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.
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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.
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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:
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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.
LAST WEEK: 11-1, .916
SEASON TOTAL: 529-120, .815
As December football arrives so will nine — count’em, nine — Big Country Preps teams retain a playoff pulse and are still hopeful of winning a state championship.
Wylie, Brock, Wall, Cisco, Hawley, Albany, Westbrook, Benjamin and Loraine will all take the field this week.
Not too shabby.
Also doing pretty well: this column, which hit with 91-percent accuracy last week despite a difficult slate of games to pick.
That said, let’s dive into this week’s games.
Here’s this week’s forecast:
Having fought his way through a mid-season injury, Albany quarterback Cole Chapman is back in form.
Our Big Country Preps Player of the Week was the dual threat we’ve grown accustomed to seeing on Saturday, leading the Lions (11-2) to a 35-18 whipping of formerly unbeaten Wink in the Region II-2A Division II semifinals.
SAN ANGELO — With the game still hanging in the balance, the football hit the turf twice in the final minutes Saturday at San Angelo Stadium.
Each time, it bounced Albany’s way.
The No. 6-ranked Lions recovered two fumbles in the last four minutes — including one that was returned 86 yards for a touchdown — to put the finishing touches on a 35-18 win over No. 4 Wink in their Region II-2A Division II semifinal playoff game.
GRAHAM – Albany was challenged for the first time in a couple months Thursday night.
The sixth-ranked Lions needed a touchdown in the last minute of the first half against Muenster to take a lead into the locker room in a Region II-2A Division II area round matchup.
But once Albany regained the lead against the Hornets, there were no plans to relinquish it. The Lions scored six second-half touchdowns to pull away for a convincing 56-10 victory at Newton Field.
Albany (10-2) advances to face No. 4 Wink (12-0), which eliminated Santo 35-19, at a time and place to be determined, while Muenster ends its season at 6-6.
Cisco 55, Reagan County 0 — The Loboes dominated Reagan County, rolling up 555 yards in total offense, of which 378 were on the round.
Hunter Long and Trent Huston combined for 263 yards rushing and four touchdowns to lead Cisco (9-2), which led 42-0 at the break.
After highlighting the Big Country’s top guards and forwards the past two nights, we now take a look at the area’s best big men.
For the final installment in our three-part boys basketball position rankings series, we rank the Big Country’s top 10 post players.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading through our rankings, and make sure to check back for all our boys and girls basketball coverage this season.
After kicking off our boys basketball position rankings series on Tuesday with the guards, we now shift our attention to the forwards.
For the second installment in our three-part series, we rank the area’s top-10 players at that position for 2022-23.
We hope you enjoy our list.
With boys basketball season beginning this week, it’s time to shine a spotlight on some of the players you’ll be reading about throughout the 2022-23 season.
For the first installment in a three-part series that will cover all positions on the area boys basketball scene, we’ll be taking a look at the Big Country’s top guards, ranking our top 10 with a list of others to watch this winter.
We hope you enjoy reading through our list.
Roscoe 16, Hamlin 14 — Jax Watts threw for 109 yards and one score and Parker Gleaton scored a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter to push Roscoe into the playoffs and Hamlin out.
The Plowboys managed only 201 yards in total offense but held Hamlin to 171.
After focusing on the top guards and forwards the Big Country has to offer the past two nights, it’s time to shift our attention to the paint.
For the final installment in our three-part position rankings series, we list our top-10 post players for the 2022-23 season.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading through these rankings, and make sure to come back next week when we’ll feature the top boys basketball players in the Big Country.
After kicking off our girls basketball position rankings series with the guards on Tuesday, we now turn our attention to the forwards.
For the second installment in our three-part series, we rank the area’s top 10 players at that position with some others to watch for in 2022-23.
We hope you enjoy our list.
With the girls basketball 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 2022-23 season.
For the first installment in a three-part series that will cover all positions, we’ll be focusing on the Big Country’s top guards, ranking our top 10 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.