Albany 56, Cross Plains 0 — London Fuentes threw for 182 yards and three scores and Coy Lefevre rushed for 127 yards and two more touchdowns as Albany (5-2, 2-0) shut out Cross Plains.
Albany built a 42-0 lead by the break before coasting to the finish line.
Hawley 60, Winters 6 — Austin Cumpton rushed for 138 yards and four scores on only 10 carries to lift Hawley to a win on the road.
The Bearcats finished with 481 yards of dual-threat offense, rushing for 220.
Comanche 53, Jacksboro 33 — The Indians abused the Tigers on the ground, rushing for 349 yards and six touchdowns on their way to a 20-point win.
Sawyer Wilkerson fueled the effort, rushing for 272 yards and four scores to help Comanche (6-1, 2-0) to a 36-11 halftime lead. Quarterback Layden Welch also had a big game, hitting 10 of 12 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 28 yards and two more TDs.
Idalou 28, Coahoma 16 — Idalou held off a strong challenge from Coahoma, forcing four Bulldog turnovers to get the win.
Tate Hendley threw for 158 yards and one score and Tyler Jack rushed for 108 yards and two scores to lead Idalou (4-3, 1-1).
Snyder 35, Graham 21 — Easton Stewart passed for 289 yards and five touchdowns to fuel the Tigers to a two-touchdown win over a short-handed Steers squad.
Playing a Graham team that was without several key players due to suspensions resulting from last week’s brawl with Wichita Falls Hirschi, Snyder (3-5, 1-1) raced out to a 21-7 halftime lead and never let the Steers (4-4, 0-2) wrestle control away in the second half.
Bangs 42, San Saba 35 — Guy Powell rushed for 193 yards and four touchdowns on 22 carries to lift Bangs to a crucial district win over the Armadillos.
San Saba managed 505 yards in total offense but hurt itself with nine penalties and a 10 percent success rate on third downs.
Brownwood 60, San Angelo Lake View 13 — The Lions dominated the Chiefs from start to finish, outgaining LVHS 451-238 in a blowout win.
Behind big rushing games by running back Konlyn Anderson (17-156, 5 TDs) quarterback Ike Hall (10-126, 2 TDs), Brownwood scored the first 38 points of the game and built a 52-7 lead by halftime. The Lions (6-2, 2-0) finished with 354 rushing yards on just 29 carries.
Wall 36, Ballinger 0 — Wall rushed for 357 yards with Nathan Pepper collecting 144 of those in 18 carries.
Pepper scored two TDs, to go with rushing scores from Luke Kemp, Canyon McCabe and Jayden Sellers.
Jim Ned 28, Clyde 21 — Troy Doran rushed for 190 yards and three scores and threw for 79 yards and another TD to lift Jim Ned (4-3, 2-0) to its fourth straight win.
Leading 21-14 with 7:21 left in the game, Doran scored what proved to be the game-winner on a 5-yard keeper
Stephenville 63, Waxahachie Life 20 — Ryan Gafford threw for 207 yards and four scores and Ryder Lambert returned from an injury to thew for 120 yards and two more TDs to lead Stephenville (7-0, 1-0) in its league opener.
The Yellow Jackets quickly built a 42-14 halftime lead before coasting to the finish.
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Photos by Autumn Bippert, HubCityPreps.com
LUBBOCK — The Abilene High football team did a lot of good things Friday at Lubbock Cooper. Unfortunately for the Eagles, it wasn’t enough to escape Pirate Stadium with a win.
Despite outgaining Cooper 209-125 and holding the Pirates to just five total first downs, AHS came up on the losing end of an 11-8 score, allowing 11 unanswered points after taking an 8-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
The Eagles (3-5 overall, 2-2 in District 2-5A Division I) were hurt by three turnovers, which kept them from increasing their lead early and regaining it late.
BROCK — Friday’s clash between Whitesboro and Brock was the game many expected between two Class 3A Division I heavyweights. In fact, it may have been even better.
In the end, the Eagles were just about an inch better than the Bearcats, edging WHS for a 39-35 win in a classic in the Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
Brock led 27-15 at halftime and trailed 35-27 with less than four minutes remaining in the game. But a pair of Tyler Moody touchdown passes and a heart-stopping tackle at the goal line on the game’s final play were enough to lift coach Billy Mathis’ squad to a key victory in the District 4-3A DI title race.
JACKSBORO — Comanche staked its claim as the District 5-3A Division II favorite Friday night against Jacksboro.
The Indians did it in multiple ways as sophomore tailback Sawyer Wilkerson shredded the Tiger defense for 269 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
Comanche also got an efficient performance from quarterback Layden Welch, who threw for 215 yards and had a hand in more touchdowns (three) than incomplete passes (two).
It was yet another reminder that this year’s Indians (6-1, 2-0) are a much different team than last season when they only won once.
STAMFORD — A week after rushing for more than 300 yards and five scores in a win over Olney, Cisco quarterback Hunter Long demonstrated another part of his game on Friday in a 47-14 win over Stamford: an accurate deep passing game.
