SPORTS
Bowie falls short against Godley
Things did not go the Bowie Jackrabbits way Friday night as they lost their home opener to Godley.
Despite a valiant second half comeback, the Jackrabbits ran out of steam down the stretch as the Wildcats won 27-13.
Things did not start off good for Bowie. After stopping Godley on their first drive, the Jackrabbits established a solid ground attack they would be able to sustain for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, one penalty got them behind the sticks and they could not convert after that in a trend that would follow for most of the game.
After a punt into the end zone the Wildcats, who ran a wildcat type of offense that featured a lot of direct snaps to a lone runner for most of the game, did some misdirection in the backfield that allowed Brenen Hawkins to get behind Bowie’s secondary to score a 67 yard touchdown catch to go up 7-0.
The Jackrabbits responded with another solid drive featuring the running game, driving down in the Wildcats territory. Unfortunately another penalty put Bowie in a difficult third and long situation and needing to complete a pass.
Godley brought pressure and the pass was intercepted by the Wildcats Ian Mapes, who returned it 82 yards for a touchdown. A missed extra point put Godley up 13-0 heading into the second quarter.
There were moments in the second quarter that looked like the Jackrabbits could turn the game around. The defense recovered a fumble deep in Godley’s territory. The offense got the ball within the Wildcats redzone, but another penalty put the ball back on the 22 yard line where Bowie turned the ball over on downs with just over three minutes remaining.
Godley made some big plays offensively to move the ball inside of Bowie’s 10 yard line with plenty of time and time outs left to score before the half. The Jackrabbit defense held up and prevented any other score before the half as they went into the locker room still trailing 13-0.
Bowie was on offense to start the second half. Needing to start the half right after blowing several chances in the first half, quarterback Payton Price kept the ball on a zone read play and found a seam as he broke away from the defense to score on a 59 yard touchdown run. The extra point cut the lead to 13-7.
The Jackrabbits defense continued to play well against Godley’s rushing attack, bending but not breaking for most of the game. Bowie’s offense got the ball again and drove down the field on the strength of running the ball with Ty Harris and Jacob Skinner.
The Jackrabbits threw some short bubble screens to receiver Jed Castles and Joey Crawford to keep the Wildcats defense honest on the outside.
As they drove the field, Price put a ball to the six-foot-six-inch Castles in the end zone. Godley’s corner got too physical and a pass interference penalty was called on the play. This put the ball on the Wildcat’s five yard line.
A few plays later, a direct snap to Harris burst through from four yards out as Bowie scored. Unfortunately, they too missed the extra point and the game was tied 13-13 heading into the fourth quarter.
With momentum gained, the Bowie sideline was confident it was only going to be a matter of time before they took control of the lead.
Godley tried to respond and ran into some of the same problems the Jackrabbits were, gaining a decent amount of yards on most runs, but not enough to overcome a penalty. The Wildcats were in Bowie’s territory, but out of reach for a field goal featuring a third and long.
Godley’s quarterback threw a ball to the inside receiver up the seam and right in front of the safety, but it was a little high. The receiver went up to catch the pass right before the Jackrabbits safety put a good hit on him, trying to jar the ball lose. The receiver held on and the ball was now inside Bowie’s 15-yard line.
After that, it just seemed like a matter of time before the Wildcats would score, which they did as Mapes scored on a 5-yard run to give Godley a 20-13 lead.
Still, Bowie had almost 10 minutes to respond back and regain control of some of the momentum they lost. The Jackrabbits moved the ball to midfield and featured a short fourth and one conversion. Having gotten a good push up front all night, Bowie was sure they would get it to prevent the Wildcats from running any more clock. Unfortunately, the Jackrabbits were stopped short and turned the ball over on downs at midfield with 6:30 left to play.
Bowie did give itself another chance. The defense allowed minimal time to run off the clock and forced a punt. The offense got the ball back with 4:28 left and one time out and had the ball on their own 16 yard line. These were good amounts of time for an offense if they had a bit of urgency to go the length of the field to tie or possibly win the game.
Things never got that far. After a few first downs, the Jackrabbits fumbled the ball on their own 33-yard line with 3:45 left to play.
Things seemed to deflate from there. Godley scored on another short touchdown run to go up by two score 27-13. In a desperate attempt, Bowie tried to get some down the field up tempo throws going, but the Wildcats intercepted another pass with 1:29 left in the game to seal the deal.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week 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.
Last week all of the area schools competed in their district’s tennis tournament and several schools had athletes qualify for the regional tournament.
In the end, 10 athletes finished second or better at district to move on for a chance to qualify for state.
Unfortunately, no players from Bowie were able to break through and qualify.
Many faced early seeding opponents from tennis power Vernon that ended their tournament.
The highest finish for a Bowie player was Lily Hodges who placed fourth in girls singles.
From Nocona, one girl was able to break through as Kaygan Stone finished second in girls singles to qualify for regionals.
Stone has had a tough year, dealing with shoulder problems that shortened both her volleyball and basketball seasons, but she bounced back this spring to qualify for regionals in tennis.
Her teammate Melissa Segura was not so lucky, as she finished third in girls singles and just missed the cut, having to settle for an alternate spot
At the 1A tournament, several schools had multiple athletes in one division qualify.
From Saint Jo, last year’s state qualifying girl’s doubles team of Kyler Dunn and Taylor Patrick won the division.
They beat out the second place finisher and their teammates, the girl’s doubles team of Maxey Johnson and Bailey Nobile, who also qualified for regionals.
From Gold-Burg, Jimena Garcia and Alyson Rojas placed first and second in girls singles to move on to the regional tournament.
Other schools only had one team or individual.
From Forestburg, the mixed doubles team of Jesse Wadsworth and Alli Cisneros finished second as they qualified for regionals.
From Prairie Valley, Case Carpenter finished second in the boys singles division.
To read the full story and see pictures of all of the qualifiers, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
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