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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Fort Worth Arlington Heights-Cooper football (90 images)”
The Cooper football team has played 677 games in its 62-year history, and Thursday night against Fort Worth Arlington Heights the Cougars had the opportunity to break a school record that had stood since the third year of the program’s existence.
Cooper’s defense was two plays away from breaking the school record of fewest yards allowed (31 by Sweetwater in 1962) before allowing 15 yards on Brian Furch runs to put the Yellow Jackets to a grand total of 46 yards for the game.
The dominant effort led to a 43-0 win in a District 3-5A Division I game at Shotwell Stadium, leaving the Cougars one win shy of the 400th in program history.
ROSCOE — After laboring through a combined 5-25 record over the last three seasons, the surprising Roscoe Plowboys have already won that many games in 2021 — off to their first 5-1 start since 2007.
What some may not realize, is that directing a talented Roscoe offense, is a little-known sophomore quarterback, whose rapid improvement is one of the keys to the turnaround.
Jax Watts (70-of-113, 916 yards, seven TDs), who is currently sitting ninth among the Big Country’s leading passers, is a man who Big Country football fans are likely to hear more and more about over the next two years.
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.
LAST WEEK: 39-4, .906
SEASON TOTAL: 247-56, .815
Gramps Ren is back in the groove, hitting over 90 percent of his picks a week ago, to push this column’s season percentage to .815 as we head into district play across the area.
Whether or not I can keep the momentum remains to be seen, entering what might be the toughest week of area picks I’ve seen this year, with multiple games that I would rate as near-tossups.
This week’s Big Country Preps Game of the Week will see us heading to Tuscola where Jim Ned will begin its District 3-3A DI title defense against a red-hot, unbeaten team from Early.
Let’s have a look at this week’s picks …
As is always the case with new starters, Chris Warren’s first year as Cooper’s quarterback has been a learning experience.
But five games in, it’s not hard to see why coach Aaron Roan was excited about the junior when the season began.
In leading his team to a 3-2 record, including wins over crosstown rivals Abilene High and Wylie, Warren has emerged as one of the area’s top dual-threat quarterbacks. And while his first year as a starter has had its share of challenges, the growth he’s shown through them has positioned him — and the Cougars — well for a strong second half.
Roscoe football coach Jake Freeman talks Plowboy football with Evan and Dan.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Lubbock Coronado-Cooper volleyball (92 images)”
In a key District 4-5A match full of extended rallies, wild momentum swings and roaring comebacks, the Cooper volleyball team found itself on the short end of each just a little too often in a 33-31, 14-25, 20-25, 25-21, 15-9 loss to Lubbock Coronado on Tuesday at Cougar Gym.
Entering the contest with an opportunity to pull into a third-place tie with the Lady Mustangs in the league standings, the Lady Cougars appeared to be well on their way to doing so up two games to one with a 19-17 lead in Game 4. But Coronado closed out that set with an 8-2 run to force a deciding fifth game and took control of that one quickly to hand Cooper a tough home loss.
The outcome leaves the Lady Coogs at 14-19 overall and 1-3 in district play, in a tie with Lubbock Monterey (15-18, 1-3) for the fourth and final playoff spot. Coronado’s come-from-behind win, meanwhile, keeps the Lady Mustangs (12-20, 3-1) tied with Wylie for second — one match behind league-leader Lubbock Cooper.
Portrait by Sutherland Photography of Goldthwaite. Action photos by Santos Gomez.
The role of libero requires a mentally tough leader determined to get to every ball to flip the game from defense to offense with the dig, pass, set and kill sequence for her volleyball team.
When Comanche needed a new starting libero this season, senior Makenna Carr was a natural choice.
Albany’s Sarah Beth Cotter is still relatively new to volleyball.
Those who’ve been the victim of her thunderous kills lately would be slightly surprised to find out Cotter didn’t begin playing the sport until the eighth grade.
That’s when she enrolled in Albany ISD after previously having been home-schooled.
