Gold-Burg
The Gold-Burg Bears lost their biggest game of the season against Newcastle on homecoming.
The Bears fell just short 78-74 against the Bobcats in a game that was back-and-forth until the end.
With both teams winning its opening district games the previous week, the winner would not only get first place in the standing but would likely have a sure chance of winning the district title.
Thanks to two fumble recoveries and an onside kick, Gold-Burg had an inspired start and was ahead 42-20 with 2:53 to go until halftime.
Newcastle scored on a big run, got an interception near its own goal line that led to a short touchdown run after big run near the Bears’ goal line, recovered a Gold-Burg fumble before scoring on a 12-yard corner route on the last play of the half.
All of that led to the Bobcats tying the score at 42-42 at halftime.
The second half was a back-and-forth affair. Even with the Bears recovering another fumble in the third quarter, neither team was able to go up by more than one touchdown until midway through the fourth quarter.
Newcastle got only its second stop of the second half and extended its lead to 10 points 72-62 with 4:57 left to play.
Gold-Burg scored on a short run to make it a one-score game again, but had taken a lot of time with only 1:02 left to play.
After failing to recover the onside kick, the Bears had the timeouts but needed to get a stop. Instead, Newcastle scored on a long run to go back up by 10 points 78-68 with only 48 seconds left.
Gold-Burg was not done though. Levi Hellinger hit on a 27-yard pass to Jayton Epperson with less than 10 seconds left to play to cut it to one score again. The Bears then needed to recover the onside kick for a chance at a last second heave towards the end zone.
Instead, the Bobcats recovered the kick and kneeled the ball for the win 78-74.
Jayon Grace scored eight rushing touchdowns to lead Gold-Burg and at times pulled scoring plays out of thin air despite Newcastle being keyed in on him. Hellinger threw three touchdown passes, with two going to Aidan Foster and the other to Epperson.

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers easily dispatched Campbell on Friday night in their final home game and senior night.
The Panthers won 53-0 and it was over by halftime due to mercy-rule against the Indians.
Saint Jo was coming off a disappointing opening district loss to Union Hill, but knew the next two games were winnable.
The Panthers emphasized that thinking as they dominated Campbell in every way.
Saint Jo scored 31 points in the first quarter and 22 points in the second quarter to make sure the game would end early.
Devin Stewart completed seven passes for 70 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 40 yards and one touchdown. He also caught one pass for a 10-yard touchdown from Lee Yeley, who led the team with 72 yards rushing and scored one rushing touchdown.
Cooper Harris led the team with two catches for 35 yards and one touchdown. Jonathon Sampson and Cason Ruiz each caught one short pass for touchdowns as well.
The defense allowed only 35 yards of total offense from Campbell while recovering one fumble.
To cap off the night, Kyler Dunn set the school record for longest field goal as she made one from 31 yards away.

Forestburg
The Forstburg Longhorns did not have a happy senior night on Thursday night against Strawn.
The Greyhounds won 65-14 and the game was over at halftime due to mercy-rule.
State-renowned Strawn and the Longhorns were both coming off of opening district losses. For a chance at the playoffs, both needed a win in the second to last game of the season.
It was not a good night as the physicality of the Greyhounds seemed to overwhelm Forestburg. The injury bug hit the Longhorns hard as well during the game as several players were reported to have suffered injuries, including a broken collar bone.
Coach Greg Roller highlighted Kyler Willett catching eight passes for 124 yards on offense as a positive.

Read the full story in the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.