Here are the Big Country’s rushing leaders through Week 10:
It’s been a good while since a Goldthwaite Eagle snagged our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award in any sport. But sophomore Owen Campbell obliterated that streak with a fabulous effort in a 61-0 rout of Meridian on Friday.
His performance came on both sides of the ball, beginning with 12 carries for 144 yards and four touchdowns from his running back position.
Defensively Campbell charted eleven tackles, including seven solos, four assists and an interception from the GHS secondary.
“Owen had a tremendous game on Friday where he contributed to our win,” coach Andy Howard said. “He made a huge impact in all three phases of the game. He plays a huge role for us every week on defense, offense and on special teams.
“He continues to grow and improve as a player every week. I am proud of Owen but proud of everyone around him as well.”
San Saba 34, Holland 0 — Luke Tharp rushed for 171 yards and three scores and Jason Everett rushed for 99 yards and one score on only 13 carries to lead San Saba to a rout of Holland.
The Armadillos improved to 6-3 and 3-1 with the win. Holland dropped to 1-8 and 0-4.
The win gives San Saba a chance to grab a piece of first place next week if it can defeat Mason on the road.
Goldthwaite 61, Meridian 0 — Owen Campbell rushed for 144 yards and four touchdowns to help the Eagles to a lopsided win over Meridian.
Goldthwaite improved to 6-3 overall and 4-2 with the win.
Meridian fell to 1-8 and 1-5.
Stephenville 49, Brownwood 0 — For a complete report on this game, please read Brandon McAuliffe’s game story.
Stephenville improved to 9-0 and 3-0 with the win; Brownwood dropped to 5-4 and 2-1.
SHS clinched the district title with the win.
Glen Rose 53, Fort Worth Benbrook 14 — After an 0-5 start against a murderous non-district schedule, the Glen Rose Tigers have rebounded with four straight wins — the last of which, a 53-14 rout of Fort Worth Benbrook, clinched the district championship.
Judd Connally threw for 177 yards and two scores and rushed for 92 yards and two more TDs to lift the Tigers. Tyson Sullivan was another key contributor, rushing for 116 yards and two scores on only 12 carries.
Benbrook, which was in pursuit of the district title, fell to 5-4 and 3-1.
Coahoma 42, Stanton 0
Coahoma had an easy time with a struggling Stanton team, rolling up 391 yards in total offense, including 257 passing yards from Austin Joslin.
CHS led 21-0 at the break and put the game away with 21 unanswered third-quarter points.
Coahoma improved to 7-2 overall and 2-1 in league play; Stanton dropped to 1-8 and 0-3.
Cisco 35, Anson 14 — Colby McIlroy rushed for 169 yards and one score and threw for 95 yards and another TD to lift Cisco to a district-clinching win over Anson.
Leading 21-14 at the break, the Loboes iced the game with a pair of unanswered touchdowns in the second half.
The Loboes improved to 8-1 and 4-0 with the win; Anson fell to 6-3 and 1-3.
Jim Ned 41, Clyde 34 — Cash Gwinn threw for 157 yards and two TDs and rushed for an additional 40 yards and a third score to lift Jim Ned to an important win over Clyde.
Trailing 34-28 at the break, the Indians (8-1, 4-0) rallied with two unanswered scores in the second half to get the win.
Devan Wright led Clyde with 172 yards rushing; Miles Wilsher rushed for 72 yards and four TDs.
Jim Ned improved to 8-1 and 4-0 with the win and can clinch the district title with a win over Sweetwater next Friday. Clyde fell to 7-2 and 3-1.
Hamlin 43, Cross Plains 18 — Luke White rushed for 171 yards and one TD and Isaiah Hutchings rushed for 62 yards and three TDs as Hamlin dominated Cross Plains.
The Buffaloes were led by Landry Savell, who rushed for 57 yards and one score.
Hamlin improved to 8-1 and 4-0 with the win; Cross Plains fell to 3-6 and 1-3.
