Haskell 46, Electra 20 — Facing off with Electra with the district’s No. 3 playoff seed on the line, the Indians had little trouble with the Tigers, dominating from the start in a blowout win.
Haskell (6-4, 4-2) stretched an 8-6 first-quarter lead to 32-6 by halftime and coasted from there to the four-touchdown victory.
Glen Rose 43, Fort Worth Dunbar 20 — Judd Connally threw for 195 yards and four scores and rushed for 161 yards and two more TDs as Glen Rose rolled to a 23-point win over Dunbar.
With the victory, Glen Rose evened its record at 5-5, bookending the regular season with an 0-5 start, a 5-0 finish and a district title.
Stephenville 49, Burnet 0 — Trot Jordan threw for 222 yards and three scores and rushed for 53 yards and another TD as Stephenville improved to 10-0.
Zyler McClendon was another key contributor, rushing for 120 yards and two scores.
Colorado City 42, Sonora 12 — Ace Mejia threw for 200 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 79 yards and two more scores to lead the Wolves to what may have been the upset of the year over the Broncos.
Gavin Harbour (11-57), Joel Hernandez (3-54, 1 TD) and Mikell Martinez (3-24, 1 TD) also contributed to a 212-yard rushing effort for Colorado City (1-9, 0-5), which got quality receiving days from Jadon Reyna (3-61, 1 TD), Aidan Casares (3-59) and Davin Lara (4-48, 1 TD).
Hamilton 27, De Leon 26 — The Bearcats had the Bulldogs on the ropes in this district championship matchup, leading 26-21 with four minutes remaining and the ball inside the HHS 5-yard line. But a fumble at the 1 ended that threat, and the Bulldogs drove the length of the field to score the winning touchdown with 22 seconds remaining.
De Leon, which got four passing touchdowns from Heston Jobe and a pair of receiving scores from Jake Cooper, took a 12-7 lead into halftime and rallied from a 14-12 deficit to take a 26-14 lead with five minutes remaining in the third quarter. But the Bearcats couldn’t close Hamilton out in falling to 7-3 overall and 4-1 in league play.
Clifton 7, Brady 6 — The Cubs finished with just 117 total yards and one touchdown, but it was enough claim a defensive win over the Bulldogs and the district’s No. 2 playoff seed.
Clifton (8-2, 4-1), which held Brady to 166 yards of offense, got a 43-yard touchdown pass from Carter Ritz to Judd New late in the first half and made that hold up thanks to some key defensive plays late in the game.
Big Spring 34, Pecos 21 — Marcos Rios threw a pair of touchdown passes, Xander Garza had a TD run and Jacobi Lozano returned a punt 49 yards for a score to lead the Steers to a two-touchdown victory over the Eagles for the district’s No. 3 playoff seed
Sebastian Torres Barrera also put his stamp on the win for Big Spring (5-4, 1-2), nailing a pair of field goals to keep his team playing from ahead for most of the game. After falling behind 7-0 early, the Steers went to halftime up 17-7 and increased that advantage to 24-7 early in the third quarter on a TD pass from Rios to Kaine Valenzuela.
Graham 20, Saginaw Eagle Mountain 18 — A 213-yard rushing and a big defensive play by Jordan Alexander were enough to fuel the Steers to a thrilling win over the Knights in a matchup for the district’s No. 2 playoff seed.
Jace Gill passed for 110 yards and ran for 108, while Colt Taylor (13-54) and Dylan Cox (7-30) had rushing touchdowns to lead Graham offensively. And Alexander had a pick-six on the other side of the football to help the Steers improve to 7-3 overall and 4-1 in league play.
Albany 33, Hamlin 0
Clay Chapman threw for 172 yards, rushed for 72 and accounted for two TDs as Albany clinched the district title. Albany’s defense was nothing short of dominant, holding Hamlin to only 28 yards in total offense.
