District races are heating up throughout the Big Country and the cream is quickly rising to the top in our area leagues.
Last week and helped provide some clarity in a number of district’s throughout the BCP coverage area, and this week will, no doubt, do the same.
Without further ado, let’s go ahead and dive into this week’s column and take a look at the biggest games on this week’s slate and some of the top results last week had to offer.
After struggling for most of the game to put the ball through the net, and spending the first 28 minutes trailing as a result, the Cooper boys basketball team rallied late in the fourth quarter to put itself in position to steal a district-opening win over Wichita Falls Memorial on Friday at Cougar Gym.
But the Mavericks scored seven second-chance points in the final three minutes — the last two on a putback by Nash Melton as time expired — to escape Abilene with a dramatic 38-36 win.
The buzzer-beater by Melton completed a doubleheader sweep for Memorial, which picked up a 54-29 win in the girls game earlier in the evening.
Entering Tuesday’s crosstown rivalry game off lopsided losses to open District 4-5A play, both the Abilene High and Cooper girls basketball teams were looking to break into the win column and get an early leg up in the race for the league’s fourth playoff spot.
With just four wins between them coming into the week, both squads have faced their share of adversity this season. But competing in a five-team district guarantees that at least one of them will close a tough year of transition and/or growth in the playoffs.
On Tuesday at Eagle Gym, it was Cooper that took a running leap toward that goal, using relentless pressure defense to stifle Abilene High in a dominant 43-18 victory. The Lady Cougars, who forced more turnovers than points allowed, trailed only once (at 5-4 early in the second quarter), scoring 17 second-quarter points to pull away for a commanding 21-7 lead by halftime.
With district play either underway or starting this week for all area boys basketball teams, it’s time to start taking a closer look at how our Big Country hoops races are shaping up.
And as we’ve done in the past, we’ll break down our top upcoming matchups, the top results from the previous week and the area’s biggest surprise right here each Sunday, starting with this column.
We hope you enjoy a look at this week in area boys basketball.
It took 3½ minutes to get on the board and a boost from its bench to get going in the right direction Friday, but once the Wylie girls basketball team found its footing, it never lost it in a 71-12 road win over Cooper to open District 4-5A play.
With the game still scoreless more than three minutes into the game, Lady Bulldogs coach Duane Hopper subbed out his entire starting group in a hockey-style line change. And that second unit provided exactly the type of spark he was hoping for, closing the opening quarter on a 15-2 run to set the wheels in motion for the rout to come.
The victory, which saw Wylie limit Cooper to two points in each of the first three quarters and just two field goals for the game, improved the Lady Bulldogs to 20-5 overall and 1-0 in league play, while the Lady Cougars fell to 3-22 and 0-1.
Hosting Brock for a strong nondistrict test, the Wylie boys basketball put together one of its most complete performances of the season on Tuesday, racing out to a 10-2 lead and maintaining that pace the rest of the way for a 74-62 win at Bulldog Gym.
The Bulldogs (8-10) never trailed, stretching a 22-15 first-quarter advantage to 42-28 by halftime and answering every BHS run from there to roll to the double-digit victory.
Senior Swade Sipe was at the heart of that effort, knocking down half of his team’s 12 3-pointers to lead all scorers with 33 points. The 6-foot-5 sharpshooter had at least six points in every quarter to keep a talented and resilient Eagles squad from ever fighting its way back into the game.
EULA — The Jim Ned boys basketball team fell just short of the Eula Holiday Classic championship on Wednesday, dropping a hard-fought game to a familiar foil in the event’s title game at Mary Mosley Gymnasium.
The Indians got off to a fast start against region rival Holliday, building an early 17-9 lead, but they couldn’t maintain that momentum in a 42-36 loss to the Eagles.
That matchup capped a strong boys tournament for area teams, as Graford placed third with a 64-33 win over Christoval and Clyde took fifth with a 45-36 win over Andrews. Other noteworthy results involving area squads included a 36-34 loss by Tolar to Bells in the seventh-place game and 69-64 loss by Eula to New Deal in the consolation third-place game.
