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 were able to beat Saint Jo at home on Thursday night in a tight contest.
The Indians won 55-48 against the Panthers in a game where both teams played hard, but made plenty of early season mistakes.
Nocona came into the game following a low-scoring win against Bells earlier in the week 35-30. For a young Indians team that only has a few players with varsity experience this year, every early season win builds confidence.
For Saint Jo, the Panthers were still without several returning starters since football is still going on. Despite that, new Coach Jacob Nocktonick is trying to build what he can with his group of basketball first players that include several key players even when the football team is integrated.
Despite Saint Jo being the smaller school, overall it had the height advantage in the front line since Nocona features only one player, Kasch Johnson, who is built like a post player. That is nothing new for the Indians, who featured a short team the previous year as Coach Brody Wilson emphasizes full-court pressure on defense and pushing the ball in transition in his system that makes up for a lack of height and size.
Initially Nocona’s pace and energy, grabbing several offensive rebounds, got it the lead 9-3. Eventually, the Panthers adjusted and trailed only 12-11 after the first quarter.
Saint Jo got the lead early in the second quarter. Post Trent Gaston took advantage of his size advantage, especially when the Indians had Johnson out, and led 17-12. Both teams had trouble scoring in a rough second quarter as open perimeter shots just were not going in and shots at the rim were tough to convert.
The Panthers led 23-20 heading into halftime.
Both teams had better offensive success pushing the ball when it could in the second half.
Saint Jo broke Nocona’s press and punished the Indians with quick baskets. Nocona ran whenever it could and seemed to put up an array of perimeter shots and drives, getting offensive rebounds it seemed at will to keep the pressure up and infuriate the Panthers coach.
The Indians got a big push from Landon Fatheree in the second half. After scoring eight points in the first half to lead the team, he scored 10 of his team’s 14 points in the third quarter.
Nocona got the lead back, but only led 34-33 heading into the final period.
The Indians had a comfortable lead up 44-36 when Saint Jo’s Gaston fouled out with 4:56 left in the game. Still, the Panthers did not give up and a minute later had whittled Nocona’s lead down to one basket 44-41 with 3:45.
The game stayed a one-possession game for the next two minutes as Saint Jo had several chances to tie or take the lead not go through.
Nocona made its free throws down the stretch to win with a little more comfort, with the final score being 55-48.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News. To see more pictures, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870682&T=1
Nocona senior Meg Meekins signed her official letter of intent to play college basketball at Lubbock Christian University on Wednesday. Meekins, the daughter of Brandi and Lance, is a four-year starter on the volleyball and basketball court. She has earned several accolades like being named to the All State Teams for TGCA, TABC, Associated Press and was selected to the All Tournament Team at the UIL State Basketball Tournament in San Antonio last year.“The coaching staff and the community of the LCU program and just knowing you have a staff that coaches you, but also looks over you just like Coach (Kyle) Spitzer did here was a huge part in the recruiting process,” Meekins said. She plans to pursue a degree in either physical or occupational therapy.
For more pictures, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870680&T=1
The Bowie Lady Rabbits got more than they bargained for when they traveled to Bellevue on Tuesday night.
The Lady Rabbits escaped with the win 44-40, taking the lead with less than a minute to go after trailing whole game.
Bowie came into the game confident. The larger 3A school was supposed to play Windthorst, but had to reschedule because the Lady Trojans volleyball team was playing in the state tournament.
Finding a last minute replacement, the Lady Rabbits thought they would have an easy game playing the 1A program down the road. Little did they know.
Bellevue had a couple of players out with injury to limit its depth a bit and a new coach in Celsey Hoffman, but the Lady Eagles were coming off of nearly beating a Nocona team the previous week. While the Lady Indians were missing four starters who were still in volleyball, it still showed this was not a 1A team to take lightly.
Bellevue came out fast showing tough defensive pressure despite giving up size at nearly every position. Within a few minutes the Lady Eagles had used that pressure to force turnovers and convert those steals into transition opportunities.
Also, the energy showed in other areas as Bellevue seemed to grab every loose ball and fought for offensive rebounds despite lacking in height compared to Bowie.
After a little more than four minutes into the game the Lady Eagles led 15-0. The Lady Rabbits had barely been able to set up their offense or attempt a shot against the pressure.
Bowie Coach Matthew Miller had to reset his shell-shocked team during multiple timeouts. The young ballhandlers was reminded how the team was going to break the press defense so it could set up its offense.
Bellevue led 19-4 after the first quarter, led by Mary Grace Broussard and Brittany Gill who each scored six points.
The Lady Rabbits settled down and made some good progress in the second quarter. Their defense switched between man-to-man and 1-3-1 to keep the Lady Eagles off balance. With them taking care of the ball better, there were less chances for Bellevue in transition and the Lady Eagles offense struggled to consistently find ways to score against Bowie’s length.
The Lady Rabbits offense found some success as well. Five different players made at least one basket and the team made two 3-pointers.
While the game was physical from the start, now that Bowie knew what type of game it was in the team responded back. It was not pretty and only enough fouls were called to make the game watchable, but individual foul trouble affected Bellevue harder than the Lady Rabbits in the second quarter.
The Lady Eagles still led heading into halftime, but Bowie had gotten it down to single digits trailing 25-19.
The third quarter was more even between the two teams as both had trouble consistently scoring baskets. Bellevue made three baskets and a couple of free throws to keep ahead.
The Lady Rabbits got a big lift from Lanie Moore, who knocked in all three of her 3-pointers in the quarter, scoring nine of the team’s 12 points.
Bowie still trailed, but had cut the lead down to one point earlier in the quarter and one basket 34-31 heading into the fourth quarter.
Bellevue grew the lead to 38-32 early in the final period. The Lady Rabbits struggled to get anything going offensively and trailed 40-34 midway through the quarter.
Bowie’s Kendall Fallis made a 3-pointer in transition to cut the lead to one basket 40-37.
The score stayed there for the next several minutes even as the Lady Eagles had two starters, Karis Denson and Mattie Broussard, foul out of the game.
With a little more than a minute left, the Lady Rabbits drew up and out of bounds play that got Laney Segura an open shot in the corner. Despite not having made a basket all game, she sunk the 3-pointer to tie the game at 40-40 with a minute still to play.
Bowie had been in a pressure defense for the second half of the fourth quarter to prevent Bellevue from passively running clock. Still in the defense, the team next stole the in-bounds pass and Railey Martin made the undefended layup to give the Lady Rabbits their first lead of the game 42-40 with 48 seconds left.
The Lady Eagles could not tie the score on their next offensive possession. Bowie would made two more free throws to make the final 44-40.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News. For more pictures from the game, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870678&T=1
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