Top sports stories of 2020

The top sports story of the year (nearly) gone by was the COVID virus which knocked out the Spring Sports season for the most part and had people thinking throughout the summer whether or not we would have a Fall sports season.

Fortunately, with some tweaks we ended up having a Fall season and are looking toward a new normal of sports seasons. Kids stayed in good shape even though workout facilities were closed but wondered about their future. The other stories to light up our year included a State track champion signing a D-1 letter of intent to compete at Texas Tech, a number of teams hitting the postseason and others.

In no particular order, here are the top sports stories of 2020.

Thompson signs with Tech

A two-time state champion at JHS signed with Tech and will begin her collegiate career hopefully this Spring.

Baylee Thompson, whose older brother Chase said he knew his sister would be attending Tech before she even got out of high school, had a full house at the JHS library for her signing attended by family, classmates and fellow students.

While she had her senior track season at Jacksboro dealt a death knell, she is working like she will be taking a full Spring season at Tech.

While some schools have had multiple years of qualifying for the playoffs, basketball had the most success last year with teams making the playoffs.

Five of Jack County’s six basketball teams made the postseason but unfortunately, none of them made it out of the first round. Bryson’s girls had perhaps most of the success of those teams, however, winning their first district title in more than 31 years.

In Rusty Jones’ first year as Cowgirl coach, brining home a district title for the school was humbling he admitted. The girls came within one game of a perfect run through the loop but a tough loss in Throckmorton ended that.

Perrin’s boys and girls also had playoff runs but lost to Saint Jo and Bellevue, respectively. Bryson’s boys hipsters had a last week run to get into the postseason but lost to Midway.

Perrin VB goes to playoffs for third straight year

After a number of district schedules that ended without a win, Rebekah Bland’s tenure has been one of the most successful in Lady Pirate history, finishing in the top three the last three years.

Perrin had one of their toughest tests last Fall in facing Prairie Valley in the first round at Bearcat Gym In Henrietta.

The Lady Dogs, who split with Bryson in their three matches, were flat throughout the two-hour encounter. Perrin played very well in the five sets but wound up on the short end of the stick.

Jacksboro FB loses in bi-district

After a district title performance in 2019, the Tiger football team found a new district tough in 2020, finishing 3rd in District 7-3A at 3-2 and 6-4 overall.

With some changes in the lineup midway through the district slate, which included moving a freshman to quarterback, the Tigers moved into the postseason to face Henrietta at Bowie for the third straight year.

After a big Jacksboro win last season, Henrietta returned the favor in 2020 to take a 35-21 win. Jacksboro lost several tainted seniors but have a number of young players coming up ready to play some ball.

Jacksboro Girls BB falls to Childress

The Tigerettes lost a talented group of seniors the year before but still managed to finish third in District 7-3A behind two state ranked squads to get into the postseason.

Jacksboro had a 111- mile road trip into Vernon to take on Childress. The Tigerettes did a great job early of holding a hot shooting Lady ‘Cat club in check, including their 6’3” junior post Grace Foster, who averages 25 points a game coming into the game.

That changed quickly in the second half as Foster, who got a hot hand enroute to a 35-point finish, helped the Lady ‘Cats pull away.

Hopefully, 2021 will give us a chance to repeat the old normal.