SPORTS
UIL releases cutoff numbers for realignment
Released on Friday, the University Interscholastic League put out the official cutoff numbers for conference realignment for the 2024-2026 school years.
Even with a few schools worried about possibly moving up, no area schools changed classification now with the numbers out.
Bowie was never worried about moving up from 3A to 4A, reporting 493 kids and the cutoff for 4A classification being 545. The school was even farther away from dropping down to division II in football, with the 3A division I cutoff number at 369.
Almost as big of news is the departure of state powerhouse Brock, which ended Bowie playoff runs in several sports over the years as the Eagles move up to 4A.
Nocona was ecstatic this time two years ago when it dropped down from 3A to 2A by one student. The Indians have reaped the benefits in almost every sport last year and already this year. Surely Nocona would not get so lucky again.
Well, the school turned in even less than it did two years ago and will stay in 2A for another two years. The cutoff number for 3A was 254 this time and Nocona turned in 234.
Saint Jo was another school that was worried about moving up. The Panthers have been the biggest 1A school in the area and have used that advantage to post great results in recent years in almost every sport.
Moving up to 2A would not just be an increase in competition, but also would mean Saint Jo football players and coaches would be transitioning from six-man football to traditional 11-man for the first time in many years.
Luckily, the Panthers were a few kids under the cutoff number once again. Saint Jo turned in 100.5 and the 2A cutoff was 105.
With the Panthers’ athletic director Mark Stevens retiring at the end of the school year, the next hire will have the benefit of utilizing Saint Jo’s number advantage for at least two more years before people have to worry again about the possibility of moving up.
Every other area school was not worried about moving up from 1A to 2A. However, for Gold-Burg and Forestburg, the two schools were worried about moving up in the football classification from division II to division I.
Forestburg was close, reporting 57 and the cutoff number being 61.5. Gold-Burg was well under reporting 49.
For area schools Bellevue and Prairie Valley that don’t play football, neither were worried about having to move up from 1A to 2A. Both would have to nearly double its enrollment numbers just to start to worry about the possibility as Bellevue turned in 52 and Prairie Valley turned in 45.
The final stage in realignment won’t come until Feb. 1, 2024, when the UIL releases district alignments for 2024-2026.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News. To see enrollment numbers for all schools in the state, go to this link https://www.uiltexas.org/press-releases/detail/uil-conference-cutoff-numbers-for-2024-2026-reclassification-realignment.
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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