LAST WEEK: 48-9, .842
SEASON TOTAL: 424-97, .810

Every so often, a game is so high-profile, it qualifies for the Big Country Preps Game of the Week, regardless of what people generally think will happen once the teams take the field.
This week’s matchup between age-old rivals Stephenville (8-0, 2-0 District 4-4A DI) at Brownwood (5-3, 2-0) falls into that category, with the two clubs essentially playing for a league title, though most people believe top-ranked SHS will win handily.
Keep in mind, there are a few extra factors worth taking note of, not the least of which is the fact that Brownwood has followed a 1-3 start with four straight wins. And if you want to stretch that out a bit, the Lions have followed an 0-2 start with five wins in their last six contests, including wins over good teams from Glen Rose, Lampasas and Burnet.
Brownwood is a home at Gordon Wood Stadium, and it’s held three of its last four opponents to 10 points or less.
Does that mean I’m leaning toward the red-hot Lions here?
No.
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Wednesday at 7 p.m. throughout the regular season.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
What more can be said about the performance of Wall senior Landon York last week other than it was a model of efficiency?
Our Big Country Preps Player of the Week shredded Grape Creek in a 48-0 district win to clinch the District 4-3A DII championship.
Along the way, York connected on 18 of 21 throws for 246 yards and get this: seven touchdowns. That means one out of every three throws resulted in points.
How good of a night did he have? How about a ridiculous quarterback rating of 294.1?
San Saba 42, Harper 7 —
Luke Tharp rushed for 219 yards and two scores and Jason Everett rushed for 112 yards and two more TDs to lift San Saba to an important district win over Harper.
The Armadillos (5-3, 2-1) still have a shot at the District title if they can sweep Holland and Mason to close the season and force a three-way tiebreaker with Thorndale.
Or, hope either Harper or struggling Holland can upset Thorndale to open the door for an outright title.
Goldthwaite 54, Wortham 0 — The Eagles (5-3, 3-2) are still in the thick of the playoff hunt courtesy of this rout of Wortham (1-7, 1-4).
Blake Howard threw for 150 yards and four scores and rushed for 55 yards and another TD to lift the Eagles, who close the regular season with Meridian and Mart respectively.
Merkel 48, Stanton 9 — Easton Malone threw for 253 yards and four scores and CJ Guadarrama rushed for 93 yards and three more TDs to lift Merkel to a rout of Stanton.
The Badgers (6-2, 1-1) will next face Grape Creek on the road next Friday.
Breckenridge 26, Comanche 22 — Breckenridge used a solid defensive effort to get past Comanche in a vitally important game for both clubs.
Limiting Comanche to 239 yards, the Buckaroos snagged sole possession of fourth place and the potential No. 4 playoff seed with two games left.
Breckenridge improved to 3-5 and 1-2 in league play; Comanche fell to 3-5 and 0-3.
Anson 54, Olney 15 —
The Tigers snapped a two-game losing streak with a lopsided win at home over the Cubs.
Hunter Teichelman threw for 334 yards and five scores and added one rushing touchdown to pace Anson (6-2, 1-2) which put itself in an excellent position to earn a playoff spot with the win.
Alex Lozano (four catches, 136 yards, two TDs) and Malachi St. John (seven catches, 114 yards, two TDs) were Teichelman’s targets of choice.
Glen Rose 70, Venus 0 — The Tigers (3-5, 3-0) won their third straight game after an 0-5 start while keeping Venus (0-8, 0-3) winless.
Judd Connally threw for 155 yards and four touchdowns and Tyson Sullivan rushed for 91 yards and two more scores to lead the Tigers, who will host Fort Worth
Benbrook (5-3, 3-0) for the district title next Friday.
Brownwood 38, Burnet 7 — Judson Coalson threw for 116 yards and two scores and Levi Pearson rushed for 63 yards and another TD to lead Brownwood to an easy win on the road.
Leading 24-7 at the break, the Lions (5-3, 2-0) put the game away with two unanswered second-half scores.
