seasons, Coach Brad Keck said he liked to schedule some smaller schools to help build his teams confidence. It worked as Nocona went 9-1 in the pre-district the past two seasons, but they outscored their opponents 502-75.
“We feel like these next two years we are going to be a fairly talented team and wanted to bump that schedule up a little bit,” Keck said. “We are playing some teams in Boyd, Venus and Ponder who are all a bit bigger than Nocona is. That will be a challenge for us.”
Still, the toughest non-district game on the schedule will probably come from the only school that is smaller than Nocona, 2A Valley View, which is coming off of a 10-2 year and a second round playoff birth. They will play them for their homecoming game.
That will lead right into district play as the Indians will face a newcomer to the district and a traditional power, Gunter, on the road. They have made trips to the 3A state championship game the last two years, winning in 2016 and losing last year. That loss is the only one for Gunter in those two seasons.
For the rest of the story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
In its first match since last year’s state semifinal appearance, Saint Jo hosted Bryson Aug. 11 and took a 25-13, 25-12, 25-21 win over the Cowgirls.
The Lady Panthers lost some talent to graduation but have five seniors ready to have a successful season. Savannah Hil, one of the five, got Saint Jo rolling offensively with a four-point serving string, including a pair of aces. Abby Carter’s kill and Kamron Skidmore’s block helped put the Lady Panthers up 5-2 in game one.
Hadleigh Moore added a four-point string of her own to extend the lead to 10-3. Tatum Morman’s pair, helped by a Hill kill, gave Saint Jo a 14-5 lead. Bryson got within five before a Hill 3-pointer, with help by a Carter kill, put the lead back at 18-10.
After an Olivia Johnson kill broke serve, Jordyn O’Neal served up the final five points, with Johnson providing a kill to move things along.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
Despite being the smallest school in the Brock varsity classic volleyball tournament, the Lady Indians finished 4th out of the eight teams there.
After losing to the host team in its first pool play match Aug. 14 18-25, 14-25 and also to Class 3A Wall 12-25, 8-25, Nocona rebounded to close out pool play with a 20-25, 25-23, 25-20 win over Christoval. Sy Parker had 16 kills and 7 blocks in the three matches. Raylea Bowles had 12 kills, 17 digs and served up three aces. Maddyn Bowles had seven kills and 14 digs while Paige Davis had seven kills and 15 digs. Baylee Thomas added 11 digs.
From the setter spot, Kasi Castro had 20 assists, served up five aces and contributed 14 digs. Leah Meekins added 18 assists and six digs during the three matches.
To open Saturday’s bracket play, the Lady Indians posted a 25-18, 18-25, 26-24, 25-19 win over Fort Worth Christian. Castro staked Nocona to a 2-0 lead in game one. Kills by Parker set up pairs of points from Raylea Bowles and Leah Meekins helped Nocona negate an early deficit and take a 10-9 lead.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
County football teams had their first scrimmage of the season Aug. 14 with mixed results.
Forestburg hosted Azle Christian and Victory Christian. Under a new system with new head coach Cori Hayes, the Longhorns looked pretty good in the coach’s eye.
“The first team looked good,” Hayes explained. “Overall we need to work on our pace and blocking assignments and blocking assignments. Overall we looked good for the new regime.”
Forestburg hits the road to scrimmage Newcastle Aug. 21.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
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