Author: Brandon McAuliffe

by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Total team effort lifts Wylie to homecoming win over San Angelo Central

San Angelo Central entered Friday night’s game against Wylie at Hugh Sandifer Stadium with a 1-3 record and every game being decided by one score.

Last year, the Bobcats used a walkoff Hail Mary to beat the Bulldogs at San Angelo Stadium.

There would be no close finish or miracle this go-round as the Bulldogs thoroughly dominated the Bobcats in all phases of the game and took a 37-27 homecoming win in front of a packed house.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Wylie stays undefeated in District 4-5A volleyball with sweep of Monterey

Wesley Ruff, Bri Johnston and Aliyah Jowers all finished the match with double digit kills as the Wylie volleyball team swept Lubbock Monterey 25-17, 25-18, 25-19 in District 4-5A action Tuesday night at Bulldog Gym.

Ruff and Johnston each finished the match with 12 kills, while Jowers added 10 as the Lady Bulldogs improved to 16-14 on the season and, more importantly, 3-0 in district.

Adding to the all-around team effort were Mycala Reed (15 digs) and Callie O’Connell (34 assists, 10 digs) in a performance coach Shay Cox was excited to see.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

SPOTLIGHT: Gordon kicker does the unfathomable, boots extra point into moving vehicle

Video courtesy Waco Live Oak Classical coach Brice Helton; Photos courtesy Kennedy Irwin

Gordon football coach Mike Reed is sure of the fact that Juan Cabrera has a career as a college kicker, and now the junior has a kick that calling it highlight worthy might be a gross understatement.

With the Longhorns leading 34-8 at Waco Live Oak Classical on Friday night, the junior lined up for a routine extra point — his fifth kick of the night.

What happened next was anything but routine. Continue reading “SPOTLIGHT: Gordon kicker does the unfathomable, boots extra point into moving vehicle” →

by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Valiant defensive effort not enough for Cooper in home loss to Coronado

A week after running for 366 yards and seven touchdowns, both school records, Cooper running back Daniel Bray was well on his way to backing that up with a 200-plus yard performance on Friday night against Lubbock Coronado.

A third-quarter injury stopped Bray’s progress as he finished with 138 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries and the Cougars fell 27-21 to the Mustangs for homecoming.

Bray’s injury put more pressure on the Cooper offensive line to protect quarterback Austin Cummins in a passing game that struggled all night. Cummins finished the game with 92 yards passing and one score, nearly all of which came in the fourth quarter.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Despite sweep, ACS learns a lot in energetic match with Graham

It’s not always about the final score.

Abilene Christian Schools volleyball coach Arnett McClure made sure that his team knew that after being swept 25-21, 25-19, 25-23 by Graham on Tuesday night at Panther Gym.

ACS entered the match riding a three-match winning streak against Bangs, Hawley and Merkel, but found the going extremely tough against the talented UIL Class 4A Lady Blues.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Shootout between Clyde’s Carr, Merkel’s O’Malley goes to the Bulldogs

MERKEL — One thing is for certain: Merkel’s new scoreboard and videoboard at Badger Stadium are fully functional.

With the Badgers showing off their new improvements in their home opener, it was Clyde that landed the most body blows in a thrilling 69-57 win on Friday night in nondistrict action.

The game featured an astonishing six touchdowns in a span of 6:51 in the third quarter — a stretch that saw five touchdowns scored in a stretch of 13 snaps.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: TLCA downs Munday 14-9, claiming first 11-man win

Heading into Saturday night’s game between Munday and Abilene TLCA at McMurry’s Wilford Moore Stadium, a first win was guaranteed in some form or fashion.

The Moguls entered the game looking to get head coach Brandon Langston his first career win, while the Eagles were looking to get their first-ever win as an 11-man squad.

Munday had an opportunity at the victory, but Hunter Urbanczyk couldn’t hang onto a fourth-down pass as he fell to the ground in the end zone with 41 seconds to play, allowing TLCA to escape with a 14-9 win.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Fast start lifts Lubbock Monterey past Wylie

Football games often turn on special teams miscues and gaffes.

