The Abilene High girls basketball team won its second game in as many days Wednesday, following Tuesday’s 54-33 win over Odessa Permian in its District 2-6A opener with a 73-23 nondistrict win over Mineral Wells.
The Lady Eagles, now 3-7 overall, held the Lady Rams to single digits in each of the first three quarters Wednesday, building a 24-5 first-quarter lead that they would stretch to 45-14 by halftime and 60-19 by the start of the final period.
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WICHITA FALLS — The Abilene High boys basketball team rallied from a first-quarter deficit to rout Wichita Falls Rider 64-42 on Monday, outscoring the Raiders 37-19 over the final two quarters to turn a four-point game at halftime into a rout.
The Eagles, who improved to 11-2 with the win, trailed 12-11 after a quarter before taking the lead for good with a 16-11 run through the second. Leading 27-23 at half, AHS took control quickly out of the break, outscoring Rider 18-8 in the third quarter before closing out the victory with another big period in the fourth.
The Cooper boys basketball team rode fast starts to each half to a comfortable win over Big Spring on Monday, outscoring the Steers 18-7 in the first quarter and 25-12 in the third on its way to a 71-44 win at Cougar Gym.
Jalen Cherry scored a game-high 16 points to lead a group of four Cougars to reach double figures scoring, and CHS stifled Big Spring’s usually potent offense to improve to 7-4 on the year.
A big first half for senior Makinlee Bacon staked the Wylie girls basketball team to a double-digit halftime lead, and the Lady Bulldogs withstood a big third quarter rally by Plainview to earn a 53-45 home win Monday in their first game out of the Christmas break.
Bacon hit five 3-pointers during a 15-point first half, fueling Wylie to a 28-12 halftime advantage. But Plainview scored the first 13 points of the third quarter to turn that 12-point deficit into a one-point lead just four minutes into the second half.
From there, though, coach Amy Powell’s squad was able to regroup, pulling back ahead by 10 (41-31) heading into the final quarter and cruising from there to the victory.
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ARLINGTON — Playing after Christmas for the first time in school history, the Abilene High football team saw its season come to an end with a 38-21 loss to Denton Guyer in a Region I-6A Division II semifinal Saturday afternoon at Globe Life Park.
The Eagles were without starting quarterback Abel Ramirez, who was sidelined due to a concussion suffered last week, and turned to receiver Jeshari Houston to direct the offense.
AHS saw its deepest playoff run since 2016 come to an end with the loss and finishes the delayed season at 6-5.
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Few teams in the state of Texas have faced the adversity the Abilene High Eagles have this season.
In addition to the COVID pandemic, which has impacted every program in one way or another, the Eagles had to watch their head coach, Mike Fullen, be diagnosed with colon cancer in August, miss the start of the season as a result, and undergo semiweekly chemotherapy treatments once he returned to the team in mid-October.
Add in a 1-4 start against a loaded early-season schedule, and it would have been understandable if an AHS squad that was short on experience to begin with had ended its fourth consecutive season without a playoff berth.
With the Eagles now sitting at 6-4, following a five-game winning streak that has them preparing for a Region I-6A Division II semifinal matchup with Denton Guyer on Saturday, that’s obviously not how things played out. And while there are a number of factors to which that turnaround can be attributed, Fullen himself cites the steady leadership of his 36 seniors as one of the most important.
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ARLINGTON — The crowning achievement for anyone involved in high school athletics is competing for, and winning, a state championship.
Last week saw May fall in its quest for the second state championship in school history, while the Jim Ned Indians claimed their first title.
As much of an accomplishment as it was for those two communities to make it to the final game of the year, there was another group from the Big Country that made an appearance at AT&T Stadium on Wednesday night.
Led by referee Edgar Reed, a seven-man crew of officials from Abilene called the thrilling Mart-Windthorst Class 2A Division II state championship.
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GAME STORY: Brock sweeps doubleheader at Eastland
EASTLAND —Seeing their final action before the holiday break, the Brock boys and girls varsity basketball teams will enter Christmas on a high note, having completed a doubleheader sweep of Eastland on Tuesday at Marshall Gym.
The girls opened the afternoon twin bill with 48-28 victory, after which the Brock boys capped the day with a 72-22 win in the district 8-3A opener for both teams.
Claire Lewis scored 14 points and Abbi Mathis added 11 more to pace the Lady Eagles (5-6, 2-1), who blew the game open with an 11-0 run to start the second half.
