Author: Brandon McAuliffe

by Brandon McAuliffe

LOCAL SOFTBALL ROUNDUP: Abilene High, Wylie earn important wins

While the District 4-5A baseball race garners hype and headlines, the softball race may be just as compelling.

Wylie beat Lubbock Coronado 15-4 on Tuesday night while Abilene High knocked off district leader Lubbock Cooper 5-4, creating a logjam among the league’s four teams jockeying for playoff positioning.

Tuesday’s win by the Lady Eagles leaves them at 8-4 in district play with their season complete while it dropped the Lady Pirates to 9-2. Wylie, meanwhile, is now tied for second place with Lubbock Monterey at 8-3.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

BREAKING: Merkel names Snyder’s Wood as new head football coach, AD

It took a little over a month, but Merkel ISD has found its man to lead the Badgers football program and athletic department as a whole.

In a move announced Monday that causes dominoes to fall across the Big Country, MISD tabbed Snyder’s Wes Wood to the post, replacing Will Kates, who resigned in March to move closer to his family.

While it may come as a surprise that Wood would leave a Class 4A Division II program to move to a Class 3A Division II squad, Wood said it was his experiences and family that led to the decision.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Cougars cap off perfect week with crucial win over Lubbock Coronado

Cooper baseball coach Brandon Stover was left paraphrasing iconic (and fictitious) Cleveland Indians manager Lou Brown on Saturday afternoon after his squad took down Lubbock Coronado 6-5 in District 4-5A play at Cougar Field.

“When you win three in a row, that’s called a winning streak. It has happened before.”

Only for the Cougars, this isn’t Hollywood.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Six-run third inning propels Abilene High to district win over Coronado

While it was what Abilene High coach Brad Harman calls a “perfect play,” the turning point of Tuesday’s District 4-5A matchup at Blackburn Field between AHS and Lubbock Coronado went the Mustangs’ way.

With two outs in the second inning of a 1-1 game, Harman had freshman George Ferguson try to score from second base on a hit up the middle. Isaiah Trevino delivered a strike to Bodie Pope to cut down Ferguson to end the frame, but the message was sent — the Eagles were going to be aggressive on the basepaths.

AHS would capitalize on that aggression later, scoring six in the third inning to cruise to a 9-5 win in a game that leaves AHS a half-game behind district co-leaders Wylie and Lubbock Cooper in the 4-5A standings.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

BREAKING: Bangs looks to the Coastal Bend, hires Big Country native Buzzard to lead program

BANGS — Bangs ISD has found a new leader for the Dragon football program and athletic department as a whole.

BISD announced Monday morning that it had tabbed Gregory-Portland assistant coach Colton Buzzard to the athletic director/head football coach role, replacing Jason Cole. Cole was reassigned in February after less than a year of leading the program.

While Bangs marks Buzzard’s first head coaching job, it’s not his initial foray into Big Country football. He played for his father, Rusty, in the mid-2000s at Coleman.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Jeffers’ walk-off blast lifts Clyde to win over Merkel, earns coach Sewell his 400th career win

CLYDE — If the calendar says its March 22 and the Clyde softball team is facing Merkel, there’s a good chance that something big is on the horizon for Lady Bulldogs coach Reagan Sewell.

After getting the 300th win of his career on March 22, 2019 against the Lady Badgers, Sewell’s squad got him No. 400 on Friday in memorable fashion — with a walk-off home run.

Jaci Jeffers blasted the second pitch she saw from Merkel ace Josie Whitehead deep to center as the Lady Bulldogs rallied for a 7-6 win on their home field.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Clutch triple by Briscoe propels Wylie to crosstown win over AHS

The Abilene High and Wylie baseball teams spent the first three innings of Friday night’s showdown for the District 4-5A lead at Blackburn Field searching for a critical hit that would create some momentum.

Wylie’s Tye Briscoe delivered it on a full count pitch leading off the fourth with a triple to right that kickstarted a run of three hits in four batters as the Bulldogs knocked off the Eagles 6-2 in front of a rowdy crowd.

Both Wylie coach Grant Martin and his AHS counterpart, Brad Harman, said it was the most important at-bat of the contest.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Sixth inning rally lifts Hawley past Albany in district opener

HAWLEY — Hawley baseball coach Jamie Seago said that he’s been preaching to catcher Keegan Ables all year that its okay to get hit by a pitch when batting.

Tuesday night, with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the sixth, Ables took one right off the hip to bring home the tying run in what turned out to be a thrilling 4-3 win over Albany in the District 8-2A opener for both teams.

