Category: Ballinger Bearcats

by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Hico hosts Dawson with high playoff seeds in the balance (w/ Evan Ren’s Big Country Picks)

LAST WEEK: 41-7, .854
SEASON TOTAL: 307-71, .812

 Big Country Preps makes a point of sharing the love and we look for opportunities to take our Game of the Week to as many different places that make sense each year. 
Yet since our inaugural season in 2018, a rebuilding Hico football team missed our spotlight game for five straight seasons. 

That drought ends this week when BCP visits Hico for the first time as the Tigers (5-2, 2-1 District 10-2A DII) host Dawson (5-1, 2-0) in a crucial matchup with high seed implications.

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Clyde heads to Vernon for district-opening battle of unbeatens

LAST WEEK: 37-3, .925
SEASON TOTAL: 266-64, .806

Contrast in styles games make for excellent entertainment and are usually high on our list of potential Big Country Preps Games of the Week. 

Friday we have such a matchup when Clyde (5-0) travels to Vernon (5-0) in the District 3-3A DI opener for both clubs. Clyde and its power spread offense capable of running or throwing the ball well, against a run-based multiple attack used by Vernon that seems almost out of the 1950s. 

Both clubs are good at what they do. Both are physical and both are fully aware of how important this league opener is. In fact, this may end up ranking as one of the more physical Games of the Week we’ll see in 2023. 

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by Evan Ren

DISTRICT 2-3A DIV. II WEEK 6 REPORT: Hawks fall to Mason with the rest of the district taking a bye week

Mason 14, Wall 7 — An anticipated trench war materialized at the Puncher Dome with Mason holding off Wall by a score. 

The Hawks (3-2) were limited to an uncharacteristic 251 yards in total offense by Mason, which improved to 6-0 on the year.

Gunner Dillard led Wall with 136 yards passing, 40 yards rushing and the team’s lone TD.

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Yellow Jackets head to Brownwood to face archrival

LAST WEEK: 46-12, .793
SEASON TOTAL: 229-61, .789

More often than not, Big Country Preps makes an appearance at the annual Stephenville-Brownwood matchup. Because more often than not, it produces a game worthy of one of Texas’ top rivalries. 

This year is no exception as Stephenville travels to famous Gordon Wood Stadium for the Big Country Preps Game of the Week. 

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Sweetwater plays host to Clyde in battle of unbeatens

LAST WEEK: 44-11, .800
SEASON TOTAL: 183-49, .788

Some weeks are just loaded with competitive area games and Week 5 of the 2023 season falls squarely into that category. 

This week’s menu features six or seven games that under normal circumstances, would qualify for our Big Country Preps Game of the Week. This forces us to push some great matchups aside to select our spotlight game. 

This week, we go with a battle of unbeatens — Class 3A Division I Clyde (4-0) at Class 4A Div. II Sweetwater (4-0) — at the famed Mustang Bowl at SHS. 

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by Evan Ren

DISTRICT 2-3A DIV. II WEEK 4 REPORT: Wall, Brady collect wins in an otherwise tough night for the district

Wall  42, Peaster 0 — The Hawks (3-1) pounded out 221 rushing yards among nine different ball carriers in a dominating win over Peaster (1-3).

It was the first shutout of the year for the Hawks, who to date, have allowed only 37 points through four games

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by Evan Ren

DISTRICT 2-3A DIV. II WEEK 2 REPORT: Wall outmuscles Cisco, 27-10

Wall  27, Cisco 10 — The Hawks used a workmanlike effort on the ground, pounding out 312 yards rushing with nine different ball carriers to hand Cisco (0-2) its second straight loss. 

Nathan Pepper rushed for a game-high 91 yards on 13 carries with one TD and Hagyn Barbee chipped in 49 yards rushing and two TDs on only two carries to lead Wall (2-0), which limited Cisco to 177 total yards. 

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by Evan Ren

DISTRICT 2-3A DIV. II WEEK 1 REPORT: QB Dillard leads Wall past Eastland

Wall 35, Eastland 10 — Gunner Dillard threw for 119 yards and two scores and rushed 20 times for 95 yards and two more scores to lead Wall to a win over Eastland on Friday. 

The Hawks (1-0), who led 21-10 at the break, finished with 319 yards in total offense. They will face Cisco (0-1) on the road in Week 2.

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by Evan Ren

EVAN REN: Don’t judge Ballinger until the storm passes

BALLINGER — I never understood how or why we began judging high school coaches on wins alone. It’s as if that mindset gradually trickled down from the pro ranks (where it’s justifiable) to college athletics (where I grudgingly understand it) to secondary school, where it starts to look silly.

That’s right, silly. 

Nonetheless, since my arrival in the Big Country in 2006, I’ve seen good coaches let go, because someone didn’t think they had won enough.  I’ve seen coaches earn the first playoff wins at their schools in decades, only to be shown the door when someone thought the bar had been raised. And in many cases, I’ve seen the purpose of high school athletics forgotten entirely. 