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The Wylie boys basketball team rolled into the Christmas break with some positive momentum thanks to a 77-46 win over Sweetwater on Monday at Bulldog Gym.
After watching the Mustangs pull within 10 with just under four minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Bulldogs closed that period on a 14-2 run and outscored the visitors 20-11 in the fourth to pull away for a comfortable win.
The victory was a welcome sight for the Wylie, which improved 3-6 through a difficult early-season schedule.
Editor’s note: This is the second half of a two-part Q&A with Dr. Charles Breithaupt, the Executive Director of the University Interscholastic League.
ARLINGTON — As the state championships were unfolding this past week, Big Country Preps had the chance to sit down with Dr. Charles Breithaupt and discuss different aspects of what this year has been like for the UIL as well as the 100th anniversary celebrations being held.
Part 1 of this two-part Q&A series focused on the celebrations of this year, the founding of the UIL and what all the League does for its member institutions. Dr. Breithaupt also addressed if he had any regrets from how this year has unfolded.
SLATON — The Abilene High boys basketball team notched its fifth consecutive win Saturday, following Friday’s triumph over Cooper with a 63-46 victory over Plainview to improve to 10-2 heading into the Christmas break.
Jalen McGee led the Eagles with 16 points, helping AHS to a 15-6 first-quarter lead it would protect the rest of the way. Plainview pulled within eight (31-23) at halftime, before the Eagles took control for good with a 15-9 run through the third quarter.
In addition to McGee’s big night, AHS also got double figures scoring from Jackson Stevens (11 points) and Sami Kanayo (10 points). Nathan Watts added eight points and Jake Breckenridge scored six for coach Justin Reese’s squad, which saw nine players crack the scoresheet.
Editor’s note: This is the first half of a two-part Q&A with Dr. Charles Breithaupt, the Executive Director of the University Interscholastic League. Part 2 will be published Sunday.
ARLINGTON — The past nine months have seen everyone’s world turned upside down from what we all thought was a normal way of life. We have adapted to wearing masks, applying social distancing norms and learning that what we might ordinarily pass off as a cold or sinus infection might be much worse than that.
We’ve also seen the University Interscholastic League adapt to the ever-changing conditions of day-to-day life with COVID as well under the leadership of Executive Director Dr. Charles Breithaupt.
Breithaupt, who has had the unprecedented challenge of leading the UIL through a global pandemic, took some time during the Class 1A-4A state championship week to sit down with BigCountryPreps.com for an exclusive interview to talk about what the UIL has done from the time the pandemic first hit to now and how it’s affected plans for them to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the state’s high school governing body.
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STEPHENVILLE — The Abilene High football team’s area-round playoff game against North Crowley on Friday at Tarleton Memorial Stadium couldn’t have been more different than last week’s bi-district win over El Paso Eastwood.
But the result was the same, and the Eagles are moving on to the Region I-6A Division II semifinals as a result.
Just six days after building a 28-point lead and holding on for a 42-35 victory in a shootout against the Troopers, AHS needed a dominant second half to rally past North Crowley for a 12-7 win in a defensive struggle Friday.
And while both games may have added a few gray hairs to coach Mike Fullen’s head, he said he couldn’t be more proud of his team for doing what was necessary to win and extend its season.
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Playing for the second time in a week, Friday night’s crosstown showdown between Abilene High and Cooper figured to be a white-knuckled affair.
The Cougars were playing their second game with several members of the football team while AHS was coming off a season sweep of Wylie.
A red-hot first quarter set the tone for AHS which picked up it’s third straight win against local competition with a 65-50 win at Eagle Gym to improve to 9-2 on the season.
ARLINGTON — Almost every high school football team has a weakness. Even championship clubs generally have something we can point to and say, “Here’s how you beat them.”
You could not do that with the 2020 Jim Ned Indians.
That fact alone will make them one of the most memorable teams I’ve covered in all my years in the Big Country. Though Thursday’s 29-28 overtime win over Hallettsville to take the Class 3A Division I state title will be difficult to forget by itself.
The Indians, without a highly rated DI recruiting prospect to carry the load, used a balance of talent, toughness, effort and heart to create a team that was literally very good at everything it did.
Due to UIL regulations, photo sales from state championship events are not permitted.
ARLINGTON — Trailing Hallettsville 21-0 with 5:19 remaining in the second quarter, things looked dire for Jim Ned. The Indians couldn’t get their patented running game going on offense and were struggling to slow standout running back and University of Texas signee Jonathon Brooks on the other end of the field.
