Stephenville 47, Canyon Randall 7 — Ryan Gafford threw for 198 yards and three scores and Sawyer Wilkerson rushed for 133 yards and two touchdowns to help the Yellow Jackets to a rout of Randall.
Stephenville totaled 399 yards in total offense en route to the win. Tristian Gentry was the leading receiver for SHS, with eight catches for 158 yards and two scores.
SPRINGTOWN — The Jim Ned defense limited a quality Paradise offense to just 217 yards and a single touchdown Friday night, but it wasn’t quite enough in a 10-7 loss to the Panthers in a Region I-3A Division I semifinal matchup at Porcupine Stadium.
On a night when the Indians stop troops were nothing short of dominant, the Paradise ‘D’ was just a little more so, holding JNHS to just one score in four trips inside the 30 to help the Panthers escape with a hard-fought win.
Jim Ned had a pair of empty red zone trips around its only touchdown in the first half, and those missed opportunities proved too much to overcome after halftime, when scoring chances were few and far between for both teams. The result was a season-ending loss full of “what ifs” and “if onlys” for an Indians squad that looked poised on multiple occasions Friday night to extend its campaign to the state quarterfinals.
Photos by Kael Duncan
MINERAL WELLS – Graham is headed to the state quarterfinals for the first time since 2020.
The Steers have many reasons why they’re going to be playing in December, but the biggest reason is a defense that took some punches but held high-powered Glen Rose to three second-half points.
That enabled Graham to close out a 38-27 victory over the Tigers at a packed Ram Stadium. The Steers (12-1) advance to face Brock (12-1) for the Region I-4A Division II title, while the Tigers finish at 10-3.
GODLEY — Brody Woods accounted for five touchdowns, Bryer McDonald rushed for 114 yards and two more scores, and a swarming Brock defense held a vaunted Benbrook offense to 13 first downs as the Eagles thumped the Bobcats 56-13 in the Region I-4A Division II semifinal game Friday night.
Going in, the battle between a pair of 11-1 teams looked to be an enticing matchup. But any chance of reality meeting expectations went by the wayside very early, as Brock scored on each of its five first-half possessions, while all Benbrook could muster over the first 24 minutes was one big-play touchdown run by Christian Gleason.
Jayton football coach Josh Stanaland was worried about how his squad would respond if challenged and forced to play more than one half of football.
With that having happened only once all year, in Week 4 against Knox City, the veteran coach got his answer in a resounding way in a Region II-1A Division II final against Benjamin on Friday night at McMurry’s Wilford Moore Stadium.
The Jaybirds scored the final 36 points and used a stifling second-half defense to outlast the Mustangs 100-50, dethroning the two-time defending state champions in the process.
SWEETWATER — The Wall Hawks put up 522 yards of offense and rolled to a 56-21 win over Littlefield in a Region I-3A Division II semifinal matchup on Friday afternoon at the Mustang Bowl.
The win moves the Hawks into the regional finals, where they will take on Canadian, which needed a fourth-and-goal interception late to claim a 27-21 win over Idalou.
Friday’s matchup was the fourth all-time in the postseason between the Hawks and Wildcats. Littlefield won the first meeting in 2010 by a 35-0 score in the regional finals, while the Hawks took the last two matchups in 2015 (area round) and 2016 (regional semifinals) by scores of 63-27 and 55-7, respectively.
Photos by Kael Duncan
MINERAL WELLS — It just wasn’t Tolar’s afternoon Friday in its Region II-3A Division II semifinal against Holliday.
The Rattlers couldn’t stop the Eagles’ high-powered offense. Neither could they run the ball against Holliday’s defense.
Tolar fared better in the second half after falling behind by 36 points, but it couldn’t make up the difference in a 46-20 loss.
ABILENE — While the debate regarding the true value of explosive plays is ongoing, there was little argument in Friday’s Region I-2A DI semifinal that saw Stamford eliminate Cisco 55-7.
The Bulldogs repeatedly hurt Cisco with big chunks of yardage, including scoring plays of 22, 65, 77, 21 and 50 yards to advance to next week’s regional title game.
Cle Whitfield rushed for 122 yards and three scores and Kaston Vega rushed for 118 yards and two more TDs to lift Stamford (13-0), which will face either Sunray or Post in the next round.
Cisco (8-5) was led by Julius Proffitt, who rushed for 77 yards and one TD and threw for 39.