EULA — Before last year, Eula coach Josh Fostel had never won a Eula Holiday Classic championship in the tournament’s long and illustrious history. On Wednesday, he and his Lady Pirates won their second straight.
After racing out to a double-digit lead in the first half of Wednesday’s championship game, EHS saw Jim Ned rally to take its first lead of the contest on a Lily Bryant 3-pointer with just over 17 seconds remaining. But Reagan Barr answered with a clutch 3 of her own with five seconds to play to lift the Lady Pirates to a thrilling 49-47 win at Mary Mosley Gymnasium.
That action-packed title game capped a strong overall tournament for area squads, as Tolar topped Hermleigh 54-46 to take the third-place game and Clyde defeated Spur 53-44 to win the consolation title. Hico also finished sixth in the 16-team girls field, falling to Nazareth 44-27 in the fifth-place game after knocking off Holliday 50-40 in its third-round game on Tuesday.
EULA — The Jim Ned boys basketball team outlasted Christoval in the semifinals of the Eula Holiday Classic on Tuesday to earn a spot in Wednesday’s championship game against regional nemesis Holliday, which routed Graford in Tuesday’s other semifinal to set up the title game between the two Region I-3A contenders.
Trailing 32-31 with less than five minutes to play, the Indians closed the game on a 7-0 run to defeat the Cougars in their semifinal matchup. The Eagles, meanwhile, cruised past the Jackrabbits, outscoring GHS 31-7 in the second half on their way to a 57-26 victory.
With those victories, Jim Ned and Holliday advance to play for the tournament championship at 4 p.m. at Mary Mosley Gymnasium, while Graford and Chrisoval will play for third place at 1:20 p.m. at the same site.
EULA — The Eula and Jim Ned girls basketball teams played their way into the championship game of the Eula Holiday Classic on Tuesday, scoring semifinal wins over Tolar and Hermleigh, respectively, to set up a clash of Big Country powers for the tournament title on Wednesday.
The Lady Pirates rallied from a 12-9 first-quarter deficit to pull away for a 37-27 win over the Lady Rattlers, while the Lady Indians pulled off the comeback of the tournament, digging out of a 30-11 second-quarter hole to slip past the Lady Cardinals 51-50 in a thriller.
Eula and Jim Ned will tip off at 2:40 p.m. at the Mary Mosley Gymnasium for the championship following a noon third-place game between Tolar and Hermleigh. At Eula Middle School, meanwhile, Clyde will play Spur for the tournament’s consolation title after defeating New Deal 55-47 in the consolation semifinals.
EULA — The Graford boys basketball team encountered little resistance on the opening day of the Eula Holiday Classic, following a 97-18 win over Abilene TLCA in its tournament opener with a 68-37 quarterfinals win over Tolar to become the first area team to earn a spot in the event’s semifinals.
Clyde almost joined the Jackrabbits, after earning a 58-53 win over Eula in the first round. But the Bulldogs were edged 59-56 in overtime by Holliday in the quarterfinals, leaving Graford to play the Eagles in the semifinals on Tuesday for a spot in Wednesday’s championship game.
Jim Ned, which defeated Muenster 47-37 in its opener, is the only other area team remaining with a chance at the tournament title. The Indians will play Bells in the quarterfinals at 9:20 a.m. Tuesday, while Christoval and Andrews will face off in the final quarterfinals matchup at 10:40 a.m.
EULA — The Tolar and Eula girls basketball teams were the first to punch their tickets to the semifinals on the opening day of the Eula Holiday Classic, earning a pair of wins on Monday to earn a matchup against each other on Tuesday for a spot in Wednesday’s championship game.
Tolar followed a 54-42 win over Clyde in its opener with a 49-41 victory over Hico in the quarterfinals, while Eula picked up double-digit wins over larger programs from New Deal (36-24) and Holliday (52-38).
The other semifinal qualifiers on the girls side of the tournament will be determined Tuesday morning, following quarterfinals matchups between Nazareth and Jim Ned (9:20 a.m.) and Springtown and Hermleigh (10:40 a.m.). Jim Ned defeated Strawn 49-37 in its opener, while Hermleigh routed Andrews 89-56.