But with hope dimming for most in red Thursday at AT&T Stadium, coach Matt Fanning’s team leaned on the mental and physical toughness that had gotten it to a state championship game in the first place. And as they had done so many times before during the 13-game winning streak that had earned them their trip to Arlington, the Indians made the plays they needed to at the end to win.
Jim Ned scored just before halftime to trim the Brahmas’ lead to 21-7 at the break, outscored Hallettsville 14-0 in the second half, answered their challenger’s touchdown in overtime and converted a pressure-packed two-point conversion to pull out a thrilling 29-28 win for the Class 3A Division I title.
Starting the season with just eight total starters and 24 lettermen back from last year’s 3-7 team, Mike Fullen knew his second year as Abilene High’s head football coach would be a growing process.
And that was before even factoring in a pandemic that would cost his team its spring, a personal cancer battle that would sideline him for much of he summer and the first three games of the season, and a front-loaded schedule that would push the youthful Eagles — and their confidence — to the limit.
But after watching his squad rebound from a rocky 1-4 start to win four straight games, including AHS’ first playoff victory since 2016 last week against El Paso Eastwood, Fullen couldn’t be happier with how that process has played out.
Due to UIL regulations, photo sales from state championship events are not permitted.
Because of its complexity, it’s easy to adopt a form of tunnel vision while watching football.
The vast majority of us simply watch the ball. We don’t notice the blocking up front. We don’t notice the quality of the tackling. We don’t notice if people are hustling or loafing away from the play. And we certainly don’t notice special teams (unless it’s bad).
This is unfortunate, especially in the case of teams that achieve special things by doing all the little things right. Teams like the Jim Ned Indians — a collection of unsung heroes who have almost turned being underappreciated into an art form.
Ask your typical fans about a game they saw from the Jim Ned skill personnel and they’ll be able to recite it as though it were straight off the stat sheet. But ask them about all of the little things the Indians have done to advance to tonight’s Class 3A DI state championship game with Hallettsville and that’s where things begin to get fuzzy.
And nowhere are the Indians more underappreciated than in the special teams department, without which (quite frankly) they would not have made it all the way to Arlington.
LAST WEEK: 3-2, .600
SEASON TOTAL: 435-95, .821
With May’s loss to Sterling City in the Class 1A DI title game on Wednesday (a game we made our picks for last week), there are but two Big Country teams still playing football in 2020 — the Jim Ned Indians and the Abilene Eagles.
Jim Ned will square off with Hallettsville on Thursday evening in Arlington in the Class 3A DI state title game. Abilene High will go against North Crowley in the Class 6A DII area round.
It’s always nice to see some of our area clubs still playing in December. But in the delay-hampered season that we’ve seen this year, it’s a blessing to see anyone suiting up at this point.
I’ll see you on the road. Here’s a look at this week’s games:
ARLINGTON — For one play on Wednesday, everything was good for May in the Class 1A Division I state championship game against top-ranked Sterling City at AT&T Stadium.
Kaden Halk had a 67-yard touchdown run on the first play of the game to stake the Tigers to a quick 8-0 lead, but after that, it was all Eagles as Sterling City took a 68-22 win in a game was stopped just 23 seconds into the second half because of the 45-point rule.
May, now 1-5 all-time in state championship games, finished the season at 13-2 with both losses coming to Sterling City.
VIDEO PODCAST NO. 12: Evan Ren and Dan Youngblood speak about last week’s playoff action, and this week’s state title games
Top games of this week discussed: May vs. Sterling City, Jim Ned vs. Mt. Vernon, Abilene vs. North Crowley
Top games of last week discussed: Jim Ned vs. Mount Vernon, Cooper vs. Mansfield Summit, Abilene vs. El Paso Eastwood, Wylie vs. Grapevine.
LUBBOCK — The Wylie girls basketball team outscored Class 5A No. 2 Amarillo High 36-31 over the final two quarters Tuesday, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a 11-point halftime deficit in a 61-55 loss at Lubbock Christian University.
The Lady Bulldogs were right in the game after a quarter, trailing just 13-11, but a 17-8 second-quarter run sent Amarillo High to the locker room with a 30-19 halftime lead.
Wylie whittled that to one with a 20-10 run through the third period, but the Lady Bulldogs were outscored 21-16 over the final period to fall to 5-7 on the year.
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Holding a narrow 15-14 lead after a quarter, the Abilene High boys caught fire in the second Tuesday, hitting five 3-pointers during a 25-point outburst to set the tone for a 64-59 win over Wylie at Bulldog Gym.