Friday’s nondistrict game between Lubbock Monterey and Wylie at Hugh Sandifer Stadium saw two plays that fit into that category — one for each squad.

Ultimately, it was Monterey that was able to make the most of their opportunity as the Plainsmen took a 34-21 win, dropping the Bulldogs to 0-2 on the young season.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Cox, Perkins and Vineyard lead Coahoma to big win over Forsan

BIG SPRING — The 10th annual Howard County Bowl had everything you could ask for as a football fan.

Game ball delivered by a U.S. Army Golden Knight skydiver who lost both of his legs in a training accident in 1994? Sgt. First Class Dana Bowman delivered with that.

Big plays. Trick plays. A pooch kick recovery. Blocked kicks. 84 total points. 11 total touchdowns. A two-point conversion. Three field goals. 1,001 yards of combined offense. 44 total first downs. Hard hits. You can check those boxes as well.

If that’s not enough, how does a 99-yard touchdown pass sound? That also happened as Coahoma opened the season with a 50-34 win over Forsan on Friday at Memorial Stadium in the highest scoring game in the rivalry’s short history.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

2023 MUNDAY FOOTBALL PREVIEW: New coach looking for different results

Patrick Corcoran had a 15-year run leading the Munday football program that ended after the 2019 season, posting with 10 winning seasons and two state championships during his tenure.

Since he stepped down, though, the Moguls have had a revolving door of head coaches and that trend continues this year as Brandon Langston takes over following two years of Justin Josselet and one year with Webb Murphy.

Langston will have his work cut out for him as he works to bring a winning culture back to the school.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

2023 ABILENE TLCA FOOTBALL PREVIEW: Eagles looking to take the next step as a fledgling program

Things have not been easy on the north side of Abilene as Jeremy Kirk has worked to build an athletic program from scratch with the Texas Leadership Charter Academy of Abilene.

Since planting roots in Abilene, TLCA slowly expanded with the addition of one grade level on an annual basis. That led to the Eagles football team often being outmanned and undersized in its formative years.

After finally having a senior class for the first time in 2022-23, Kirk is now able to focus more on the product on the field as opposed to wondering how many kids he’s going to have on his squad, and that is going to allow for the development of several locker room leaders.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

2023 SIX-MAN PREVIEW: Big Country looking to continue domination of Class 1A

The Big Country enters the 2023 season having swept the 2021 (Westbrook, Strawn) and 2022 (Westbrook, Benjamin) Class 1A state championships after having gone a couple of years without claiming the top prize.

Entering this season, the biggest question is: Can Westbrook pull off a three-peat?

Westbrook and Benjamin enter the season as the top-ranked teams in Divisions I and II, respectively, but the Big Country has a total of seven teams ranked in the Top 10 between the two Class 1A divisions.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

Big Country Preps Volleyball Position Rankings: Liberos/Defensive Specialists

After highlighting the area’s top front-row players the past three nights, we now shift our attention to the those digging the ball off the floor in the back row.

For the fourth installment in our five-part series, we rank the area’s top-five liberos and defensive specialists for 2023 season.

We hope you enjoy our list.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

Big Country Preps Volleyball Position Rankings: Setters

After focusing on the top hitters and blockers the Big Country has to offer the past two nights, it’s time to shift our attention to those setting them up.

For the third installment in our five-part position rankings series, we list our top-10 setters for the 2023 season.

We hope you enjoy reading through our rankings.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

Big Country Preps Volleyball Position Rankings: Middle Blockers

After kicking off our volleyball position rankings series with the outside hitters on Monday, we now turn our attention to the middle blockers.

For the second installment in our five-part series, we rank the area’s top five players at that position with some others to watch for in 2023.

We hope you enjoy our list.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

Big Country Preps Volleyball Position Rankings: Outside Hitters

With the volleyball season upon us, it’s time to take a look at the local and area players who will be making the biggest impact for their teams during the 2023 season.

