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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Catclaw Classic Day 3 (65 images w/ results)”
Cover photo courtesy of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football.
On Friday, legendary media icon Dave Campbell passed away in Waco at the age of 96.
He founded Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine in 1960 and still served as its editor-in-chief up until his death.
On Saturday, coaches across the Big Country shared their memories of Campbell.
Continue reading “Area coaches react to passing of Texas icon Dave Campbell”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Catclaw Classic Day 2 (46 images w/ results)”
FRISCO — Through much of the 2021 season, the Stephenville Yellow Jackets have created a cushion for themselves — nearly eliminating pressure situations with an average victory margin of 41-13 through their first 14 games.
Friday night at the Star, however, the Jackets were forced to answer the bell time and time again in a 38-35 win over Wichita Falls Hirschi in the Class 4A Division I state semifinals.
Ryder Lambert threw for 220 yards and two scores and rushed for a third touchdown to lift Stephenville, which battled through six lead changes to reach the state championship game. There, the Jackets (15-0) will meet either Tyler Chapel Hill (11-3) or Austin LBJ (14-0) next week in Arlington.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Stratford-Albany football (68 images)”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Hawley-Marlin football (104 images)”
MCKINNEY — With the score tied a 28 in overtime, nobody was really surprised that the Brock Eagles went to standout tight end Nathan Jones for what proved to be the game-winning touchdown against Mount Vernon.
The way they did it, however, caught nearly everyone off-guard including every defender on the Mount Vernon defense.
With Jones lining up t center, the Eagles shifted two linemen to the right, leaving Jones at the end of the line, still snapping the ball, but eligible for a pass. After snapping the ball to Tyler Moody, Jones did a short out pattern into the end zone where Moody found him all alone for a 35-28 lead.
LUBBOCK — Through their first 13 games, the Albany Lions built and unblemished record by being the most physical team on the field.
On Thursday, in its Class 2A Division II state semifinal matchup against Stratford, coach Denney Faith’s squad finally ran into a team it couldn’t move.
SHS controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, outrushing Albany 299-32, and the Lions couldn’t generate enough in the passing game to compensate, allowing the final 25 points in a 35-14 loss at Lowrey Field.
WEATHERFORD — Hawley’s football team has been making history on a regular basis since Mitch Ables took over as the head coach in 2014.
After Thursday night’s 19-12 win over Marlin in the Class 2A Division I state semifinals, the Bearcats have another historical milestone: their first championship game appearance.
The fifth-ranked Bearcats will face No. 2 Shiner for the state championship at 7 p.m. Wednesday at AT&T Stadium, completing a tripleheader of Big Country games on the opening day of the 2021 state championships.
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we’ll post our picks for all of that week’s 11-man games and select six-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.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps’ Pick ‘Em Panel vs. Twitter Polls (Week 16)”
LAST WEEK: 7-0, 1.000
SEASON TOTAL: 506-106, .826
As Week 16 arrives, Big Country Preps still has an astonishing seven teams still active — Stephenville, Brock, Hawley, Albany, Westbrook, May and Strawn — the last three of which will be playing for the Class 1A Division I and Division II titles next week.
In the meantime, we have four 11-man state semifinal games involving teams in our coverage area to discuss this week, including three Thursday dates.
The column remains red hot at the moment, going 7-0 on picks last week and 19-1 over the last two weeks.
Here’s this week’s playoff forecast:
A week after playing in Abilene ISD’s Raising Cane’s Key City Classic, Wylie will host five schools — including Abilene High and Cooper — for its annual boys basketball tournament, the Catclaw Classic.
In addition to the Abilene’s three local schools, Canutillo, Fort Worth Chisholm Trail and Midland Christian will be in action at the Classic, which will have a round-robin format this year.
Here is the schedule for the tournament. Check back throughout the weekend for scores, game recaps and photos from the event.
It may not be February, but the second part of the University Interscholastic League’s bi-annual realignment plan came out on Wednesday as the high school governing body released the cutoff numbers for each classification.
The impact will be felt across the Big Country as the area’s lone 6A representative, Abilene High, found out that it will be dropping to Class 5A Division I for football and should be in a district with Cooper and Wylie for all non-football sports.
Cooper, meanwhile, saw its enrollment cause it to drop into Class 5A Division II along with the Bulldogs meaning the annual Southside Showdown is now expected to be a district game.
Matt Stepp of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine joins the show to offer his opinions of Stephenville, Brock, Hawley and Albany.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: San Angelo Central-Wylie basketball doubleheader (60 images)”
It’s not often you leave a 15-point loss feeling better about yourself, but such was the case for coach Gregg Ruffin and his Wylie Bulldogs on Tuesday in their nondistrict matchup with San Angelo Central.
When clock hit zeros and the final buzzer sounded at Bulldog Gym, the scoreboard showed the home team on the wrong end of a 64-49 tally.
