Brock 69, Fort Worth Southwest 0 — Holt Frazier passed for 258 yards and six touchdowns, and the Eagles defense pitched a shutout in a runaway win over the Raiders.
Colt Matlock (2-87 receiving) and Braden Ray (4-63) both had two receiving touchdowns apiece to lead Brock, while Davis Lee (2-43) and Charles Hibbler (3-37) also caught scoring passes.
Clyde 49, Snyder 7 — The Bulldogs piled up 242 yards rushing while limiting the Tigers to 118 yards of total offense on their way for a comfortable win.
Clyde scored the first 19 points of the game and led 27-7 at halftime, before shutting out coach Anthony Gonzales’ squad in the second half.
Big Spring at El Paso Bel Air (no contest) — Lightning cut a potentially thrilling game short here as both coaches mutually decided to call this one a no contest despite playing 2½ competitive quarters.
Big Spring trailed by seven when the game was stopped midway through the third period, but the Steers were on the Bel Air 4-yard line with a chance to tie.
MIDLAND — Abilene High scored the game’s first 14 points and took a 28-21 lead into halftime Friday, but the Eagles couldn’t add to their point total in the second half, allowing Midland Legacy to rally for a 42-28 win at Astound Broadband Stadium.
The Eagles had an opportunity early in the second half extend their lead to two scores, but an interception in the end zone ended that scoring chance, and the Rebels closed the game with 21 unanswered points to earn the come-from-behind victory.
The loss dropped AHS to 2-2 on the season, while Legacy improved to 1-3 against one of the state’s toughest schedules with the win.
STEPHENVILLE — Hosting Wylie for homecoming Friday at Art Briles Stadium, the Stephenville football team put on a heck of a show for those in attendance, dominating every phase in a 52-13 win over the Bulldogs.
The Yellow Jackets started fast, scoring two touchdowns in the first eight minutes of the game, and were never threatened after in growing their lead to 31-7 by halftime and 45-13 by the start of the fourth quarter.
SHS outgained Wylie 442-251 for the game, limiting the visitors to just 36 yards rushing on 26 attempts in improving to 4-0 on the season.
Week 4 is upon us and the area six-man picture is starting to take shape.
Disparate schedule strengths still makes judging teams against one another difficult, but each week provides more data by which to compare teams’ respective bodies of work.
This week’s slate, headlined by a top-10 clash between Newcastle and May, will give us a number of intriguing matchups that should add more clarity to the area picture as we approach the season’s midway point.
It’s time now to jump in and preview some of those games in this week’s “Six-Man Lookahead.” When you’re done reading, you can find area standings and results on our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page.
Entering this season with just two returning regulars — one of them a part-time starter in 2024 — the Wylie defense experienced near complete turnover from a unit that allowed just under 25 points per game during a run to the District 2-5A Division II championship and Region I-5A DII area around last year.
But despite that potentially sobering reality, coach Clay Martin was confident in the preseason that the Bulldogs would field a strong defense this fall.
Through three games — home wins over Brownwood and Lubbock Coronado around a three-point road loss to Lubbock Coronado — it would appear the former longtime defensive coordinator’s confidence was well founded. Not only has Wylie limited its three opponents to an average of just 12.7 points per game, it has done so while creating four turnovers and 37 negative plays with a fast and aggressive playing style that Martin believes will serve as an anchoring identity as the Bulldogs’ schedule toughens in the coming weeks.
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.
ABILENE — It took the Graham volleyball team most of one game to find its footing Tuesday, but after withstanding a fast start by Abilene Christian, the Lady Blues stood tall for a 25-23, 25-17, 25-20 win at the ACS gym.
GHS found itself in an early 11-3 hole and still trailed 17-11 later in the first set, but a 13-3 run swung the momentum to the Lady Blues side and it never left after as coach Marci Faulk’s squad picked up the road sweep over the Lady Panthers.
The victory, Graham’s fifth in a row, improved the lady Blues to 24-5 on the year, while Abilene Christian fell to 15-11 with its first loss in six matches. Both teams play one more nondistrict match later this week before opening district play next Tuesday.
Week 3 has come and gone, and the area six-man picture continues to get clearer.
Defending champs Gordon and Jayton continue to be the class of Division I and II, respectively, but others throughout the Big Country Preps coverage area are making names for themselves at both levels as well.
Without further adieu, let’s dive into last week’s matchups in this week’s “Six-Man Rewind” column. When you’re done reading, make sure you check out our our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for more information on your favorite team(s).
Continue reading “SIX-MAN REWIND: Gordon, Jayton continue to separate themselves from pack”
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 4:
Continue reading “WEEK 4 FAN POLLS … Pick this week’s 11-man winners!”
Odessa Permian 38, Abilene High 21 — The Eagles started fast, taking a 7-0 lead just two minutes and change into the game, but the Panthers responded with 24 unanswered points over the next 36 minutes to take control on their way to a three-score win.