“I begged my mom to let me go to public school so I could play multiple sports,” Cotter said. “I had only played tennis my whole life but wanted to try something new. The switch wasn’t too hard because I already knew most of the girls at my school and on my sports teams.”
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
We will continually update the database throughout the regular season.
Photos courtesy of Jim Taylor
After Santo knocked off Rio Vista in the first game this season, head coach Devon Mann had a gift to deliver.
Mann admittedly isn’t a big fan of delving out game balls, but he made an exception in Week 1, presenting the pigskin to someone he knows well – Santo’s all-time winningest coach Randy Thornton.
After four years away running Hico’s program, Thornton has returned to the small Palo Pinto County town and joined Mann’s staff as the offensive coordinator.
A quick look at the box score from Sweetwater’s 70-54 win over Eastland and one just knew that the Capital Farm Credit/Big Country Preps Player of the Week was located somewhere in that massive pile of numbers.
SHS quarterback Leo Holsey emerged as the top man, hitting 17 of 19 throws for 434 yards and six touchdowns.
Add his 101 yards rushing on 15 carries with three more scores and the choice was made easy — even on a night with 1,277 yards in combined total offense between the two teams.
The Dublin Lions have four players with more than 300 yards receiving halfway through the regular season, with junior Dalan Rasberry emerging as the receptions leader.
Rasberry has a team-high 24 receptions for 353 yards and three touchdowns as Dublin (4-1) prepares for its District 5-3A Division II opener Friday at Comanche. The Lions’ stable of receivers also includes Tyler Harrell, who has 18 catches for 325 yards and two TDs; Christian Ramirez (17-375-5) and Cooper Hubble (9-323-5).
All four Dublin receivers are ranked in the top 10 of the bigcountrypreps.com leaders.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Midland Legacy-Abilene High football (72 images)”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Shiner-Wall football (42 images)”
Cover photo courtesy of Brian Hobbs.
The first one is always the hardest.
For Jeremy Kirk and Texas Leadership Charter Academy of Abilene, that was certainly true.
The Eagles and their first-time head coach had seen their share of heartbreaking losses this year prior to Saturday’s win over Newman International Academy.
It was the first win in TLCA’s brief two-year varsity history and Kirk’s first win as a head coach as the Eagles knocked off NIA 66-18 in a neutral site game.
Albany 55, Olney 6 — The Lions rushed for 294 yards, getting touchdowns from five players in a blowout win over the Cubs.
Jaheim Newton rushed for 127 yards and two TDs, while quarterback Cole Chapman rushed for 63 yards and two scores and passed for another to help Albany improve to 5-0.
Robert Bailey (2-73) and Samuel Rosas (1-18) also had rushing touchdowns for the Lions, who got a touchdown catch from Adam Hill.
All of District 2-3A DII took the night off on Friday as part of their midseason bye week.
Action in this league will resume on Friday with all six teams squaring off in their district openers.
Here’s a quick look at how they stack up:
Roscoe 6, Sudan 0 — The Plowboys improved to 5-1 with a win in a game that was stopped by lightning after Jake Gonzales scored from 19 yards out to cap a 63-yard touchdown drive on Roscoe’s opening possession.
The game, which was played at Post, will count as a victory for Roscoe and a forfeit loss for Sudan, which made the decision at the administrative level to cancel the contest rather than delay it.
The Plowboys needed just five plays to get on the board, getting a 31-yard pass from Jax Watts to Antonio Aguayo and three carries from Gonzales for 27 yards on their way to the end zone.
Brock 35, Paradise 16 — The Eagles improved to 2-0 in district play with a workmanlike win over the Panthers, limiting Paradise to 231 total yards in their fifth consecutive win to open the season.
Brock, which had 325 total yards, built a 28-13 lead by halftime and never led by fewer than 12 points the rest of the way.