Creed Ernst followed with a walk that drove in Drew Siller for the winning run.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Big innings, solid pitching from Bennett lift AHS into tie for District 4-5A lead

Saturday’s are quickly earning a new name around the Abilene High baseball program — Brady-day.

A week after Brady Bennett led the Eagles to a 2-1 win over crosstown rival Cooper, the senior took the mound against Lubbock Cooper and dominated again, leading AHS to a 13-5 win over the District 4-5A leader entering the day.

The win moved AHS into a tie for first place in the district standings with the Pirates at 4-1.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

ABILENE ISD INVITATIONAL: Wall, Brock earn wins over larger classification opponents

As weather wreaked havoc with the first two days of the Abilene ISD Invitational baseball tournament, first-year Wall coach Jeremy Gordon was just happy to get two games in on Saturday.

The fact that he got two solid pitching performances with clutch at-bats in both only made him happier.

Wall shut out Class 6A Copperas Cove 8-0 before downing Class 4A Snyder 7-1 at Cougar Diamond to finish 3-1 in the tournament.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

BREAKING: Jim Ned stays in house, promotes McClure to head coach

TUSCOLA — After casting a wide net in search of a replacement for Matt Fanning, who resigned in February, Jim Ned found their man on Friday morning to be the 20th head football coach in program history.

As it turned out, Athletic Director Dustin Todd didn’t have to look very far.

Todd, who on Thursday celebrated the first anniversary of being named to his current role, handed the keys to the program to Jim Ned defensive coordinator Johnathon McClure during a specially called school board meeting.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

BREAKING: After three years, Kates leaving Merkel to be closer to family

When he took over the program in 2021, Will Kates was the fourth head football coach that the Merkel Badgers program had seen in as many years — after a period in which the program had had just three coaches from 2000-2018.

Having spent three years providing stability to the team, Kates announced on Wednesday that he was stepping down from his post and would be the offensive coordinator at Saginaw Eagle Mountain.

It’s a decision that was difficult for the first time head coach.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

BREAKING: Wylie hires Hardin-Simmons alum Fecci as new athletic director

With one eye on the current time and one turned towards the future, Wylie ISD named Mike Fecci its new athletic director on Monday night.

Fecci comes to Wylie after having spent 17 years with McKinney ISD, the last two of which he’s been the assistant AD for the four-high school district.

His experience in a multi-school district was something that sold the WISD administration on him.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

UIL STATE: Abilene officials make UIL history as first father-son combo to ref state tournament game

Photos by Joe Garcia III, PressPassSports.com

SAN ANTONIO — Entering this year’s UIL state basketball tournament, a total of 2,620 (1,570 boys; 1,050 girls) games had been played on the biggest stage in the sport.

During Nocona’s 44-42 win over Wellington in one of Friday’s Class 2A girls state semifinal games, a barrier was broken.

With Brandon Porter in their crew, Abilene referees Winkie James and Cory James became the first father-son duo to call a state tournament game.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Robert Lee earns first regional tournament trip since 1995 with dominant win over Garden City

SAN ANGELO — There was bound to be a party on the corner of Hamilton Street and 13th Street in Robert Lee on Tuesday night after the Steers punched their first ticket to the regional tournament since making it to the state semifinals in 1995.

The Steers earned that right with a strong second half against Garden City as they claimed a 45-31 win at Stephens Arena in the Junell Center on the campus of Angelo State University.

Unlike the first two matchups between the District 11-1A rivals, won by RLHS 49-44 in January and 45-38 by GCHS earlier this month, this was for all the marbles and a regional tournament berth.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Wichita Falls City View stuns Wall with buzzer beater in overtime

ANSON — To the naked eye, it was impossible to tell.

Slowed down on video? Still impossible.

All that mattered, however, was that the officials ruled William Jordan II released a shot a hair before the buzzer — and with it sent Wichita Falls City View on to the next round of the postseason with an astonishing 63-62 overtime win over Wall in a Region I-3A area-round game on Friday night at Tiger Gym.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Rigdon scores 60 in area round blowout, moves closer to history

ABILENE — In what’s been a normal occurrence during his first three years of high school, Benjamin’s Grayson Rigdon had another monster night for the Mustangs on Thursday night at Wylie’s Bulldog Gym.

The junior scored 60 points as the Mustangs rolled past Hermleigh 108-40 to secure a regional quarterfinal appearance against the winner of Friday’s game between Cross Plains and Knox City.

It was just another big night for Rigdon, who entered the game with the 15th-best points per game average in United States history.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Shocking end to regulation lifts Sweetwater to overtime win over Graham

With 0.11 seconds left on the clock, the Sweetwater boys basketball team was searching for a miracle against Graham on Tuesday night.

