Bowie
The Bowie Lady Rabbits lost at home on Friday night against Holliday.
The Lady Eagles won in straight sets as the Lady Rabbits struggled to hang.
Bowie came into the match looking for its first district win while Holliday is still playing for a possible district title. Still, the Lady Rabbits hoped they could compete well with a Lady Eagles team that was hoping to get an easy and quick win.
Unfortunately, that is what happened as Bowie struggled to get much offense going in set one, even when a good serve-receive set the team up to do so. Holliday won the first set 25-5.
The second set was a little better as the Lady Rabbits found some success late. Unfortunately, it was not enough to make the final score close as the Lady Eagles won the second set 25-11.
The third set Bowie was hoping it could catch Holliday napping after winning the first two sets easily.
Unfortunately, the Lady Rabbits fell behind early and could never catch up. The Lady Eagles won the set 25-8 and the match 3-0.

Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians opened up district play on Saturday at Archer City and came away with an easy win.
The Lady Indians won in straight sets 3-0 against the Wildcats.
Nocona knows coming into this season, the new district will be more challenging than the previous two seasons.
Especially with some younger players at key positions this year and with senior Meg Meekins still out with injury, an easy win was not guaranteed.
Still the Lady Indians won with set scores being 25-15, 25-17 and 25-13.
Ava Johnson led the team with 13 kills while Raylea Bowles was second with eight. Kasi Castro had a team high 10 assists while Kaygan Stone was second with nine. The team had 10 service aces, with Stone leading with four.
On defense, Krisyah Parker led the team with two blocks. Aubree Kleinhans led the team with 13 digs while Johnson and Stone were second with eight each.

Saint Jo vs Forestburg
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers opened up district play on Friday with a win at Forestburg.
The Lady Panthers won in straight sets 3-0 against the Lady Horns.
Saint Jo came into the match very confident after playing some of the toughest competition on its schedule and competing well, fulling expecting to win its third straight district title with little challenge.
Forestburg was transitioning to having Superintendent Jason Briles take over as the volleyball coach due to having a resignation elsewhere on its staff. That meant previous Coach Cori Hayes is now having to help coach football.
The Lady Panthers won with the set scores being 25-10, 25-14 and 25-15.

Bellevue vs Gold-Burg
The Bellevue Lady Eagles won their opening district game on the road at Gold-Burg on Friday night.
The Lady Eagles won in straight sets 3-0 against the Lady Bears.
Bellevue comes into district play hoping it can defy the odds and get a playoff spot despite it being the program’s only second season.
For Gold-Burg, the team struggled and is hoping it can compete well and possibly surprise some teams that underestimate it.
The Lady Eagles won the first two pretty competitive sets both by the score 25-17. Then the third set saw Bellevue run away with the victory 25-8.

To read more of the story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News. For more pictures from Bowie’s game on Friday, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6869331&T=1

Nocona
The Nocona Indians community was rocked with another tough lump when a senior player went down with an injury in the Indians’ home district opener on Friday.
The Indians lost to Alvord 42-0, but what most people were worried about was the status of senior Jose Gomez who suffered a serious head injury.
Thankfully, he was able to leave the hospital and come home on Sunday.
The community was in such relief that not only were his teammates there to greet him, but Gomez received a heroes welcome on Clay Street led by fire trucks. Respectfully, the crowd was silent since loud noises can exasperate head injuries.
“Fortunately it doesn’t surprise me at this point how this town continues to show up for their kids, support them and make them feel loved,” Coach Blake Crutsinger said. “At this point I wouldn’t expect anything less from the Nocona community.”

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers stayed undefeated with their second straight one half mercy rule win, this time on the road against Weatherford Christian.
The Panthers won 52-6, playing only one half of football again as they blew out the Lions.
Saint Jo came into the game 4-0, but with only its previous game against Forestburg ending early due to mercy rule. Coach CJ Hantz thought the team did not show enough killer instinct in some games while others the lack of execution held the team back.
On Friday, Saint Jo was the better team and played like it. Devin Stewart completed three passes for 62 yards all to Lee Yeley. Stewart also led the team with 89 yards rushing and scored two touchdowns.
Blayton Calabrese was second with 65 yards rushing and also scored two touchdowns rushing.
On defense, the team forced five turnovers. Jayden Curry and Stewart both intercepted passes. Wade Lucas, Amzy Barclay and Mathew Sampson each recovered a fumble.

Gold-Burg
The Gold-Burg Bears won their second consecutive game of the season by beating Grace Classical Christian Academy in Granbury on Friday.
The Bears won 52-27 as the Gryphons did just enough to avoid getting mercy ruled in defeat.
Gold-Burg was coming off a dominant win its previous week against Harrold, which was the team’s first victory after a tough opening season stretch. GCCA also came in with only one win on the season, but the Bears showed quickly they were the better team.
Jayton Epperson led the team with 156 yards rushing and three touchdowns while also completing two passes for 37 yards. Paul Jones was second with 94 yards rushing and also scored three touchdowns. He completed one pass for 30 yards. Hayden Chambers scored the other touchdown for Gold-Burg, also coming on the ground.

