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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Anson-Coleman football (95 images)”
Hawley 56, San Saba 9 — Austin Cumpton rushed for 111 yards and five touchdowns while the Bearcat defense limited San Saba to just 98 total yards in a lopsided victory for Hawley.
The Bearcats (11-0), who also got 97 yards and one TD rushing from Lawson Bailey, led 42-0 by halftime and added another touchdown in the third quarter before the Armadillos finally got on the board.
San Saba, which closed its season at 2-9, was led by Wesley Lackey with 99 yards and one rushing touchdown on 10 carries.
Playing their first playoff game since 2017 after having the postseason trip they earned last year wiped out by COVID, the Coleman Bluecats weren’t about to let Thursday’s bi-district matchup with Anson go by without savoring the experience.
And by the time they left the field at Wylie’s Hugh Sandifer Stadium with the gold ball they had earned with Thursday’s 62-12 win, coach John Elder and company had given themselves — and the many blue-clad fans in attendance — a memorable experience to enjoy.
The ninth-ranked Bluecats rushed for 425 yards while limiting the Tigers to just 237 yards of total offense to run away from the Tigers and earn an area-round matchup next week with the winner of Farwell and Post at a time, date and location to be determined.
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.
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 2021-22 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.
Nobody ever truly obtains perfection on the football field. And even if you believe you’ve achieved it, any competent coach can quickly scan the game film and point out when and where you could have been better along the way.
Roscoe sophomore Jax Watts, however, came about as close as one can come to that lofty goal in Friday’s 61-0 win over Hamlin.
To begin with, our Capital Farm Credit/Big Country Preps Player of the Week hit 17 of 18 passes for 436 yards and six touchdowns as the Plowboys (9-1) closed the season with a nine-game winning streak and district title.
Haskell 37, Stamford 20 —Haskell overcame four turnovers to chalk up its second straight win and secure the No. 3 seed in district.
The Indians rushed for 219 yards as a team while limiting Stamford to 195 yards in total offense.
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 2021-22 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.
Haskell 35, Anson 18 —Carter Rankin threw for 207 yards and two scores and added a rushing TD to lead Haskell (3-6, 1-3) to a crucial district win at Anson which throws the possible playoff scenarios into complete turmoil.
With the score tied at 7-7 at the break, Haskell took the game over with a 28-8 run through the second half.
It’s never a surprise to see Sweetwater senior quarterback Leo Holsey among the top performers in our Capital Farm Credit/Big Country Preps Player of the Week column.
Since his freshman year, the four-year starter has topped our weekly list multiple times, including this week after helping Sweetwater to a 61-37 win over Pecos on Friday.
Holsey only threw 15 passes, but he connected on 12 of them for 364 yards and five touchdowns. He also rushed six times for 75 yards and two more scores, giving him a direct hand in 439 yards and seven TDs.
Forsan 28, Haskell 0 — Forsan remained unbeaten behind 216 yards in combined rushing.
Nate Hernandez led the Buffaloes (8-0, 3-0) with 122 yards rushing and two scores on 14 carries. Sawyer Stallings was perfect through the air, going 6-for-6 for 59 yards and a score.
LAST WEEK: 35-11, .760
SEASON TOTAL: 322-74, .813
This week’s Big Country Preps Game of the Week will send me south to historic Hufford Field in Coleman, where the Bluecats (6-0) will play host to perennial power Cisco (6-1) in what is essentially the District 4-2A Division I championship.
Opened way back in 1934, Hufford is one of the Big Country’s oldest and most unique venues and if you are looking for a game to go to on Friday, this one will not only offer some good football, but some nostalgia as well.
The immense rock wall surrounding the field was built in 1940 by the Works Progress Administration or WPA as the nation battled its way out of The Great Depression.
Hope to see you there.
Here are this week’s picks:
It’s one thing to rush for more than 300 yards and three scores against a struggling program. We see that all the time from the area’s top running backs.
But it’s an entirely different thing when those yards come against a solid team with a sturdy defense. That’s earning it the hard way.
Jim Ned’s Xavier Wishert, our Capital Farm Credit/Big Country Preps Player of the Week, took that route on Friday night when he charted 313 yards rushing and three scores on just 20 carries in a 37-20 road win over the Wall Hawks.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Forsan-Anson football (65 images)”
Colorado City 28, Haskell 27 — Chris Green took a kickoff back with less than a minute left in the game to give Colorado City a miraculous win at Haskell to snap a 26-game losing streak dating back to late 2018.
Trailing 27-19 with just under a to play, Chris Ortiz started the late rally by scoring a two-point safety with a sack in the Haskell end zone to pull the Wolves within six points.
ANSON — Anson had all the momentum with a 21-7 lead midway through the second quarter when Forsan’s snap rolled back to quarterback Major Stockton.
Stockton, who struggled to pick the football up off the ground, then turned things around with a 71-yard scoring run after finding the grip and rallied the Buffaloes to a 50-27 win at Tiger Stadium on Friday night in a key District 3-2A Division I game.
It marked the first time that a Jason Phillips-led team had won a game in Anson.
LAST WEEK: 40-7, .851
SEASON TOTAL: 287-63, .820
Week 8? Are you kidding?
I ask the same question, or some variant of it virtually every year. We just finished with two-a-days. How can we possibly be this deep in the season so quickly?
Yet hear we are. A cold weather snap approaching. Thanksgiving right around the corner —as are the playoffs.
This week’s Game of the Week will see me traveling north to Ralls where the surprising Roscoe Plowboys, off to their best start in years, will be in a showdown for the district lead.
The column hit at 85 percent accuracy last week and is now up to 82 percent on the year. So we’ll see if we can keep the momentum going through the home stretch.
Let’s have a look at this week’s picks:
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 Evan Ren’s Twitter polls for each matchup.
For those interested in voting, polls go up on Monday night each week and close Thursday morning.
Disagree with our picks or the Twitter consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
We will continually update the database throughout the regular season.
Forsan 27, Colorado City 7 — Major Stockton threw for 68 yards and a score and rushed for 70 yards and another touchdown to lead Forsan to a win in the district opener for both clubs.
With the score knotted at 7 at halftime, Forsan gained the upper hand with 20 unanswered points in the second half.
LAST WEEK: 39-4, .906
SEASON TOTAL: 247-56, .815
Gramps Ren is back in the groove, hitting over 90 percent of his picks a week ago, to push this column’s season percentage to .815 as we head into district play across the area.
Whether or not I can keep the momentum remains to be seen, entering what might be the toughest week of area picks I’ve seen this year, with multiple games that I would rate as near-tossups.
This week’s Big Country Preps Game of the Week will see us heading to Tuscola where Jim Ned will begin its District 3-3A DI title defense against a red-hot, unbeaten team from Early.
Let’s have a look at this week’s picks …
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
We will continually update the database throughout the regular season.
LAST WEEK: 45-6, .882
SEASON TOTAL: 208-52, .800
After a disastrous night of picking football games on Sept. 19 that saw his season percentage dip below .800, Gramps Ren has rebounded. Thank you, thank you.
Last Friday saw this column hit with more than 88 percent accuracy on games throughout the Big Country, pulling its season percentage to an even .800 as we hit the season’s midpoint.
This week I’ll be heading west — way West — to the very edge of our coverage area to get a first-hand look at the Big Spring Steers in their matchup with Littlefield in our Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
Let’s dive in to this week’s picks, shall we?