Month: January 2019

by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Brock holds off archrival Peaster twice (w/ box scores, videos, photo gallery)

BROCK — As a general rule of thumb, rivalries can often trump the expected. And in Friday’s District 7-3A doubleheader between Brock and Peaster, the two archrivals gave two prime examples of this with a mild upset, followed by a near miss of what would have been a statewide shocker.

Brock (22-8, 6-2) swept the doubleheader, beginning with a 52-37 win by the girls to hand first-place Peaster (15-7, 7-1) its first loss in league play The win avenged a 41-38 loss to PHS on December 11 and pulled the Lady Eagles within a game of first place in the league standings. 

The top-ranked Brock boys (20-5, 5-0) followed with a narrow 66-60 win that saw them trailing the Greyhounds 53-52 before pulling away with a 14-7 spurt through the final three minutes of action.

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by Evan Ren

FEATURE: Smart, tough Eastland standout returns from devastating injury

EASTLAND — If ever there were an injury that was audible throughout the Big Country, it may have occurred in October of 2017 during an obscure fall league basketball game in Cisco between the Eastland girls and Huckabay.

With the regular season still a month away, Eastland and star player Hailee Stacy were expected by some to challenge perennial power Brock for a district title. 

Fate, however, intervened. 

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by Daniel Youngblood

New-look Merkel Badgers finding identity in defense, grit

After losing all but two lettermen from last year’s 21-10 team, Merkel coach B.C. Lee knew the 2018-19 Badgers would need to do some things differently if they hoped to match the previous season’s success.

With more size on his roster and no proven go-to scorer, Lee’s solution was twofold — slow things down a little bit and get defensive.

Through the first 20 games of this season, that philosophy shift has produced excellent results. Not only do the Badgers (14-6 overall) share the District 5-4A lead with Jim Ned at 4-0, they’ve developed an identity as tough, hard-nosed team that is simply no fun to play.

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by Evan Ren

Big Country Preps Player of the Week: Versatile Cooper forward Bailey nabs honor

At 6-foot-5, Cooper’s Deven Bailey is used to being one of the taller players on the court. But his value to the Cougars comes as much from his versatility as his height.

The standout senior used both assets to his advantage in wins over Graham (77-75) and Wichita Falls High (64-49) and has earned our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award as a result.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DANIEL YOUNGBLOOD: This week in Big Country boys basketball (Jan. 13-19)

There a few weeks every season, regardless of the sport, where you wish you could be in more than one place at a time. There are so many good games scheduled for the same night or nights that you find yourself wishing a couple could be saved for weeks when the slate is a little leaner on quality matchups.

This may be the mother of all such weeks for Big Country boys basketball.

With our seven- and eight-team districts wrapping up their first round of district play and our five-team leagues hitting the thick of their league schedules, we’ve got more good and meaningful games this week than we can possibly fit in the space this weekly column allows.

But here’s trying to hit as many as we can.

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by Evan Ren

EVAN REN: This Week in Big Country Girls Basketball (Jan. 13-19)

It’s difficult to believe, but we’re about three weeks away from closing the regular season in girls hoops. And with district races now in full swing, you’ll be hard pressed to find matchups without significance.

Here’s a quick look around the area at what’s coming up this week, and the top highlights from the last seven days. 

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by Daniel Youngblood

LOCAL HOOPS ROUNDUP: AHS girls down Weatherford for second straight win

The Abilene High girls basketball team followed up Tuesday’s win at Haltom City Haltom with 51-38 home victory over Weatherford on Friday to get back to .500 in District 3-6A play.

With both wins, the Lady Eagles (14-14 overall, 3-3 in district) are now alone in fourth place in the league standings entering the second half of 3-6A play with wins over all three teams below them.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Merkel sweeps Clyde in District 5-3A action

MERKEL — It’s not very often that the pupil gets the upper hand when taking on his teacher for the first time.

That theory gave credence to the thought that Clyde coach Marc Case might be able to lead his squad to an important District 5-3A win over Merkel on Friday at Badger Gymnasium.

Instead, B.C. Lee’s Badger squad pulled away late for a 42-33 win, spoiling any hope Case had of picking up a victory over his former player from Cooper.

The game was the first time in Case’s storied career that he ever faced off against one of his former players, and the two coaches shared a lengthy postgame embrace that had both talking about their love for their counterpart.

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by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Hamlin, Roby split district doubleheader (w/ box scores, photo gallery)

HAMLIN — It wasn’t a good night for shorthanded teams on Friday in a District 14-1A doubleheader that saw Roby and Hamlin split the girls-boys twin bill. 