It was the fourth straight win for Brownwood as Burnet dropped to 3-6 and 1-2.
Roscoe 42, Winters 0 —
The Plowboys (2-6, 2-1) pounded out 208 yards as a team and limited Winters to 38 yards in total offense to score a district win.
Jace Arnwine topped the stat sheet with 64 yards passing and 72 yards rushing.
Winters, which fell to 2-6 and 0-3, was limited to only six yards rushing as a team.
Photos contributed by Melissa Regeon
BRADY — From Day 1 of his tenure at Brady, third-year coach Jeron Roberts has made a commitment to building a consistent running game and the 2025 season is witnessing the payoff for those efforts.
Entering this Friday’s matchup with Early, the Bulldogs are 5-2 overall, and 2-0 in District 5-3A DII. They’ve rushed for 2,546 yards and 34 touchdowns behind one of the area’s top offensive lines and have two of the Big Country’s top rushers in Ashton Taylor and Sean Jacoby.
LAST WEEK: 41-9, .805
SEASON TOTAL: 376-88, .810

Week 9 has arrived and with it, our Big Country Preps Game of the Week, with Cisco (6-1, 2-0 District 4-2A DI) visiting Hawley (5-2, 2-0).
And yes, there is plenty at stake.
The winner will be in sole possession of first place in the District 4-2A DI race and will be the odds-on favorite to take the No. 1 seed.
The starting time of this matchup has been bumped to 6 p.m. due to a storm expected to move into the area, with the possibility of it being shifted to Wylie if conditions at Hawley become too sloppy.
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Wednesday at 7 p.m. throughout the regular season.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Forsan senior Hayden Bowlin had a career night last Friday and picked up our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award in the process.
To begin with, the FHS QB rushed for 280 yards and five scores in last week’s 60-27 win over Colorado City. Aside from that, he threw for 59 yards, he returned a punt 75 yards for a sixth TD and had a 34-yard kickoff return to give him 389 all-purpose yards and 36 of FHS’ points.
It’s mid-October, the weather is cooling, we have a pretty good idea of what our top football teams are and as tradition would have it, now is the time when we start talking about everyone’s postseason chances.
Having covered the Big Country since 2006, I’ve been through seasons when we’ve sent five or more teams to state championship games. And in general, we almost always send at least two, so championship chat around the water cooler isn’t unrealistic at this point.
That said, it’s time to take a quick peek at those teams that I believe have the best chance of playing for a state title in December at AT&T Stadium.
We’ll break it down into three categories: Favorites (those I expect to see in Arlington), contenders (those who might get there) and longshots (those who can get there if things line up just right).
Thorndale 28, San Saba 24 —
The Bulldogs (4-3, 1-1) earned a surprising district win on the road as a 16-point underdog.
Luke Tharpe led the Armadillos in a losing effort with 202 yards rushing and two scores.
San Saba saw a three-game winning streak snapped with the loss, falling to 4-3 and 1-1.
Bremond 47, Goldthwaite 0 — The Tigers rolled up 452 yards in total offense to top Goldthwaite on the road.
Tank Scott rushed for 102 yards and three scores and Sam Kasowki threw for 201 yards to lead Bremond which improved to 7-0 and 4-0.
Goldthwaite fell to 4-3 and 2-2.
Glen Rose 56, Hillsboro 14 — Judd Connally threw for 265 yards and one score and Tyson Sullivan rushed for 125 yards and four TDs to lead Glen Rose (2-5, 2-0) to its second straight win.
The Tigers will play host to Venus next Friday.
Stephenville 65, Marble Falls 7 — The Yellow Jackets (7-0, 2-0) raced out to a 49-0 lead by the break before coasting home for the win.
Trot Jordan threw for 161 yards and four scores at Carter VanZandt rushed for 86 yards and two TDs to lead Stephenville.
Marble Falls dropped to 3-5 and 0-2.
Wall 58, Coahoma 0 — Wall’s Landon York kept his hot hand, hitting 17 of 24 throws for 333 yards and two scores to help Wall to an important league win over Coahoma.
