ALBANY — Even after losing in straight sets, Albany volleyball coach MJ Reneau was encouraged by how her team performed against No. 7 Hawley at home on Tuesday night.
Hawley claimed a 25-17, 25-23, 25-19 win in the District 6-2A matchup to move to 2-0 in district play while the Lady Lions fell to 1-1.
After the match, Reneau said the final score didn’t indicate how close the two squads are, especially the opening set, which saw Hawley go on a 12-3 run.
When Courtney Freeman was named the new volleyball coach at Clyde shortly before the beginning of the 2024 season, she immediately was met with an array of formidable challenges.
Surprisingly, the biggest one wasn’t the fact that she was succeeding the highly successful Laura Carr in that position.
Carr led Clyde to the playoffs routinely throughout her nine-year stay there, and her 2023 team made it to the Region I-3A semifinals.
Meanwhile, as Carr moved on after that season (to become an assistant principal in Wichita Falls ISD), so, too, did some of the better senior volleyball players in Clyde High School history. The cupboard Freeman inherited was far from bare, given the type of program Carr established, but it wasn’t filled with experienced, heirloom-quality athletes, the likes of which helped Carr make Clyde a perennial volleyball contender.
We’re approaching the midpoint of the regular season and teams are preparing for the imminent start of district play. And while Week 5 didn’t yield many competitive games throughout the Big Country Preps coverage area, the teams atop our power rankings continued to separate themselves from the pack.
Whether it was Strawn routing Zephyr in the “Six-Man Lookahead” Game of the Week, Robert Lee taking care of Sands or Gordon and Jayton cruising to wins over quality opponents, the area’s cream continued its rise to the top.
As we have in the past on Mondays, it’s time to recap the week that was in our “Six-Man Rewind” column. We hope you enjoy this review, and encourage you to check out our check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for standings, results and upcoming matchups.
As it turned out, the best game in the Big Country last week was Clyde’s dramatic 54-49 win over Muleshoe in the top shootout the area has seen thus far in 2025.
At the heart of all that mayhem was our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, CHS junior quarterback Devan Wright.
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 6:
Continue reading “WEEK 6 FAN POLLS … Pick this week’s 11-man winners!”
A year ago, the Ruston, La., Bearcats brought 11 DI players to the Lone Star State and beat three quality programs in Longview (21-10), Midland Legacy (38-6) and Stephenville (63-17). Yet they finished 11-3 with three losses to Louisiana teams and failed to win their state title.
What does that say about the quality of Louisiana football?
Regardless, the Bearcats are again dipping their paws into Texas’ talent pool this year, with two more wins over Longview (38-35) and Legacy (49-21). Stephenville is up next in a neutral site game in Longview this Friday and Ruston (4-0) is again loaded, with at least six DI players, including 6-foot-6, 235-pound blue chip tight end Deejay Drain.
Continue reading “BIG COUNTRY PREPS NOTEBOOK: Stephenville, Ruston, La., rematch should be closer”
Photo by Tori Bunch, PressPassSports.com
Abilene High 42, Amarillo Caprock 7 — Brayden Henry and Tristan Beal each threw for a pair of touchdowns, and John Rangel caught a TD pass from both to help the Eagles to a convincing win over the Longhorns in the district opener for both squads.
The Abilene High defense, meanwhile, pitched a shutout until late in the third quarter, allowing the Eagles () to stretch a 28-0 halftime lead to 42-0 before Caprock finally got on the board.
Abilene Cooper 42, Wichita Falls Memorial 27 — The Cougars pounded out 357 yards on the ground, getting 144 yards and a touchdown from Peyton Ewing and 127 yards and four scores from quarterback Jaden Carrillo, to score an upset win over the Mavericks in the district opener for both teams.
Markquel Sims also had 71 yards and a TD on the ground for Cooper (3-2, 1-0), which outscored Memorial 21-6 in the second half to break a 21-all tie at halftime.
Millsap 49, Santo 27 — Braun Johnson ran for 205 yards and Madden Gilbert passed for 254 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs to a three-touchdown win over the Wildcats.
Gabriel Jones added 128 yards receiving for Millsap, which built a 42-7 halftime lead and remained in control from there in handing Santo (4-1) its first loss of the season.
Petrolia 30, Haskell 28 — The Pirates and Indians went to halftime tied at 14, but PHS finally created some separation in the second half, taking a 30-20 fourth-quarter lead and holding on from there for a thrilling win.
Haskell rallied back to pull within two late in the game, but that was as close as the Indians could get in falling to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in league play.