The Lions improved to 8-0 and 5-0 with the win. Hamlin fell to 8-2 and
Midland Greenwood 67, Snyder 35 — Lincoln Madrid passed for 166 yards and four touchdowns, and Jackson Audus ran for 105 yards and two scores to help the Rangers complete a perfect regular season with a comfortable win over the Tigers.
Dylan Payton (3-130, 3 TDs receiving; 85 yard kickoff return touchdown) and Nathaniel Romero (6-94, 1 TD rushing) also had big games for Greenwood (10-0, 4-0), which led 38-7 by the end of the first quarter and 48-14 by halftime.
Cisco 56, Olney 24 — Colby MciLroy threw for 143 yards and two TDs and Cody Gayle rushed for 96 yards and another score to help Cisco (9-1, 5-0) to a lopsided win over Olney.
Colbin Harrison was McilRoy’s top target, hauling in two catches for 89 yards and two scores.
Cisco improved to 9-1 with its ninth straight win over Clyde in Week 1.
Olney fell to 3-7 and 1-4.
Wall 71, Stanton 7 — Landon York was perfect in Wall’s season finale, hitting 8 of 8 throws for 142 yards and five TDs.
Hagyn Barbee led the way on the ground, with 59 yards on two carries. The Hawks rushed for 238 yards and three scores as a team and finished 10-0 through the regular season.
Stanton finished at 1-9.
Comanche 43, Clyde 42 — The Indians pulled off a stunning upset on Friday to finish at 5-5 overall and 2-3 in district play — narrowly missing the playoffs.
Comanche grabbed an early 21-7 lead, then fought off a huge Clyde rally to put an exclamation point on their season.
HAWLEY — The final play of Friday night’s showdown between Stamford and Hawley in the Big Country Preps Game of the Week couldn’t have been written into any script — Hollywood or otherwise.
It sure wasn’t in the playbook for either head coach.
Stamford forced a Hawley punt with nine seconds left and nearly pulled off a miracle, when — after numerous laterals on the punt return — C’nai Whitfield was finally pushed out of bounds at the HHS 25 to allow the Bearcats to hold on for a 36-28 win in the District 4-2A Division I finale at Forrest Field.
Photos provided by Tommy Hays
Holt Frazier’s success as Brock’s starting quarterback isn’t a surprise to his head football coach.
After all, Billy Mathis watched the Eagles’ junior signal-caller have a great spring season of track. Which carried over into a strong summer that included 7-on-7 and never missing a workout.
But Mathis admits there was still a little bit of uneasiness until the action in August heats up.
“Once you start the season with a new quarterback, you just never know until you get in a game situation how the guys are going to respond,” he said. “We put him into the fire pretty quickly in scrimmages with Springtown and Stephenville.
We’ve reached the final week of the regular season, and there are still district races and playoff spots to be decided.
That means we’ll see a number of games this week with postseason urgency, including our headlining matchup from District 7-1A Division I between Hermleigh and Westbrook.
As we do this time every week, it’s time to take a peak at all of this week’s biggest and most meaningful matchups in our “Six-Man Lookahead” column. We hope you enjoy this preview of Week 11 action and encourage you to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for more information on your favorite team(s).
Photos courtesy of Mike Reed
When the 2025 Texas high school football season comes to a close next month, some 1,151 educational institutions will have played a homecoming game this fall.
None of the principals or fans of any of those schools will have celebrated theirs as vociferously — or gratefully — as will the Gordon Longhorns when they play host to Gorman at 7 p.m. on Friday.
Nearly six months after a devastating tornado descended on the tiny Big Country town, taking precise aim at the burgh’s only high school and all its sports facilities, the ‘Horns are finally — literally — coming home.
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 our weekly fan polls for each matchup.
For those interested in voting, polls go up on Sunday night each week and close Thursday evening.
