Albany 31, Comanche 13 — Chip Chambers passed for 178 yards and three touchdowns and Adam Hill rushed for 136 yards and a score to lead the Lions to a comfortable win over the Indians.
Behind those two, Albany outscored Comanche 10-0 in the third quarter, stretching a 14-7 halftime lead to three scores by the start of the fourth.
There are big games and then there are those that border on insanity.
Moran running back Ellis Hise, our Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the week ending Sept. 16, fell squarely into the latter category on Saturday with a performance that was absolutely nuts.
Helping the Bulldogs to a thrilling 68-67 win over Mullin in one of the top six-man games the Big Country has seen this year, Hise rushed for 287 yards and six touchdowns on only 26 carries. But that’s just the beginning.
Albany 27, Hawley 14 — Albany improved to 4-0 with a win in this matchup of defending state champions behind three TD passes from Chip Chambers.
Leading 27-14 at the break, the Lions held on through a scoreless second half at Hardin-Simmon’ Shelton Stadium in a game that was moved due to Hawley’s Forrest Field being rendered unplayable by recent rainfall.
Hawley (2-2) was led by Keagan Ables, who threw for 231 yards and one score.
When it comes to individual performances, there are big games and there are big games.
And then there’s what Cooper junior Daniel Bray did against San Angelo Central last week in leading the Cougars to their first win of the season.
The explosive tailback, who had been limited some in the first two weeks by a nagging ankle injury and the growing pains of a young offensive line, broke out in a historic way in that 53-45 victory over the Bobcats. By the time the game was over, he had rushed for a school-record 366 yards and seven touchdowns on just 21 carries, making a case for our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award that was too compelling to pass over — even in a week with a number of other monster performances.
Albany 41, Seymour 14 — The Lions threw for only 26 yards, but with Adam Hill rushing for 326 yards and four scores, they didn’t really need to throw the football around much.
Albany improved to 3-0 with the win.
Hamlin 19, Water Valley 14 — First-year Hamlin Coach Jason Botos earned his first victory as his Pied Pipers rushed for 201 yards as a team.
Clayton Rister led Hamlin (1-1) with 113 yards rushing on 14 carries with one TD.
After a summer-long effort to produce our football preview, it is good to be back in our school year routine — a big part of which is our Big Country Preps Player of the Week.
That said, we are proud to hand our first accolade for 2023-24 to Snyder senior quarterback Easton Stewart, who led the Tigers to a 42-0 season-opening win over Slaton last week.
Roscoe 42, Colorado City 0 — Roscoe used a dual-threat offense and a strong defensive effort to beat C-City in the opener for both teams.
Jace Arnwine threw for 258 yards and two scores and Ivan McCann rushed for 139 yards and two more touchdowns to lift the Plowboys, who limited C-City to only 107 yards in total offense.
Continue reading “DISTRICT 6-2A DII WEEK 1 REPORT: Roscoe opens season with big win over C-City”
“When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer.”
— Hans Gruber, Die Hard, 1988
ALBANY — When he won the world chess championship in 1973 after pursuing it for much of his life, American Bobby Fischer woke up the next day and later reflected that “everything felt different.” He soon vacated the title and never played in an officially sanctioned world championship match again.
This sort of thing isn’t uncommon for those who spend decades chasing after a goal. Once it’s finally achieved, the question then becomes, how do I stay hungry? With the driving force behind all the hard work suddenly stripped away by success, where does one find additional energy?
Albany football coach Denney Faith found himself facing this challenge over the offseason, after a 36-year pursuit of a state championship finally came to an end with a victory over Mart for the Class 2A DII state title last year.
ALBANY — Even while coming off a Class 2A DII state championhip, there are a few questions to be answered by the Albany Lions and veteran coach Denney Faith.
The good news for the Lions, is that they will have some tools in place to buy themselves a little time while sorting things out.
Day 1 of Big Country Preps’ 2023 Photo Tour is now in the books, with seven more days of shooting yet to come from practice fields throughout the area.
Here are but a few of the images collected Monday:
Continue reading “Scenes from Big Country Preps Photo Tour Day 1”
Football is just around the corner, and we at BigCountryPreps.com are committed to bringing you the information you need to prepare for your favorite team’s season.