For the first installment in a five-part series that will cover all positions, we’ll be focusing on the Big Country’s top outside hitters, ranking our top five with a list of others to watch this season.

As with any such list, these rankings are subjective. We hope you enjoy reading through our selections.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

FEATURE: Big Country chapter still short on officials, but narrowing the gap

When the Big Country chapter of the Texas Association of Sports Officials began meeting this summer to prepare for the 2023 season, a declining number of officials was especially concerning to members of the board of directors.

The local chapter, one of at least 15 in the state, was confronted with a shortage of 30 officials this year — a number that equates to fully staffing five or six games every week.

That’s where Rueben Morales, who is in charge of recruiting for the local chapter, and his team got to work and succeeded in a major way.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

FEATURE: Garfield’s first year as AISD athletic director sees significant growth

If you were to take a look at Abilene ISD Athletic Director Jim Garfield’s account on Twitter, two acronyms will jump off the page at you with regularity: FAAB and OTOF.

Family Ain’t Always Blood. One Town, One Family.

Garfield, who has been a head football coach at Corpus Christi Flour Bluff, Wichita Falls Rider and Elgin, uses those two slogans with regularity in his job leading numerous coaches and hundreds of student-athletes.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

FEATURE: Templeton’s return to Stamford adds to growing list of coaches ending retirements

Cover photo courtesy Lannie Templeton

Wayne Hutchinson started the trend. Blake Sandford was the second one in line. Now Lannie Templeton has joined it.

Having been out of coaching for the past nine years and working for the Farmers Coop Society of Stamford, Templeton announced on Friday that he was heading back into coaching with the Bulldogs.

Templeton will serve as an assistant coach with the Stamford football and baseball teams starting with the 2023-24 school year.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

FEATURE: Former Early coach Sandford eager to return to high school dugout with Brownwood

Blake Sandford has been out of the high school coaching game for a few years since resigning from Early High School in 2019.

Earlier this week, though, he was named the new head baseball coach at Brownwood, replacing Brian Harris, who has taken an administration role within Brownwood ISD.

Sandford, who has spent the past two seasons working with Howard Payne’s baseball team, is eager to hit the ground running with a Lions squad that will feature stars Gavin Brandstetter and Logan Posey next year.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

UPDATED: Stamford looks to the past, brings back Hutchinson

Sometimes to move forward, you have to look back on history.

For Stamford ISD, that meant pulling the curtain back one decade.

On Friday morning, SISD named Wayne Hutchinson the new head football coach and athletic director, luring the 2012-13 state champion out of retirement and back to the sidelines of Bill Anderson Stadium.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

FEATURE: It’s more than the game for FCA football coaches

Due to their nature, high school all-star football games can often be lackluster affairs.

Asking guys who have gone more than six months without strapping on pads to come together and learn a game plan they can execute with just four days of practice is a significant challenge. It’s easy to forgive players if they look a little out of sync or rusty.

Saturday night’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes Myrle Greathouse All-Star Classic at Hugh Sandifer Stadium was anything but your normal affair, however, as the Blue Team beat the Red Team 24-14 in an event that’s been going on for more than two decades.

For Snyder’s Wes Wood and Comanche’s Jake Escobar, who led the Blue and Red teams, respectively, though, it was less about wins and losses than the greater good of the week.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: MVP Williams leads South to FCA volleyball sweep

Wall’s Kamryn Williams was off her game on Saturday morning as the Big Country Fellowship of Christian Athletes volleyball all-star game played two warm-up sets at Wylie High School’s Bulldog Gymnasium as the North team took a pair of wins.

But when the lights came on for the best-of-three match between the area’s best players, Williams flipped a switch and shined as she led the South to a 25-21, 25-16 win in front of a raucous crowd with the football players for Saturday night’s game in the stands firing up everyone in attendance.