Ropesville Ropes 59, Forsan 0 — Ryland Keith ran for 274 yards and a touchdown while receiving for 59 more yards to help the Eagles rout the Buffaloes.
Ropes finished with 592 yards of total offense, getting 142 yards and two TDs passing from Kade Franklin, 86 yards and a TD rushing from Jaivyth Cruz and a pair of receiving scores from Kolter Dockery to increase a 22 halftime lead to 45-0 by the start of the fourth quarter.
Ballinger 21, Stanton 17 — Coleman King passed for 196 yards and a touchdown, and Pierson Nord had 73 yards rushing and 76 yards receiving to help the Bearcats to a hard-fought win over the Buffaloes.
Ballinger (3-2), which also got 71 yards and a TD receiving from Hunter Kresta, outgained Stanton 413-337 for the game, taking a 13-10 lead into halftime before extending that advantage to 19-10 early in the fourth quarter.
San Saba 17, Hamilton 14 — Jason Everett and Luke Tharp combined for 205 yards rushing and one score to help lead the Armadillos to a huge upset over Hamilton.
San Saba (3-2) will enjoy an open date next Friday before opening district play with Johnson City (3-2) on Oct. 10.
Ingram Moore 37, Brady 33 — The Bulldogs outgained the Warriors 480-322, but an early hole proved too deep to climb out of in a hard-fought loss.
Brady (3-2) trailed 9-0 after a quarter and 23-7 at halftime, before mounting a rally in the second half. The Bulldogs, who converted just one of five fourth-down attempts in the game, narrowed the gap to 30-25 and 37-33 in the fourth quarter, but that was as close as they get to the lead.
Graham 35, Lake Worth 10 — Leading just 14-10 at halftime, the Steers shut the Bullfrogs out over the final two quarters to pull away for a convincing win.
Graham, which got 186 yards and three touchdowns rushing from Colt Taylor in the victory, scored a pair of third-quarter TDs to increase its lead to 28-10 by the start of the final period and was never threatened again after that.
Alvarado 55, Glen Rose 50 — The Tigers’ hard luck continued on Friday with a fifth straight loss. To date, four of Glen Rose’s five losses have been decided by two scores or less.
Their last three defeats have been decided by one score.
Stephenville 64, Waco La Vega 28 — Zyler McClendon rushed for 207 yards and three scores and Trot Jordan threw for 235 yards and three more TDs as Stephenville routed La Vega.
The Yellow Jackets improved to 5-0 heading into next Friday’s showdown with Ruston, La.
Big Spring 51, Snyder 34 — Marcus Rios passed for 159 yards and three touchdowns and contributed a team-high 107 yards on the ground to lead the Steers to a comfortable win over the Tigers.
Xander Garza (16-70, 2 TDs rushing), Jacobi Lozano (3-84, 2 TDs receiving) and Kaine Valenzuela (4-75, 1 TD) also had productive games for Big Spring, which finished with 375 yards of total offense and won the turnover battle 3-2.
Wall 35, Sweetwater 0 — Wall (5-0) remained unbeaten with a workmanlike effort against Sweetwater.
Landon York threw for 171 yards and three TDs to lift Wall, which limited the Mustangs to 183 total yards.
Sweetwater (1-4) was led by Caiden Ortiz, who threw for 108 yards and Mason Blueford, who rushed three times for 45 yards.
Big Spring 51, Snyder 34 — Marcus Rios passed for 159 yards and three touchdowns and contributed a team-high 107 yards on the ground to lead the Steers to a comfortable win over the Tigers.
Xander Garza (16-70, 2 TDs rushing), Jacobi Lozano (3-84, 2 TDs receiving) and Kaine Valenzuela (4-75, 1 TD) also had productive games for Big Spring (3-2), which finished with 375 yards of total offense and won the turnover battle 3-2.
Cisco 65, Frenship Memorial 13 — The Loboes rolled up 500 yards in total offense including 321 on the ground in a lopsided win over Memorial.
Noah Hernandez rushed for 108 yards and one score on four carries and Colby Mcilroy threw for 179 yards and three scores to led Cisco (4-1), which charted its fourth straight win.
Memorial dropped to 3-2.
Clyde 54, Muleshoe 49 — The Bulldogs topped Muleshoe in what turned out to be the area’s most entertaining game of the week.
Devan Wright rushed for 179 yards and four scores and threw for 246 yards and three more touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs, who improved to 4-1 with the win.
Muleshoe dropped to 2-3.
