The entirety of District 4-3A DII was idle on Sept. 21, so there is little to report here this week.
District play opens on Friday for all eight teams, with a key matchup between league favorites Cisco (2-0) and Ballinger (2-1), with the winner getting an early inside track on the league title.
It will also feature an interesting coaching matchup between Cisco’s Brent West and Ballinger’s Chuck Lipsey — both successful veterans of Big Country wars.
Dublin 20, Brady 7 — The Bulldogs limited an explosive Lion offense to just 204 total yards and led 7-0 at halftime, but the Lions rallied in the second half to escape Brady with their fourth consecutive win.
Brady rushed for 172 yards in the loss, getting 100 yards from Walker Bauer and 62 yards and their only score from Ryan Decker.
The Bulldogs will look to get back on track next week when they travel to Tuscola for their final nondistrict game against Jim Ned.
Wall 40, Sonora 20 — Sutton Braden rushed for 142 yards and two scores to lift Wall (1-2) to its first win on the year.
The Hawks handed in their best defensive effort of the young season, limiting Sonora to 184 yards in total offense, including 36 yards rushing.
The Broncos slipped to 2-2 with their second straight defeat.
Big Spring 39, Pecos 20 — Ethan Cortez threw for 200 yards and three scores and CJ Harris rushed for 97 yards and another touchdown to lift Big Spring (2-2) on the road.
The Steers limited Pecos (1-3) to just 213 yards in total offense while gaining 347.
Andrews 48, Snyder 26 — SHS (3-1) suffered its first loss of the year after falling behind 24-6 in the first half.
Brett Leach threw for 285 yards and Colten Butler rushed for 92 yards to lead Andrews (3-1). Nathan Kendrick led Snyder with 10 receptions for 192 yards and one score.
Snyder QB Logan Green finished with 305 yards passing and three TD strikes.
Roscoe 12, Munday 0 — Wet field conditions kept both offenses at bay Friday, but the Plowboys took advantage three Munday turnovers and 10 Mogul penalties in securing their second straight win.
Munday held Roscoe to 192 yards of total offense and six points in each half, but the Moguls could muster just 145 yards of their own.
Cameron Thornton led the Munday offense, rushing for 109 yards on 22 carries, while Bobby Dockins Jr. contributed 39 yards rushing on nine attempts.
Brownwood 20, Wichita Falls Rider 16 — Tommy Bowden threw for 294 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 77 yards and two more scores to lift the Lions (2-2) on the road.
Trailing 13-6 heading into the final quarter, the Lions rallied with two TDs in the game’s final 12 minutes. Bowden did the honors, with scoring runs of 26 and 2 yards — the latter of which came with 2:30 to play.
Brownwood finished with 409 yards in total offense while earning its second straight win after an 0-2 start. Class 5A Rider slipped to 1-3.
Unable to have homecoming at home, the Hawley Bearcats took the show on the road and beat Albany 32-7 on Friday at Wylie’s Bulldog Stadium.
With the Bearcats’ home field under water, Hawley coach Mitch Ables had to find an alternate location.
Ables’ squad wasn’t affected by the location change and used a punishing ground attack in a steady first-half downpour to take advantage of the conditions and control the game.
The Abilene High defense continued its dominating start to the season Friday, limiting an explosive Midland High offense to 172 total yards and seven first downs in a 13-0 homecoming win at Shotwell Stadium.
Playing in heavy wind and a steady rain that kept both teams’ offenses grounded, the Eagles allowed just 25 yards in the second half in winning their third consecutive game.
Midland High, which came in averaging 34.7 points per contest, went three and out on eight of its 12 possessions, including all but its last of the second half. And on the two occasions the Bulldogs pushed into AHS territory, the Eagles defense came up with big plays, forcing and recovering a fumble inside the 10 midway through the first quarter and stopping MHS on downs at the 30 early in the second.
Those missed opportunities proved costly for the Bulldogs against an AHS defensive unit that allowed just one first down over the final two quarters in lowering its points-against average to 12.5 per game.
COLORADO CITY — Entering this season, the primary strength of the Colorado City Wolves was projected to be offensive balance.
Four weeks into the campaign, the Wolves have lived up to that billing, and put it on full display in a 54-6 win over Forsan on Friday at Wolf Stadium.