ARLINGTON — In Stephenville’s first six state championship games — all wins — high-flying Yellow Jackets offenses averaged 38 points per contest, including outputs of 70 and 38 points in their last two.
Friday’s game was, well, different.
In this one, a 10-0 win over Kilgore, the Jackets traded their trademark offensive fireworks for old-school physicality and execution. And the result, while unStephenville-like in nature, was no less impressive.
ARLINGTON — The Wall football team didn’t win the stat sheet Thursday night in its Class 3A Division II state championship game against Newton at AT&T Stadium. But the Hawks won where it mattered: on the scoreboard.
Buoyed by a near-perfect start and a strong defensive performance throughout, the Hawks built a 25-8 halftime lead, before holding on for dear life over the final 24 minutes to secure a thrilling 25-24 win and its first state title in program history.
The victory capped a perfect season for coach Craig Slaughter’s squad, which improved to 16-0, while Newton closed its campaign at 14-2, bookending the year with one-score losses to Class 4A DII title hopeful West Orange-Stark and Wall.
When talking about the Stephenville football program, you never have to go back too far in time to find the the Yellow Jackets’ last trip to a state championship game. The program has, after all, played for a state championship six times — all since 1993.
And since SHS is six for six in converting those appearances into titles, that means you never have to go back too far to find the Jackets’ last championship.
But for the 2025 team, which will take on Kilgore for the Class 4A Division I championship on Friday, that 11 a.m. kickoff will mark the first state championship experience for any of its players. Stephenville’s seniors were eighth graders when the 2021 team won the program’s last title, and while many of them were in the stands with their now teammates to root that squad on, the current Jackets are ready to make their own memories on the AT&T Stadium field.
Here are our superlative award winners for the 2025 All-Big Country Preps volleyball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Here is our 2025 All-Big Country Preps volleyball Rising Stars Team, comprised of the top freshmen and sophomores in the area. For the rest of this year’s volleyball selections, click the links below.
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 our weekly fan polls for each matchup.
Disagree with our picks or the fan poll consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
We’ve reached the final week of the season, and as expected, teams from the Big Country Preps coverage area will play a significant role in deciding both six-man state championships.
In Division I, the two-time defending state champion Gordon Longhorns will try to further cement their legacy as one of the most impressive dynasties in six-man football history when they take on Rankin for a third consecutive title at 11 a.m. Wednesday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
And in Division II, it’s an all-area matchup between the defending state champion Jayton Jaybirds and perennial power Richland Springs immediately following the Division I game.
The culmination of another outstanding year of six-man action, these two contests should provide a fun celebration of the sport for both longtime fans and those newer to the six-man game. Without further ado, let’s dive in and take a look at both matchups in our final “Six-Man Lookahead” column of 2025.
Continue reading “SIX-MAN LOOKAHEAD: Three area teams ready for state championship action”
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we offer fans the chance to pick the winners of all games involving our local and area 11-man football teams, as well as select six-man games. With the state championship games upon us, we’re expanding beyond our coverage area again this week to pick all of this week’s title games.
The results of these weekly polls, which will close at 10 p.m. on Tuesday, will be included in our weekly Pick ‘Em Panel.
Here are the games for Week 17:
MESQUITE — The Brock football team saw its season come to a close in the Class 4A Division II state semifinals on Friday, falling to the defending state champion Carthage Bulldogs 49-21 at Memorial Stadium.
After reaching the end zone late in the first quarter to knot the score at 7-all, the Eagles were outscored 42-7 over the middle two quarters to close their campaign in the state semifinals for the third consecutive year.
The loss was the first of the season for Brock, which capped 2025 at 14-1. Carthage, which downed Brock in the state semis for the second straight season, improved to 15-0, earning its 11th state championship game appearance since 2008 and 12th all time.
FORT WORTH — Advancing to a state championship game isn’t supposed to be easy, and it certainly wasn’t for the Stephenville Yellow Jackets on Friday at Knight Stadium.