Disagree with our picks or the fan poll consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
LAST WEEK: 48-4, .923
SEASON TOTAL: 472-101, .823
STAMFORD (6-3, 3-1) AT HAWLEY (6-3, 3-1)
With the No. 2 seed in District 2-2A Division I, it’s only fitting that our Big Country Preps Game of the Week has multiple commonalities.
Both Stamford and Hawley enter this week with identical records. Both have won four of their last five games, both fell 21-7 to Albany in non-district play, and both fell in dramatic fashion to league champion Cisco.
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: Santo-Lindsay football (45 images)”
Week 10 yielded some of the most competitive games of the year, including a thriller between Ira and Hermleigh in one of our two featured matchups.
That was one of many contests that helped add clarity to area district races as we approach the final week of the regular season.
Let’s dive in now and take a look at some of the other top results and performances that happened last week in our “Six-Man Rewind” column. We hope you enjoy this review of Week 10 action and encourage you to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for updated standings, results and upcoming matchups.
It’s been a good while since a Goldthwaite Eagle snagged our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award in any sport. But sophomore Owen Campbell obliterated that streak with a fabulous effort in a 61-0 rout of Meridian on Friday.
His performance came on both sides of the ball, beginning with 12 carries for 144 yards and four touchdowns from his running back position.
Defensively Campbell charted eleven tackles, including seven solos, four assists and an interception from the GHS secondary.
“Owen had a tremendous game on Friday where he contributed to our win,” coach Andy Howard said. “He made a huge impact in all three phases of the game. He plays a huge role for us every week on defense, offense and on special teams.
“He continues to grow and improve as a player every week. I am proud of Owen but proud of everyone around him as well.”
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we offer fans the chance to pick the winners of all games involving our local and area football teams. The results of these weekly polls, which will close at 5 p.m. each Thursday, will be included in our weekly Pick ‘Em Panel.
Here are the games for Week 11:
Continue reading “WEEK 11 FAN POLLS … Pick this week’s 11-man winners!”
Muenster 49, Collinsville 28 — The Hornets locked up the district championship with a comfortable win over the Pirates.
Muenster, which was led by quarterback Casen Carney, built a 28-7 lead by halftime and stretched that advantage to 42-14 by the start of the fourth quarter.
Munday 23, Seymour 14 — The Moguls closed their season on a high note, rallying past the Panthers to finish 4-6 overall and 1-5 in district play.
Haiden Bowman threw a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes to lead Munday, which trailed 14-8 going into the final period. The Moguls also got a touchdown run from Kiyryn Wilson and TD receptions from Jaidence Wren and Caisen Lee.
Ozona 46, Forsan 40 — Hayden Bowlin ran for 192 yards and four touchdowns and added 90 more yards through the air, but it wasn’t quite enough to fuel the Buffaloes to an upset win over the Lions.
That’s because Christian Villarreal ran for 411 yards and five touchdowns for Ozona, which built a 30-20 halftime lead and held off a Forsan rally in the second half to improve to 9-0 overall and 4-0 in league play. The standout’s third 400-yard game gave him 3,269 yards and 47 touchdowns rushing for the year, putting him within 776 yards of Texas’ single-season rushing record of 4,045, set by Sugar Land’s Kenneth Hall in 1953.
De Leon 60, Bangs 20 — Heston Jobe passed for 230 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 109 yards and another score to fuel the Bearcats to a convincing win over the Dragons.
Lane Couch (10-86, 1 TD) and Colt Schwertner (5-50, 2 TDs) also found the end zone on the ground for De Leon (7-2, 4-0), which was led in receiving by Bryce Burkeen (4-106, 2 TDs).
Brady 20, Tolar 14 — Ashton Taylor ran for 164 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and the Brady defense limited Tolar to 199 yards of total offense as the Bulldogs scored a hard-fought win over the Rattlers to stay unbeaten in district play.
BHS (7-2,) also got 78 yards and a TD rushing from Sean Jacoby, who passed for 72 yards as the Bulldogs built a 12-0 lead by halftime.