7:30 p.m. Friday at Shotwell Stadium, Abilene
What it means: This is homecoming for the Eagles and an opportunity to extend its current winning streak to three games, which would match last season’s win total. It’s also a renewal of a longstanding rivalry that dates back to 1939. Abilene High holds a 48-22 advantage in the all-time series with Midland High, winning 12 of the past 13 meetings. The Bulldogs’ only win during that stretch came in 2013 by a 30-28 margin.
He had been playing with some discomfort for three weeks — ever since a season-opening victory over Comanche. So Eastland quarterback Behren Morton was sent for an MRI to check on his lower left leg.
The bad news arrived less than two hours before kickoff for Thursday’s 35-7 loss to Childress in the Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
Morton has a stress fracture and will likely be out until the district opener — an Oct. 12 date at Early. In the meantime, Eastland struggled on Thursday against one of the state’s best Class 3A Division II teams in fifth-ranked Childress.
Luke Latimer threw for 280 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 60 yards and three more scores to lead the Bobcats (4-0), who quickly overcame an early 7-0 deficit to get the win.
Morton’s replacement, Zach Brown, finished 18 of 31 for 202 yards and one TD to lead Eastland (3-1).
The “Southtown” series got off to a lopsided start Thursday at Shotwell Stadium, where Cooper dominated every phase in a 48-0 win over Wylie.
Playing Abilene’s other south-side high school for the first time in a varsity football game, the Cougars racked up 472 yards of total offense, while limiting Wylie to just 112, taking the wind out of the Bulldogs’ sails and the drama out of the game early.
Cooper, which got a pair of short touchdown runs from junior Aeneas Favors in the first quarter, tacked on two Michael Rangel field goals to take a 20-0 lead into halftime. And the Coogs (1-3) carried that momentum into the second half, scoring four more touchdowns to earn their first win of the season and the first victory of Aaron Roan’s head coaching career.
Last season, seniors Raekwon Millsap and Wes Berry accounted for 72 percent of Abilene High’s catches and 77 percent of the Eagles’ receiving yards.
Only Clay Cox returned with more than four receptions, catching 13 passes for 62 yards, and AHS’ second-most productive returning receiver, Kallin Sipe (4-49, 1 TD), is now the Eagles’ quarterback.
If you had predicted coming into the 2018 campaign that Abilene High’s receiving corps might be a weakness — or at least an area of concern — you wouldn’t have been alone. But three games into the season, it’s becoming clearer by the week that you would have been wrong.
Not only has the Eagle receiving corps not been a weakness this fall, it has been among the team’s steadiest units. That it has done so around multiple injuries to key figures in the passing game only magnifies its role in AHS’ 2-1 start.
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we’ll post our picks for all of that week’s 11-man games, in addition to the results of Evan Ren’s Twitter polls for each matchup.
For those interested in voting, polls go up on Monday night each week and close Thursday morning.
Disagree with our picks or the Twitter consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
Posting a 40-39 mark at a program formerly viewed as one of the Big Country’s weakest, Purvis has instilled a physical mindset into the Buffaloes that has taken them from the doldrums to respectability.
Much of that, however, has come from the offensive side, which has built its identity around a consistent power running game Purvis has used to shorten games and limit possessions.
With the arrival of 2018, though, Cross Plains has added solid defense to the mix — solid enough to score two shutouts in three straight wins to start the season.
LAST WEEK: 38-13, .745
SEASON TOTAL: 109-39, .736
The Big Country Preps Game of the Week heads east tonight to Eastland, a day early due to anticipated thunderstorms in that area on Friday.
On tap: Childress (3-0) pays visit to EHS (3-0) in what should be the most difficult test for the unbeaten Mavericks to date.
If all goes as anticipated, those in attendance should be treated to a premiere quarterback matchup, pitting Childress’ Luke Latimer and Eastland standout Behren Morton.
7 p.m. Thursday at Shotwell Stadium, City
What it means: Dubbed the ‘Southtown Showdown,’ this is the first varsity meeting between Abilene’s two southside high schools. The two schools met in Cooper’s inaugural football season in 1960 , but the Cougars played only a JV schedule that year, so that game is not counted in the CHS record book. More relevant to this year’s matchup, both teams enter Thursday’s game in search of their first win. Cooper has gone winless against Keller, Grapevine and Abilene High, which have combined to go 8-1, while Wylie’s three opponents — Georgetown, Lubbock Monterey and Stephenville — have posted a combined 7-2 record.
One of four sophomores to get playing time in the Cooper secondary a year ago, Dylon Davis has what coach Aaron Roan refers to as ‘youthful experience.’
