TUSCOLA — Jim Ned swept a varsity doubleheader on Friday at Bill Thornton Arena to maintain a hold on first place in both the girls and boys District 6-3A races.
The first win was routine; the second nearly brought the house down.
The girls took the opener 63-34. But in Game 2, the Sweetwater boys came within an eyelash of handing the Indians a loss on their home floor, falling to Jim Ned 52-50 before a raucous crowd that sat through four ties and five lead changes.
Below are the current season statistical leaders for Big Country boys basketball through Jan. 23.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the regular season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Is your favorite team missing? If so, please pass along a friendly reminder to your coach to check his email for our weekly stats request. We’ll be happy to add them to our database after they arrive.
Below are the current season statistical leaders for Big Country girls basketball through Jan. 23.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the regular season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Is your favorite team missing? If so, please pass along a friendly reminder to your coach to check his or her email for our weekly stats request. We’ll be happy to add them to our database after they arrive.
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-Early basketball doubleheader (20 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: Brownwood-Brock basketball doubleheader (30 images)”
EARLY — In a loud, difficult environment for road teams, both the Comanche girls and boys managed to overcome sluggish shooting a sweep a District 8-3A doubleheader at Early on Tuesday.
The Comanche girls opened the evening with a 47-37 win — fighting off multiple Early rallies in the process. The CHS boys claimed the nightcap 54-45, despite a slow start.
Back-to-back double-doubles in two dominating efforts were enough to give Gorman junior Delila Crain our Big Country Player of the Week for the week ending Saturday, Jan. 18.
Opening the week with an 83-7 rout of Bluff Dale, Crain posted 30 points and 10 boards to go with five assists, five deflections, six steals and four blocks.
She followed that with 21 points, 12 boards, five deflections, four assists and three steals in a 58-27 win over Huckabay.
BROCK — A hot shooting second half and a nasty case of the flu were enough to help Brock secure a District 6-4A sweep of Brownwood in the Brock High School Gym on Friday.
The Brock girls opened the twin bill with a 64-41 win that saw the Lady Eagles close with a 41-21 second half. The Brock boys took the nightcap, overpowering a Brownwood club that had nearly half of its roster returning from and one player still missing with the flu. The Lions were simply no match for Brock on Friday, falling 82-38.
We all know a football player who almost never misses any practice time and practically lives in the weight room. He’s always early to arrive and late to leave. He’s coachable, but seldom needs direction because he always pays attention.
You know who I’m talking about.
The guy who sets a good example for young players. The guy who never complains and, first and foremost, is tough mentally and physically. He may not be the best player on a team (though some of them are). But he’s definitely the guy who gets the most out of the talent he’s given.
Welcome to the 2024 “True Grit” team — the one place in the Big Country where guys who fall into this category are recognized for it.
Here are our superlative award winners for the 2023 All-Big Country Preps football team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Here are our selections for the 2024 All-Big Country Preps Football Team (Third-Team roster). For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
The fact that Riley Grohman is our Player of the Week should surprise no one, considering she was named to our All-Big Country Preps team last year. But when you toss in her stats — an all-encompassing set of numbers — it makes even more sense.
The senior guard was at the top of the stat sheet last week for the third-ranked Lady Indians, who swept Merkel (70-25) and Clyde (79-29) to improve to 24-2.
Wyatt Nickson was on fire over Christmas Break.
In fact, in six games the senior guard averaged 19.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game while shooting 45 percent overall and 48 percent from the 3-point line.
“Wyatt has been putting in the extra work to make himself the best scorer possible,” coach Blake Allen said. “He has been on an absolute tear and he is fun to watch play basketball”
The Indians enter this week at 12-6.
ARLINGTON — After three hours and 10 minutes of struggle, three overtimes and numerous missed opportunities to end the game, the Ganado Indians edged Stamford 30-28 to win the Class 2A Division I state championship on Thursday at AT&T Stadium.
With the game reduced to alternating PATs, Ganado took the final lead of the game when Offensive MVP Bruce Ullman hit Austen Pena with a two-point conversion pass in the first half of the third OT.
Stamford had a chance to tie with its final possession, but an attempted reverse pass by Cle’ Whitfield was picked off by Ullman to end the game.
Ullman led the Indians (15-1) with 172 yards passing and two scores and 48 yards rushing and another TD. Stamford, which got 152 yards passing and two scores from Christian Duran and 89 yards rushing and two scores from Kaston Vega, also closed at 15-1.
“It was a defensive battle from the word go,” Stamford coach Wayne Hutchinson said. “I can’t say enough about our kids. They were resilient, they worked their tails off and it showed in the game today.”
Our All-Big Country Preps Volleyball team, released today, is in place to honor those who achieved the most on-court success in 2024. It is off the court, however, where character, grit
and work ethic are often measured. And it is with our Big Country Preps Max Effort Team that we wish to honor those players who were the hardest-working, best teammates in the
area this fall.
This team isn’t about who the best volleyball players were.