The Bulldogs, who fell to the Eagles 50-45 on Dec. 5 at Eagle Gym, rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit to trim AHS’ lead to six with 2:32 to play. But the Eagles closed the game with a 9-0 run to sweep the season series with Wylie and improve to 8-2 on the year.
Facing an explosive El Paso Eastwood offense in the opening round of the Region I-6A Division II playoffs, the Abilene High Eagles knew they’d need to move the ball and score if they hoped to earn their first postseason win since 2016.
That’s where junior quarterback Abel Ramirez and senior running back Phonzo Dotson came in.
Taking turns leading an AHS offensive explosion, this duo helped the Eagles rack up 569 yards of total offense in a 42-35 win over the Troopers. And in the process, the pair has earned the Capital Farm Credit/Big Country Preps Player of the Week award for the week ending Dec. 12.
When May lost narrowly lost to Sterling City in the second week of the regular season, coach Craig Steele didn’t really imagine he’d see the Eagles three months later in a much bigger setting.
Steele believed his Tigers had a chance to have a special year. He also felt that Sterling City was a top contender in its region.
“But there’s so much season left, and you don’t know about injuries and things that can go wrong,” Steele said. “They’re good enough to get there, but there’s lots of good teams in the west. And I thought we could be good enough, but there’s lots of good teams in the east.”
Continue reading “FEATURE: May, Sterling City brace for rematch in state title game”
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TOLAR — With a piece of the girls District-3A lead at stake, it wasn’t difficult to project an intense matchup between visiting Comanche at the Tolar Lady Rattlers on Friday.
And that is precisely what those in attendance were treated to with a 60-58 Comanche win in Game 1 of a varsity doubleheader at the Tolar High School Gymnasium. The Tolar boys took the nightcap, stopping Comanche 64-19.
J’Lee Salinas scored 24 points and Kaysi Wilcox added 20 more to lead the Comanche girls (14-9, 7-0), who overcame deficits of seven points in the second quarter and six points in the third to get the win.
Tolar (16-9, 5-2) was led by Macy Price with 22 points, Atley Kolb with 15 and Jaycee Jones with 11.
Senior standouts Jalen McGee and Nathan Watts both had big games Saturday, giving Abilene High steady production from the perimeter and post, respectively, to lift the Eagles to a 56-44 win over crosstown rival Cooper at Cougar Gym.
Behind that duo, AHS outscored the Cougars 37-25 over the middle two quarters to take control of what was a one-point game after one quarter.
The win, the second in a row for the Eagles, improved coach Justin Reese’s squad to 7-2 on the year, while Cooper fell to 5-3 with the loss.
FORT STOCKTON — Abel Ramirez threw for a career-high 326 yards and three touchdowns and Phonzo Dotson ran for 176 yards and three scores as the Abilene High football team notched its first playoff win since 2016 with a 42-35 victory over El Paso Eastwood in a Region I-6A Division II bi-district matchup Saturday at Panther Stadium .
It was a tale of two halves for both players as Ramirez had 299 passing yards at halftime, surpassing his previous career-high of 296, while Dotson accounted for 152 of his yards in the second half.
The win was the fourth in a row and fifth in six games for AHS (5-4), which advances to face North Crowley on Friday at Tarleton State University.
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If you were to look at Abilene High’s rushing production this season, you’d find solid numbers across the board.
Breaking in a new offensive scheme, the Eagles (4-4) have averaged 170.5 yards per game and 5.0 yards per play on the ground — metrics most programs would find perfectly acceptable.
But taking such a big-picture view actually obscures the bigger picture in this case, which is that the AHS running game has been far better than acceptable during the Eagles’ current three-game winning streak. It’s been downright scary.
CISCO — The Wylie girls basketball team outscored Class 2A No. 10 Cisco 21-5 in the first quarter and kept the Lady Loboes’ offense in check the rest of the way to snap a three-game losing streak with a 48-33 road win Friday.
The Lady Bulldogs, who handed the Lady Loboes just their second loss of the season, got scoring from 10 of 11 players in the victory, led by Makinlee Bacon and Emma Melton with 12 points apiece and Ceci Widder with seven.
Cisco (6-2), which trailed 31-14 at halftime and 44-22 after three quarters, got a game-high 20 points from Sophia Hurtado and eight from Justice Fox, but only two other players got onto the scoresheet for the Lady Loboes.