Arlington Bowie football clinches first district title since 2012 with victory over Lamar

After a rocky start, Arlington Bowie is hard to beat now.

The Volunteers won their sixth straight game after a 49-21 victory over Arlington Lamar on Friday night at C.H. Wilemon Field. The victory locked up the District 8-6A title for Bowie — the first since 2012.

With Haltom beating South Grand Prairie on Oct. 31, Bowie (6-3, 6-0) could lose to South Grand Prairie on Nov. 7 and still be the district champion.

Coach Joseph Sam wants no part of a 1-loss district title.

“It’s about being 1-0 next week, and that is what I told them,” Sam said. “Let’s not worry about the record. Let’s focus on being 1-0. If we do that, we’ll accomplish every goal we need to accomplish. This is year 16 for me, and I’ve never, as a coach, won a district championship.

“I did once as a player [at Lancaster] on JV and freshman. I didn’t do it on varsity. Only 32 teams get to win a district title and not many people can that and District 8-6A is a competitive district. Coming out on top, you know, it’s a blessing.”

The district title is a far cry from seven weeks ago, following a 72-33 loss against Coppell that dropped the team to 0-3.

Sam said the tough early slate, which also featured Flower Mound and Keller, was to get this team playoff-ready. The Volunteers lost the first two games by a combined 8 points.

“The kids kept faith in the process,” Sam said. “It was a fix-us moment, and it started with me as the head coach. I got to mix me and then it trickles down to everybody else. I changed the way I did things. The coordinators did too; then the position coaches changed. We’ve been rolling, and God willing, we get one more before the playoffs.“

The start in the district-championship-clinching win was Darrion Bowers.

The senior ran for 245 yards and four touchdowns — which was a season-high in yards and the third time he’s ran for 4 touchdowns in a game this year. His one catch was a touchdown as well.

He said the team changed heading into that first district game.

“We had to get back right and flip that switch,” he said. “It’s real crazy to think we are doing this, but now we are doing it, it’s real good.”

Bowie scored on its first four possessions to build a 28-14 lead at the break against the Vikings.

Quarterback Larry Nichols threw for touchdowns on the first two drives for the Volunteers. He hit wide receiver Dillon Tallie for a 9-yard score at the 7:52 mark in the first.

Nichols hit Bowers for a 74-yard score on the first play of the next drive for Bowie.

After that touchdown, the teams traded touchdowns to account for the halftime margin.

Lamar (3-6, 2-4) got on the board on a 57-yard run by Kelton Barney with 4:40 left in the first quarter.

A 54-yard pass from Nichols to Tallie was followed by a 29-yard touchdown run by Bowers, which made it 21-7 with 3:32 remaining in the first.

Lamar, which had won two in a row entering the game, answered with a 1-yard run by Barney on the fifth play of the second quarter.

Bowers scored twice on the next drive for Bowie. A 17-yard touchdown run was negated by a hold at the 2-yard line. On the next play, he scored from 12 yards out.

Lamar had two chances to trim the two-score deficit thanks to interceptions by Xian Johnson and Denzel Freeman, but the Vikings couldn’t take advantage. The first half ended on an untimed down thanks to a pass interference call in the end zone.

After each team called a timeout, a 25-yard pass by Gannon Carey to the end zone fell to the ground.

The back-and-forth scoring continued into the second half.

Three touchdowns happened on the first three possessions.

Bowers had a 25-yard run at the 9:51 mark in the third and capped his day with a 6-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter, and a 5-yard run with 11:54 left. That was the last play of a 12-play drive that took nearly 6 minutes off the clock.

Denzel Ponder scored with 43 seconds left for Bowie to account for the Vols’ final points.

Lamar’s only score in the second half was a 3-yard touchdown pass from Carey to Jesse Little in the third.

The Vikings play host to Grand Prairie on Nov. 7.