SPORTS
Nocona volleyball beats Bowie 3-0
In the last game of the season, county and district rivals Bowie and Nocona squared off for the third time this season with playoff seeding on the line.
For the Lady Indians, it was senior night at home. A win would guarantee at least sole possession of runner-up status to Holliday, with a prayer the Lady Eagles would lose to Henrietta to give Nocona a share of the district title.
For the Lady Rabbits, not only would a win be pay back for losing the first two times against their rival and avoid the season sweep, it would also tie them with the Lady Indians for second place in the district and a chance at getting a second seed.
The crowd was raucous as Nocona’s student section was dressed up in Halloween costumes and ready to make noise. With both crowds joined together in one stand, it was a blast of noise coming from one direction on top of the court of play. The music seemed turned up even louder than normal. Both sides cheerleaders added extra noise during timeouts and even during opponent serves.
There were some jitters on both sides as some serves sailed far out of bounds as every point from the crowd was celebrated like it was match-point. Some three-point stretches leading to a timeout brought fans to their feet.
The first set was competitive, but it was Nocona who steadily built a sizeable lead, culminating in a 12-8 lead early on. Bowie stormed back to cut the lead to 18-17. The teams played point-to-point after that as neither team could get much of an edge over the next 10 points.
The Lady Indians held a narrow 23-22 lead, but a set that close was liable to swing either team’s way to close it out. It was Nocona who was able to keep their lead as they closed things out to win 25-23.
Things started catastrophic for the Lady Rabbits in the second set as they found themselves down 11-4 quickly. They cut the lead to five as they climbed back 15-10, but another good rotation ballooned the lead up to 19-11. From there it was only a matter of time as the teams played almost even for the rest of the set as the Lady Indians won 25-18 to go up 2-0.
The third set started much like the first. Bowie was competing well with Nocona, but the one point lead for the Lady Indians slowly turned into a two-point lead, then a three-point lead. Down 17-13 and in the exact same spot they closed the gap in the first set, it went the other way for the Lady Rabbits. Nocona reeled off five straight points to go up 22-13 and all but seal the win unless something magic happened for Bowie.
You could almost argue something almost did. The Lady Rabbits won eight of the 10 points as they cut the lead to 24-21. Unfortunately for Bowie, and relief from the Lady Indians, Nocona won the next point as a Lady Rabbit spike went wide to secure the win in straight sets from the Lady Indians.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
With the baseball and softball seasons over for the area 1A schools, district awards have been released.
Listed below are those earned honors on the field and in the classroom for Saint Jo and Bellevue.
Softball
Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Utility player: Taylor Patrick; Catcher: Jordyn O’Neal
Baseball
Superlatives
Offensive MVP: Devin Stewart, Saint Jo
Newcomer of the Year: Bryce Ramsey, Bellevue
Pitcher: Trent Gaston, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Jayden Curry, Saint Jo
Second team
Pitcher: Charlie Barclay, Saint Jo
Infielder: Brycen Bancroft, Bellevue; Sam Martin, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Rylan Forrester, Saint Jo
Catcher: Charlie Evans, Saint Jo
Utility: Logan Hoover, Saint Jo
DH: Amzy Barclay, Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Cody Gaston, Saint Jo; Xander Joyner, Saint Jo
To see academic awards from Saint Jo players, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Eldon Van Hooser is leaving Forestburg better than he found it.
The head boy’s basketball coach is retiring after more than 30 years, spending the last five at Forestburg.
Van Hooser did not come to this decision because of a lack of fire or feeling tired after decades in the profession. He had to for family reasons.
“My wife has MS (multiple sclerosis) and it’s a disease where you have trouble standing and walking and she needs help,” Van Hooser said. “I am able to so I am going to step away from teaching and coaching to be there for her.”
Van Hooser was hired in 2019. Along with being the boy’s basketball coach, he also was the football team’s defensive coordinator.
There were some lean years for Forestburg on the boy’s athletic side, with numbers being low and the available athletes being mostly underclassmen.
For two years, the Longhorns’ boy’s basketball team won few games and one of those seasons saw the team field five players on the high school team.
“One of those years we had COVID-19 and the other we had five kids,” Van Hooser said. “It was very rough. After that we worked with the kids and we had a good freshman group coming up. Next year they are going to be seniors.”
That group has helped to turn the program around. Last year the young Longhorns team contested for a playoff spot and just barely missed it finishing fifth in the district.
This season, that same group took a leap and finished second in district with a record of 7-5.
Despite losing its last two regular season games in dramatic fashion heading into the playoffs, the team stepped up in the bi-district game.
Playing against an athletic Newcastle team, Forestburg led for most of the game.
Unfortunately, the previous game against Bellevue saw the Longhorn team blow the lead late in the fourth quarter against a hard pressing style team and they were suffering the same fate against the Bobcats down the stretch.
Fortunately, Forestburg held on just enough to win 53-46. It was the first boy’s basketball playoff win in nine years for Forestburg.
“It was huge for our program,” Van Hooser said. “This new year we will have new goals. The new coach will have some goals of his own, but I set some for the team and think that we have come a long way.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie sports banquets was on Monday night. Olivia Gill and Tucker Jones were named Jackrabbit and Lady Rabbit of the year. Pick up the mid-week paper for all of the sports team awards and pictures.
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