“We had a great week of practice and got to play Thanksgiving football,” Stamford coach Wayne Hutchinson said. “We did a really good job of preparing their minds and their bodies to play a really well-coached Cisco team and we executed on both sides of the ball.”
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 our weekly fan polls for each matchup.
For those interested in voting, polls go up on Sunday night each week and close Thursday morning.
Disagree with our picks or the fan poll consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps’ Pick ‘Em Panel (Week 14)”
Just two wins separate the state’s top six-man teams from a trip to Arlington for the Class 1A state championships, and we still have six area squads with a heartbeat between the Division I and II brackets.
Westbrook, Water Valley and Gordon remain in the large school playoffs, while Jayton, Benjamin and Richland Springs are still alive in Division II.
With all set to be playing post-Thanksgiving football, there are only winners among that group, but our survivor list will shrink by at least two before the weekend. Without further ado, it’s time to look at what each is up against in Week 14.
We hope you enjoy this “lookahead” and encourage you to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for results.
LAST WEEK: 24-2, .923
SEASON TOTAL: 578-139, .806
Big Country Preps carries 16 teams from its coverage area into Week 14 and it’s my guess that at least nine of them will survive Thanksgiving weekend.
And on that subject, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you from all of us at BCP.
Here are this week’s picks, we’ll see you on the road!
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: Lubbock Monterey-Wylie boys basketball (40 images)”
After outscoring Lubbock Monterey 48-21 over the middle two quarters Tuesday to take a 55-36 lead into the final period, the Wylie boys basketball team appeared poised to cruise into Thanksgiving with a comfortable win over a former district rival.
As it would turn out, though, the Bulldogs would need a pair of clutch free throws and a big steal in the waning seconds to rally themselves for a thrilling 65-64 win at Bulldog Gym.
Led by Elijah Smothers, who scored nine of his team-high 22 points in the fourth quarter, the Plainsmen methodically erased a 22-point deficit over the games’ final 10 minutes and 15 seconds. But after watching the visitors take a one-point lead on a floater with 22.6 seconds remaining, Wylie’s Isaiah Carrillo was fouled with just under seven seconds left and sank two high-pressure free throws to give his team an edge it would protect with a steal on the other end.
Six teams from the Big Country Preps coverage area earned wins in the region semifinals last week to put area teams in four region final matchups this week.
That will make for a busy Thanksgiving week for Westbrook, Water Valley, Gordon, Benjamin, Jayton and Richland Springs, which all moved within a win of the state semifinals with victories.
We hope you enjoy this look back at last week’s games and encourage you to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for schedules and results.
Only a year removed from running a ground-based flexbone option attack, the Wall Hawks have managed to put that approach in the distant past with a remarkable effort through the air in 2024.
And who would have thought that making that difficult transition could have happened so quickly?
Now, having committed to a full-blown spread attack under new coach Craig Slaughter, the Hawks have already accumulated nearly 3,000 passing yards, placing them near the top in that category among Big Country teams.
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we offer fans the chance to pick the winners of all games involving our local and area football teams. The results of these weekly polls, which will close at 5 p.m. each Thursday, will be included in our weekly Pick ‘Em Panel.
Here are the games for Week 14:
Continue reading “WEEK 14 FAN POLLS … Pick this week’s 11-man winners!”
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-Anna area round football playoff (68 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: Glen Rose-Seminole area round football playoff (80 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: Stephenville-Hereford area round football playoff (66 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: Graham-Monahans area round football playoff (65 images)”
Sunray 49, Hawley 40 — Sunray (12-0) edged Hawley (10-2) for the right to face Post (12-0) in the regional semifinals.
Keagan Ables had a huge night in a losing effort for Hawley, hitting 23 of 40 passes for 444 yards and four TDs in his final game as a Bearcat.
His younger brother Camden was his top target, hauling in nine passes for 221 yards and one TD.
Jim Ned 35, Dalhart 7 — Gray Beasley rushed for 119 yards and four TDs and threw for 75 yards to lead Jim Ned to an area round win over Dalhart.
Leading 14-7 at the break, the Indians put the game away with 21 unanswered points in the second half.
Jim Ned (9-3) advances to face Paradise (10-2) in the Region I-3A DII semifinals. Dalhart finished up at 8-4.
Canyon West Plains 49, Brownwood 14 — West Plains rolled up 510 yards in total offense, including 306 yards rushing to eliminate the Lions.
Slade Russell rushed for 121 yards and two scores, Reid Macon rushed for 120 yards and two more TDs to lead West Plains (9-3), which will face Lampasas (10-2) in the regional semis.
