SPORTS
Bowie resident rides at state
On Nov. 9 a Bowie teen competed at the 2019 American Motorcyclist Association Texas Statewide Championship in Houston.
Mason Reed is a 17-year-old who attends Bowie High School. He finished third overall in the two-stroke open amateur class and 10th overall in 125C class. The different classes depend on the specific type of motorcycle.
The son of James and Ashley Reed, Nov. 9 was the culmination of many years of commitment to the sport that started when Reed was just old enough to ride a regular bicycle let alone a dirt bike.
“I was a five-year-old when I first started riding,” Reed said. “I started racing when I was around 12 or 13.”
An admitted adrenaline junky who is never afraid to back down from doing something slightly dangerous, Reed found the perfect sport for him.
“Just jumping and going through corners is a thrill,” Reed said.
With riding motocross come concerns with crashing and injuries. So far Reed has avoided breaking any bones besides a slight fracture, although he has had his fair share of muscle strains and a concussion earlier in the year kept him out for a short while.
Reed’s parents had no experience in the motocross world as they call it.
“It’s a good group and people help each other out,” James said. “I’m gone a lot so we have our moto-family. They help out with the bike if something is wrong. When it’s time to race, it’s dog-eat-dog, but once they come off they are high-fiving each other.”
Having to travel across the state on weekends has gotten the family out of the small town bubble as well.
“It open’s your world to a lot of new things, new people,” Ashley said. “People you thought you would never have anything in common with. It’s a family-based sport.”
The closest race track Reed rides at is Oak Hill MX in Alvord once or twice a week to balance school. Reed has expressed an interest in working on dirt bikes after high school.
While Reed has a couple of sponsors, the family wanted to make sure to mention Bowie’s Allen’s Texaco and Adventure Cycles along with its owner, Gary Vieth.
“Gary helps us out a lot because sometimes I am gone and that bike is not ready to rock and roll,” James said. “We can just pull up in there and Gary knows what needs to get done because he used to race.”
While becoming a pro rider like his hero Austin Forkner is the long-term goal, the biggest dream for Reed to climb first is making it to the Mecca of amateur motocross, Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Championship in Tennessee.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week 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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