But after watching his young squad push the 10-1 Bobcats to the limit for the better part of three quarters, Ruffin was upbeat about the Bulldogs’ effort and what it might mean going forward.
EASTLAND — The last thing Eastland boys basketball coach Doug Galyean wanted on Tuesday night was to have a lot of people to making a fuss over him.
Entering a non-district game with Stamford with 699 career wins accumulated since his career began in 1980, the 64-year-old did his best to keep the accomplishment under wraps. In fact, Big Country Preps was one of the few area media outlets which was aware of the approaching milestone.
Galyean secured win No. 700 with a 60-36 victory over Stamford. But the aftermath was anything but quiet — with an announcement being made to the crowd over the PA system, after which a slide presentation was given to commemorate the achievement.
He might be better known as one of the top receivers in the Big Country — hauling in 78 catches for more than 1,300 yards for Sweetwater’s football team in 2021.
What some don’t realize is, Harrison Foster is also one of the area’s top basketballers, as evidenced by his taking our Capital Farm Credit-BCP Player of the Week award for the week ending Dec. 4.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Raising Cane’s Key City Classic Day 3 (58 images)”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Cisco-Hawley football (58 images)”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: May-Abbott football (79 images)”
DUBLIN — After falling short of a championship with a 68-22 loss to Sterling City in the 2020 state title game, the May Tigers spent this year looking for redemption.
The road to a return trip to AT&T Stadium in Arlington wasn’t a cakewalk for the top-ranked Tigers, who saw playoff games against No. 2 Jonesboro and No. 4 Water Valley leading into their Class 1A Division I state semifinal matchup with third-ranked Abbott.
Having not been involved in a close game, May needed a fourth-down touchdown run from Avery Williford late in the fourth quarter to retake the lead for good as the Tigers edged the Panthers in a 50-48 thriller Saturday at Bob and Norma Cervetto Field.
The North Crowley Panthers completed a perfect run through the Cane’s Key City Classic on Saturday, topping Northwest Eaton 49-41 in the title game to add a championship to the third-place finish they earned in the tournament’s first year back in 2019.
That matchup closed the books on the local tournament, which also saw Lewisville the Colony top McKinney Boyd 46-41 in the third-place game, Round Rock defeat defending Classic champion Fort Worth Wyatt 72-55 in the fifth-place game and San Antonio Harlan take the consolation championship with a 64-49 win over Peaster.
Wylie, the only local team in action on the Classic’s final day, fell to Justin Northwest 50-41 in a consolation game to close out the event at 2-2. Abilene High and Cooper were slated on the bracket to meet in the championship bracket seventh-place game, but the coaches chose not to play that game since the teams have two matchups forthcoming.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Raising Cane’s Key City Classic Day 2 (72 images)”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Brock-Whitesboro football (80 images)”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Stephenville-Melissa football (111 images)”
The second day of the Raising Cane’s Key City Classic was a rough one for the two host schools, as Abilene High and Cooper both went 0-2 on Friday after winning on Thursday to earn a spot in the championship bracket.
Abilene High dropped its quarterfinal game to Lewisville The Colony 54-29 before falling in the fifth-place semifinals to Fort Worth Wyatt 82-41, while Cooper lost in those same rounds to McKinney Boyd (63-41) and Round Rock (55-52), respectively. The Eagles and Cougars were slated to play in the seventh-place game Saturday, but the coaches elected not to play that game since the two teams are already scheduled to play each other twice in the coming weeks.
Wylie, which dropped a play-in game to Fort Worth Nolan Catholic on Thursday to fall out of bracket play, rebounded with a pair of wins on the Classic’s second day, routing Abilene High’s JV 75-34 before topping Borger 56-46.
In action not involving Abilene teams, Northwest Eaton advanced to Saturday’s title game with a 47-44 win over The Colony. They’ll take on North Crowley, which defeated Boyd 38-37 in its semifinal to advance to the tournament championship.
BEDFORD — The second-ranked Stephenville Yellow Jackets needed a late rally to beat defending state champion Argyle in last week’s regional semifinal, but with a berth in the final four on the line, coach Sterling Doty’s squad left no doubt in Friday’s Region II-4A semifinal matchup with No. 4 Melissa.
Behind quarterback Ryder Lambert and wide receiver Coy Eakin, the Yellow Jackets punched their ticket to the state semifinals with a thrilling 24-21 win over the Cardinals at Pennington Field.
Eakin had three second-half catches for 173 yards and a pair of scores to help the Yellow Jackets turn a 7-0 halftime deficit into a 24-7 lead by the fourth quarter as SHS advanced to the state semifinals for the first time in four years.
GRAHAM — As quarterback Cole Chapman continued backpedaling to take one last knee Friday night, Albany’s celebration could finally commence.
The fourth-ranked Lions had waited a long time to get the better of defending champion Windthorst. Thanks to another quick start and a relentless defense, Albany avenged last year’s disappointment with a 28-14 victory at Newton Field.
