SPORTS
Bowie boys lose in Holliday 56-39
The Bowie Jackrabbits lost a tough game at Holliday on Friday after week from their last game.
The Jackrabbits offense fell flat in the second half as the Eagles coasted to a 56-39 with a parade of free throws at the end.
Bowie started the game well against the big and physical front line of Holliday. Cade Thompson had a great start to the game, making two 3-pointers and scoring nine of the team’s 13 points in the first quarter.
The Jackrabbits did a lot of switching defenses from possession to possession, pressing after some made baskets and going into a two-three zone or just straight up man defense.
All of it was to try and keep the Eagles post players from getting the ball cleanly and scoring around the basket.
It was a team effort, but Bowie did a good job of making every shot a tough contest and Holliday’s players struggled to finish.
Bowie did a good job of finding lanes and driving to the rim, finishing among tough contests and even earning a few free throws. Brody Armstrong came off the bench to score seven points in the first half for the Jackrabbits.
The Eagles got a lift in the first half from Nathan Williams off the bench. He made four 3-pointers and finished with 13 points, half of his teams points during that time. Thanks to him, Holliday led 26-24 heading into halftime.
The second half did not start well for Bowie. The Eagles immediately scored baskets on their first three possessions, even finishing inside and doing what they wanted with little opposition. Up 32-24 barley a minute into the second half, the back-and-forth nature of the first half was broken open.
The Jackrabbits would need to answer with a run themselves but turnovers, forced and unforced, prevented them from getting into any sort of a flow. Creating good looks at the basket seemed to be harder and outside shots were not going in.
Thompson scored on two baskets and scored five points, but Bowie only scored eight in the quarter as a team.
While the defense did eventually come back to make things more difficult for Holliday as the quarter went along, The Jackrabbits did not completely shut the Eagles down for the rest of the quarter.
Holliday scored enough to stretch its lead to nearly double-digits 41-32 heading into the fourth quarter.
A big run or a flurry of consecutive baskets never came for Bowie as the team’s offense continued to struggle. Even if the Jackrabbits defense would have somehow held the Eagles scoreless for the whole quarter, the Jackrabbits seven points would have fallen short of coming back.
Unfortunately, Holliday did continue to score mostly thanks to the 17 free throw attempts in the final quarter since Bowie was not just going to sit there and let them run the clock out. The increased defensive intensity did not lead to many turnovers or easy baskets in transition for the Jackrabbits either.
The Eagles did not shoot a high percentage from the free throw line, but made enough down the stretch to make the final score 56-39.
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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