Hamlin 36, Quanah 6 — Javier Ramos threw for 313 yards and two scores and Hudson Smith rushed for 105 yards and two more TDs to lift Hamlin to a lopsided win over Quanah.
It was the fourth-straight win for Hamlin (4-1) since a season-opening loss to still-unbeaten Anson.
Quanah dropped to 3-2 with the loss.
Photos by Tori Bunch, PressPassSports.com
AMARILLO — The Abilene High football took care of business in its District 2-5A Division I opener Friday, cruising to a 42-7 win over Amarillo Caprock at Dick Bivins Stadium.
The Eagles built a 21-0 lead by the end of the opening quarter and were never threatened after, doing all of their scoring before the Longhorns finally got on the board late in the third period.
Brayden Henry and Tristan Beal both threw two touchdown passes, while John Rangel caught a TD pass from each. Beal and Ethan Joyner each added rushing scores for AHS, which improved to 3-2 with the win.
WICHITA FALLS — It took Wylie a while to get some separation Friday, but after struggling to put away Wichita Falls Legacy for three quarters, the Bulldogs slammed the door on the Leopards in the fourth to claim a 45-24 road win in the District 2-5A Division II opener for both squads.
Due in large part to three turnovers, WHS led just 13-10 at halftime and 23-17 after three quarters. But coach Clay Martin’s team opened the final period with three consecutive touchdowns put the game away.
The Bulldogs outgained Legacy 431-236 in the victory, rushing for 290 of those yards in improving to 3-2 on the season.
ANSON — Friday’s Big Country Preps Game of the Week was expected to be a street fight of sorts, pairing off Albany and Anson —two of the more physical small school teams in the area.
It didn’t disappoint.
Anson (5-0), behind a top-notch defensive effort and a big night from Malachi St. John, shut down an Albany rally attempt in a 20-6 win to remain unbeaten.
Led by Shawn Keen’s 60 yards rushing and one score, Albany slipped to 3-2.
The Cooper football team took every punch Wichita Falls Memorial had and counter-punched harder Friday, eventually landing the knockout blow in the second half of a 42-27 win at Shotwell Stadium.
The Cougars overcame a number of tough breaks throughout the game, using a punishing rushing attack and an opportunistic defensive effort to frustrate the favored Mavericks enough to pull away late in the District 2-5A Division II opener for both squads.
After going to halftime with the score tied at 21-all, Cooper outscored Memorial 21-6 over the final two quarters, finishing with 357 yards rushing and a 3-1 advantage in the turnover battle to improve to 3-2 on the season with its second consecutive victory.
COLORADO CITY — After going 2-8 in his first year as a head coach, Bangs’ Colton Buzzard set the bar high for his second year leading the Dragons.
“Our expectations are to make the playoffs and win that first-round game,” he said. “We wanted to treat this trip like a playoff road trip because in the second round we are going to have to travel like this.”
Friday night, the Dragons ruined Colorado City’s homecoming with a 56-0 win at Wolf Stadium, using two turnovers and a special teams score in a span of 60 seconds to turn a scoreless game into a blowout.
COAHOMA — Most successful football programs have an identity of sorts — an aspect of the team which most fans quickly think of when the subject of that ballclub is brought up.
At Coahoma, where coach Chris Joslin is currently in his eighth year of guiding the Bullldogs, that identity has largely been built around offense. And heading into this season with quarterback Boyd Cox expected to improve on an already impressive set of numbers, offense was again what most area fans were talking about when the subject of the Bulldogs came up around the water cooler.
Not anymore.
Week 5 is upon us, and we have another strong slate of six-man games in the Big Country Preps coverage area.
Topping that list this week is a high-profile Division II matchup between unbeaten Zephyr and perennial power Strawn, our “Six-Man Lookahead” Game of the Week, but there are a number of others worth diving into as well.
So let’s stop wasting time and do just that. We hope you enjoy this look at the Week 5 schedule and encourage you to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for more information on your favorite team(s).
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 evening.
Disagree with our picks or the fan poll consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
LAST WEEK: 38-10, .791
SEASON TOTAL: 199-56, .780
ALBANY (3-1) AT ANSON (4-0)
Nothing stirs my interest early in the football season more than having a surprise team square off with an established powerhouse.
So when selecting our Big Country Preps Game of the Week for Sept. 26, Albany’s visit to Anson (4-0) was a big blip on the area radar screen.
Albany (3-1) a perennial power coming off a loss to unbeaten Coahoma, will now face an Anson club that some believe is the biggest surprise in the Big Country thus far.
