Nocona
The Nocona Indians had a happy homecoming as they blew out Ponder for their second win.
The Indians won 50-22 in a game they never trailed as both sides of the ball showed what they could do when things went right.
Nocona’s offense took a little bit to get warmed up, but thanks to its defense forcing several three-and-outs, the Indians took the lead with a short run from Willy Salsman to end the first quarter and never looked back.
The short passing game from quarterback Carter Horn was working first for Nocona as the Lions sold out to stop the run. He found receiver Jason Sparkman twice in the second quarter for touchdowns as the Indians built a 20-0 lead at halftime.
The run game opened up in the second half for Nocona as the touchdowns really started to come. The Indians doubled their score in the third quarter alone offensively.
Ponder was able to score on some long passes during the game, but it was not enough to keep up with Nocona as it won 50-22.
Horn passed for 265 yards and three touchdowns while adding one more on the ground. Two went to Sparkman who caught 10 passes for 146 yards. On the ground Chandler Fenoglio led the team with 168 yards and one touchdown while Willy Salsman punched in two from the red zone.

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers won their third straight game on Friday to stay undefeated as they beat Throckmorton at home.
While the Greyhounds gave the Panthers their toughest challenge so far this season by extending the game to the fourth quarter, Saint Jo still won by mercy rule 60-14.
The first quarter was competitive as the Panthers just could not get things rolling offensively. The game was tied 6-6 after the first quarter, but Saint Jo established its dominance in the second quarter by scoring 28 points, heading into the locker room leading 34-6.
Throckmorton scored on a big run to start the second half, but the Panthers made sure it did not lead to any momentum from the Greyhounds as the offense continued to score. A touchdown early in the fourth quarter was enough as Saint Jo won 60-14.
Eli Jones led the team with two touchdowns passing and two on the ground as he finished with 146 yards of offense. Logan Brawner led the team with 93 yards rushing on the ground and three touchdowns.
Pepe Gam led the team with three catches for 42 yards and the game ending touchdown catch in the fourth quarter. Gam also intercepted a pass along with Chance Bennnett. Bennett returned his for a touchdown early in the second quarter that Coach Mark Stevens felt was a turning point early in the game.

Forestburg vs Gold-Burg
A district matchup preview was played on Friday as Forestburg hosted Gold-Burg.
The Longhorns got some revenge from last year’s loss to the Bears with its first win in more than a season by the score 75-26.
A scary moment happened in the second half as Gold-Burg’s Will Hodges had to be care-flighted from the field as he sustained a neck injury. Bears Coach Leo Murguia said it was just a precautionary measure since it was a neck injury and that Hodges was able to check out of Cooks Children Medical Center at 4 a.m. with a muscle strain.
Murguia commended the people at Forestburg for how they responded and helped deal with the situation.
“We are small communities that look out for each other,” Murguia said. “When we compete against each other its one thing, but when one of us is hurt its great to see all of us in individual communities banding together and showing care and respect for each other.”
On the field Forestburg’s big Zach Bradley was too much for Gold-Burg as he had more than 400 yards of total offense and 10 touchdowns combined (six passing, four rushing).
Hayden Berry led the team with three touchdown catches while Braxton Osteen had two and Levi Balthrop had one. Tony Smith added one more touchdown on the ground.
The win was the first for Forestburg Coach Trey Cumby, but he chose to see it more as the first for this group of players after not winning last year.
“Winning can be contagious, but losing can get contagious too,” Cumby said. “More than my first head coaching win I think the big thing was to get our guys on the right side of a game and prove that we are a better team than we were after all of the hard work during the summer and in practice.”
Before going down, Hodges led the Bears with 121 yards on the ground and two touchdowns, a touchdown catch and nine tackles on defense. Kani Grace also scored on the ground as well, but it was not enough to keep pace with the Longhorns.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.