We’ll be releasing our Big Country Preps Preseason Football Preview, the most comprehensive look at the upcoming Big Country football season anywhere, on Wednesday, Aug. 16. But you won’t have to wait until then to sate your gridiron appetite.
Leading up to the first day of fall football practice on July 31, we’ll be spotlighting each 11-man team in the area and posing some of the key questions they’ll face in 2023 as part of our annual “Countdown to Two-a-Days” series.
We begin in Class 2A Division II with the Albany Lions. On Thursday, we will take a look at the Cross Plains Buffaloes, followed by the Hamlin Pied Pipers on Friday.
Continue reading “COUNTDOWN TO TWO-A-DAYS: The Albany Lions … 40 days to two-a-days”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Albany-New Home baseball regional semifinal playoff (108 images)”
The Albany baseball team struck the first blow in its Region I-2A semifinal series against New Home, using a Zane Waggoner home run to kick start a four-run fourth inning and rally past the Leopards for a 5-2 win in Game 1 on Thursday at Abilene Christian High School.
Prior to Waggoner’s big fly, the Lions had tallied just one hit against New Home starter Ashton Lucio, taking a 1-0 deficit into the bottom of the fourth. But that hit opened the flood gates for coach David Fairchild’s squad, which went on to outhit the Leopards 9-3 in the victory.
Five of those hits came during the fourth-inning outburst, which made a winner out of ace Cole Chapman, who relieved starter Tyler Chapman in the second inning and delivered 5.2 innings of two-run baseball to get the Lions off to a winning start.
Our final Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the 2022-23 school year could have gone any number of directions.
We finally settled on Goldthwaite junior Lainey Jernigan, who swept both the girls 2A hurdles titles at the state meet last week.
Jernigan won the 100 hurdles in 14.62 and the 300 hurdles in 44.12. And the good news for GHS fans is, she’s coming back to defend both crowns next year.
AUSTIN — After a slow start in the field events on Friday saw the Big Country net just four medals, things heated up in the evening session when the track events got rolling.
Big Country athletes picked up 10 medals under the lights at Mike A. Meyers Stadium at the University of Texas, giving the area 14 for the day.
On top of that, the Stamford girls team finished in a three-way tie with Refugio and Panhandle with 32 points to claim a share of the state championship. Goldthwaite’s girls finished three points back in fourth.
It’s always a great accomplishment to go to the state track meet in multiple events. But when it’s done in dominating fashion at the Class 4A level or above, you’re generally talking about a very special, gifted athlete.
Our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, Victoria Cameron of Stephenville, falls directly into that category and she has the regional hardware to prove it.
Taking four gold medals at the Region I-4A meet, Cameron scored 30 individual points while clinching four berths to the state meet.
SPRINGTOWN — Big Country athletes made a big showing at the Region II-2A track meet, collecting a combined 37 medals and clinching 28 state berths over the two-day event at Porcupine Stadium.
Along the way, Albany and Cisco went 1-2 in the boys team race, while Stamford shared the girls team title with Era and Hamilton.
The Albany Lions had the highest point total of any program, boys or girls, collecting five medals on the way to 70 points, while the Cisco boys followed closely behind with 67 points. Stamford finished third in the boys team race with 64 points, while the girls earned 56 points to finish in a three-way tie atop the team standings.
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: Cisco-Albany baseball (106 images)”
ALBANY — Senior Cole Chapman pitched five shutout innings and delivered a pair of hits, including a two-run triple in the second, to fuel the Albany baseball team to a 10-0 Senior Night win over Cisco on Tuesday at the Albany Lions Baseball Field.
Behind Chapman’s efforts, AHS (9-1 in league play) claimed its eighth consecutive win to clinch the outright title in District 8-2A and take a 17-2 overall record into the playoffs next week.
The Lions, who topped Cisco 4-0 the first time the teams met on April 4, took advantage of 10 walks and a pair of Loboes errors in Tuesday’s rematch, scoring in each of the first four innings before capping the run-rule victory with a single run in the sixth.
Clyde’s Payton Phillips is no stranger to our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award. She’s no stranger to gold medals either.