Over the past five decades, the Cooper football program has become known for the quality of rushers that have called its backfield home.
From Terry Orr (2,485 yards from 1977-79) to Allen Gunter (2,933 yards from 1981-83) to Mike Rose (4,271 yards from 1991-93) to Dominic Rhodes (3,102 yards from 1994-96) to Brandon Diles (3,145 yards from 2000-02) to A’mon Pimpton (3,102 yards from 2006-08) to Devin Johnson (3,106 yards from 2014-16) to Tyrees Whitfield (3,916 yards from 2015-17) to Noah Garcia (5,389 yards from 2017-20) to Daniel Bray (2,079 yards from 2022-23), CHS has been a veritable factory when it comes to producing game-breaking running backs.
If things continue on their current path, that list should grow by one this season, as senior Peyton Ewing looks to etch his name in permanent ink in the annals of excellent Cooper backs. While he still has some work to do to build the credentials those before him did, the third-year varsity lettermen is playing at a similar level this fall for a Cougar offense that is reaping the benefits of his big-play ability.
When Bangs visits Colorado City at 7 p.m. Friday, the Dragons will have a chance to take a giant step toward something that hasn’t happened in recent years: three football victories and a winning record heading into district play.
Bangs has finished each of the past two seasons with a 2-8 record. But after splitting their first four games, the Dragons are primed to create the foundation for a campaign that could extend beyond the first week of November. In fact, coach Colton Buzzard said, save for some first-game jitters and an unfortunate bounce or two in Week 2, the Dragons could be undefeated.
“We had chances to be 4-0,” he said as his team was preparing to wrap up preparation for the game against the 0-4 Wolves. “But that’s how it goes sometimes. Our offense is starting to jell, and our defense understands what needs to be done. If we continue to improve and cut down on the mistakes, we could be pretty competitive moving forward.”
Speaking of “moving forward,” no Dragon has done that better this fall than senior fullback Cason Tidwell. While he is only 16 years old — and a newcomer to the position — the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Tidwell has rushed for 464 yards and six touchdowns. He has been Bangs’ most prolific player on both sides of the ball during the team’s recent two-game win streak that included a 31-26 victory over San Angelo Grape Creek and a 71-0 rout of Abilene TLCA.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Albany-Abilene TLCA volleyball (52 images)”
The Wylie volleyball team opened District 4-5A play in dominating fashion Tuesday, traveling four miles north to hand crosstown rival Cooper a 25-7, 25-7, 25-17 loss at Cougar Gym.
It was the fifth consecutive win for the Lady Bulldogs, who notched victories over ranked squads from Bushland and Stephenville last week to ride a wave of positive momentum into league play.
Now 25-7 on the season, WHS will take a 1-0 district mark into road matches against Wichita Falls Legacy on Friday and Abilene High next Tuesday. Cooper, meanwhile, will look to regroup quickly before taking on Abilene High on Friday at Eagle Gym.
Albany coach MJ Reneau said before Tuesday night’s District 6-2A opener that she was hoping to see her team snap out of a funk that had seen them lose nine of 13 matches and 12 of their last 14 sets.
While the Lady Lions struggled, including six service errors in the final set, Albany still began district play with a 25-16, 25-10, 25-19 win over Abilene TLCA at Eagle Gymnasium.
The win pushed Albany to 10-10 overall while the Lady Eagles are now 2-10.
Week 4 yielded a number of eye-popping results and statement wins.
Whether it was May knocking off unbeaten Newcastle in our “Six-Man Lookahead” Game of the Week or Gordon going up a classification to thump Thorndale in a 11-man game, there was no shortage of intrigue for area six-man fans.
As has become custom the past two years around here, it’s time to recap the week that was in our “Six-Man Rewind” column. We hope you enjoy this look back at last week’s action and encourage you to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for up-to-date standings, results and upcoming matchups.
Continue reading “SIX-MAN REWIND: High-profile matchups deliver in wild Week 4”
Wylie junior Haddie Mock was at her very best against difficult competition last week, helping the Lady Bulldogs to wins over seventh-ranked 3A Bushland (25-8) and 21st-ranked 4A Stephenville last week.
Mock finished a whopping combined total of 19 blocks in the two matches to help the Lady Bulldogs improve to 24-7. She also had 16 combined kills.
Chilton 14, Goldthwaite 0 — Chilton rolled up 264 yards rushing, with Marneko Thomas leading the way with 177 yards on only 14 carries.