Brady Neal led Wall (8-0, 2-0) on the ground with 107 yards rushing and three scores.
Limited to only 158 total yards, Coahoma fell to 6-2 and 1-1.
Stamford 28, Anson 21 — Stamford entered this game as an underdog in the view of many, but left as the victor after forcing four Anson turnovers.
Limited to only 185 yards in total offense for the night, the Bulldogs (4-3, 1-1) still managed to build a 28-6 first-half lead before hanging on for the win.
Despite piling up 371 yards in total offense and outgaining Stamford by nearly 200 yards, Anson (5-2, 0-2) dropped its second straight game after a 5-0 start.
Hamlin 21, Roscoe 14 (OT) —
Hamlin rushed for 239 yards via committee in a tough overtime win on the road. Reece Rainey led the Pied Pipers (6-1, 2-0) with 85 yards rushing on four carries and one TD.
It was the sixth straight win for Hamlin since a season-opening loss to Anson.
Roscoe (1-6, 1-1) was led by Jace Arnwine, who threw for 136 yards, rushed for 19 and accounted for two scores.
Jim Ned 49, Breckenridge 7 — Cash Gwinn threw for 186 yards and three scores and Aiden Ellis rushed for 127 yards and another TD as Jim Ned earned its fourth straight win.
The Indians quickly built a 42-7 first-half lead before coasting to the finish.
Breckenridge fell to 2-5 and 0-2.

HICO — Upon examining the videotape of the Big Country Preps Game of the Week, both the Bangs and Hico coaching staffs will no doubt, find dozens of different ways they could have won or lost their matchup on Friday.
As fate would have it, the Bangs Dragons left Tiger Stadium as the victors, sneaking past Hico 28-27 behind a fake PAT kick-conversion pass from Cason Tidwell to Joaquin Rubio with 37 seconds to play. Even the game-winning play forced everyone to hit the rewind button twice, with both a successful Bangs PAT run and failed PAT kick wiped out by penalties, giving both teams a taste of victory before Rubio scored the actual game-winner.
Tidwell topped the stat sheet for both clubs, rushing for 205 yards and four scores on 24 carries on a night that saw Bangs (5-2, 2-0 District 5-2A DI) rally from two separate deficits —13-6 at the break at 27-20 in the fourth quarter.
Hico (4-3, 0-2) was led by Cole Heutzenroeder (15 carries, 132 yards, two TDs) and by Tyler Jackson, who was 7-of-15 passing for 113 yards and another score.
“I just told the kids ‘hey, you’ve got to want it more, because (Hico) wants it more than you do right now,'” said Bangs coach Colton Buzzard, whose team has now won five straight games after an 0-2 start. “That’s not the Dragon way. If we come out and want it more, it’s going to be really hard to beat us.”
LAST WEEK: 53-7, .883
SEASON TOTAL: 335-79, .809

Week 8.
Can you believe it? I can’t, but every year it’s the same story. Two-a-days end, you blink and it’s Thanksgiving.
At any rate, Friday night will see us venturing to Hico for our Big Country Preps Game of the Week, with the Bangs Dragons (4-2, 1-0) facing the Tigers (4-2, 0-1) on the road in an important District 5-2A DI showdown that will almost certainly play a huge role in playoff seeding.
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Wednesday at 7 p.m. throughout the regular season.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Slowly but surely, the Cooper Cougars have emerged as one of the most explosive teams in the Big Country. And in its latest exploit, CHS rolled up 517 yards in total offense in a 66-16 win over Lubbock Cooper.
At the top of the stat sheet: Cooper quarterback Jaden Carrillo, who hit 18 of 27 throws for 263 yards and six touchdowns. He also rushed 11 times for 80 yards and another score to help the Cougars improve to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in District 2-5A DII.
His six TD passes tied a school record held by Zac Allen and Clayton Nicholas.
With Hamlin extending its winning streak to five, I can hear its detractors (and with some validity) saying that the Pipers have yet to be tested by an upper tier 2A DII team.
