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.
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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