And for the third time since last year, the CHS senior has captured our weekly accolade — this time with an armful of hardware.
In her latest performance, Phillips won four separate district championships and took silver in a fifth at the District 6-3A track meet.
It’s not often that a Big Country baseball team charts two no-hitters in the same week. But when two pitchers with the same last name are charting the no-nos it’s about as common as the planets aligning.
That was the case last week with the Albany Lions, who in sweeping Haskell (15-0) and Stamford (11-1) saw Cole and Tyler Chapman (non-siblings) post back-to-back no-hitters.
Cole, a senior, blanked Haskell in four innings of work in a mercy rule win, fanning six. Three days later, Tyler got into the act in a five-inning run-rule win with 12 Ks.
They now share our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award — another rarity.
“We were very proud of our pitchers last week,” Albany coach David Fairchild said. “Both pitchers were in control and in command of their pitches.”
Bangs southpaw Abby Wolf has thrown so many no-hitters this year, that the subject barely raises an eyebrow. But in consecutive district wins over Coleman and Christoval last week, the sophomore managed to create a stir.
Missing a perfect game by one hit batsman in a 7-0 win over Coleman, she followed that with three perfect innings in a 15-0 route of Christoval.
In other words, Wolf tossed nine complete hitless innings last week, along the way walking none and fanning 13.
“Damarrius Walker is a very talented young man,” Sweetwater coach Brian Hodnett said. “There isn’t much in track and field that he can’t do!
“We as a staff are excited to see how far he can go this year.”
So is the rest of the area as our Big Country Preps Player of the Week collects the award after scoring 44 points individually at the Hamlin Pied Piper Relays last week.
Adam Hill was a key member of Albany’s state championship football team last fall.
The junior lined up at running back, played tight end in certain sets and even was occasionally a fullback. Hill was also a defensive end for the Lions after playing strong safety the previous year.
Hill’s versatility can also be seen on the basketball court. He’s a bigger guy who can handle the ball well. Hill pounds the glass with his 6-foot-2 frame and has worked hard to improve his outside shooting.
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: Albany-Hawley boys basketball (56 images)”
HAWLEY — They are bound to be partying like it’s the 1980s in Hawley this week after a 20-0 game-ending run gave Hawley a 65-47 win over Albany and the outright District 10-2A basketball championship.
It’s the first time the Bearcats have won a district title in boys basketball since 1987.
Kason O’Shields had 17 points in the first quarter and bookended a 37-point night with 12 more points in the fourth quarter to fuel HHS.
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: Cisco-Albany boys basketball (77 images)”
ALBANY — Albany and Hawley both won state championships in football less than two months ago and are now set to square off for at least a share of the District 10-2A championship on Tuesday night.
The showdown comes after the Lions dominated Cisco 46-33 on Friday night, jumping out to a double-digit first quarter lead and never looking back.
It sets up a game with major playoff implications as the eventual runner-up between Hawley (12-4, 10-1) and Albany (13-3, 9-2) would face Class 2A’s top-ranked team, Lipan, in the second round of the playoffs. While the Bearcats lead the Lions by a game in the district standings, an AHS win would secure coach Ryder Peacock’s team the No. 1 playoff seed by virtue of its 51-48 win on Jan. 20.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Albany-Anson basketball doubleheader (84 images)”
ANSON — Locked in a tight battle after the first quarter, the Anson girls exploded in the second and rode the momentum all the way to a 55-35 win over Albany as the two squads closed out the first half of District 10-2A play on Friday night.
Meagan McWhirter had a big night for the Lady Tigers, scoring a game-high 18 points, as Anson improved to 15-8 overall but, more importantly, 3-3 in league play.
Anson is tied for third place in the district after the first round of games, which is critical with the Lady Tigers having just three more home games the rest of the year.
Due to UIL regulations, photo sales from state championship events are not permitted.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Albany-Mart football (189 images)”
ARLINGTON — When you’ve coached in the same place for 41 years and had the success Denney Faith has in Albany, you tend to garner broad support.
And when the only thing missing from your legendary career is the ultimate prize — a Texas state championship — summiting that mountain can become a community effort.
