SPORTS
Saint Jo beats Gold-Burg 60-33
The Saint Jo Panthers won their district home opener against Gold-Burg on Tuesday night.
The Panthers won 60-33 in a game that was expected to be closer or at least have a different outcome.
Saint Jo’s young team has struggled during the non-district part of its schedule as wins have come few and far between.
One of the many losses came against this same Bears’ team earlier this season at the Panthers-hosted tournament. Gold-Burg won that game by double-digits.
With a Bears team filled with mostly upper classmen and many of the same athletes that upset Saint Jo in football during the fall season, there was a feeling this might just be Gold-Burg’s year against the Panthers.
That game was a month ago and Saint Jo’s young team was missing some starters due to injury. A fully healthy Panther team and a month of growth made Tuesday night’s game go much differently than the first match-up.
Saint Jo came out and scored the first 11 points of the game halfway through the first quarter. The Panthers handled the Bear’s full-court press and aggressive trapping in the half court and made them pay when they got open shots.
On the other side, Saint Jo’s long defenders meant almost every shot Gold-Burg threw up was contested. Maybe that was the reason the Bears just could not seem to make a basket from anywhere.
Gold-Burg rallied late in the first quarter to cut the lead down to 19-9 heading into the second, but that would be as close as the score would be.
The Bears were limited to only five points in the second period. Even after misses, Saint Jo did a good job of rebounding and limiting Gold-Burg to just one shot on most of its offensive possessions.
While the Panthers offense continued to score at a good pace, it was not all sun shine and rainbows on their end. The constant pressure from the Bears started to lead to more turnovers as the game wore on, though not the kind that fueled points for Gold-Burg.
Saint Jo led 33-14 at halftime.
The third quarter got a little feisty with some technical fouls being given out to the Bears for a foul away from the ball and then for arguing with the referees.
Thankfully the teams cooled off as the game went on. The Gold-Burg player later helped the player he fouled up off the floor on another play so he would not get stepped on during play.
It did nothing to help Gold-Burg start to make shots as it scored another five points in the third quarter. It also was Saint Jo’s lowest total of the game scoring 10 points as it was just an ugly quarter overall. The Panthers lead continued to grow though as they led 43-19 heading into the final period.
With the lead out of reach, both teams played a bit more loosely which led to more scoring from both teams than any other quarter. Gold-Burg had five different players make one basket as the team equaled the total first half points (14) it scored in the fourth quarter.
It still was not more than Saint Jo which finished hot by scoring 17 points as the Panthers won 60-33.
To read the full story and see more pictures from the game, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
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.
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.
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.
-
NEWS1 year ago2 hurt, 1 jailed after shooting incident north of Nocona
-
NEWS6 months agoSuspect indicted, jailed in Tia Hutson murder
-
NEWS1 year agoSO investigating possible murder/suicide
-
NEWS1 year agoWreck takes the life of BHS teen, 16
-
NEWS10 months agoMurder unsolved – 1 year later Tia Hutson’s family angry, frustrated with no arrest
-
NEWS1 year ago
Sheriff’s office called out to infant’s death
-
NEWS1 year agoBowie Police face three-hour standoff after possible domestic fight
-
NEWS1 year ago
Driver stopped by a man running into the street, robbed at knifepoint