SPORTS
Bowie bests Tolar in bi-district 71-39
The Bowie Jackrabbits started their playoff run with a bang on Tuesday as they took it to a Tolar team that was fired up to be playing them in the bi-district round.
The Jackrabbits exploded in the second half on their way to blowing out the Rattlers 71-39.
Early in the game, Tolar was up 10-7 as their team came in with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Their post player Seth Carroll was bouncy and had a good first step getting to the rim for a layup early.
Guard Mason Behrens was good at scoring in isolation either driving or shooting off the dribble.
Despite Carroll matching up in size with Bowie’s Daniel Mosley, the Rattlers opted to guard him with a smaller defender and bring help when he caught the ball. This allowed the Jackrabbits to throw the ball up to Mosley, who was strong enough to finish through traffic or score before help came.
Bowie ended the first quarter on a 9-0 run as they started pushing the ball in transition that created easier scoring chances. The Jackrabbits were up 16-10 heading into the second quarter.
Bowie quickly built a 10 point lead in the second quarter, but Tolar did a good job of not allowing the lead to get much worse.
Behrens would always get cut off with a help defender on drives, but was able to score with some flip shots since he was close to the rim. He made a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Jackrabbits lead back to 10 as Bowie led 29-19 at halftime.
Things did not change much immediately in the third quarter as both teams struggled to score midway through. The Jackrabbits led 33-23 when they went on an 11-0 run in the next two minutes to extend their lead to 21 points as the thin Rattlers team started to show fatigue.
This was thanks to even greater success pushing the ball off of turnovers and rebounds thanks to point guard Justin Franklin pushing the tempo.
He was able to get by his initial defender and force extra defenders to try and cut him off, only to quickly pass the ball to an open player. When they chose not to bring help, Franklin usually finished strong at the rim or picked up a foul.
Any chance for the Rattlers to come back looked laughable as Bowie led 49-24 heading into the fourth quarter.
Instead of letting up and coasting to the end with the win in hand, the Jackrabbits kept the foot on the gas. The scoring kept coming from Bowie as no one could slow down Franklin in transition as the Jackrabbit offense was humming.
Tolar’s offense devolved to isolating Behrens for one-on-one where he made four three-pointers off the dribble in the quarter despite only making the sole desperate one before halftime in the game.
Outside of him, the Rattlers did not have the offense to make a difference as Bowie won big 71-39.
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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