SPORTS
Longhorns win third straight district game
The Forestburg Longhorns won their third straight district game on Tuesday with a win against Prairie Valley at home.
The Longhorns pulled away in the second half and won 52-38 against the youth filled Bulldogs team.
Forestburg was well rested coming off a bye game and before that beating Saint Jo to improve to 2-2.
Prairie Valley was coming off its first district win at Saint Jo, in which the Bulldogs came back to swing the game with a big fourth quarter.
The game started off competitively. Prairie Valley came out in a 1-3-1 defense that surprised the Longhorns. Forestburg early on showed its advantage in size in the post by gobbling up offensive rebounds for second and third chances, but only a few shots went in for the team in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs were running players off of picks to get open looks on the perimeter and tried to spread out the Longhorns defense, which started the game playing man-to-man. Prairie Valley got some good looks and in the first quarter knocked in a couple of 3-pointers and was able to drive to the basket for shots around the rim.
The Bulldogs led 12-9 heading into the second quarter.
Prairie Valley’s offense then stopped making shots. Despite getting some good looks, the shots were not going in. With Forestburg’s superiority rebounding the ball, trips were one and done as the Bulldogs scored only six points before halftime.
The Longhorns offense opened up and started getting everyone in on the action scoring the ball as five different players made at least one basket.
With Prairie Valley defenders doing a good job of chasing Forestburg off the 3-point line, Longhorn players settled for and made some mid-range shots.
That along with the continued dominance rebounding the ball allowed for some made baskets around the rim for Forestburg. The Longhorns scored 15 points and took the lead 24-18 into halftime.
The trouble continued for Prairie Valley in the third quarter. Forestburg was now playing zone, but pressuring more on the perimeter. With shots continuing to not fall for the Bulldogs, players were encouraged to try and drive to the basket, but baskets continued to be hard to come by. Prairie Valley only scored five points in the third quarter.
Forestburg’s offense continued to go, even if only three players scored in the quarter. The Longhorns did not have as much success scoring from the post, but made shots driving to the rim.
They scored 14 points and grew their lead to double-digits 38-23 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs were not going away though. Coming off a game where they came back in the final period thanks in part to a change in defense, Prairie Valley switched to a full-court press, man-to-man defense.
It seemed to reenergize the Bulldogs shooting as the team made four 3-pointers in the quarter.
Unfortunately for Prairie Valley, the pressure defense was a double-edged sword, allowing some easy points and looks for Forestburg when it was broken. The Longhorns had a plethora of good chances at the rim during the quarter. While the team did not convert all of them, Forestburg still kept pace with the hot shooting Bulldogs to not give up much of its lead.
The Longhorns held on to win 52-38.
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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