SPORTS
Saint Jo/Forestburg football game ends in unclear forfeit
Saint Jo and Forestburg kicked off the first of their two-game series this season Friday night in Forestburg, where the puzzling ending came out of nowhere.
A conclusion fraught by lightning, a scuffle between coaches and a game forfeit.
Looking to avenge the last four years where the Longhorns held the Chisholm Trail trophy in the matchup, the Panthers started off strong.
Forestburg got the ball first and looked to try and pound Saint Jo down with straight ahead power runs with big running back Zach Bradley, a strategy and mindset new Longhorns Coach Kyler Roach wants his team to take on as its identity.
This not only wore down the opposing the defense, but also shortened the game as time was continuously running from the clock and allowing less time for opposing teams to try and score.
The Panthers were able to gang tackle Bradley enough to slow Forestburg down and eventually a turnover on downs. Saint Jo then drove down the field and Hunter Garrett scored on a 20-yard run to give the Panthers a 6-0 lead.
The Longhorns received the ball and again went back to work with the power running game. The first quarter eventually came to an end and despite Forestburg dominating the time of possession, they were trailing, but it would not be for long.
Early in the second quarter, Bradley plunged in from 3-yards out to tie the game at 6-6. Saint Jo wasted no time in responding as they moved down the field with their passing game. Preston Lyons eventually found Blake Anderson from 25 yards out to put the Panthers up 12-6 in a drive that took less than a minute.
The Longhorns tried to go back to their bread and butter, but found themselves behind the sticks. Desperate pass attempts went through the hands of open receivers and Forestburg turned the ball over on downs. Saint Jo immediately scored on the next play with Anderson running the ball in from 31 yards out to go up 18-6.
It was the same story after that. The Panthers forced another turnover on downs and drove down to score again with Anderson from 10 yards out to go up 24-6. Things only got worse as Saint Jo recovered an onside kick. Garrett then scored a few plays later on a 23-yard run. The good kick made the score 32-6.
Looking to respond before halftime, the Longhorns were looking to drive, but things took another turn as the Panther’s Damian Leyva recovered a fumble with 1:29 left before halftime. At this moment, a lightning delay was called.
About 40 minutes later, it was reported Forestburg had forfeited the game.
The Saint Jo fans and team were confused at the call for forfeit as they felt the weather was clearing enough for them to play.
“I wasn’t really given (a reason),” Saint Jo Coach Derek Schlieve said. “The ref just came out and said they are not coming back out. I don’t know if they were anticipating the weather staying, but we were kind of in the same confusion as everyone else.”
One factor that might have played into it besides the weather was an altercation that happened during the delay between Schlieve and Roach that almost turned physical.
“They wanted to check the radar without us,” Schlieve said. “I said no, we will check the radar together and they had had a lightning delay they did not inform us of. The (referee) came up to us and said it was his fault, but the Forestburg coach wanted to check the lightning radar inside without us there. When we did check the lightning together there was none.”
That was just one of a list of things Schlieve said had gone awry that night. Schlieve said he was not given a roster and noticed someone filming from their phone the whole game on the Forestburg sideline, all things he was not pleased with from the Forestburg side.
This led to the altercation where Schlieve admitted to jumping over a railing at the entrance to his locker room where he and Roach exchanged words face-to-face.
“I jumped over the railing and said we are staying inside and then told him to put his hands down because he had come up and put his hands up,” Schlieve said. “I said put your hands down, we are not doing that.”
Schlieve said there were many witnesses to the altercation, but he did not think much of it since it did not go past that.
Roach chose not to comment when asked about what went on during the lightning delay. He pointed to the weather being bad and had no further comment on why the Longhorns chose to forfeit the game.
To read the whole 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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