SPORTS
Indians beat Petrolia despite missing four players
The Nocona Indians were able to survive a game against Petrolia on Tuesday night with half of their team being suspended.
The Indians took care of the Pirates 52-31 to stay undefeated in district play and in first place.
Nocona was coming off a nice win against Olney on the scoreboard 65-40, but it proved costly. A scuffle on the court during the third quarter of that game led to consequences felt first on Tuesday and in the next few games.
Johnny Stone, a senior starting post player, was most involved and will miss the next three games. Players Karson Kleinhans, Jose Gomez and Oscar Salomon left the bench during the episode and for that were suspended one game, which was Tuesday’s game.
With only one day of practice and in a some players cases the day of the game, Nocona had to survive with moving three JV players up to varsity and one of them in the starting lineup. Landon Fatheree, Kyle Waters and Walker Murphey stepped up and combined for four points, seven rebounds and one steal.
The heavy lifting was done by the four remaining varsity players, all senior starters who had multiple years of varsity experience.
Petrolia came in with a 2-1 district record and were looking to pull the road upset with the Indians looking vulnerable. Early in the game, the Pirates were doing that.
The only baskets either team could make were 3-pointers. Nocona was having trouble driving to the basket as Petrolia’s tall post player was blocking several shots in the first quarter. Only a steal and breakaway layup from the Pirates were the only other basket scored as both team’s knocked in three 3-pointers as Petrolia led 11-9.
Nocona then stepped up its defensive intensity, denying the Pirates tall post player post up possessions, closing out better on perimeter shots and rebounding well.
This allowed the Indians to run in transition were they kept finding Javier Gaytan open on the perimeter. He made three 3-pointers in the second quarter alone and scored 11 of his team’s 17 points.
Petrolia’s only chance to score came with one free throw trip where the team missed. With Nocona outscoring the Pirates 17-0 in the second quarter, the Indians were in firm control 26-11 at halftime.
Petrolia’s offense did bounce back in the third quarter, more than doubling its first half total and finding relative success doing everything it wanted to do. Unfortunately for the Pirates, they could not stop the Indians.
Nocona made four 3-pointers as a team and even found ways to cut to the rim and score despite the size disadvantage.
The Indians outscored Petrolia 16-15 which meant they still kept a double-digit lead heading into the fourth quarter up 42-26.
Nocona’s defense came alive again in the final period as the pace slowed down. Only two baskets were given up which allowed the Indians lead to grow more as the game went along.
Nocona won 52-31.
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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