Long was 9 of 13 for 243 yards and three scores to lead Cisco (7-1, 4-0 District 4-2A DI), which is now in a firm position to challenge Hawley for the league title. Long connected with passes of 77, 52 and 40 yards along the way and rushed for 145 yards and three scores to help the Loboes to their fifth straight win.
Limited to 201 yards in total offense, Stamford (6-1, 2-1) suffered its first loss of the year. Hayden Henager led the Bulldogs with 71 yards rushing on 14 carries.
“We put ourselves in some third-and-long situations when we had to throw the ball,” said Cisco coach Kevin Stennett, whose club finished with 540 total yards (297 rushing). “We finally proved that we’ve got some receivers who will go up and get it and we got it to several different receivers.
“We wanted to show that we can throw the ball and mix it up and I’ve very pleased about how balanced we were.”
Heading into Friday night, the Cooper football team had not played a game at Shotwell Stadium in 35 days.
Getting back on their home turf, for homecoming no less, was a welcome gift for the Cougars as they rolled to a 50-14 win over Amarillo Palo Duro in District 2-5A Division II play, evening their district record at 1-1 while improving to 3-4 on the year.
The return home was appreciated by Cooper coach Aaron Roan.
WICHITA FALLS — A disastrous end to the first half put the Wylie Bulldogs in a 17-point hole entering the second, but coach Clay Martin’s squad made the plays it needed to down the stretch Friday to complete a thrilling comeback in a 39-38 win over District 2-5A Division II favorite Wichita Falls Rider at Memorial Stadium.
Trailing 27-10 after a series of unfortunate events turned a potential tie game into a three-score deficit, Wylie outscored the Raiders 7-0 in the third quarter and 22-11 in the fourth to improve to 4-3 overall and 2-0 in league action.
The Bulldogs scored two touchdowns in the final three minutes and got a two-point conversion run from Malachi Daniels with 1:03 remaining for what proved to be the game-winning points. Braden Regala ensured that moments later, intercepting a deep ball on the Raiders’ final possession to seal the upset victory.
Forsan’s 40-7 steamrolling of Reagan County last Friday in the District 3-2A Division I opener isn’t exactly a newsflash. After going 10-2 last year, the Buffaloes are making a habit of being a regional threat.
But the way the Buffs took care of their offensive business against the Owls not only defied 2022 convention, it served notice to future opponents that this monster has multiple heads.
Tate Maruska is well on his way to rewriting Stephenville’s rushing records.
With 16 touchdowns in six games, the junior is on pace to break the Yellow Jackets’ mark of 29 scores set by Kason Phillips in 2020.
Coach Sterling Doty wasn’t sure what Stephenville’s single-season rushing record was off the top of his head, but with Maruska already having 1,290 yards, it’s not a stretch to say that total is in danger of falling too.
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.
Disagree with our picks or the Twitter consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
LAST WEEK: 46-5, .901
SEASON TOTAL: 296-81, .785
The column saw its best week last week, hitting at 90 percent accuracy. And frankly, the timing couldn’t be better because we’re entering one of the toughest weeks for picking games that we’ll see in 2022.
This week’s Big Country Preps Game of the Week will see us travel to Brock for a huge District 4-3A matchup between the Eagles and unbeaten Whitesboro. Other highlighted matchups will include Cisco at Stamford, Comanche at Jacksboro, Coahoma at Idalou, Bangs at San Saba and Miles at Hamlin, along with my picks on the rest of the area games.
Let’s dive in.
Here’s this week’s forecast:
BIG COUNTRY PREPS WEDNESDAY NIGHT PODCAST: Coahoma’s Chris Joslin visits with Evan and Dan
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The Wylie volleyball team downed a surging Cooper squad 25-21, 25-23, 25-22 on Tuesday at Cougar Gym to complete a season sweep of the Lady Cougars and improve to 4-0 this season in matches against crosstown foes.
CHS had won four of its last five matches coming into the rematch with the Lady Bulldogs, including a thrilling five-set win over Abilene High on Friday, but coach Shay Cox’s team cooled off the Lady Coogs, executing down the stretch in all three sets to complete a hard-fought sweep.
The victory put Wylie (21-16 overall, 6-2 in district) in the driver’s seat for the No. 2 playoff seed out of District 4-5A — 1½ matches ahead of third-place AHS (14-19, 5-4) and 2½ matches ahead of fourth-place Cooper (15-18, 4-5) with four league matches remaining.
CLYDE — Volleyball is all about gaining, and sustaining, momentum.
With the District 6-3A lead on the line, it was the Wall Lady Hawks who were able to seize momentum early and roll to a 25-19, 25-21, 25-9 win over Clyde on Tuesday night at Bulldog Gym.
Wall scored the first five points of the match, never trailing in the first set, as the Lady Hawks improved to 33-5 overall and 6-0 in district. Including Tuesday’s sweep, the Lady Hawks have won 18 of 19 sets during district play.
Photos courtesy of The Dublin Citizen
Madilyn Loper isn’t ready for her time as a Dublin volleyball player to end.