Brownwood, which hurt itself with five turnovers, finished at 6-5. The Lions were led by Judson Coalson, who rushed for 94 yards and passed for 94.
GODLEY — Facing an Anna squad that entered the Region I-5A Division II area round averaging almost 51 points per game, Wylie coach Clay Martin knew his team would have a limited margin for error Friday at Wildcat Stadium.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, they exceeded what little margin they had before halftime in a season-ending 56-21 loss to the Coyotes.
Despite the lopsided final score, Wylie had its opportunities to make a game of Friday’s contest. But the Bulldogs’ hopes of pulling off the upset slowly evaporated as Anna rode four fourth-down conversions, an onside kick recovery and a big turnover on its own end of the field to a 42-14 halftime lead.
SWEETWATER — When the playoffs began, Glen Rose coach Cliff Watkins knew his team would have a treacherous path to the state championship game on Dec. 20 in Arlington.
Following a bi-district game against Saginaw Eagle Mountain, the Tigers’ had the potential of having to face Seminole, No. 3 Graham, Brock and No. 1 Carthage — all to face off against whoever comes out of the other side of the bracket.
Friday night at the Mustang Bowl, Glen Rose passed the first of those tests with a 52-50 win over Seminole in a triple overtime thriller in the Region I-4A Division II area round. The Tigers will next face Graham, which beat Monahans on Thursday, next week in Mineral Wells.
MANSFIELD — Aledo amassed five scoring plays of 36 yards or more and had 578 yards of total offense en route to a 59-14 victory over Abilene High in a Region 1-5A Division I area-round playoff Friday night at Vernon Newsom Stadium.
The Bearcats’ big plays, coupled with four costly turnovers by the Eagles, did most of the story telling in this one, as Aledo improved its record to 11-1 and earned a third-round playoff spot with the win. Abilene High finished its season at 8-4.
Though the Bearcats didn’t score first, they did score often, particularly in the first quarter, when they had touchdown runs of 36 and 76 yards by running back Raycine Guillory Jr., a 52-yard pick-six by defensive back Adrian Fuller and a 92-yard touchdown pass from Gavin Beard to Kaydon Finley. Those collective efforts translated into a 28-7 lead by quarter’s end, and the Bearcats got on the board five more times before the final whistle, tallying at least once in every quarter.
After highlighting the Big Country’s top guards and forwards the past two nights, we now take a look at the area’s best big men.
For the final installment in our three-part boys basketball position rankings series, we rank the Big Country’s top 10 post players for the 2024-25 season.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading through our rankings, and make sure to check back for all our boys and girls basketball coverage this season.
SNYDER — The Post Antelopes may have arrived at Grant Teaff Stadium with an 11-0 record before Thursday’s Region I-2A DI area round game with Anson. By night’s end, however, PHS was lucky to overcome four turnovers and escape with a 42-35 overtime win to keep its season alive.
Ian Vergara rushed for 196 yards and three scores, including a 4-yard game-winner in overtime to lead the Antelopes (12-0), who advance to face either Hawley (10-1) or Sunray (12-0) in next week’s regional semifinals.
For Anson the loss ended an 8-4 campaign that saw the Tigers eliminate Christoval in the bi-district round after earning a No. 3 seed from District 4. It was the best season in four years for Anson and the best thus far for third-year coach Cory McCombs.
Cory Layne led the Tigers with 272 yards rushing and 157 passing while accounting for five scores.
GRAHAM – No. 2 Albany has a likely date circled with No. 1 Muenster next week.
But Denney Faith’s Lions weren’t going to overlook Archer City Thursday night at Newton Field.
Four touchdowns in an eight-minute span during the second quarter put the Lions in complete control as they eliminated the Wildcats 48-14.
Albany (10-2) will either face Muenster or Wheeler next week in the Region II-2A Division II semifinals, while Archer City finishes its season at 8-4.
“We weren’t going to look past Archer City. We needed to make sure we took care of this one,” Faith said. “They’re a little beat up, but so are we. We told our kids all week long, there’s no excuses now.”
ABILENE — For three quarters, the fourth-ranked Stephenville Yellow Jackets found themselves in a dogfight with a scrappy Hereford squad Thursday at Shotwell Stadium.
But that changed in a flash in the opening minute of the fourth, when coach Sterling Doty’s squad scored a pair of touchdowns in a 12-second span to open the floodgates for a 35-7 victory in a tougher-than-expected area-round matchup.