ABILENE — With their leading rusher out with an injury and perennial power Cisco blocking the path to their first-ever state semifinal, the Hawley Bearcats had to find a way to adapt Friday night at Shotwell Stadium.
They responded with a gritty, come-from-behind 17-14 win that saw them erase deficits of 7-0 and 14-7, despite being shorthanded.
Diontay Ramon rushed for 120 yards and a score in a reserve role to lead Hawley (14-0), which took the lead for good with a 29-yard field goal by Kason O’Shields with 7:47 to play.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Raising Cane’s Key City Classic Day 1 (94 images)”
ARLINGTON — With Brock coming off an emotionally charged win over defending state champion Jim Ned last week, there was some concern in the Eagle camp about being mentally ready for Whiteboro in Thursday’s Region I-3A Division I title game.
It took less than a quarter at Globe Life Field for Brock to end any doubts about their readiness in a lopsided 49-14 win.
Tyler Moody threw for 222 yards and two touchdowns and Brett Tutter added 94 yards rushing and three scores in a reserve role to lead the Eagles (14-0), who advance to face either Mount Vernon (13-0) or West (13-0) in the state semifinals.
The Abilene High and Cooper boys basketball teams both opened the Raising Cane’s Key City Classic with victories on Thursday to earn spots in the tournament’s championship bracket, while Wylie dropped its opener and will be playing consolations games for the remainder of the three-day event.
Abilene High bounced back from a slow start to top Borger 58-45, and Cooper used a late bucket to escape its first-round matchup against Keller Timber Creek with a 52-51 win to ensure that both of the Classic’s host schools will be playing in the winner’s bracket quarterfinals when play resumes on Friday.
The Eagles (1-4) and Cougars (5-0) will be joined in the championship bracket by McKinney Boyd, Round Rock, North Crowley, Northwest Eaton, Fort Worth Wyatt and Lewisville The Colony, which also earned wins on Thursday. Plainview, Borger, San Antonio Harlan, Fort Worth Nolan Catholic, Justin Northwest, Timber Creek, Midland Christian and Peaster will make up the consolation bracket field.
Wylie, which fell 41-38 to Nolan in a hard-fought play-in game, was eliminated from title contention in both brackets but will close out the tournament with games against other teams eliminated from consolation title consideration.
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we’ll post our picks for all of that week’s 11-man games and select six-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.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps’ Pick ‘Em Panel vs. Twitter Polls (Week 15)”
LAST WEEK: 12-1, .923
SEASON TOTAL: 499-106, .825
Alright, we’re getting down to the nitty gritty — football in December with seven Big Country teams still fighting for a trip to Arlington. If I’m correct, we’ll have quite a few area survivors to congratulate by Sunday.
The column connected on 92 percent of its picks last week, so we’ll see if I can keep the hot streak going.
Here’s this week’s forecast:
The Abilene High, Cooper and Wylie boys basketball teams will all be in action this week at the Raising Cane’s Key City Classic, scheduled for Thursday through Saturday on the campuses of AHS and CHS.
This will be the second playing of the local tournament since it was resurrected in 2019. All pre-district tournaments were canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19.
Here is the bracket for the 2021 Key City Classic. Check back throughout the weekend for scores, game recaps and photos from each of the tournament’s three days.
Carlos Walliser is a long ways from home, more than 5,000 miles away to be precise.
But the foreign exchange student from Madrid, Spain, has found a home at TLCA-Abilene and with his host family, Jeremy and Meagan Kirk.
Coming to Abilene has been quite the adjustment for Walliser, who moved from a city with 3.4 million residents to one with 124,710 according to the 2020 census.
Some of the biggest adjustments that Walliser has had to make are ones that many in the area take for granted.
BROCK — By all accounts, Brock senior defensive end Kadyn Mathews is a quiet, humble sort — a well-behaved, solid student who is considerate, helpful, hard-working and everything else one might associate with a good kid.
That is, until he puts the pads on.
At that point, Mathews is transformed into something very unpleasant — a 6-foot-3, 230-pound wrecking ball that has been disrupting offenses throughout Brock’s 13-0 start. This, despite consistently drawing double teams and having offenses directing plays away from him.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Lubbock Estacado-Cooper boys basketball (38 images)”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Abilene High-Cooper girls basketball (42 images)”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Hamlin-Abilene TLCA boys basketball (34 images)”
Brock coach Billy Mathis joins the show. Evan Ren and Dan Youngblood examine all playoff games involving Big Country teams.
On the back of each member of the Cooper boys basketball team’s jersey, you’ll find a simple phrase: “Find a way.”
That rallying cry proved more than a trite directive Tuesday, when the Cougars rallied for an unlikely 57-53 victory over Class 4A No. 3 Lubbock Estacado in a nondistrict matchup at Cougar Gym.
Trailing 51-41 with less than 4½ minutes remaining in the game and struggling to handle the Matadors intense pressure defense, the Coogs found a way — first to take better care of the basketball and then to put it through the net enough to stun their talented visitors.