SWEETWATER — Denney Faith has earned another chance.
With four trips to the state championship game already under his belt in 37 seasons at Albany, Faith earned trip No. 5 on Thursday as his Lions dominated New Home 53-25 at the Mustang Bowl.
Adam Hill and Coy Lefevre combined for 211 yards rushing and three scores to lead the Lions (13-2), who advance to face Mart (15-0) in the Class 2A DII state title game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
FRISCO — Running back Reid Watkins slashed and dashed for 136 yards and two touchdowns and made a late-game interception on defense to lead Brock to a 21-10 win over Malakoff in a Class 3A Division I state semifinal game Thursday night at the Ford Center.
En route, the game’s primary hero also led the Eagles back toward Arlington, where they will play for a state championship for the second year in a row next week, against defending state champion Franklin, which throttled Edna 41-13.
“Primary” is the key word in the preceding paragraph. Watkins’ stellar performance off the bench was one of many offensive highlights for Brock, which won for the 11th straight time after starting the season 0-4. The Eagles’ starter at running back, Brett Tutter, added 81 rushing yards, and steady quarterback Tyler Moody completed six of 11 passes for 55 yards and ran for the Eagles’ other touchdown.
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: 8-0, 1.000
SEASON TOTAL: 537-120, .817
The Big Country Preps coverage area took a few hits last week, with Wylie, Wall and Cisco all seeing their seasons end in the regional championship round.
However, six of our teams remain active heading into this week, half of which are six-man teams (Loraine, Benjamin and Westbrook) that have already qualified for state and are taking this week off.
The other half are 3A DI Brock, 2A DI Hawley and 2A DII Albany, all of which advanced to this week’s state semifinals.
As for pick accuracy, the column is on fire, going 8-0 last week and 11-1 the week before for a 19-1 mark (.950) over a two-week span.
Alright, enough said, let’s dive in.
Here’s this week’s forecast:
Consistency and versatility always score big in our Big Country Preps Player of the Week column.
Add a few extras to your stat sheet and play well over several games and you’ll generally end up at or near the top of our weekly list.
That is precisely why Comanche sophomore guard Kinsey Glasgow has earned our Player of the Week award for the Week ending December 3.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Wylie-Argyle football playoff (110 images)”
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Cane’s Key City Classic Day 3 (102 images)”
After North Crowley’s Eric Moore hit a corner 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the third quarter and tie Amarillo High in the Raising Cane’s Key City Classic championship game, it seemed as though the Panthers had all the momentum.
The game stayed close throughout the fourth quarter, but the Sandies pulled away over the final 1:23 to take a 59-48 win and claim the tournament title Saturday afternoon at Abilene High’s Eagle Gym.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Albany-Collinsville football playoff (77 images)”
Photos by David Erickson, PressPassSports.com
LUBBOCK — Entering Friday’s Region I-3A Division II title game on a 10-game winning streak, the Wall Hawks were optimistic about their chances against panhandle powerhouse Canadian.
Three hours and three turnovers later, Wall was eliminated by the Wildcats 45-10, ending the Hawks’ season at 11-2.
Camren Cavalier threw for 224 yards, rushed for 100 and accounted for six touchdowns to lead Canadian (12-2), which will face Gunter (13-0) in the state semifinals.
ABILENE — It was not only billed as a rematch of a superb Big Country Preps Game of the Week from Week 11, but also of a nail-biting Region I-2A Division I title game last year. Cisco and Hawley had produced back-to-back classics and the entire Big Country was expecting to see another one.
Unfortunately, Hawley never received the memo.
Rather than producing another dogfight, Hawley dominated the Loboes on Friday, handing Cisco a 40-7 loss at Wildcat Stadium.
STEPHENVILLE — The comeback magic finally ran out for the Wylie football team on Friday at Tarleton State University’s Memorial Stadium, but the fight never did in a 35-28 loss to top-ranked Argyle in the Region I-5A Division II championship game.
Trailing by 14 on two occasions in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs pulled within a touchdown both times, with the last earning them an opportunity at an onside kick with just over a minute remaining.
But Wylie’s hopes and season ended there, when the Eagles recovered the kick and kneeled the ball three times to escape with a hard-fought win and advance to take on South Oak Cliff in the 5A DII state semifinals next week.
MINERAL WELLS — Cole Chapman threw for 318 yards and five touchdowns as the Albany offense amassed 648 total yards in a 66-34 win over Collinsville in the Region II-2A Division II final at Ram Stadium on Friday night.
Chapman completed 15-of-19 passes, four different receivers caught scoring strikes and three players ran for scores, including two by the senior quarterback as the Lions (12-2) advanced to their sixth state semifinal in the past 10 years.
Two of those trips have seen the Lions advance to play for a state title, which only the 1960 and 1961 squads accomplished.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Cane’s Key City Classic Day 2 (46 images)”
Before the season began, Wylie senior Cayden Clay said the Bulldogs offensive line — and the offensive unit around it — had the potential to be among the best in the state of Texas in 2022.
Few outside of the program likely agreed with him at the time.
But four months later, those words from the 6-foot-2, 260-pound captain look prophetic.
Behind that big and experienced offensive line, the Wylie offense has been nothing short of outstanding, averaging 37.8 points and 441.7 yards per game for the year. And thanks in large part to that production, the Bulldogs (10-3) are riding an eight-game winning streak into the Region I-5A Division II championship game against unbeaten Argyle on Friday.
DENTON — Brock was down three to its fiercest District 4-3A Division I rival, Whitesboro, with just under seven minutes left in Thursday’s Region I-3A DI championship game. Prior to that point, the Eagles had mustered all of seven rushing yards in the first half, fumbled away a second-quarter, fourth-down try and winced agonizingly as an errant snap sailed 25 yards behind the line of scrimmage to thwart a promising first-half possession.
Meanwhile, Whitesboro had just taken the lead when receiver Jace Sanders sneaked his way to the sideline uncovered on a fourth and goal play — from the 22-yard line, no less — to seize momentum and threaten to avenge a 39-35 loss to the Eagles earlier this season.
In other words, Brock had the Bearcats right where it wanted them.
Main photo courtesy of Naomi Skinner
Grayson Rigdon makes playing six-man football look about as easy as anyone can.
While defenders labor to chase him, the Benjamin sophomore glides around the field. Rigdon even occasionally slows down before hitting the turbo button and zooming past helpless pursuers.
After leading Strawn to a state title as a freshman, Rigdon’s on track to do the same thing at Benjamin as the Mustangs are in the state semifinals for the first time in 45 years. They’ll play Whitharral at 3 p.m. Saturday with a chance to make history.
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.
Here are the 2022 Raising Cane’s Key City Classic boys basketball tournament results: Continue reading “TOURNAMENT CENTRAL: Raising Cane’s Key City Classic results”