The Roby girls hung on to win Game 1, 40-36, over a Hamlin team that suited only seven players and played only five. The Hamlin boys returned the favor in Game 2, handing a Roby team that only suited six players a 52-20 loss.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Cooper boys, girls strong in sweep of Wichita Falls High (w/ player interviews)

Deven Bailey scored 20 points and Josh Henry added 15 on Friday to help the Cooper boys basketball team open District 4-5A play with a comfortable 64-49 home win and complete a doubleheader sweep over Wichita Falls High.

The victory capped a successful night at Cougar Gym, where earlier in the evening the Cooper girls routed the Lady Coyotes 71-29 for their first district win.

After taking an 18-13 lead into the second quarter of Friday’s late game, the Cougars outscored the Coyotes 41-19 over the next two periods, including a 23-8 run through the third, to win their third straight game and improve to 13-10 on the season.

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by Evan Ren

FEATURE: Runnin’ Dublin Lions throwing caution to the wind

DUBLIN — It is the goal of every basketball team to outscore the opposition. But in the case of the Dublin boys,  that goal has a more literal meaning.

Dublin, now in its fourth year under coach Will Parker, has not only evolved into one of the top Class 3A teams in the Big Country, but it’s also one of the highest-scoring small-school teams in the state of Texas.

A frenetic tempo, more common at 5A and 6A schools, is at the heart of it — with the Lions throwing caution to the wind and having fun doing it. 

Continue reading “FEATURE: Runnin’ Dublin Lions throwing caution to the wind” →

by Daniel Youngblood

BCP Podcast No. 28: Evan, Daniel talk Eula hoops with coach Josh Fostel

Eula boys basketball coach and athletic director Josh Fostel has built the Pirates into a perennial contender, taking them to the state championship game in 2007 and winning a title in 2011.

This week, Fostel took some time to chat with Big Country Preps’ Evan Ren and Daniel Youngblood about his time with the program, Eula’s annual Holiday Classic and this year’s squad for the Capital Farm Credit Wednesday Night Podcast.

Also in this episode, Evan and Daniel discuss some of the more intriguing district races and interesting upcoming matchups of the Big Country boys and girls basketball season.

by Evan Ren

Evan Ren’s 2018 Big Country True Grit Team

Most high school football teams have that one player acknowledged by the coaching staff as the prime example of what a teammate should be. 

He’s the guy who seldom misses any practice time and is a regular in the weight room. He’s early to arrive. He’s late to leave and takes pride in being coachable, though he seldom needs direction. 

He always sets the right example for younger players. He doesn’t complain and, above all else, he’s tough enough to make all the aforementioned traits consistently possible. 

Know someone like that? Here is where they are honored. 

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Wall boys, girls pull away from Ballinger for sweep, remain unbeaten in 4-3A

BALLINGER — Entering Tuesday’s District 4-3A basketball doubleheader between Wall and Ballinger, the situations for the girls and boys games were virtually identical. 

As it turned out, the outcomes would bear striking similarities as well.

With both schools bringing a pair of unbeaten district records with them to Joe A. Forester Gymnasium, favored Wall teams got the better of their Ballinger counterparts in both contests, claiming a 52-24 win in the girls game and a 46-25 victory in the boys matchup.

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by Evan Ren

Big Country Preps Player of the Week: Haskell’s Taylor, Hanson share first honor of ’19

Landry Hanson (C’Era Taylor shown above)

One of the biggest challenges with any Player of the Week column is breaking ties between comparable or equally impactful performances.

This is especially true when the players you’re deciding between play for the same team.

How do you decide who gave the better effort when both played key roles in the same unit’s success?

This week, we don’t.

After leading the No. 4 Haskell Maidens to a 7-0 record over the holidays, including an impressive 4-0 run through the always tough Eula Holiday Classic, junior guard Landry Hanson and senior post C’Era Taylor share our first Big Country Preps Player of the Week award of 2019.

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by Evan Ren

EVAN REN: This week in Big Country girls basketball (Jan. 6-12)

The holidays are behind us, the district races are heating up and we’re entering that oh-so-brief brief time of year when basketball is king in Texas. 

For the next six weeks, we will be focusing entirely on area hoops, keeping tabs on the developing playoff picture and which of our area teams has the best shot of reaching the state tournament. 

As always, that should prove interesting, given that the Big Country perennially has a handful of teams with a chance of reaching the Final Four. 

