SPORTS
Bowie rink hockey club wins at nationals
It was a family affair as the Bowie Rink Hockey Club’s world class ladies team won the 2023 Rink Hockey Nationals last week.
Hosted at Lubbock’s Sk806 Events Center on July 29-Aug. 4, it served as the culmination of the best teams in rink hockey across America.
The Bowie club is led by sisters and Bowie High School graduates Janae and Jasmine along with their mom Dara serving as backup goalie and father John Jones Sr. as the coach.
Brother John Jones Jr. also plays, but was on the 15U and 18U teams for the Cumberland Raiders, a club team from Maryland. He helped the 15U team to a third place finish and the 18U team won its age group championship.
The Bowie club had previously won the event in 2021, but was unable to defend the title due to a lack of competition in 2022.
The one wildcard for the team was their first team goalie, Francisca Labbe, was going to have to miss the tournament due to recently giving birth. Dara had to step in, hoping she could hold up for both the team and her family.
With teammates Javiera Ramos, Camilla Roldan and Francisca Caceres filling out the roster, the team had had a good year competing in tournaments this year.
The team had wins in two previous tournaments earlier in the year. They also had a second place finish in another one only because Janae suffered an injury to her face and was not allowed to play in the championship game causing them to forfeit. With these results the team was feeling confident and a little over prepared.
The first game was against a club from New Jersey who had what many people considered the best goalie in the tournament. Bowie felt confident they could score on her, but knew it would be tough. In the end, the game ended in a 4-4 tie.
The next game against United Florida did not go the team’s way as it lost a close one 3-2. It was a wake-up call for the team now, knowing it would have to take the harder road once bracket play started.
The last game in pool play was against the familiar and geographically close club team from Decatur. Bowie easily won 8-1 to finish pool play 1-1-1.
Tied for second place with the New Jersey club meant the two faced off again in bracket play, with the winner going on to play in the championship game.
It was another closely played game. The score was tied 3-3 heading into the final minute with overtime looming.
With time winding down, Bowie upped the pressure on defense. Janae stripped New Jersey’s defensemen, deked past the remaining defender, faked out the goalie and scored on a spinning back hand with 30 seconds remaining.
The goal ended up being the game-winner as Bowie won 4-3.
This set up a rematch against the United Florida team they had lost to during pool play. The United Florida team had not lost a game yet this tournament, but Bowie believed this time it would be different.
It would be as Jasmine came out and scored a hat trick in the first 16 minutes of the game, putting Bowie up 3-0 along with a lot of momentum.
From there, the team held on as United Florida made a spirited comeback in the second half, cutting the lead to one goal with 4:33 left in the game. Still, they did enough to secure the win 3-2 to earn its second straight national title.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News. Full games from the tournament can be watched on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@RinkHockeyLive.
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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