Nocona
It was a big win to start the season for the Nocona Indians at home playing Era.
The Indians won the one-sided contest 41-22 against the Hornets, though it was an admittedly sloppy performance that showed Nocona has plenty to work on as well.
From the beginning the Indians marched down the field and scored a touchdown in the first two minutes on a short run from Johnny Stone to go up 6-0. After a stop on defense it looked like Nocona was poised again to score when a fumble at Era’s six yard line turned the ball over and showed what kind of a night it would be for the Indians.
The turnover did not end up mattering as once Nocona got the ball back quickly enough quarterback Brady McCasland found Luke Fuller down the middle for a 23 yard touchdown pass. The score put the Indians up 14-0 heading into the second quarter.
Nocona scored once again early in the period as McCasland scored from a yard out to make it 20-0.
Unfortunately, intensity was lost and some offensive execution suffered for it. The Hornets forced a turnover on downs on Nocona’s next drive and recovered a fumble in the Indian’s territory on the one after that.
This time Era capitalized as it scored on a short touchdown run to cut the lead to 20-12.
Nocona was trying to answer back before the half, but stalled out at the Hornet’s 27 yard line with 1:08 before to go.
Completing some big plays, Era hooked up on a deep 41-yard touchdown pass with two seconds left to make it a one-score game 20-14 heading into halftime.
Luckily for Nocona, that would be as close as it would get.
The Hornets got the ball first to start the second half and looked to tie or take the lead with a touchdown. Stone put an end to that on the very first play of the drive, flying threw the line to blow up a handoff in the backfield, causing a fumble and recovering it himself.
The Indians would then take the short field and drive for a quick touchdown as Stone finished what he started with a short run to put Nocona up 28-14.
Era tried to answer as it drove into the red zone. The Indians were able to come up with a stop inside their own 10-yard line. Getting the ball back, McCasland then took off down the left side line for a 97-yard touchdown run to Nocona up 35-14 heading into the fourth quarter.
Era added one more score early in the period on an 11-yard run and the Indians answered with a little less than four minutes to play as Arturio Garcia scored from 21 yards out to make the final score 41-22.
The Indians dominated on the ground, with 412 of its 453 yards of offense coming from running the ball. McCasland led the team with 171 yards rushing and two touchdowns while also completing three passes for 41 yards and one touchdown. Stone also rushed for 134 yards and scored two touchdowns. Fuller led the team with one catch for 23 yards and one touchdown.
Unfortunately, the offense also lost four fumbles to the Era defense. It equaled out at the Nocona defense also forced four turnovers, with interceptions coming from Cooper Waldrip, Bodie Davis and McCasland along with Stone’s fumble recovery.

Saint Jo
Outside of the opening minutes, it was all Saint Jo in the Panthers’ first game playing against Wichita Christian on Friday.
The Panthers won by the 45-point mercy rule in the fourth quarter 54-8 against the Stars.
Early on it looked like Wichita Christian was looking to pull an upset against Saint Jo. The Stars grabbed an interception on the Panther’s first offensive drive. Saint Jo answered back with Kile Thurman intercepting a pass, but unfortunately fumbled the ball right back to Wichita Christian within the same play. The Stars then went on to score on a long 44-yard touchdown run to put them up 8-0.
Saint Jo answered on its next offensive drive as Matthew Butler-Everson threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Devin Stewart to equal the score at 8-8.
Both offenses stalled on their next drives and the game looked competitive heading to the second quarter. However, this is where the Panther offense came alive.
Saint Jo scored on all three of its possessions in the second quarter. Caleb Workman scored on a 25-yard run, Trevor O’Neal would score on a 24-yard run and Butler-Everson would complete another pass to Stewart for a 16-yard touchdown.
Saint Jo led 32-8 at halftime.
The Panthers kept up that pace, scoring on both drives in the third quarter. O’Neal would complete a one yard pass to Stewart for a touchdown before Butler-Everson hooked up with Dylan Brockman from 16 yards out for another touchdown to go up 48-8.
The game ended in the fourth quarter as O’Neal scored on a seven-yard run to make the final 54-8.
O’Neal led the team with 184 yards rushing and two touchdowns while also throwing one touchdown. Butler-Everson completed eight passes for 126 yards and three touchdowns. Stewart led the team with five catches for 66 yards and three touchdowns. Brockman also caught four passes for 61 yards and one touchdown.
Defensively the team force three turnovers with Workman getting an interception to join Thurman’s as well as Brockman recovering a fumble.

Forestburg
The Forestburg Longhorns won their opening game of the season against the home schooled North Texas Spartans on Friday night.
The Longhorns won 45-31 against the Spartans in a game which Forestburg led for most of the game.
Both teams came into the game with no film on the other. North Texas had played no scrimmages and had no film to trade so both teams came in blind.
After some adjustments, it was the Longhorns who proved to be the better team at the end of the night. Forestburg led 13-7 after the first quarter, 26-19 at halftime and 39-25 at the end of three quarters.
The Spartans did cut the lead to one point 26-25 midway through the third quarter, but that was as close as it would get.
Jeremiah Perez did everything for Forestburg. He rushed for 275 yards and scored four touchdowns. He also completed a pass for two yards and a touchdown to Nathan Payne. On defense he also led the team with 18 tackles, including nine that were solo tackles.
Angel Cruz also scored a rushing touchdown and was second with 85 yards rushing. Jesus Sanchez also led the team completing four passes for 16 yards.
Payne was second with 14 tackles while Tye Reid and Sanchez each recovered a fumble on defense.
Coach Greg Roller was proud how his team played overall and where his young team is starting from as compared to last year.

Gold-Burg
The Gold-Burg Bears lost a disappointing game at Perrin-Whitt on Friday night to start the season.
The Pirates won 37-27 against a Bears team that came into the game already banged up and left the game in even rougher shape.
Gold-Burg fell behind early 13-0 and trailed 19-8 at halftime. The Bears rallied to take the lead back 21-19 before the Pirates answered back with a kickoff return for a touchdown. Gold-Burg could never recover and ended up losing.
Coming into the game, Coach Brady Hibbitts said several of his starters had been limited in practice with injuries they had suffered during scrimmages. While they all played, some players were reinjured and missed the crucial fourth quarter where the team was trying to come back.
The most serious was a neck injury to a player that was taken by an ambulance to the hospital, though he would later be cleared as it was nothing too serious.