Tyler Moody passed for 102 yards and a touchdown and added 80 yards and two scores rushing to lead the Eagles, who also got 103 yards and one TD rushing from Kutter Wilson. Quarterback Carter Stainton passed for 130 yards and rushed for 64 yards and a touchdown to pace Paradise (4-1, 1-1), but he was picked off twice and fumbled once.
Sweetwater 70, Eastland 54 — Leo Holsey passed for 434 yards and six touchdowns and rushed for three more scores to lead the Mustangs to a wild win at the Mustang Bowl.
Sweetwater (3-3), which led 42-27 at halftime, won despite allowing 658 yards of total offense, including a combined 346 yards and four TDs passing between Eastland quarterbacks Keaton Hicks and Cooper Wright.
Harrison Foster (6-156, 2 TDs) and Ethan Brockman (5-106, 2 TDs) both had big nights receiving for the Mustangs, who also got 148 total yards (97 rushing, 51 receiving) from Malik Brown in the win.
With the exception of Wall, every team in District 3-3A DI took Friday night off, enjoying their midseason bye before district play begins.
League play opens on Oct. 8 with a full slate of games.
Here’s a quick rundown of where each team is at this stage.
Fort Stockton 44, Crane 8 — The Panthers enjoyed their second straight blowout win, following last week’s 42-0 rout of Pecos with a lopsided victory over Crane.
Fort Stockton (5-1) led 15-0 after a quarter and increased that lead to 38-8 by halftime, setting the tone for the rest of the night.
The Panthers outgained the Cranes 532-220, rushing for 428 yards on 36 carries in the win. Quarterback Dominic led the way for Fort Stockton, rushing for 190 yards and three touchdowns on just nine carries while passing for 104 yards and two more scores. Isaiah Garcia also had a nice game, rushing for 95 yards and one TD and receiving for 84 yards and another score.
Sweetwater 70, Eastland 54 — With most of the district enjoying a bye week, the Eastland Mavericks found themselves involved In one of the most explosive games the area has seen in the last five years, Sweetwater outlasted EHS in a slugfest at the Mustang Bowl, that believe it or not, ended at a surprisingly early 9 :50 p.m.
Leo Holsey threw for 434 yards and six scores and rushed for three more TDs to lead Sweetwater, which levelled off at 3-3 with the win.
For 2½ quarters Friday night, the Abilene High football team executed its game plan about as well as it could against District 2-6A favorite Midland Legacy.
Leading 27-13 with 6:19 remaining in the third quarter, the Eagles had moved the ball on virtually all of their possessions to that point, finished all but three in the end zone and, for the most part, kept the explosive Rebel offense in low gear.
But Legacy finally hit overdrive in the final 18 minutes, outscoring the AHS 29-6 over that span to spoil a gritty effort by coach Mike Fullen’s Eagles and escape Shotwell Stadium with a thrilling 42-33 win.
FREDERICKSBURG — For one quarter Friday night at Battlin’ Billie Field, the Wall Hawks had success on both sides of the ball against Class 2A Division I No. 2 Shiner.
The problem for the Hawks was that it was in the fourth quarter after brothers Doug and Dalton Brooks had seen their nights end in a dominating 42-14 win for the Comanches.
The brothers ran for a combined 339 yards and five touchdowns on 26 carries as Shiner won the first-ever meeting between the storied programs.
BIG SPRING — Their execution may not have been up to coach Cannon McWilliams’ standards. But at the end of the night, the Big Spring Steers were athletic enough to wrestle a 47-29 win away from Littlefield in the Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
Gabriel Baez threw for 319 yards, rushed for 167 and accounted for seven touchdowns to lead Big Spring (5-1) which led from the first quarter onward.
Ethan Garcia topped the stat sheet for Littlefield (3-3) with 186 yards passing and 89 yards rushing.
Coming off a 49-21 homecoming win over Brownwood and in the midst of a bye week, Wylie coach Clay Martin took a few minutes to chat with Big Country Preps’ Daniel Youngblood about what he was hoping to accomplish and where his team stands heading into District 3-5A Division II play next Friday.