SPORTS
Forestburg boys break six year streak and beat Saint Jo
The Forestburg Longhorns picked up their first win against Saint Jo since 2018 with a home win on Tuesday night.
The Longhorns won 56-40 in a game that was not that close for most of the game.
Saint Jo was coming into the game with 2-0 district record despite the young team struggling during its non-district schedule. The Panthers recently blew out a tough Gold-Burg team the previous week to show they were turning the corner in the games that really counted.
Forestburg came into district with high expectations to break its playoff drought, but dropped its first two games in disappointing performances. The Longhorns then won a come-from-behind game at Gold-Burg last week to give it some confidence heading into this game.
The Panthers were missing one starter, but with the way Forestburg came out at the beginning of the game, it did not seem anything was going to stop the Longhorns.
In every way Forestburg outplayed Saint Jo in the first quarter. The Longhorns attacked the Panthers full-court press and was able to get some quick looks on offense they took advantage of.
Jesus Sanchez was making shots from the perimeter, Jesse Wadsworth was keeping the ball moving while scoring from all over and Kyler Willett was using his size and skill to score in the post for Forestburg.
The Longhorns led 24-3 after the first quarter and it never got much better from there.
Even with Forestburg’s offense cooling off and the Panthers getting some success on offense going, Saint Jo could not turn the game around.
The Longhorns led 35-12 at halftime and 49-19 heading into the fourth quarter.
Frustration seemed to boil over at the start of the final period when the Panthers coach picked up his second technical foul arguing a call with the referees and was asked to leave. A Saint Jo fan then got asked to leave for similar reasons in the final two minutes of the game.
Saint Jo had its best stretch of the game in the fourth quarter, more than doubling its three quarter total with 21 points scored.
With Forestburg emptying its bench and playing with less aggression since it was comfortably up by so much, the Panthers took advantage.
It made the final score 56-40 a lot closer than most of the game was.
To read the full story, 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.
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