SPORTS
Longhorns break nine year drought with playoff win
The Forestburg Longhorns won their first playoff game in nine years by beating Newcastle on Tuesday night.
The Longhorns won 53-46 against the Bobcats in a close and emotional game before losing in the area round to Dodd City on Thursday night 61-26.
Forestburg came into the playoffs in a bit of a funk. With second place wrapped up in the district standings, the Longhorns had lost their three previous games, with the most recent two being close heartbreakers.
Newcastle was a shorter and athletic team that was led by an electric point guard Isaac King who seemed to score on any transition opportunity.
Forestburg had the size advantage and seemed to handle Newcastle’s press defense the majority of the time.
The Longhorns wanted to slow it down and play inside out, using their size advantage in the post or finding openings in the mid-range against the Bobcats zone defense.
Forestburg led 15-13 after the first quarter, with Newcastle being carried by King who scored 11 of his team’s points. He had to sit for long stretches in the middle quarters due to foul trouble and the Longhorns took advantage.
Forestburg led 25-19 at halftime and got out to a double-digit lead in the third quarter despite key post player Kyler Willett sitting with his own foul trouble.
Leading scorer Jesus Sanchez put an exclamation point on his team’s momentum by sinking a half-court buzzer beater heading into the fourth quarter, putting the Longhorns up 41-30.
Newcastle picked up the intensity on its press and started to create some turnovers. Forestburg was trying to run some clock at the same time, but the Bobcats picked up momentum and started closing the gap.
Newcastle cut it to two points, down 48-46 in the final two minutes. The Bobcats had an opportunity to tie the game following a steal, laying the ball up with 1:25 left in the game.
However, the basket was wiped away as the player was called for traveling.
Newcastle had one more opportunity to tie the game in the final minute, but Forestburg’s Angel Cruz stole the ball away and threw the ball ahead to Sanchez who was fouled following his layup. He made the free throw to complete the 3-point play and clinch the game.
Forestburg scored one more basket at the very end to make the final score 53-46.
The playoff win was the first for the Forestburg boy’s basketball program since 2015.
The Longhorns did not have much time to bask in the win as they played the ninth ranked team in the state in 1A Dodd City on Thursday night.
Unfortunately, it was not a close game.
Forestburg had trouble scoring all game, only scoring in double-figures in the fourth quarter.
The Hornets were raining 3-pointers early on and led 29-12 at halftime. With Dodd City then scoring 24 points in the third quarter, the game was out of reach.
Forestburg did outscore the Hornets in the fourth quarter, but the lead was too big as Dodd City won 61-26.
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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