SPORTS
Lady Horns volleyball beats Bellevue
Despite being district opponents, Bellevue traveled to Forestburg on Tuesday night for an early peek at the other.
The Lady Horns got it done in straight sets to win their second straight game of the season while the Lady Eagles saw some good moments in their short time together.
Forestburg was coming off a dominant win against Valley View last week and was hoping to carry that momentum against an opponent it felt confident it could win.
Bellevue has struggled early in the season as the volleyball program is alive for the first time in years and most of the team’s players have no experience with the sport before this season.
The Lady Eagles have not won, but was coming off their most competitive set in their final match of their first tournament at Poolville against Lingleville.
The first set saw Forestburg pull away from a close 11-9 lead to a 21-14 lead. From there, the Lady Horns closed the set off with confidence, winning 25-17.
The second set saw Forestburg carry that momentum into the beginning points. The Lady Horns were up 13-7, but Bellevue cut it to 14-11 to make it close for a second.
After that, Forestburg ran away with the second half of the set, winning 11 of the last 15 points to win 25-15.
Maybe a bit of complacency seeped in from the Lady Horns. Maybe the Lady Eagles were tired chasing from behind.
Whatever it was, Bellevue started the third set by scoring the first six points and feeling more confident than it had all season.
Forestburg started to score some points, but it did fall behind by the biggest margin down 14-6.
The Lady Horns came all the way back to eventually tie the score at 19-19.
From there until the end of the match the scores were back and forth with neither team able to build a safe lead heading into the final points.
In the end, it was Forestburg who came out on top in extra points, winning 27-25 to win the match 3-0.
To read the full story and see more pictures, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
District awards for 1A released
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.
SPORTS
Forestburg coach retiring
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.
SPORTS
Bowie Sports Banquet
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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