The win by the South on Saturday gave them a 6-5 lead all-time in the series — and was the squad’s fourth consecutive win in the event dating back to 2019.

Williams, who played a role in 17 of the South’s points, said the MVP honors were the culmination of a week of hard work, bonding and growth.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Big third inning lifts Brock past Shallowater and into regional finals

Wednesday night, Brock baseball coach Kobe Page lamented the fact that his squad only put up two runs in the final six innings after starting fast in a 7-1 series-opening win over Shallowater.

Thursday was a polar opposite.

After rough at-bats by Tyler Moody, Ian Fuchs and Sawyer Strosnider in the first inning, the rest of the lineup picked them up. And from there, the Eagles went on to eliminate the Mustangs with an 11-1 win in Game 2 of the Region I-3A semifinal series at Abilene Christian University’s Crutcher Scott Field.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Lubbock Cooper rallies to take pair from Abilene High, eliminate Eagles

MIDLAND — Abilene High’s bid for its first trip to the state tournament since winning the Class 4A championship in 1956-57 came to an end Saturday afternoon at Christensen Stadium.

After getting a brilliant start from Brady Bennett in Friday’s 1-0 nine-inning thriller to open their Region I-5A quarterfinal series, the Eagles saw Lubbock Cooper take an 11-0 Game 2 win before claiming the winner-take-all finale 8-0.

Abilene High had just one hit in Game 2 before being held to four hits in the series finale.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Wylie finishes off sweep of Monterey behind Walker’s gem

MIDLAND — The Wylie baseball team entered Saturday’s Region I-5A quarterfinal Game 2 against Lubbock Monterey having won seven of its last eight contests with timely hitting and masterful pitching.

A seventh-inning rally for a 4-2 win in Friday’s series opener meant that Wylie could give the ball to staff ace Sam Walker in Game 2 with a chance to close out the series and advance to the Region I-5A semifinals.

Walker cut through the Plainsmen lineup with ease as the Bulldogs beat Monterey 4-3 at Ernie Johnson Field on Saturday afternoon.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

LOCAL BASEBALL ROUNDUP: Abilene High, Wylie score thrilling wins over district foes to open I-5A quarterfinal series

Photos by Khloe Scott, HubCityPreps.com 

MIDLAND — Abilene High right-hander Brady Bennett had his first no-decision of the season while turning in his best start of the year Friday as the Eagles outlasted Lubbock Cooper 1-0 in nine innings at Midland College to open their best-of-three Region I-5A quarterfinal series.

Hours later, across town in Midland, the Wylie baseball team completed a 4-2 win over Lubbock Monterey in Game 1 to take an early lead in its region quarterfinal series as well.

That put both the Eagles and Bulldogs in position to advance to next week’s Region I-5 semifinals with one win Saturday, when their respective series resume back at the same sites. 

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Pitching dominates as Stamford edges Colorado City 2-0 in Game 1

For the second time this week, Laylonna Applin’s bat in the sixth inning delivered a backbreaking home run.

After doing it in Stamford’s Game 3 win over Cisco on Monday, the senior hammered one out in Game 1 of the Region I-2A semifinal series against Colorado City on Thursday night at Abilene High.

Applin’s blast on Thursday was an insurance run that Emma Follis wound up not needing, but it was the key blow in a 2-0 win by the Lady Bulldogs, who will look to close out the series at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Stamford hammers Cisco in Game 3 to earn regional semifinal berth

After the first two games of ther Region I-2A quarterfinal series between Stamford and Cisco were decided by identical 3-2 scores, Lady Bulldogs coach Sean Slavin was looking for any kind of spark to set his team on fire in Monday’s series finale.

Slavin had plenty of choices as to what started the fire at Abilene Christian University’s Poly Wells Field, where the Lady Bulldogs hammered the Lady Loboes 17-3, setting up a region semifinals series with Colorado City that will start Thursday night.

The last time the two teams met in the playoffs, Stamford swept the Lady Wolves in the same round on its way to the 2021 state championship.

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