SPORTS
Nocona Indians win 60-38 in bi-district game
The Nocona Indians easily won their bi-district playoff game against Haskell on Monday night in Olney.
Nocona won 60-38, starting out hot and never looking back despite cooling off as the game went along.
Nocona came into the game as favorites after going through district undefeated for its second straight district title and ranked ninth in the state in 2A according to the most recent Texas Association of Basketball Coaches poll.
Haskell was a fourth seed who came into the game and both wanted to play fast but also tried to post up its big, but not tall, post players on the block.
With Nocona not having elite height or size on its roster, it was the biggest defensive concern.
Haskell came out with a full-court press and played in a 3-2 zone on defense, trying to pressure the ball and force the action since the team did not have great height at the rim either.
Nocona was able to handle the press with little trouble all night, with few turnovers coming from overwhelming pressure. The team early on made several 3-pointers, dicing up Haskell’s zone defense with sharp passes that created open looks.
Nocona led 12-2 after four minutes and Haskell was never able to make it any closer. Nocona continued on and extended the lead to 21-6 at the end of the first quarter as the team made five 3-pointers.
Nocona was playing straight man-to-man defense, but had players sagged off into the paint to try and prevent clean passes into the player or ready to rotate when passes did get through. Haskell was not able to make many 3-pointers on the night, finishing with only three, to make Nocona pay for sagging off its players off the ball on defense.
Haskell was able to get the ball inside enough and played with energy to grab offensive rebounds, especially early on, to score better in the final three quarters.
Nocona’s hot 3-point shooting cooled off as the team made only one more for the rest of the game. However, Nocona was still able to score a bit more points than Haskell almost every quarter by driving into the lane and hitting cutters at the basket for uncontested layups.
Nocona led 34-16 at halftime and 49-27 after three quarters before eventually winning 60-38.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week 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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