Let’s hope the community of Ballinger escapes all of the above. 

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by Evan Ren

2023 BALLINGER FOOTBALL PREVIEW: Ballinger hoping to show improvement despite brutal schedule

 

BALLINGER — The good news for Ballinger in 2023, is that the Bearcats have 7 starters back on both sides of the ball among 17 lettermen and a roster approaching 30 players — far better numbers than a year ago. 

The bad news is, their schedule is something you may expect to see for a defending regional champion, rather than a young, rebuilding program coming off a 1-9 season. 

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by Evan Ren

COUNTDOWN TO TWO-A-DAYS: The Ballinger Bearcats … 21 days to two-a-days

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 move to Class 3A Division II with the Ballinger Bearcats. On Tuesday we will take a look at the Brady Bulldogs, followed by the Early Longhorns on Wednesday.

Continue reading “COUNTDOWN TO TWO-A-DAYS: The Ballinger Bearcats … 21 days to two-a-days” →

by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jernigan takes our final award for 2022-23

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. 

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by Brandon McAuliffe

STATE TRACK ROUNDUP: Area Class 3A, 4A athletes claim 14 combined medals at state meet

Cover photo courtesy of Stephenville coach Kolt Kittley

AUSTIN —The UIL State Track and Field meet kicked off Thursday with Classes 3A and 4A competing at Mike Meyers Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas, and the Big Country had a fairly strong showing.

The closest finish determining who would be on and off the podium came in the Class 3A girls 800 meter run where Ballinger’s Addison Martin ran the race in  2 minutes, 17.522 seconds, edging Holliday freshman Kenli Atwood by a microscopic 0.007 seconds after diving through the finish line in her final event of a storied career.

Martin’s podium finish, where she was just one-tenth of a second off what had been the top qualification mark, was one of 14 medal-worthy performances for area athletes.

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by Daniel Youngblood

REGION I-3A TRACK MEET: Brock, Breck boys go 1-2 again; Big Country girls claim six individual golds

The Brock boys track teams clinched its third consecutive region championship Saturday at Abilene Christian University’s Elmer Gray Stadium, and for the second year in a row, the Eagles’ stiffest competition came from Breckenridge.  

Brock took first at the Region I-3A meet, tallying 70 team points over the two-day competition, while the Buckaroos finished with 55 points, edging third-place Vernon (54) for their second runner-up finish in as many years.

Those performances headlined a successful meet for area competitors, which saw athletes or relay teams from the Big Country Preps coverage area claim 26 total medals — 14 on the boys side and 12 on the girls. That list featured 15 automatic qualifying bids to the state meet May 11-13 in Austin, including 10 total gold medals. 

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Jim Ned turns away Ballinger, advances to fifth straight regional tournament

WINTERS — With a spot in the Region I-3A tournament on the line on Monday night at Blizzard Gym, the Jim Ned and Ballinger girls basketball teams squared off for the third time this season.

The Lady Indians were seeking their fifth straight berth in the regional tournament while the Lady Cats were in the regional quarterfinals for the first time since 2008.

Despite a strong defensive first half, the Lady Cats struggled to score offensively, and Jim Ned’s offense came to life in the second half to propel the Lady Indians to a 53-18 win and an 8 p.m. date with Idalou on Friday at Wolfforth Frenship.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Martin nets career milestone as Ballinger routs Clyde to open district

BALLINGER — Ballinger senior point guard Addison Martin entered Tuesday’s District 6-3A opener against Clyde at Joe Forester Gymnasium thinking that she was roughly 40 points away from hitting 1,000 for her career.

The four-sport star was shocked when coach Kinzee Willis called timeout after she recorded a steal and layup midway through the second quarter for her sixth point of the night when she saw the Ballinger student body unfurl a 1,000 point banner and four golden balloons signifying the achievement while cheerleaders shot off confetti in the bleachers.

It was a celebratory achievement that carried over to the court as the Lady Cats recorded a 55-32 win as they honored their point guard.

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by Daniel Youngblood

Big Country Preps Boys Basketball Position Rankings: Posts

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.

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by Daniel Youngblood

Big Country Preps Boys Basketball Position Rankings: Guards

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.

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by Daniel Youngblood

Big Country Preps Girls Basketball Position Rankings: Posts

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.

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by Daniel Youngblood

Big Country Preps Girls Basketball Position Rankings: Forwards

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.

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by Daniel Youngblood

Big Country Preps Girls Basketball Position Rankings: Guards

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.

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by Evan Ren

DISTRICT 2-3A DIV. II WEEK 10 REPORT: Hawks take sole possession of first place with win over Early; Brady escapes Grape Creek

Wall 10, Early 7 — Gunnar Dillard rushed for 167 yards and on 32 carries and Nathan Pepper rushed for 88 yards and one TD to lead Wall to a difficult win over Early. 

The Hawks (8-1, 4-0) now has sole possession of first place with the win, but must defeat Brady (5-4, 3-1) next week to lock up the district title. 

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