Forestburg
The Forestburg Longhorns played a tough game short handed on Friday against Vernon Northside.
The Indians won 58-8, with the game ending midway through the fourth quarter due to mercy rule.
The Longhorns were still missing more than half of their starting lineup to injuries and were still trying to make things work while relying on inexperienced players.
Northside came into the game with a winning record 3-1, but Forestburg hoped the boost of a homecoming crowd could help the team play above its experience.
Early on execution issues for the Longhorns held the offense back with two quick turnovers.
Angel Cruz intercepted a pass on defense to get the ball back, but eventually the Indians scored on a long touchdown catch on a play they would have success with for the rest of the game.
Forestburg answered offensively as Christian Binanti broke away on a 28-yard run to tie the game up at 8-8 at the end of the first quarter.
Unfortunately, Northside pulled away in the second quarter with two more passing touchdowns and a recovered fumble returned for a touchdown. The Indians led 32-8 at halftime.
The Longhorn offense could not get going as the team wore down as the game went on and the lead continued to grow.
Eventually the Indians went up 58-8 with 5:53 left in the fourth quarter when the game was called.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.

A week after scoring the second most points in program history, the Bowie Jackrabbits lost their opening district game on the road at Peaster in a defensive struggle.
The Greyhounds hung on to win 10-9, doing all of their damage in the first quarter while the Jackrabbits came up just short of coming back in the final three quarters.
Bowie came into the game with something to prove. While the Jackrabbits and Peaster both came into district play with 3-1 records, the Greyhounds played what was perceived to be the better teams and were a preseason playoff pick within the district.
Bowie was picked to finish last and now that district was starting, it was time for the Jackrabbits to get exposed.
In the first quarter it looked like that was coming to fruition. Peaster hit on a some explosive pass plays down the field that set up a short touchdown run to start the game up 7-0. Later in the first quarter, the Greyhounds then hit on an impressive 35-yard field goal to take 10-0 lead heading into the second quarter.
Bowie’s defense made the adjustments in its secondary on defense and ratcheted up the pressure on the quarterback.
While it did not completely shut down Peaster’s run game, it did make Greyhounds running back Kaden Albert earn every bit of his 101 yards on the ground and not let anyone else hurt the Jackrabbits.
Peaster only gained 46 yards of offense in the final three quarters.
The Bowie offense were finding some success running the ball, but not quite enough success to get out of third and long situations it kept finding itself in when something went wrong.
Twice the Jackrabbits entered the red zone in the second quarter. On one trip, Bowie was able to settle for a short 23-yard field goal from Nick Salazar.
The other trip saw a holding penalty back the team up too far for another field goal chance and the Jackrabbits turned the ball over on downs.
Bowie went into halftime trailing 10-3.
The Jackrabbits defense continued to keep Bowie in the game. In what has emerged as a trend, the Jackrabbit defense pitched its third second half shut out of the season in five games. It would be in four of the games, but the team allowed Dublin to score once in the second half in the previous week’s blow out win.
The Jackrabbits racked up seven sacks, with Noah Metzler leading the team with three while Preacher Chambers and Zac Harris each added two.
The team also forced and recovered two fumbles in the game. Metzler forced one and Tyson Jordan the other one while Hayden Rodriguez recovered both. As a team, Bowie finished with 30 tackles for loss in the game.
On offense, the Jackrabbits continued to struggle in the second half, but got a boost on their biggest play of the game. Running back Justin Clark proved to be a workhorse all game as he finished with team high 151 yards rushing. He also scored the team’s only touchdown when he found a lane on a sweep to the left for a 25-yard touchdown run.
Unfortunately, a special teams gaff would come back to bite Bowie later.
A high snap on the extra point led to a missed kick opportunity and the Jackrabbits trailed 10-9. With it still being the third quarter and the defense playing well, Bowie had time to not dwell on the missed opportunity. Unfortunately, that would be the Jackrabbits last good chance.
Bowie’s offense turned the ball over twice in the game on a fumble and an interception. The Greyhounds played tight and physical coverage which seemed to limit the Jackrabbits wide receiver screen passing game as Bowie was held to 75 yards passing.
Trying to make Peaster pay with passes down the field unfortunately did not produce the big plays Bowie needed to exploit the strategy, which Coach Tyler Price thought was the difference in the game.
“A couple of times we just didn’t make plays in the air,” Price said. “We had a couple of dropped passes. We didn’t win one-on-one matchups outside and those are things we have to get better at. When the ball comes to you, you have to make plays.”
It made the final score that much more crushing as the Jackrabbits fell 10-9.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.