Permian, which took advantage of a couple of AHS mistakes to go to halftime up 21-7, passed for 285 yards, getting 207 of those and two touchdowns from Jakob Garcia, while Aaron Navarrette led the Panthers in receiving with 95 yards.
Wylie 70, Lubbock Coronado 14 — The Bulldogs outgained the Mustangs 477-127, rushing for 340 of those yards while limiting Coronado to minus-8 rushing yards in a runaway win.
Julius Laine rushed for 89 yards and three touchdowns in one half, while Cooper Jones added 129 yards and two scores to help Wylie (2-1) build a 49-7 lead by halftime.
Santo 53, Bruceville-Eddy 13 — Colt Bridges and Jackson McKinnerney both topped the 100-yard rushing mark as the Wildcats ran for 486 yards as a team to bury the Eagles.
Bridges led Santo (3-0) with 128 yards and a touchdown on just eight carries, while McKinnerney had 123 yards and two scores on three attempts. Other producers for the Wildcats include Colt Howry (3-88, 1 TD), Justin Hollingsworth (6-80, 2 TDs) and Rylan Griffith (9-67, 1 TD).
Munday 26, Chico 18 — The Moguls remained the only undefeated team in this district with a two-score win over the Dragons.
Led by quarterback Haiden Bowman, Munday (3-0) stretched a12-0 second-quarter lead to 20 points before Chico finally got on the board.
Forsan 34, Stanton 33 — Coy Evans passed for 285 yards and a pair of touchdowns, hitting Hayden Bowlin seven times for 183 yards and both scores, to lead FHS to its first win of the season in this battle of Buffaloes.
Stanton, which got big games from Isaiah DeLeon (18-26-1—289, 1 TD passing), Travis Palomo (30-103, 2 TDs rushing) and Vayden Pastrana (15-247, 1 TD receiving), raced out to a 33-14 halftime lead. But Forsan (1-2) scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to rally for the victory.
Bangs 31, San Angelo Grape Creek 26 — Cason Tidwell ran for 133 yards and three touchdowns, while Hunter Withers found the end zone twice on the ground to lead the Dragons past the Eagles for their first in of the year.
Bangs (1-2) only had 212 yards of total offense, but that was enough, as the Dragons outscored Grape Creek 20-6 over the final 12 minutes to rally for the victory.
Tolar 42, Millsap 18 — Britton Rice passed for 171 yards and four touchdowns, and Kelvin Murray ran for 126 yards and a score to lead the Rattlers to a comfortable win over the Bulldogs.
Leading just 7-6 after one quarter and 14-6 at halftime, Tolar (2-1) outscored Millsap 14-6 in each of the final two periods to pull away.
Graham 35, Whitesboro 7 — Jace Gill passed for 202 yards and a touchdown and ran for 72 yards and two more scores to fuel the Steers to a blowout win over the Bearcats.
Dylan Cox (8-41 rushing) also had two rushing touchdowns for Graham, which was led in receiving by Brodie Martin (3-57, 1 TD), Parker Hale (4-51) and Walker Bennett (2-48).
Lubbock High 48, Snyder 21 — Zach Reyna passed for 236 yard and four touchdowns, hitting three different targets with scoring passes, to lead the Westerners to a comfortable win over the Tigers.
Easton Blakely (2-88, 1 TD receiving), Denzel Robins (5-59, 2 TDs) and Isaac Lagasse (1-7, 1 TD) all caught TD passes for Lubbock High, which also got rushing scores from Bo Davis (8-84 rushing) and Anthony Boyd (5-46).
Big Spring 34, Borger 12 — Xander Garza ran for 133 yards and four touchdowns, and the Steers defense put together a dominant performance to overcome a 5-1 turnover disadvantage in a three-touchdown win over the Bulldogs.
Big Spring (2-1) limited Borger to just 160 total yards, including 105 on the ground, to help the Steers build a 20-12 halftime lead, before closing out the win with a second-half shutout.
SAN ANGELO — Cooper led by two scores on three occasions Friday, but a late surge by San Angelo Central was enough to lift the Bobcats to a 40-35 win at San Angelo Stadium.
Trailing the Cougars 28-17 with just under four minutes to play in the third quarter, the Bobcats scored 23 points in less than 10 minutes of game time to go up 40-28 and held off Cooper late for a hard-fought win.
The loss dropped Cooper to 1-2 with Lubbock Coronado coming to town next week to close out nondistrict play.
A 36-minute scoring drought proved too much for the Abilene High football team overcome Friday, as the Eagles saw an early 7-0 lead become an 24-7 deficit before rallying in vain in the fourth quarter of a 38-21 loss to Odessa Permian.
AHS started fast on both sides, following a quick three-and-out defensively with its first touchdown drive just 2 minutes and 11 seconds into the game. But the Eagles wouldn’t score again until the 9:43 mark of the fourth quarter, allowing the Panthers to build a three-score lead in the interim.