Loper has been on varsity since the early stages of her freshman season. Now she’s a senior standout who knows her playing days at Dublin are numbered.
“Volleyball is going to be incredibly hard to say goodbye to,” Loper said. “It’s been so much fun, and I have made some of the best memories I could possibly imagine. I have put all my time and effort into this sport, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Loper has been a stalwart in Arin Knight’s first year as Dublin’s head coach. She leads the Lady Lions with 2.2 kills per set and 23 aces while also ranking second in digs.
It’s not an overstatement to say that the Cooper volleyball team’s playoff prospects weren’t very promising three and a half weeks ago. After falling to Wylie on a Saturday on the road, the Lady Cougars were 0-3 and looking up at every other team in District 4-5A.
Then they lost the next match — a midweek nondistrict matchup with Graham.
And that’s when the asterisk that marks just where Cooper’s season turned around was inserted.
With a difficult Olney team paying them a visit on Friday, the Cisco Loboes could ill afford a misstep in their quest to win District 4-2A Division I — not with Stamford and Hawley still on their plate.
Cisco turned to veteran quarterback Hunter Long to get the job done and our Big Country Preps Player of the Week responded with an eye-popping 338 yards rushing and five touchdowns on 20 carries to help Cisco (6-1, 3-0) to a 34-15 win.
Wylie 38, Plainview 14 — WHS overcame a slow start to earn a comfortable win, scoring the final 28 points in a rout of Plainview.
Trailing 14-10 midway through the second quarter, Wylie (3-3, 1-0) scored the final touchdown of the first half to take a 17-14 lead into the break, before tacking on three more touchdowns in the third quarter to put the finishing touches on a thorough victory.
Abilene High 45, Amarillo Caprock 0 — The Eagles dominated the Longhorns from start to finish, outgaining CHS 307-144 in a shutout win.
AHS (3-4, 2-1) led 17-0 by the end of the first quarter and increased that lead to 31-0 by halftime, putting the game away before the start of the third quarter.
GORDON — Throughout the gamut of junior high athletics, it is common to see adjustments made for children of that age. From the size of the field, to the size of the ball to the weight of the equipment used, middle schoolers are helped with modifications designed specifically for them. Without them, 11-13 year-olds would have a difficult time competing in the sports of their choice.
It only makes sense.
In Texas, however, there has been a noteworthy exception — one that long-time area track coach Mike Reed (now at Gordon High School) has been battling to have changed for six years: The recommended distance for meet organizers to place between the girls 100 hurdles and boys 110 hurdles.
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Santo 40, Chico 6 — The Wildcats thumped the Dragons, rushing for more than 400 yards in a thorough win.
Behind big rushing efforts by Hut Thornton (14-158, 2 TDs) and Billy Sandoval (8-117), Santo (6-0, 2-0) extended a 14-0 halftime lead to 34-0 by the end of the third quarter.
Forsan 40, Reagan County 7 — The Buffaloes opened district play in impressive fashion, rushing for 234 yards in a blowout win over the Owls.
Forsan (5-1, 1-0), which outgained Reagan County 326-283, forced four turnovers, intercepting Owls quarterback Kason Brown three times. That allowed the Buffs to build a 26-0 lead by halftime, ending the competitive phase of the game early.
Pilot Point 58, Ponder 55 — The Bearcats hit a 31-yard field goal as time expired to escape with a narrow win over the Lions.
In a game that featured more than 1,190 total yards between the teams, both squads held two-score leads — Ponder at 28-14 in the second quarter and Pilot Point at 45-35 in the third. But it was a three-point game heading to the fourth quarter, and the Bearcats (2-5, 1-2) rallied to tie the game at 48-all and 55-all before hitting the game-winning field goal.
Wortham 62, Hico 7 — Wortham remained in district title contention with a win over Hico.
WHS’ defense was nothing short of dominant, limiting the Tigers to 39 yards rushing on 33 carries and 63 yards in total offense.
Comanche 45, Millsap 28 — The Indians took care of the Bulldogs in three-score win, racing out to a 35-7 halftime lead to remove all intrigue early.
Comanche, which got a big rushing day from Sawyer Wilkerson (11-134, 3 TDs) extended its lead to 45-14 by the start of the fourth quarter to improve to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in district play.
Haskell 58, Munday 6 — The Indians rolled up 438 yards in total offense to win their district opener.
Grady Vasquez threw for 140 yards and two scores and Trevor Henry rushed for 80 yards and two more TDs to lead Haskell (4-3, 2-1) which remains in the hunt for a high playoff seed.
San Saba 35, De Leon 21 — The Armadillos picked up a big district win, outscoring the Bearcats 14-0 in the second half to break open what was a back-and-forth affair early.
De Leon (4-3, 1-2) held leads at 7-0 and 14-7 thanks to touchdown runs by Kallen McIlvain, and the Bearcats rallied from their first deficit with a 31-yard scoring run by Heston Jobe that made it a 21-all game at halftime. But San Saba (5-2, 1-2) countered with the only two touchdowns of the second half, sealing the victory in the fourth quarter with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Lance Taylor to Levi Glover.