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.
A solid day was had by Montague county high school tracksters at the State Track and Field Meet May 16 in Austin.
Bellevue’s Mattie Broussard had a pair of second place finishes in both the 800-meter run with a time of 2:21.41 and the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:31.33. Broussard also was 4th in the 1,600-meters with a time of 5:22.18.
Her teammate Brylie Hager was 9th in the 110-meter hurdles in 19.93.
Forestburg’s Brenna Briles was 4th in the triple jump with a 35’9 1’2” leap. Her teammate Jocelyn Rich was 4th in the pole vault with a 9’ leap.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
Bowie had a pair of top four finishes at the State Track and Field Meet May 14.
Sophomore Brayden Willett made it onto the medal stand, finishing 3rd in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:17.89. Bowie junior Tyler Richey finished 4th in the pole vault after a 14’6” effort.
The top two finishers from Holliday, also in Bowie’s district, celebrated with him after he crossed the finish line.
“It was kind of surprising,” Willett said about Ryder and Noah Stroman embracing him in a celebratory hug. “They’re good guys, so it was kind of cool.”
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
This past week found your outdoor scribe doing some rather mundane things such as yard work, vegetable gardening and repairs around the old cabin. Oh, I also wrapped up a couple of magazine articles. I always enjoy sharing my adventures with all of you in this column but to be perfectly honest, not nearly as much as my ‘field work’ hunting and fishing which is an iatrical part of any good outdoor column. If you’re like me, you much prefer reading about an adventure that you can also partake.
I am far more comfortable telling you about an outdoor experience I had firsthand knowledge of rather than the reporting part of my job as an outdoor communicator. So, this week, I’d do a bit of ‘reporting’ and share some planned adventures I have scheduled for the next couple weeks. By the time you’re reading this, I will have already been in the woods in quest of a fat ‘eater’ hog and probably have some freshly caught blue catfish fillets in the freezer, details will follow in the next couple of weeks.
I’ll kick things off early in the week heading down to my friend Jeff Rice’s Buck and Bass Ranch located on the upper end of Lake Fork. Jeff produces our weekly TV show “A Sportsman’s Life” which airs on Carbon TV and YouTube. Our plan is to film a segment of our show on stalking wild hogs. It will be a challenge to capture the shot with all the thick grown spring vegetation. It could happen fast and require a fast shot. We will be breaking in my CVA Cascade scout rifle in 308 caliber. This short barrel little rifle is light and easy to handle in thick cover, ideal for this type of hunting. Our plan is to hit the woods during the last couple hours of daylight and ease along the trails, watching and especially listening for hogs. Wild porkers are vocal critters and it’s common to hear them before seeing them. We will play the wind and attempt to get downwind and then close the distance for a shot but you can never guess how a hog hunt will unfold. Wild pork or not, Jeff and I always have a great time together and I plan to bring a side of wild pork ribs already slow smoked and covered in brown sugar and BBQ sauce with a side of camp baked beans!
After a tasty dinner we plan to get a good night’s sleep and head out the next morning for a planned fishing trip with guide David Hanson at Lake Tawakoni. Both channel and blue catfish are on a very good bite right but it’s hard to pass up those snow white blue catfish fillets when the bite is good. David is, to my knowledge, the most veteran catfish guide on the lake and became friends close to a quarter-century ago when we first began fishing
together. The plan is to use freshy cut shad in shallow water and target eater size blues weighing between 2 and about 10 pounds but as every catfish angler knows, it’s always possible to connect with a big trophy size blue when fishing Tawakoni.
Next week, I plan to join my long-time friend J.C. McCollough on the Red River below the Texoma dam. I’ve been fishing and hunting with J.C. for many years and look forward to getting with him again. I would describe this to catching big catfish in a barrel but in this case the deep holes in the river are comprised of several acres. The water level in the river below Texoma are dictated by the water release at the dam by the Corp of Engineers. When there is a current in the river, fish move upstream to feed on baitfish coming through the dam. When the water recedes, they fish move into the deeper holes where baitfish also seek refuge from the falling water. Catching will be fast paced with the chance to connect with some big fish as well as limits of “eater” size fish. We’ll be rigging with big live gizzard shad fished weightless on a free line, using medium spinning gear. The bigger fish will often nail the frisky live shad and the fresh cut bait is a sure way to connect with lots of smaller fish. There is something very exciting about fishing big live baits on a slack line. One minute your bait will be darting around and you will occasionally feel it taking up slack and the next when a big blue catfish grabs the bait, the rod will bow and the fight will be on. There is usually no ‘setting the hook’, by the time you feel the fish, it will already be hooked and making a strong run to the nearest submerged brush. Your job will be to keep the drag set just enough to keep pressure on the fish but not so much as to cause the line to break.
J.C. uses his airboat to access these deeper holes because of the very shallow water. While it’s not impossible to portage a kayak or small boat in the river, it often requires a few miles travel to get to these deep holes, this is best accomplished by experienced kayakers with plenty of endurance. There was a time when I was game for this type fishing but I much prefer to do my river fishing these days from a boat designed to negotiate the shallow waters.
Squirrel season is underway in many of the east Texas counties and there’s some pretty good fox squirrel hunting here close to home in Kaufman county and I’ve been thinking about how tasty a big skillet of smothered squirrel with rice, gravy and biscuits would be. Bream are on the beds now and my friend Edgar Cotton invited me to come do some ‘perch jerking’ with him and his son David-it’s in the plans! Well, hopefully next week I will have a ‘sure nuff’ adventure of two to relate you you-I’m ready to get some relief from all this work around the homeplace! LC
You can contact Tawakoni/Fork catfish guide David Hanson at 902-268-7391. Contact J.C. McCollough at 580-372-0320.
Listen to Luke’s podcast, “Catfish Radio” just about everywhere podcast are found.
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