The Max Effort team honors hustle, discipline, toughness, coachability and selflessness — traits that coaches wish every player had.
Here are our third-team selections for the 2024 All-Big Country Preps volleyball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
LAST WEEK: 3-0, 1.000
SEASON TOTAL: 593-143, .805
And then there were three.
After 16 weeks of struggle, the Big Country has landed three representatives in Arlington for their respective state championship games. Stamford, Gordon and Jayton have reached Jerry World, beginning play today with six-man action. Stamford will play at 11 a.m. on Thursday.
That said, it has been a distinct pleasure, as always, to write this weekly picks column and I’m already looking forward to doing it again in 2025.
Here are my final picks for this year. I’ll see you on the road.
Our final Big Country Preps Player of the Week for 2024 earned it in several ways.
Forsan sophomore Coy Evans, a multi-talented guard who plays way ahead of the learning curve, takes our accolade after helping the Buffaloes to a 3-1 record and a third-place finish in the Borden County Tournament over the Weekend.
“He played very unselfish basketball,” Forsan coach Cory Richardson said. “He was getting other people involved and when we needed him to, he stepped up and scored.”
ABILENE — Leading 32-17 with 9:43 left in the third quarter of Friday’s Class 3A DII state semifinal with Gunter, the Wall Hawks were clicking on all cylinders. They were in possession of the scoreboard, all of the momentum and were less than two quarters away from a trip to the state championship game.
Then it happened.
The two-time defending state champion Tigers reeled off 25 unanswered points to defeat Wall 42-32 at Abilene Christian’s Wildcat Stadium.
Preston Tarpley threw for 228 yards and three scores and kicked two field goals to lead Gunter (13-2), which advances to face Woodville (13-2) for the 3A DII state title.
LAST WEEK: 5-2, .714
SEASON TOTAL: 590-143, .804
With area six-man teams Jayton and Gordon enjoying a week off after qualifying for their respective state championship games, Week 15 brings us three teams (Brock, Wall and Stamford) from the Big Country Preps coverage area that still have a chance at reaching Jerry World.
The survivors will join our six-man clubs in Arlington next week on Texas High School Football’s biggest stage.
That said, let’s dive into this week’s forecast.
I’ll see you on the road.
Ira junior Hudson Luft had a week that was nothing short of eye-popping — eye-popping enough to earn him our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award for the week ending Dec. 7.
Luft takes it this time around with a performance that went as follows: 28 points, 10 boards vs. Spur, 18 points, eight steals vs. Eden, 46 points, four steals vs. Loraine, 21 points vs. Robert Lee, 30 points, six steals vs. Roscoe and 24 points vs Winters.
Landon York hit 17 of 24 passes for 348 yards and five scores and Wall rushed for 162 yards via committee as the Hawks routed Canadian 49-3 to take the Region I-3A DII title.
After Canadian opened the scoring with an early field goal, the Hawks reeled off 49 unanswered points to improve to 13-1. They led 28-3 at the break and continued to dominate throughout the second half.
“We just played really sharp in all phases from the outset,” Wall coach Craigh Slaughter said. “The past two years we had really fallen behind early (against Canadian) and right away we were playing catch up.
“This year, they did go out and get three points, but we went right down the field and scored. And from that moment, I thought the kids played with the perfect amount of confidence and moxie. It was an impressive performance for sure and they really played lights-out.”
Continue reading “GAME REPORT: Wall destroys Canadian to advance to 3A DII state semifinals”
Photos by Brian McLean
STEPHENVILLE — It scarcely resembled the trip to the woodshed that Graham gave Brock in a 38-0 rout on Nov. 1. This time around, at cold, rainy Memorial Stadium at Tarleton State University, Brock outlasted Graham 12-10 on Friday in a three-overtime trench war.
Bryer McDonald scored on a 3-yard two-point conversion run in the third overtime to put Brock up for good (after two OTs, both teams alternate two-point conversions until the game is decided). This was followed by a would-be game-tying pass from Graham’s Ty Thompson that fell incomplete to give the Eagles the Region I-4A DII title.
Brody Woods rushed for 92 yards and one TD and threw for 121 to lead Brock (13-1) which now advances to face Carthage (13-1) in the 4A DII state semifinals.
“We’re ecstatic and happy, but my heart breaks for (Graham’s) seniors because I’ve been there before,” Brock coach Billy Mathis said. “But I’m happy for our seniors. We get to play another week.
“You get down to this time and it’s about guts, it’s about grit, it’s about being unselfish and we made it happen tonight.”
SNYDER — With Stamford’s overall team speed garnering much of the attention this season, the Bulldogs’ offensive line and aggressive defense have quietly propelled SHS to a 14-0 start and trip to the state semifinals.
Both were on display in Thursday’s 48-26 win over previously unbeaten Post in the Region I-2A DI championship at Grant Teaff Tiger Stadium.
Christian Duran was 11 of 11 for 227 yards and three scores and Kaston Vega rushed for 131 yards and two more TDs to lift Stamford, which now advances to face either Hamilton (13-0) or Axtell (12-1) in the state semifinals.