But at the end of four grueling quarters, it was coach Sterling Doty’s squad hoisting its sixth gold ball of the season following a wild 24-21 win over Celina in the Class 4A Division I state semifinals.
SHS trailed trailed at the end of each of the first three quarters and never led until Brighton DeVivo’s 45-yard field goal split the uprights with two seconds remaining the game. But that slight edge was enough to lift the Yellow Jackets to their seventh state championship game, where they’ll face off with Kilgore next Friday at AT&T Stadium.
When the season began, Wall coach Craig Slaughter was confident he’d have an explosive offense. After all, the Hawks returned the area’s third-leading passer in Landon York and a deep and talented group of pass-catchers, led by speedy senior Reid Robertson.
When it came to the defense, though, the veteran coach wasn’t quite as sure what to expect. Wall graduated seven of its 11 starters from last year’s state semifinalist squad, and Slaughter felt the offense may need to carry some extra weight while the defense found its stride.
As it turned out, though, the defense’s learning curve was much shorter than expected. In fact, it was basically nonexistent. The Hawks established a brisk defensive pace through a tough nondistrict schedule and have done nothing but improve since, allowing seven points or fewer in 10 of their 14 games (all victories), including a total of 14 points in the four playoff wins leading up to Friday’s clash with three-time defending state champion Gunter.
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 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.
Frustrated at times by Cooper’s athleticism and defensive intensity, the Stephenville girls basketball team found itself in a dogfight late in the third quarter Tuesday at Cougar Gym. But after leading just 15-12 at halftime and 21-17 with 10 minutes remaining in the game, the Honeybees closed the contest on a 9-3 run to grind out a 30-20 win.
SHS made just 10 shots from the field in a physical defensive game that saw 17 field goals made between the teams. But coach Jason Hodges’ squad held the Lady Cougars to five points or fewer in three of the four quarters to record its fifth straight win.
The victory improved the Honeybees to 10-2 on the year, while Cooper fell to 1-12 with the loss.
It took the Wylie girls basketball team a few minutes to find its stride Tuesday, but once the Lady Bulldogs did they never lost it in a 68-20 win over Graham at Bulldog Gym.
Tied with the Lady Blues at 4-all more than halfway through the opening quarter, Wylie closed the period on a 14-2 run and extended its 18-6 first-quarter lead to 34-13 by halftime to set the tone for the lopsided win.
Using aggressive defense to speed Graham up and force turnovers, the Lady Bulldog never allowed more than seven points in any quarter. And on the other end of the floor, coach Duane Hopper’s team moved the ball through and around the Lady Blues’ zone to get open looks both on the perimeter and in the lane.
The result was a convincing win that improved Wylie’s record on the season to 13-2 with another month to go before the start of District 4-5A play.
With five teams playing in the four Class 1A state semifinal games, the Big Country Preps coverage area was guaranteed to have a presence in next week’s state championship games.
As it turns out, our area will have a substantial one.
With Gordon advancing in Division I and Jayton and Richland Springs earning spots in the DII title game, the Big Country Preps area will have three of the four state participants when games kick off next Wednesday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
For the final time this year, it’s time to take a look at how we got here in the last “Big Country Rewind” column of the 2025 season. We hope you enjoy this look back at last week’s action.
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we offer fans the chance to pick the winners of all games involving our local and area 11-man football teams. With the season winding down, we’re expanding beyond our coverage area this week and picking all of this week’s state semifinal games.
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 16:
Continue reading “WEEK 16 FAN POLLS … Pick this week’s state semifinal winners!”
STEPHENVILLE — Cohen Ethridge had another monster game for the Richland Springs offense, and the Coyotes defense shut down Strawn’s rushing attack from start to finish Saturday to pull away for a 66-20 win over the Greyhounds in a Class 1A Division II semifinal matchup at Art Briles Stadium.
Behind Ethridge, who finished with 200 yards and five touchdowns rushing, returned a kickoff 60 yards for a score and added 69 yards and a TD passing for good measure, Richland Springs scored on eight of its nine offensive possessions. And defensively, the Coyotes limited Strawn to minus-31 rushing yards on 19 attempts to take a 56-14 lead into halftime before closing out the 45-point-rule win with 5:08 remaining in the third quarter on their second safety of the game.