After Ryan Gafford hit Tristian Gentry with a 73-yard touchdown pass on the opening play of the fourth quarter to break a 7-all tie, Hudson Butchee picked off a Kalub Ramirez pass on first down and returned it 27 yards for a score to give the Yellow Jackets the momentum they needed to close out the Whitefaces and earn a Region I-4A semifinal date next week with Canyon Randall.
SWEETWATER — Graham sophomore Damien Noria, a player on the Steers junior varsity squad, spent all week acting as a Monahans running back on the scout team to prepare the Steers defense for their Region I-4A Division II area-round matchup.
What nobody expected was to see him get a chance to shine under the bright lights of the Mustang Bowl on Thursday night.
With Graham cruising to an easy 63-6 win, Noria ran for 67 yards on 13 carries and trucked several defenders to score his first career touchdown in the third quarter.
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 our weekly fan polls for each matchup.
For those interested in voting, polls go up on Sunday night each week and close Thursday morning.
Disagree with our picks or the fan poll consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps’ Pick ‘Em Panel (Week 13)”
After kicking off our boys basketball position rankings series on Wednesday with the guards, we now shift our attention to the forwards.
For the second installment in our three-part series, we rank the area’s top-10 players at that position for 2024-25.
We hope you enjoy our list.
LAST WEEK: 44-6, .880
SEASON TOTAL: 554-137, .801
Heading into Week 13, a respectable 26 teams from the Big Country Preps coverage area have retained a pulse. That number isn’t unusual, but if we carry more than 20 into Round 3, then we’ll really have something to crow about.
It’s my guess that we’ll lose somewhere between eight and 12.
At present, the column is hitting just over 80 percent on picks for the season after correctly projecting 88 percent of last week’s winners.
With that, let’s dive into this week’s picks.
I’ll see you on the road.
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: Abilene High-San Angelo Central basketball (46 images)”
With boys basketball season in full swing, it’s time to shine a spotlight on some of the players you’ll be reading about throughout the 2024-25 season.
For the first installment in a three-part series that will cover all positions on the area boys basketball scene, we’ll be taking a look at the Big Country’s top guards, ranking our top 10 with a list of others to watch this winter.
We hope you enjoy reading through our list.
Abilene High boys basketball coach Justin Reese said anytime the Eagles face off with San Angelo Central, strange things happen.
Those strange things happened at the end of the third quarter on Tuesday night as Payton Shawver’s slam dunk preceded a half-court buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Eric Salazar to end the third quarter.
The flurry, which tied the game at 47, wasn’t enough for the Eagles as AHS dropped its home opener 68-61 to the Bobcats at Eagle Gym.
The first week of the playoffs is in the books, and what a week it was.
Twelve area teams survived the opening round of the six-man playoffs, setting up another intriguing round of matchups for this week.
Before we look ahead to those, it’s time to look back how we got here. We hope you enjoy this “rewind” and encourage you to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for schedules and results.
It’s been a little while for Anson’s Corey Layne.
The AHS senior quarterback took our Big Country Preps Player of the Week way back on Sept. 16, but has missed the top spot for two months — until today.
Layne, who led Anson to a 45-11 bi-district rout of Christoval last week, took our Player of the Week with an effort that included 197 yards rushing and four scores on only 20 carries. He also hit 12 of 20 passes for 171 yards and three more TDs to give him a direct hand in seven scores.
But that’s just the half of it.
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we offer fans the chance to pick the winners of all games involving our local and area football teams. The results of these weekly polls, which will close at 5 p.m. each Thursday, will be included in our weekly Pick ‘Em Panel.
Here are the games for Week 13:
Continue reading “WEEK 13 FAN POLLS … Pick this week’s 11-man winners!”
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: El Paso Andress-Wylie bi-district football playoff (54 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: Anson-Christoval bi-district football playoff (68 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.
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: Comanche-Peaster bi-district football playoff (84 images)”
The Wylie offense bombed away for 315 yards and six touchdowns through the air and the defense controlled the line of scrimmage from start to finish in a 46-10 win over El Paso Andress in a Region I-5A Division II bi-district matchup Thursday at Hugh Sandifer Stadium.
Behind quarterback Bear Meng, who completed 21 of 30 passes to lead the aerial assault, the Bulldogs put up 32 points by halftime. And the defense made sure that was enough to cruise comfortably into the area round.
For the game, the Bulldogs outgained the Eagles 431-203, keeping Andress out of the end zone until its final drive of the game, which spanned just 18 yards and came against Wylie reserves.