Though just a junior now, Davis is already one of the leaders not only in the defensive backfield but of the Cougar defense as a whole.
Primarily a cornerback in 2017, Davis has added safety duties this fall, and the example he’s setting from both positions is one Roan couldn’t be happier with.
Coming into the season, Wylie coach Hugh Sandifer knew he’d need some receivers to emerge if his passing game was to be successful.
Two of the Bulldogs’ top three returning pass catchers were backs and only senior Hayden Keidl had caught more than two passes from a wideout position in 2017.
With Keidl back and healthy from an injury that ended his junior season early, quarterbacks Harrison Atwood and Jaxon Hansen knew they’d have one reliable target throw the ball to. But who else would step up as a receiving threat for the Bulldogs?
It took three games, but Christian Ramirez threw his hat in the ring last week, catching three passes for 99 yards and two touchdowns in a 41-27 loss to Stephenville. The challenge now is to add some consistency to the big-play ability he showed in that game.
First-year Baird football coach Joel Baker knew that if he was to erase last year’s 1-9 finish and create the sort of program he wanted, he needed to find a cornerstone to build around.
He quickly found it in senior Jax Bellar.
A fourth-year varsity player at BHS who doubles as a sturdy running back and linebacker, Bellar has now helped the Bears to a 2-1 start by leading them in rushing (45-437, 6 TDs) and lending a hand as one of the area’s sturdiest tacklers.
Shutouts are very uncommon in six-man football, and last week there were only 24 of them statewide. Four involved teams from the Big Country.
Area teams were 3-3 in such games with Blanket topping Lingleville 46-0, Robert Lee taking Santa Anna down 60-0 and Jayton blanking Chillicothe 56-0.
Throckmorton was the only area team to be on the wrong end of the scoreboard in such a game that didn’t feature two Big Country squads. The Greyhounds were kept off the board in a 46-0 loss to Lubbock Home School.
Abilene High 20, Cooper 13 — The Eagles rallied from a 13-3 halftime deficit to win their second straight game and regain bragging rights over their crosstown rival.
Quarterback Kallin Sipe went 12 of 24 for 253 yards and two touchdowns, hitting Clay Cox five times for 131 yards and Reese Pettijohn three times for 80 yards and a TD.
The AHS defense was impressive once again, limiting the Cougars to 259 total yards, just 90 of those during a second-half shutout.
Abilene High 20, Cooper 13 — The Cougars played a near perfect first half Friday at Shotwell Stadium, taking a 13-3 halftime lead over Abilene High in the Crosstown Showdown. But the Eagles rallied back over the final two quarters, outscoring Cooper 17-0 to earn the victory.
CHS quarterback Aidan Thompson completed 18 of 34 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns, both to junior receiver Daelin Campos. Running back Noah Garcia led all rushers with 55 yards on six carries, but his third-quarter fumble ended the Coogs’ best scoring chance of the second half.
Cooper, still in search of its first win, will try to end the season-opening skid when it hosts Wylie at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Stephenville 41, Wylie 28 — Five turnovers were the Bulldogs’ undoing against their former district rival on Friday at Bulldog Stadium.
Wylie quarterback Harrison Atwood passed for 242 yards and three touchdowns, hitting Christian Ramirez with three of those throws for 99 yards and two scores. But the Bulldogs finished the game with three interceptions (two by Atwood; one by sophomore Jaxon Hansen) and put the ball on the ground four times, losing two of those fumbles.
The Bulldogs, now 0-3, will try get their first win of the season Thursday in their first-ever meeting with crosstown foe Cooper.
As a matter of policy, Big Country Preps will try to avoid having the same athlete take our Player of the Week award in back-to-back weeks.
That is unless, of course, an athlete makes it impossible.
Stamford quarterback Peyton Bevel has done precisely that, rendering our policy moot (at least for this week) after accounting for an astonishing nine touchdowns in a 61-28 win over Anson on Friday.
Haskell 34, Munday 7 — Haskell limited Munday to 162 total yards and forced a pair of turnovers to improve to 1-2 on the year.
Reed Roewe led the Indians with 13 carries for 73 yards and two scores.
Cameron Thornton rushed for 64 yards and had the only touchdown for Munday (0-3), which also got 63 yards rushing from Edgar Araujo.