Post, which was limited to six points through three quarters by Stamford’s 3-3 stack defense, was led by Ian Vergara’s 223 yards rushing and three scores. Twenty of the Antelopes’ 26 points came in the fourth quarter while several reserve players were on the field.
LAST WEEK: 7-2, .777
SEASON TOTAL: 585-141, .805
It seems like the day before yesterday when I was out working our annual football photo tour during two-a-days.
Now we’re looking down the barrel of Christmas.
Unbelievable.
At any rate, we still have eight teams from our coverage area slugging their way through the playoff brackets and unless I miss my guess, we’ll see at least four playing for state titles in Arlington.
In the meantime, we’ve got state semifinals to take care of.
Here’s this week’s forecast:
With all the competition in the Big Country Preps coverage area, taking our Player of the Week award once is a big enough challenge.
Wall quarterback Landon York has done it twice.
York, who led Wall to a 56-21 win over Littlefield in the Region I-3A DII semifinals, takes his second award with a huge performance.
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.
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.”
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
LAST WEEK: 46-9, .836
SEASON TOTAL: 510-131, .796
I’ll be the first to admit that there’s some merit to having four teams per district making the playoffs each year. First, gives allows teams riddled with injuries a chance to come back late in the year. And secondly, it gives strong teams stuck in very tough districts a chance to show what they can do regionally.
There is, however, an annual downside to our generosity and it manifests itself each year in the first round — blowouts. And when I say blowouts, I mean blowouts on the order of 50 or 60 points and sometimes worse when a very weak No. 4 seed faces a very strong No. 1.
It just goes with the turf and this year will be no different, so brace yourselves for it.
In the meantime, it’s my task to pick the winners among all of the playoff games involving teams in our coverage area, highlighting the top games of interest. There is no Game of the Week beyond this point. From now on, there all the Game of the Week.
With that, let’s dive in to our Week 12 Playoff Forecast.
I’ll see you on the road.
The fall national signing period opened Wednesday, and a number of athletes throughout the Big Country Preps coverage area either made their college decisions official at signing day ceremonies or have announced plans to do so in the near future.
Here’s a list of those area seniors and where they’ll be competing next season:
When someone hits 27 of 34 passes for 441 yards and five scores, it’s generally the type of performance that appears on our Player of the Week radar screen.
When it’s done in only two and a half quarters, however, it makes everyone sit up and do a doubletake.
That was the case for Glen Rose quarterback Canyon Evans, who shredded Fort Worth Dunbar in a 61-7 win on Friday that saw him removed before the onset of the fourth quarter.
Mason 35, San Saba 0 — Mason locked up the district title with this win, finishing 9-1 and 5-0 for the regular season.
San Saba, which had a shot at the district title coming in, finished at 6-4 and 3-2 — tied for second place with Thorndale and Holland.
Glen Rose 61, Fort Worth Dunbar 7 — Canyon Evans threw for 441 yards and five scores, hitting 27 of 34 throws along the way to lead the Tigers to an easy win.
Glen Rose produced a dominating defensive effort as well, limiting Dunbar to only 141 yards in total offense (50 on the ground).
Coahoma 42, Merkel 14 — Jaidyn Vineyard rushed for 354 yards and five scores to help push Coahoma through to a district win over Merkel.
The Bulldogs (6-3, 2-2) finished with 449 yards in total offense. Merkel finished its season at 0-10 and 0-4.
Miles 29, Roscoe 13 — 
Liam Yancy threw for 275 yards and three scores as Miles defeated Roscoe on Friday. Cooper Ellison was on the receiving end of two of those TD strikes and finished with seven catches for 73 yards.
The Bulldogs improved to 8-2 and 4-1 with the win.
Roscoe fell to 4-5 and 3-2.
Jim Ned 45, Sweetwater 28 — Aiden Ellis rushed for 262 yards and three scores on 43 carries in a bulldozer-like effort for Jim Ned, which rushed for 400 yards as a team.
With the score tied at 21 at the break, the Indians took command with a 24-7 second half.
Cisco 48, Olney 6 — The Loboes (6-4, 2-3) locked up the No. 4 seed with a lopsided win over Olney.
Dillon Silva rushed for 183 yards and three scores and Parker Williams rushed for 121 yards and three more TDs to lead the Loboes, who carried a 21-0 lead into the break.
Brownwood 42, Marble Falls 14 — Levi Pearson rushed for 108 yards and two scores and Matt Rodriguez rushed for 132 yards and another TD to lead Brownwood over Marble Falls.
After a 14-14 first quarter, the Lions scored 28 answered points to take control of the game.
Goldthwaite 46, Mart 0 — Many people thought it was a misprint. Others thought the score had been accidentally reversed.
But once the truth began to leak out late last night, Big Country football fans were stunned to learn that Goldthwaite had not only defeated top-ranked Mart, but they had essentially taken the Panthers to the woodshed, handing the Panthers an eye-popping 46-0 loss.