Such was certainly the case Wednesday for Faith, whose Lions routed favored Mart 41-21 at AT&T Stadium for the Class 2A Division II crown. And as one might expect in such a situation, a key piece of the Albany players’ motivation was getting their longtime coach a ring.
ARLINGTON — It took 35 years and five championship game appearances, but long-time Albany coach Denney Faith finally chalked up what had eluded him for so long on Wednesday: a state title.
Coy Lefevre rushed for 65 yards and four touchdowns and Cole Chapman rushed for 129 yards and another score to lead Albany (14-2) to a 41-21 win over perennial power Mart at AT&T Stadium.
LAST WEEK: 3-0, 1.000
SEASON TOTAL: 540-120, .818
Far be it from me to point out that this column has been absolutely on fire throughout postseason play.
Actually, I will point it out.
Over the last three weeks alone, pick accuracy has seen marks of 11-1, 8-0 and 3-0 for an overall pick record of 22-1 (.956) during that span. And with six-man teams returning from a one-week hiatus, there are five state championship games involving six teams from our coverage area left to pick.
Albany, Hawley, Brock, Westbrook, Benjamin and Loraine have all retained a pulse into Week 17. Not too shabby.
It’s been a great year, a lot of fun and it’s difficult to believe it all ends this week.
Here’s the final forecast for the 2022 season:
NOTE: This will be our final Player of the Week column for 2022. It will return on Monday, Jan. 9.
It’s always a significant accomplishment to chart a double-double. But when one averages a double-double over the course of five straight games, you begin to put a blip on the area radar screen.
Munday senior Jaxon Bowman did precisely that last week, helping the Moguls to a 5-0 record and the tournament championship at Blackwell. Aside from averaging 11.2 points per game, the senior grabbed a whopping 13 boards per contest to along with a combined 12 steals as Munday improved to 12-2.
ALBANY — A conversation with Albany football coach Denney Faith is almost like traveling back in time — a time when the people we admired most were hard-working, humble and willing let their work speak for itself.
Faith isn’t going to volunteer that he’s now the fourth-winningest coach in Texas high school football history with 344 victories. He’s not going to advertise that he’s about to make his fifth career appearance in a state championship game. And you won’t hear that his teams have won 10 or more games in a season 17 times since he took the job at AHS in 1987.
His 19 district titles? A non-subject. His current string of 21 consecutive winning seasons? Don’t hold your breath.
The truth of the matter is, Faith probably isn’t even aware of these things until someone like me points them out. Nor does he care about them.
It’s not why he got into the business.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Albany-New Home football playoff (60 images)”
SWEETWATER — Denney Faith has earned another chance.
With four trips to the state championship game already under his belt in 37 seasons at Albany, Faith earned trip No. 5 on Thursday as his Lions dominated New Home 53-25 at the Mustang Bowl.
Adam Hill and Coy Lefevre combined for 211 yards rushing and three scores to lead the Lions (13-2), who advance to face Mart (15-0) in the Class 2A DII state title game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
LAST WEEK: 8-0, 1.000
SEASON TOTAL: 537-120, .817
The Big Country Preps coverage area took a few hits last week, with Wylie, Wall and Cisco all seeing their seasons end in the regional championship round.
However, six of our teams remain active heading into this week, half of which are six-man teams (Loraine, Benjamin and Westbrook) that have already qualified for state and are taking this week off.
The other half are 3A DI Brock, 2A DI Hawley and 2A DII Albany, all of which advanced to this week’s state semifinals.
As for pick accuracy, the column is on fire, going 8-0 last week and 11-1 the week before for a 19-1 mark (.950) over a two-week span.
Alright, enough said, let’s dive in.
Here’s this week’s forecast:
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: Albany-Collinsville football playoff (77 images)”
MINERAL WELLS — Cole Chapman threw for 318 yards and five touchdowns as the Albany offense amassed 648 total yards in a 66-34 win over Collinsville in the Region II-2A Division II final at Ram Stadium on Friday night.
Chapman completed 15-of-19 passes, four different receivers caught scoring strikes and three players ran for scores, including two by the senior quarterback as the Lions (12-2) advanced to their sixth state semifinal in the past 10 years.
Two of those trips have seen the Lions advance to play for a state title, which only the 1960 and 1961 squads accomplished.