The thorough victory improved Richland Springs to 12-1 on the year and, more importantly, earned the nine-time state champion Coyotes their first trip to a state title game in Arlington since 2020.
LUBBOCK — For most of the first half Friday, it appeared as though the Cisco Loboes and Stinnett West Texas Comanches were headed for an old-school thriller in the the Region I-2A Division I championship game at Lubbock Cooper’s Pirate Stadium.
But when momentum turned late in the second quarter, it did so sharply and for good, allowing still-undefeated West Texas to pull away for a 48-22 win and end the Loboes’ best season since 2014 at 12-2.
Led by senior quarterback Cayde Winters, whose bowling ball running style proved too much for the Cisco defense to handle over the course of four quarters, the Comanches rallied from first-half deficits of 7-0 and 14-8 to take a 24-14 lead into halftime. And they continued to pile on after the break, stretching their lead to 40-14 by the 8:55 mark of the final period to stamp out any hopes of a Loboes comeback.
With one fewer round in the six-man playoffs than in its 11-man counterpart, the state semifinals are already upon us. And with five teams remaining from the Big Country Preps coverage area, there’s an extra layer of intrigue on what is already an outstanding slate of games.
Water Valley and Gordon remain in the Division I bracket and could clash for the state title in two weeks in Arlington, while Jayton and Klondike will battle for the right to take on the winner of Strawn and Richland Springs in Division II.
If you like six-man football, these are the types of matchups you love, so let’s stop wasting time and dive into this week’s games. We hope you enjoy this preview of the state’s four semifinals games.
The Abilene High and Cooper boys basketball teams both scored impressive wins on the opening night of the Fyzical Therapy and Balance Centers Key City Classic on Thursday evening to earn their way into the championship bracket for the remainder of the three-day event.
AHS whipped El Paso Jefferson 73-33 at Eagle Gym in its opener, while Cooper downed Cleburne 49-42 at Cougar Gym.
For full results of the tournament’s first day and the schedule for Friday’s second-round action, click here.
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 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.
With nine area teams involved in region finals last week, the Big Country Preps coverage area was guaranteed to have a strong contingent of teams in this week’s state semifinals.
And the five teams that survived — Water Valley and Gordon in Division I and Jayton, Strawn and Richland Springs in Division II — are now just one win away from earning a trip to Arlington.
Before we look ahead to the matchups that await those squads, it’s time to take a look at how they survived their third-round tests in this week’s “Six-Man Rewind” column. We hope you enjoy this look back at Week 14’s six-man action.
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 15:
GODLEY — In a game that took nearly six hours to complete due to two lengthy lightning delays, it was a stretch of just over four minutes of game time that proved to be the difference in Axtell’s 28-17 Region II-2A Division I semifinal win over De Leon on Friday at Wildcat Stadium.
After taking a narrow 7-6 lead into halftime following a hyper-competitive first of half of football, the Longhorns turned a pair of Heston Jobe interceptions into touchdowns — the latter directly — to take a 21-6 third-quarter lead that would never dip below two scores the rest of the way.
The gap eventually reached three touchdowns (27-6) in the fourth quarter, before the Bearcats mounted a late rally that ended with their third failed two-point conversion try and a lost fumble after forcing a red-zone stop with just over four minutes to play.
We’ve reached the third week of the playoffs and the rubber has hit the road at the six-man level. Every team remaining is a heavy-hitter, which makes every game on this week’s slate of region finals matchups a marquee-worthy affair.
With the state semifinals up next and a trip to Arlington within reach, the nine area teams remaining in the six-man playoffs will all be looking to play their best ball this week. And with four all-area matchups to look forward to Friday, we’re guaranteed to see at least four teams from the Big Country Preps coverage survive to play another game.
It’s time now to preview our Thanksgiving week matchups in this week’s “Six-Man Lookahead” column. We hope you enjoy this preview of of an action-packed week.
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 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.