The Mustangs found it, barely.

Making the most of their second chance, Sweetwater drained a pair of free throws to tie the game before claiming a 64-60 win in overtime in a Region I-4A bi-district matchup at Wylie’s Bulldog Gym.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Riddle’s monster night leads Brock to big win over Coahoma

EULA — Brock girls basketball coach Alex Stephenson knows that Jacee Riddle has a lethal shot from behind the 3-point arc and has pretty much given her a green light to unleash it whenever she sees an open opportunity.

Against Coahoma in a Region I-3A area round game on Friday night at Mary Mosley Gymnasium, Riddle threw down dagger after dagger in a 58-36 win for the Lady Eagles.

The freshman knocked down eight 3-pointers on her way to a 30-point night, helping Brock earn a region quarterfinals matchup with Wall at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Abilene Christian University’s Moody Coliseum.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: New Home holds off upset minded Bluekatts

SWEETWATER — There were two things that the Coleman girls basketball team hoped wouldn’t come into play in their Region I-2A area round matchup with No. 5 New Home: depth and physicality.

Unfortunately for the Bluekatts, both wound up playing crucial roles as the Lady Leopards took a 39-24 win at Mustang Gym on Thursday night.

Even with the heartbreaking loss, Coleman coach Taylor Neal had nothing but praise for how her squad played.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

BREAKING: Slaughter named new head football coach at Wall

If you spend any amount of time talking to Craig Slaughter, his love of football and kids that he works with on a daily basis are obvious as they pour out of him.

His 2024 Valentine’s Day left the eloquent veteran coach stunned as he was named the 12th head coach in Wall football history on Wednesday morning.

Slaughter said that he was touched by the outpouring of support that he received once his promotion from defensive coordinator, a role he had been in since 2017, was made official.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: May knocks off Highland fourth consecutive bi-district matchup

CLYDE — For the fourth straight year, Highland and May met in the bi-district round of the Region II-1A girls basketball playoffs on Tuesday night.

Matching up at Bulldog Gym, the Lady Tigers evened the score with a 43-35 win over the Lady Hornets, earning an area-round date with Harrold on Friday.

May, which had lost the previous two playoff matchups with the Lady Hornets by at least 24 points, had its sights set on shutting down Highland with a full-court press. May coach Brad McGann said the familiarity with HHS made game preparation easier.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Cougars rally past Lubbock Cooper for thrilling win, keep playoff hopes alive

For the Cooper boys basketball team to have any shot at the postseason, the Cougars entered Friday night knowing they needed to beat District 4-5A leader Lubbock Cooper while getting an Abilene High win over Wylie at the same time.

With games at Cougar Gym running behind due to the Pirates suffering a bus breakdown in Snyder, the Cougars were in prime position to know if their game on Senior Night meant that they’d be playing for their playoff lives in the second half.

Abilene High did its part, edging Wylie 65-64 at Bulldog Gym, and Jordan Willis capped a monumental comeback with an off-balance 3-pointer with 27 seconds to help the Cougars complete a wild rally in the final six minutes of the game and earn a thrilling 42-39 win at Cougar Gym.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: San Angelo TLCA blocks Coahoma’s upset bid; Bulldogettes head to postseason with a win

SAN ANGELO — Lonnie Burnam knew that his Coahoma boys basketball team would need to play a near perfect game on Tuesday night to be able to knock off District 6-3A co-leader San Angelo TLCA.

For 17-plus minutes, he got everything that he wanted out of his team.

The rest of the game, however, was a different story and the Eagles pulled away for a 71-52 win as they remained tied with Wall atop the district standings.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Lubbock-Cooper escapes AHS with fourth-quarter rally

Fans showed up to Eagle Gym on Friday night with the expectation of seeing a massive showdown for the District 4-5A boys basketball lead between Abilene High and Lubbock Cooper.

The Eagles entered the contest with a 9-1 record this year on their home court and claimed a 57-56 win at Lubbock Cooper during the first round of district play.

Lubbock Cooper returned the favor with a 61-57 win, tightening its grip on the district lead with three games to go as the Pirates search for their first district championship since 2003.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

BREAKING: Jim Ned’s Fanning steps down, heads to college ranks

After leading the Jim Ned football team for six seasons, Matt Fanning announced on Friday that he is moving to the college ranks.

Fanning, who led the Indians to the 2020 state championship with a heart-stopping 29-28 overtime win over Hallettsville, will be the new tight ends coach at Hardin-Simmons University, his collegiate alma mater.

During his tenure in Tuscola, Fanning had a record of 58-16 which made the decision to leave a difficult one.

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