The loss dropped Abilene High to 2-1 on the season with a road trip to Midland Legacy set to close out its nondistrict schedule next week.
Week 3 is upon us, and it’s time to take a look at what the area six-man schedule has in store for us in this week’s “Six-Man Lookahead” column.
Rivals Gordon and Strawn take center stage as this week’s Game of the Week, but that’s far from the only good matchup on this week’s docket.
We hope you enjoy this peek at the weekend’s schedule and invite you to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for standings, schedules and results for your favorite team.
If Brayden Henry was a baseball player, he’d be a home run hitter.
An electrifying athlete with the speed to take any play to the house, the Abilene High senior is a true game-breaker any time he steps on the field.
But after having his junior campaign cut short by a torn ACL in his left knee, Henry considers being on the field at all a blessing. And with just one more year to play for coach Mike Fullen and the Eagles, the athletic playmaker is looking to make the most of each and every opportunity he has out there this fall.
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.
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: San Angelo Central-Wylie volleyball (50 images)”
Coming off a rocky week that saw it drop matches to Clyde last Tuesday and Midland High on Friday, the Wylie volleyball team entered its home match against San Angelo Central on Tuesday looking to get back on track.
By the end of a hard-fought nondistrict contest, it was mission accomplished for coach Shay Cox’s squad, which swept the Lady Cats 27-25, 25-23, 25-14 at Bulldog Gym.
Led by Kiki Bolden with 17 kills and Haddie Mock with 10, the Lady Bulldogs posted a .182 hitting percentage against a strong Central defense, fighting through a few lulls in the first two sets to close out the Lady Cats in three.
Week 2 didn’t feature as many competitive outcomes as expected, particularly in the slate’s most high-profile games, but the results nonetheless served to give us a clearer picture of what we can expect form the area six-man scene this year.
And while most of the matchups previewed in last week’s “Six-Man Lookahead” column featured lopsided final scores, there were a few thrillers mixed in as well.
You can find all of last week’s results on our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page, but let’s dive into some of the most head-turning ones in this week’s “Six-Man Rewind” column.
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 3:
Continue reading “WEEK 3 FAN POLLS … Pick this week’s 11-man winners!”
Abilene High 34, Cooper 13 — Trailing 7-0 after Jaden Carrillo hit Tayvious Collier for a 36-yard touchdown pass on the game’s opening possession, the Eagles outscored the Cougars 34-6 the rest of the way to pull away for a three-touchdown win in the Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
Brayden Henry ran for 76 yards and two touchdowns, passed for 119 yards and a score and received for 36 yards to lead Abilene High (2-0), which also got 148 total yards (3-70 rushing; 3-78 receiving) and two total TDs from M’Aujehl Aboso.
Lubbock Monterey 24, Wylie 21 — Jonah Reed overcame an early-pick six to pass for 196 yards and a touchdown while adding another TD on the ground to lead the Plainsmen past the Bulldogs in a hard-fought matchup.
Legin Williams added 82 yards and a touchdown on the ground and Cam Taylor had 123 yards and a score receiving to help Monterey, which outgained Wylie 346-222.
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-Cooper football (64 images)”
Santo 48, Valley View 0 — The Wildcats ran for 352 of their 399 total yards while holding the Eagles to just 56 yards of offense in a blowout win.
Rylan Griffith led the ground attack with 103 yards and a touchdown on just nine carries, while Dillan Branham (7-87, 1 TD), Colt Bridges (6-74, 2 TDs), Justin Hollingsworth (8-43, 2 TDs) and Jackson McKinnerney (4-19, 1 TD) also found the end zone on the ground for Santo (2-0).
Munday 49, Winters 0 — Ja’Riyis Williams had a big day on the ground, and the Moguls defense was dominant in a rain-soaked matchup with the Blizzards.
Munday held Winters to just 180 total yards, intercepting Coy Martinez twice in the victory while also forcing and recovering a fumble.
McCamey 42, Colorado City 19 — The Badgers held the Wolves to just 137 yards of total offense, including 78 yards on the ground, to start fast and hold on for a comfortable win.
McCamey outscored C-City 28-0 in the opening quarter and was never threatened after, going to halftime with a 36-13 advantage.
Hico 38, Moody 6 — Tyler Jackson passed for 151 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 141 yards and another score to lead the Tigers to a lopsided victory over the Bearcats.
Cole Heutzenroeder (9-101, 1 TD) also reached the 100-yard rushing mark for Hico, which got receiving touchdowns from Tyler Rainwater and Heath McLean.
Brady 24, Mason 22 — Sean Jacoby ran for 160 yards and two touchdowns, and Ashton Taylor ran for 91 yards and two scores to help the Bulldogs to a hard-fought win over the Punchers.
Behind those two, Brady (2-0) increased a 12-7 halftime lead to 18-7 in the third quarter before holding off a Mason rally in the final period.