San Saba 34, Holland 0 — Luke Tharp rushed for 171 yards and three scores and Jason Everett rushed for 99 yards and one score on only 13 carries to lead San Saba to a rout of Holland.
The Armadillos improved to 6-3 and 3-1 with the win. Holland dropped to 1-8 and 0-4.
The win gives San Saba a chance to grab a piece of first place next week if it can defeat Mason on the road.
Goldthwaite 61, Meridian 0 — Owen Campbell rushed for 144 yards and four touchdowns to help the Eagles to a lopsided win over Meridian.
Goldthwaite improved to 6-3 overall and 4-2 with the win.
Meridian fell to 1-8 and 1-5.
Brock 28, Graham 7 — Holt Frazier passed for 246 yards with touchdowns to three different receivers, and the Eagles defense put together a dominant effort in a comfortable win over the Steers.
Colt Matlock (3-85), Davis Lee (1-68) and Braeden Ray (3-39) all caught TD passes for Brock (9-0, 4-0), which also got 93 yards rushing from Bryer McDonald. Behind that group, the Eagles stretched a 21-0 halftime lead to four touchdowns before Graham finally got on the board late in the third quarter.
Midland Greenwood 10, Seminole 3 — After coming in averaging 46 and 50 points per game, respectively, the Rangers and Indians got defensive in a hard-fought matchup for the district championship.
The two teams went to halftime deadlocked after a scoreless first half, before Greenwood (9-0, 3-0) finally broke through in the third-quarter with a 22-yard field goal by Dylan Payton. The Rangers then scored the game’s only touchdown in the fourth quarter, when Nathaniel Romero (163 yards rushing) broke loose for a 48-yard touchdown run.
Stephenville 49, Brownwood 0 — For a complete report on this game, please read Brandon McAuliffe’s game story.
Stephenville improved to 9-0 and 3-0 with the win; Brownwood dropped to 5-4 and 2-1.
SHS clinched the district title with the win.
Glen Rose 53, Fort Worth Benbrook 14 — After an 0-5 start against a murderous non-district schedule, the Glen Rose Tigers have rebounded with four straight wins — the last of which, a 53-14 rout of Fort Worth Benbrook, clinched the district championship.
Judd Connally threw for 177 yards and two scores and rushed for 92 yards and two more TDs to lift the Tigers. Tyson Sullivan was another key contributor, rushing for 116 yards and two scores on only 12 carries.
Benbrook, which was in pursuit of the district title, fell to 5-4 and 3-1.
San Angelo Lake View 76, Big Spring 49 — Chris Alvizo passed for 293 yards and five touchdowns, and Izaiah Rios ran for 162 yards and two scores to help the Chiefs to an explosive win over the Steers.
Lake View (7-2, 2-0) also got a huge receiving day from Braylon White (6-122, 4 TDs) in piling up 526 yards of total offense (233 rushing, 293 passing) and setting a school record for points scored.
Coahoma 42, Stanton 0
Coahoma had an easy time with a struggling Stanton team, rolling up 391 yards in total offense, including 257 passing yards from Austin Joslin.
CHS led 21-0 at the break and put the game away with 21 unanswered third-quarter points.
Coahoma improved to 7-2 overall and 2-1 in league play; Stanton dropped to 1-8 and 0-3.
Cisco 35, Anson 14 — Colby McIlroy rushed for 169 yards and one score and threw for 95 yards and another TD to lift Cisco to a district-clinching win over Anson.
Leading 21-14 at the break, the Loboes iced the game with a pair of unanswered touchdowns in the second half.
The Loboes improved to 8-1 and 4-0 with the win; Anson fell to 6-3 and 1-3.
Jim Ned 41, Clyde 34 — Cash Gwinn threw for 157 yards and two TDs and rushed for an additional 40 yards and a third score to lift Jim Ned to an important win over Clyde.