Hamlin fell to Division I Anson in an injury-plagued opener, but hasn’t faced a team currently over .500 since.
OK, that’s fine.
But there’s one thing to keep an eye on: Hamlin is doing what a good team would do as a heavy favorite — it’s winning comfortably.
In fact, with the exception of a 19-14 win over Crosbyton, the Pipers have outperformed computer projections on a weekly basis. In other words, this club is better than most believed it would be and without question, it’s better than last year.
Continue reading “BIG COUNTRY PREPS NOTEBOOK: Hamlin, Brownwood, Glen Rose and Hawley all on tap tonight” →
Goldthwaite 42, Frost 0 — The Eagles (4-2, 2-1) stayed in the district title hunt with a win over previously unbeaten Frost.
This sets up a huge district matchup with Bremond next Friday at home.
The Polar Bears fell to 5-1 and 2-1.
San Saba 47, Johnson City 21
Jason Everett rushed for 163 yards and two TDs on 27 carries to lead the Armadillos to a win in the district opener for both clubs.
It was the third straight victory for the Armadillos, who improved to 4-2 an 1-0.
Johnson City fell to 3-3 and 0-1.
Glen Rose 56, Godley 21 — Judd Connally threw for 196 yards and four scores and rushed for 192 yards and two more TDs to lead Glen Rose (1-5, 1-0) to its first win of the season.
Godley (2-4, 0-1) was led by Adam Pempsell, with 192 yards rushing and two TDs.
Glen Rose will face Hillsboro on the road next Friday; Godley will host Benbrook on the same evening.
Brownwood 42, Lampasas 39 — Judson Coalson threw for 295 yards and five scores as Brownwood knocked off previously unbeaten Lampasas at Gordon Wood Stadium.
The Lions finished with 428 yards in total offense to improve to 4-3 and 1-0.
Let by Bryson Roberts, who threw for 126 yards and four TDs, the Badgers slipped to 6-1 and 0-1.
Wall 63, Merkel 13 — Landon York threw for 387 yards and seven TDs to keep the Hawks (7-0, 1-0) unbeaten.
Merkel, which is off to its best start in several years, slipped to 5-2 and 0-1.
The Badgers will have their open date next Friday. On the same evening, Wall will travel to Coahoma in a game that will be crucial for both teams’ hopes of winning the district.
Hawley 32, Anson 26 — Aiden Romo threw for 214 yards and four scores to lead Hawley (4-2, 1-0) to a huge win over previously unbeaten Anson in the district opener for both clubs.
Hunter Teichelman led Anson (5-1, 0-1) with 314 yards passing and two scores.
Anson will face Stamford (3-3, 0-1) in a crucial matchup next Friday; Hawley will travel to Olney on the same evening.
Jim Ned 56, Comanche 3 — Cash Gwinn threw for 283 yards and three scores and Aiden Ellis rushed for 90 yards and two more TDs as Jim Ned (5-1, 1-0) won the district opener for both schools.
After building a 35-3 halftime lead, Jim Ned ended any hopes of a Comanche miracle with a 21-0 third quarter.
Comanche (3-3, 0-1) was led by Cooper Welch, who threw for 120 yards.
Hamlin 49, Winters 0 — Javier Ramos threw for 117 yards and two scores while Isaiah Hutchings and Cade Jones both added rushing TDs to lead Hamlin (5-1) to its fifth straight win since a season-opening loss to Anson.
Winters, which had won two of its last three starts, fell to 2-4.

CISCO — Entering Friday’s district opener with an explosive Stamford team, the Cisco Loboes knew they would have to control the football and keep the SHS offense off of the field to win.
Not only did they achieve that, but the Loboes also managed to hurt Stamford through the air in a 30-20 win in the Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
Colby McIlroy threw for 126 yards and one score and rushed for 62 yards and another TD to lead Cisco (5-1, 1-0 District 4-2A DI), which notched its fifth straight win following a season-opening loss to Clyde.