SPORTS
Bears dominate Falcons 51-6
The Gold-Burg Bears exercised several years of demons Friday night with their win against Fannindel at home.
The Bears dominated 51-6 against a Falcons team that has run the district ever since Gold-Burg entered it in 2018.
Fannindel has won the district title three of the four seasons and every year the Falcons have beaten the Bears.
With both teams coming off blowout wins to start district play, the winner would be in firm control of winning the district title.
The Bears started off the game hot. Running back Jayon Grace carried the ball on the first play of the game and took it 60 yards for a touchdown to put Gold-Burg up 8-0.
Fannindel has several explosive skill position athletes who can score when they get into the open field. On the Falcons first drive, a long touchdown run where the running back reversed his field ended up getting called back due to a penalty.
Facing a fourth and long though, another Fannindel player got lose on a run and scored on a 37-yard run to cut the score to 8-6.
On the Bears next drive, Gold-Burg was facing a fourth down when Grace again got loose, this time scoring on a 59-yard touchdown run to go up 14-6.
Fannindel needed to respond, but bobbled snaps and penalties forced the Falcons backwards in what turned out to be the story of the game for them.
Unlike the first drive though, the Bears defense kept the Fannindel athletes contained and forced one of several turnovers on downs on the night.
Gold-Burg looked like it would score on its next drive, getting to the Falcons 10-yard line. Unfortunately a fumbled snap allowed Fannindel to recover the fumble.
The Bears defense held firm as rushers Kolton Whitaker and Aidan Foster combined to keep the Falcons runners from getting outside and making plays. That along with Fannindel’s problems with penalties and bad snaps made it tough all night.
While the fear of the big play was there with several of the Falcon athletes having the ability to score on any given play, the degree of difficulty was high since sustained drives were few and far between on Friday night.
Gold-Burg got the ball back after a failed fourth down conversion on Fannindel’s 19-yard line at the beginning of the second quarter. The Bears scored on their next play as Kani Grace found Jack Henry wide open on a halfback pass to put Gold-Burg up 22-6.
The rest of the second quarter was a defensive struggle. The Bear defense got two more stops near midfield, but Fannindel’s defense also got a stop.
Gold-Burg got the ball with less than two minutes to go before halftime. The team drove to the Falcon’s goal line where quarterback Jayton Epperson found Kani wide open on a nine-yard touchdown pass with 29 seconds before halftime.
The Bears led 30-6 at halftime.
If things were going to be any different in the second half, Fannindel did not show it on the first drive. The Falcons were in such long yardage and backed up near their own goal line they actually elected to punt the ball, a rarity seen in six-man football.
Gold-Burg then drove down the field on a sustained drive of inside runs featuring the Grace brothers, capped off by Jayon scoring on a 14-yard run to go up 36-6.
Things continued to go bad for Fannindel. The team was again backed up on its own goal line when another mishandled snap led to safety for the Bears, making the score 38-6 and giving Gold-Burg the ball.
The offense executed another long touchdown drive, again capped off by Jayon scoring on an eight-yard run to make the score 44-6.
The end was coming with the Bears needing to score seven more points to end the game early due to mercy rule. Fannindel’s offense again went backwards and turned the ball over on downs deep in its own territory.
Gold-Burg drove down close to the end zone where Kani scored on a short run in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter. A one-point conversion gave the Bears their final point it needed to end the game right there.
Gold-Burg won 51-6.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
The Red River High School Bass Club competed this past weekend, May 31 – June 1, at the State Tournament on Lake Conroe for the two-day tournament.
Two of the teams from Montague County traveled south to try their best at the culmination of the year for the state title. Teams were able to pre-fish on Friday before the Saturday and Sunday competition. On Friday, there was a flipping contest for the youth and Cooper Johnson won third overall and won a $500 scholarship and an Academy gift card.
The club’s two teams who competed were Lane Smith/Colt Henry with boat captain Jimmy Smith. The team placed 63rd with a total of 16.22 pounds. The second team of Cooper Johnson/Corbyn Patton and boat captain Jayson Toerck placed 169th with a total weight of 2.29 pounds.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
The Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl is this week on June 6-7 and graduating athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo are confirmed to be playing.
In total, seven athletes from Bowie, five from Nocona and three from Saint Jo are planning to play in the all-star games this week. Nocona also will have a pair of coaches participating as well.
The girl’s basketball game kicks off events on June 6, scheduled for 6 p.m. at Wichita Falls Memorial High School. In the game, the east team will have Nocona players Avery Crutsinger, Meg Meekins and Reagan Phipps playing while Kyler Spitzer and Clayton Brown coach them one last time.
On the west team, Saint Jo’s Payzlie Cervantes is confirmed to be playing.
The boy’s basketball game is scheduled to follow at 7:30 p.m. On the east team, Bowie’s Boston Farris and Nocona’s Jose Gomez Jr. will be playing.
On June 7, the volleyball games are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. with the small school game. On the west team, Nocona’s Kaygan Stone and Saint Jo’s Taylor Patrick are confirmed to play. On the east team, Saint Jo’s Aubrey Morman will get to play her teammate.
There are no local athletes confirmed to be playing in the big school volleyball game.
The final event is the football game, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. It is an all Bowie affair with six players confirmed to be playing for the east team: Justin Clark, Jorge De Leon, Hunter Fluitt and Braden Rhyne, Preacher Chambers and Moh Azouak.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
Nocona Independent School District officials looked inward for a new athletic director/head football coach, selecting Jeff Hill for the position.
Hill, who served last year as Nocona football’s offensive coordinator and also led the softball program to the playoffs for the first time in a while as its head coach, was upgraded to the role.
This came on the heels of former Athletic Director Blake Crutsinger, who served in the role the last four years, resigned in May.
For Hill, the choice to apply for the position was a no brainer. His one year in Nocona had impressed upon him and his wife that it was the place they would like to be long term.
“I’m looking for a town to raise my kids in and Nocona has treated my family really well,” Hill said. “There are some really good people. The kids work hard. Everything I am looking for in a hometown is right here in Nocona and I want to try and make it as best as it can be, especially through athletics.”
Before Nocona, Hill served as the athletic director at S&S Consolidated while also spending time at Hebron and Whitewright in his coaching career.
Hill expresses great respect for the departing Crutsinger and besides changing a few small things in how he personally wants to do things, he is not trying to come in with a sweeping restructuring of the whole athletic department.
The program had five of its six team sports make the playoffs, with volleyball playing in the regional final and the girl’s basketball team winning the state championship.
That along with two athletes competing at the state championship in cross country and track with one earning a gold medal, it was one of the more successful school years in athletic program history.
“Coach Crutsinger was awesome and did a great job so honestly just little tweaks, a little bit of structure and cohesion amongst the coaching staff between boys and girls,” Hill said. “I hope to keep the winning tradition going overall in the athletic department.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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