Trailing 34-28 at the break, the Indians (8-1, 4-0) rallied with two unanswered scores in the second half to get the win.
Devan Wright led Clyde with 172 yards rushing; Miles Wilsher rushed for 72 yards and four TDs.
Jim Ned improved to 8-1 and 4-0 with the win and can clinch the district title with a win over Sweetwater next Friday. Clyde fell to 7-2 and 3-1.
Hamlin 43, Cross Plains 18 — Luke White rushed for 171 yards and one TD and Isaiah Hutchings rushed for 62 yards and three TDs as Hamlin dominated Cross Plains.
The Buffaloes were led by Landry Savell, who rushed for 57 yards and one score.
Hamlin improved to 8-1 and 4-0 with the win; Cross Plains fell to 3-6 and 1-3.
BROWNWOOD — Since the start of the current decade, the Battle for 377 has been extremely one-sided with the Stephenville Yellow Jackets claiming the first five matchups by an average of 31.2 points per game.
In Friday’s Big Country Preps Game of the Week, the No. 2-ranked Yellow Jackets continued their recent dominance over Brownwood with a 49-0 win at Gordon Wood Stadium, clinching the District 4-4A Division I championship in the process.
Stephenville’s previous longest winning streak in the 85-game series history was four games from 1948-1951, which was matched again from 1999-2002. Friday night also marked just the sixth shutout for the Yellow Jackets in the series’ history.
With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, the stakes are rising across the state for many high school football teams, and that increased urgency makes for some excellent matchups this time of year.
That’s certainly the case on the area six-man scene, where Halloween night will feature a number of intriguing contests, headlined by co-Games of the Week between Hermleigh and Ira in Division I and Aspermont and Jayton in Division II.
It’s time now to talk about those matchups — and more — in this week’s “Six-Man Lookahead” column. We hope you enjoy this preview of Week 10 action and encourage you to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for more information on your favorite team(s).
In order to account for new schools opening and in keeping the different classifications as balanced and competitive as possible, the University Interscholastic League goes through a realignment every other year.
It’s one of the highlights of what’s typically a slow football offseason, but it gets started before the current season has drawn to a close.
A multi-step process, realignment got under way on Friday with Snapshot Day. All UIL schools are required to turn in their enrollments on the day for the governing body to determine cutoff numbers for each classification and start drawing up the new districts.
SANTO — The Santo football team entered Thursday night’s District 8-2A Division II matchup at W.A. Lewis Field with Lindsay knowing that it was already headed to the playoffs, but the Wildcats needed to beat the Knights to secure the No. 3 seed.
A rough six minute stretch between the end of the second quarter and start of the third put SHS in a hole it couldn’t dig out of in a 55-34 loss in the penultimate game of the regular season.
Santo will now close out the regular season with a road game at No. 7 Collinsville — which is tied for the district lead with No. 2 Muenster ahead of their Friday night showdown.
When the 2025 season opened, most fervent followers of District 4-2A Division I football likely took a look at the Cisco starting lineup, noticed that a sophomore was pencilled in as the starting quarterback, and pegged the Loboes as a potential playoff team.
The “potential playoff team” part of the equation was a given, considering that, since 2020, the Loboes have made four postseason appearances and have twice earned 11 wins. In fact, Cisco playing quality football has become routine under coach Kevin Stennett and his predecessor and mentor Brent West.
But the “sophomore quarterback” aspect … Well, in a district that also includes perennial powers Hawley and Stamford, having to play a youngster in the most important position generally represents a big red flag — especially if you hope to win the league championship.
Fast forward to this Friday, when the Loboes will play host to Anson (6-2 overall, 1-2 in district) at 7 p.m. Cisco isn’t just hoping to hoist a big trophy; the Loboes can assure themselves of that achievement with a win. With victories already in hand over Hawley and Stamford, Cisco can clinch the title this week.