SPORTS

County football teams play final scrimmages before first game

Published

6 years ago

08/25/2018

Bowie
Bowie scrimmaged City View at home and by the end of the night had picked up enough momentum for everyone to feel good about themselves, having persevered through a slow start. The Jackrabbits dominated the second half of the scrimmage, scoring more touchdowns and making more big plays on the nights for the team to finish strong.For Coach Dylan Stark he saw good things and above all was glad he escaped the scrimmage with no major injuries, but would have liked his team to play better at the beginning.
“We’ve got to be able to start when it’s time to go,” Stark said. “We need a better start. We need to be able to get off the field on third down. I was proud how our kids played.”
Bowie opens the season at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 31 at home against Godley.

Nocona
The Nocona Indians traveled to Petrolia on Thursday night.
With the drop in competition from the first scrimmage against Windthorst, Coach Brad Keck looked at other things besides the success his team had on the field.
“I thought we made fewer mistakes than we made the first week,” Keck said. “Our energy level was a little higher. We did some pretty good things offensively and defensively that I thought were good and obviously there are still some things we need to fix.”
One of the main issues Keck wants worked out was what he felt like unnecessary penalties, two of which brought back would be touchdowns.
Still, Keck feels like things went according to plan for him. Like a lot of coaches, Keck makes sure to not tip his hand to any future opponents by keeping certain players, formations and adjustments limited in a scrimmage that will not count towards anything.
The Indians open their season at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 31 at Boyd.

Gold-Burg
The Gold-Burg Bears traveled to Vernon Northside on Thursday in their final scrimmage.
Coach Gordon Williams liked what he saw from the team, especially when comparing to where the team was last year at this time.
On the night the Bears had four scoring plays, with three coming on the ground and one through the air.
“We are so much more physical than we were last year,” Williams said. “We were able to run the ball and we were able to stop them from running, which were two of the main things I was looking for.”
While things were looking up, no scrimmage goes off without a hitch. One thing Williams wants to fix are some of the mechanical things they can control.
“In six-man, there are a lot of pitches and handoffs that go into plays and we had too many plays where we failed to execute those and they ended up being drive killing plays for us,” Williams said.
Gold-Burg opens the season at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 31 at home against Notre Dame.

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

SPORTS

District awards for 1A released

Published

4 days 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

4 days 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

7 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.