Llano 47, Brady 28 — A rough first half proved too much to overcome Friday as the Bulldogs fell behind the Yellow Jackets 20-0 after a quarter and trailed 34-7 heading into halftime.
Brady, which finished with 251 yards rushing, rallied to score 21 points in the fourth quarter, but the outcome of the game was decided by that point. Four turnovers — all lost fumbles — played a major role in allowing Llano to build its early lead.
The Bulldogs were led by Walker Bauer, who rushed for 106 yards and three touchdowns, while Ryan Decker added 61 yards rushing on nine carries.
Argyle Liberty Christian 21, Brock 0 — Coach Chad Worrell’s club suffered its first loss in a game halted by approaching thunderstorms in the third quarter.
Liberty Christian (1-1) took a 14-0 lead into the half, scoring on a 96-yard run by Andre Washington and a 32-yard scoring pass from Daniel Greek to Preston White — both in the second quarter.
LCHS extended its lead to 21-0 at the 9:49 mark of the third when Greek hit White for a 30-yard score.
When play was halted, Brock had 169 yards in total offense, led by Toby Morrison with 101 rushing yards on 17 carries.
The Eagles (2-1) hurt themselves with three turnovers.
Hamlin 32, Hawley 6 — Braydin Warner hit 22 of 39 passes for 335 yards and two scores to lift Hamlin (3-0) to a big win over previously unbeaten Hawley. He also rushed six times for 35 yards.
Hawley managed 226 yards on the ground, with Colton Marshall, who entered the game as the Big Country’s leading rusher, getting 143 of it.
Winters 36, Bangs 6 — Jovan Young piled up 234 rushing yards on just 17 carries with three scores to lift the Blizzards to a 3-0 start.
Bangs (0-3) rushed for 199, but a pair of interceptions hurt the Dragons’ cause.
Coleman 31, Goldthwaite 24 — The Bluecats (1-2) broke into the win column with 226 yards rushing on 44 carries.
CHS was good enough to overcome four turnovers to get the win, led by Massio Sanchez, who had 172 yards and a score on 25 carries.
Goldthwaite (1-2) was paced by QB Drew Hermesmeyer (18 of 35, 166 yards, three TDs).
Dublin 46, De Leon 23— Cy Wing threw for 356 yards and four touchdowns to lead Dublin, which improved to 3-0 for the first time since 1999.
Taking advantage of some early De Leon miscues, the Lions raced out to a 29-7 first quarter lead, absorbed a De Leon comeback, then held on to win.
Colorado City 42, Ballinger 34 — C-City’s offense proved to be the difference in this battle of unbeatens.
Markis Monroe hit 10 of 15 throws for 306 yards and five touchdown passes to push the Wolves to 3-0. On the NCAA scale, that’s a 346.9 QB rating.
Cisco 34, Breckenridge 13 — Cisco rushed for 300 yards and forced four Breckenridge turnovers to improve to 2-0.
Four different Loboes rushed for 65 yards or more, including QB Cooper Witt, who had 73 yards rushing and two scores on 12 carries.
Eastland 48, Albany 14 —Behren Morton threw for 191 yards and two scores and Brandon Fielding rushed for 184 and two more TDs to lead Eastland to a lopsided win at Albany.
Albany’s Ben West finished 17 of 33 for 275 yards and a score to lead the Lions (0-3).
Snyder 61, Lake View 21 — Logan Greene threw for 283 yards and five scores and Greg Williams rushed for 142 yards and three scores to keep Snyder (3-0) unbeaten.
Snyder built a 41-7 lead to decide the issue before the break. This included three of Greene’s touchdown passes in a four-minute span in the second quarter.
Brownwood 47, Graham 26 — Tommy Bowden threw for 254 yards and three scores and rushed for 77 yards and two more TDs to give the Lions (1-2) their first win on the year.
Leading 34-26 after three quarters, Brownwood took control for good courtesy of Bowden, who added a 1-yard touchdown run and a 31-yard TD pass to AJ McCarty in the final period.
The victory also marked the first win at Brownwood for first-year coach Sammy Burnet.
DUBLIN — With storm clouds looming on the horizon all night, simply finishing Friday’s Big Country Preps Game of the Week was a concern.
Little did anyone realize that it would be the underdog Dublin Lions who would deliver the bolt of lightning in a stunning 46-23 win over heavily favored De Leon at Memorial Stadium.
Cy Wing threw for 356 yards and four touchdowns to lead Dublin, which improved to 3-0 for the first time since 1999.