Top Upcoming Matchups: Tuesday night, it’s difficult not to like the matchup between Class 1A No. 24 Aspermont (18-2) and No. 25. Hamlin (15-6) — the winner of which will have a leg up in District 14-1A. This game is particularly important for AHS, which can help its own cause greatly by defending its home turf.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DANIEL YOUNGBLOOD: This week in Big Country boys basketball (Jan. 6-12)

With league races either underway or starting this week for all Big Country boys districts, we’ve hit the most important stretch of the regular season. Virtually all games from this point forward have heightened importance, and an upset win or unexpected loss can have a major impact on teams’ postseason hopes or seeding.

As will be the case every week from now until the playoffs, we have a number of important games to look forward to and back on, and a bunch of major storylines developing. So without wasting anymore time, let’s take our weekly look at the area boys basketball landscape.

Top Upcoming Matchups: You can’t beat a meeting of district unbeatens, and that’s just what we’ll get Tuesday when Wall visits Ballinger for an important District 4-3A clash. Objectively speaking, the Bearcats (13-9 overall, 2-0 district) are a heavy underdog to the No. 13 Hawks (19-3, 3-0), but they’re on their home floor and have plenty to gain with an upset win.

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by Daniel Youngblood

LOCAL HOOPS ROUNDUP: Wylie girls rout Rider to open District 4-5A play

WICHITA FALLS — The Wylie girls basketball team opened District 4-5A play in dominating fashion Friday, outscoring Wichita Falls Rider 50-17 in the first half of a 78-32 drubbing.

Abbey Henson scored 20 points, while fellow guards Mary Lovelace and Madi Latham added 18 and 13 points, respectively, to help the Lady Bulldogs improved to 16-7 on the season and 1-0 in league action.

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by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Dublin, Early split doubleheader (w/ box scores, videos and photo gallery)

DUBLIN — Games of sharply contrasting styles brought about opposing results in a District 6-3A basketball doubleheader in Dublin on Friday when the Early boys and girls teams paid a visit to DHS. 

A physical, foul-plagued girls game opened the evening, with Early pulling away in the second half for a 59-41 win. A high-flying up-tempo boys game followed, with Dublin outgunning the Longhorns 71-64 in the nightcap. 

A combined total of 43 team fouls and three foul outs dotted the girls stat sheet. But Early (3-18, 1-4), behind 15 points from Taylor Summers and 10 each from Alexa Portillo and Vance-Cady Gordan earned their first district win of the year.   

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Cisco sweeps Eastland in District 6-3A play

It doesn’t matter if you call it a back-and-forth game, a neck-and-neck battle, a knockdown, drag out fight or see-saw affair, all are fitting descriptions of Friday’s District 6-3A girls basketball showdown between Cisco and Eastland at Lobo Gym.

The rivals, which are separated by just 10 miles, engaged in a bitter battle that saw Cisco get enough breathing room late for a 47-43 win.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Central boys hold off AHS to complete doubleheader sweep

A fast start and a late rally weren’t enough for the Abilene High boys basketball team on Friday as the Eagles dropped a 61-57 home decision to San Angelo Central to fall to 0-3 in District 3-6A play.

AHS extended a 19-7 first-quarter lead to 14 points in the opening minutes of the second, but the Bobcats closed the first half on a 24-8 run and stretched their lead to double digits after halftime.

The Eagles rallied to cut an 11-point deficit to four late in the third and answered another Central run with a furious comeback in the game’s final minutes, but saw their hopes dashed by a pair of Mike Bonner free throws with 4.75 seconds left on the clock.

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by Daniel Youngblood

FEATURE: Wylie guard trio forces opponents to pick their poison

Having one go-to scorer you can lean on in crunch time is a blessing for a high school basketball coach.

Having three such players you can put on the floor at the same time is a luxury few coaches can boast.

But that’s the case for first-year Wylie coach Amy Powell, who inherited three of the area’s best guards in seniors Abbey Henson, Mary Lovelace and Skylar Williams — any one of whom can take over a game when she gets hot from the field.

Catch the Lady Bulldogs on a night where all three are clicking, and watch out.

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by Daniel Youngblood

BCP Podcast Greatest Hits Part 2: Evan, Daniel revisit conversations with Duncan, Sandford, Lucas

With Big Country Preps’ Evan Ren and Daniel Youngblood taking a two-week break from the Capital Farm Credit Wednesday Night Podcast to celebrate the holidays, we take a look back at three more of our favorite interviews from the first six months of our weekly podcast.

In Part 2 of our two-part “Greatest Hits” series, we revisit our conversations with current Wichita Falls Times Record News sports writer Zach Duncan, Early football coach and former pro baseball scout Blake Sandford and Hamlin football coach Russell Lucas.

We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane.