After a week of highlighting area playmakers, we wrap up our eight-part preseason position rankings series with the Big Country’s best signal callers.
To complete our look at the area’s top players, we’ve ranked our top 10 quarterbacks with a list of others to watch in 2022.
We hope you enjoy this list and that you’ve enjoyed our position rankings as we get set to kick off a new season.
As we wind down our eight-part preseason position rankings series, we arrive finally at the Big Country’s top ball-carriers.
After breaking down this year’s crop of receivers and tight ends earlier today, we move now to the area’s top backs, ranking our top 10 with a list of others to watch in 2022. Don’t forget to check in Thursday when we conclude our series with the top 10 area quarterbacks.
We hope you enjoy tonight’s list and encourage you to check out the other position groups, which are linked below.
We’re approaching the final stretch of our eight-part preseason position rankings series, and it’s time to look at the Big Country’s top receivers.
After starting the offensive portion of our series Tuesday with the linemen, we now shift our attention to the playmakers on the perimeter, ranking our top 10 wideouts/tight ends with a list of others to watch in 2022.
We hope you enjoy our list and encourage you to check out the other position groups, which are linked below.
With the defensive and special teams rankings behind us, it’s time to look at the area’s top offensive players. And we’ll start with the foundation of any productive offense: the offensive line.
For the fifth installment of our eight-part preseason position rankings series, we turn our attention to the trenches, ranking the Big Country’s top 10 offensive linemen with a list of others to watch in 2022.
We hope you enjoy reading through our rankings.
After recognizing the top defensive players throughout the Big Country over the past three days, it’s time to honor the specialists.
We continue our eight-part preseason position rankings series by naming our top eight kickers and top eight punters to watch this fall.
We hope you enjoy this list and that you have enjoyed our position rankings as we get set to kickoff the 2022 season.
After starting with the linemen and linebackers, we turn to the defensive backfield to complete our look at the top defenders in the Big Country.
For the third installment in our eight-part preseason position rankings series, we shift our focus to the secondary, giving our list of the area’s top-10 defensive backs and others to look out for in 2022.
We hope you enjoy our list.
After taking a look at the Big Country’s top defensive linemen on Saturday, it’s now time to examine those who will backing them in 2022.
Continuing with Big Country Preps’ eight-part preseason position rankings series, here’s our top 10 linebackers to watch this fall, as well as a list of the others we’re expecting big things from.
We hope you enjoy our list.
With the start of football season around the corner, it’s time to take a look at the players who will be making the biggest impact in 2022.
For the first installment in an eight-part series that will cover all position groups, we’ll be taking a look at the area’s top defensive linemen, ranking our top 10 with a list of others to watch this fall.
As with any such list, these rankings are subjective. We hope you enjoy reading through them.
Without further ado, it is time for us to make our Big Country predictions, district-by-district.
This is the culmination of several weeks of research and two solid months of summertime labor, so we’re more than ready to post it.
BALLINGER — Having graduated from Graham High School in 1999, new Ballinger coach Ty Lang feels as though he is returning home now that he’s back in the Big Country.
Lang, who served as an assistant coach at Decatur (including a year as interim coach last season) has a coaching stop in Brownwood on his résumé and is more than familiar with the area.
“West Texas football is still some of the best football there is,” the 41-year-old Lang said. “I love being part of a small community and there’s no doubt they love their football.
“They’ve got flags flying and they support their student athletes here.”
BALLINGER — After a successful run under former Chuck Lipsey that saw Ballinger qualify for the playoffs in five straight seasons, the Bearcats may have to take a step back and rebuild in 2022.
Graduation hit Ballinger hard during the spring, leaving first-year coach Ty Lang with only nine returning lettermen and 11 of 22 starting positions with a vacancy.
So not only will the Bearcats be learning a new system this season, but they’ll be playing with less Friday night experience than most of the teams on their schedule.
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. 17. 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 Aug. 1, we’ll be spotlighting each 11-man team in the area and posing some of the key questions they’ll face in 2022 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: Ballinger Bearcats”
Back-to-back shutouts.
Under normal circumstances, that’s enough to capture the Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week award.
But when one of the shutouts is a no-hitter, that’s a rock-solid insurance policy.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking on the “Buy on SmugMug” link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Ballinger-Clyde baseball (66 images)”
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking on the “Buy on SmugMug” link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Ballinger-Clyde softball (70 images)”
CLYDE — Entering Friday’s game at Clyde tied with the Bulldogs for third in the District 6-3A standings, the Ballinger baseball team arrived at CHS hoping to solidify its playoff positioning with a big road win.
Despite trailing for much of the game, the Bearcats did just that, using a six-run sixth to rally past the Bulldogs for a 9-6 victory.
Ballinger, which improved to 13-4 overall and 6-3 in District 6-3A with the win, remained two games back of Wall for second place in the league standings. But more importantly, the Bearcats picked up a game on both Clyde and Brady, creating some welcomed breathing room in its pursuit of one of the league’s four playoff spots.
CLYDE — Stepping up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, the bases loaded and her team trailing the visiting Ballinger Ladycats by a run, Clyde’s Jaci Jeffers was going to end Friday’s game one way or another.
In the midst of a marathon affair with more twists and turns than any rollercoaster, the sophomore third baseman chose to do so in the most dramatic way possible.
Facing a 1-2 count two pitches after blasting a hooking fly ball well over the left-field fence but foul, Jeffers timed the next one right, hitting a no-doubter into fair territory this time. The result: a walk-off grand slam that lifted the Lady Bulldogs to an 18-15 win — roughly three hours after her team had fallen behind 8-0 during a disastrous first inning.
In a week loaded with top-flight performances, Big Country Preps would have had a difficult time choosing the Capital Farm Credit Player of the Week.
But Stephenville pole vaulter Ben Kirbo made the decision easy by accomplishing something which hasn’t been done by a Stephenville track athlete in nearly three decades.
After a lengthy career spanning multiple decades, Chuck Lipsey has decided to hang up his whistle and retire from coaching, he announced on Friday.
In 21 years as a head coach, Lipsey compiled a record of 157-88 with stops at five schools: Winters, Whitewright, Bangs, Brady and Ballinger.
Lipsey led 20 of his 21 squads to the postseason, making it as deep as the state semifinals in 2002 with Winters, regional finals in 2003 with Whitewright and the regional semifinals during his time at Bangs (2012, 2013) and Ballinger (2020).
Here are the updated Big Country boys basketball playoff pairings, results through March 5:
Continue reading “Big Country boys basketball playoff pairings, results (March 5)”
Below are the final regular season statistical leaders for Big Country boys basketball in 2022.
This database has been continually updated for our subscribers throughout the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking on the “Buy on SmugMug” link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Coahoma-Ballinger girls basketball playoff (46 images)”
STERLING CITY — The Coahoma girls may have rewritten the book on how to do things the hard way in Tuesday’s 3A bi-district matchup with Ballinger, rallying twice to defeat the Lady Cats 49-47 at Sterling City High School.
Isabella Cox scored 21 points while Madison Rogers, Shae Lange and Baylor Wright added seven apiece to lead Coahoma (23-10), which advances to face perennial power Brock in the area round.
When Cross Plains’ Cadence Wedeking has the range zeroed in, the scorer’s table may want to have a spare pencil handy just in case.
Our Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week had one of “those nights” last week in a 69-20 win over Moran, connecting with five 3-pointers and finishing with 33 points. It was the third time this season the sophomore guard had connected from beyond the arc five times in one game.
Each Thursday night, Big Country Preps will publish area boys and girls basketball statistical leaders.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Teams that do not submit their statistics in a given week will not be listed when our stats are posted, but will be added to the lists below as they are received in the coming days.
While icy road conditions may have changed the UIL’s method of delivering the news, the results of its biennial realignment still offered the usual mix of surprises on Thursday.
Held via live feed over the internet, area coaches learned their fate on the web.
Topping the list of stunners for area teams would be the shift of Brownwood from its centralized home in District 5-4A DI to the far west in District 2. There, the Lions will join Big Spring, Lubbock Estacado, San Angelo Lake View and Andrews — the last of which will produce a 480-mile round trip.
What appeared to be a slow year for the Big Country on the signing front quickly blossomed into something memorable in 2022.
With National Signing Day taking place on Wednesday, the Big Country Preps coverage area finished with multiple Division I signees, including several on the gridiron.
Each Thursday night, Big Country Preps will publish area boys and girls basketball statistical leaders.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Teams that do not submit their statistics in a given week will not be listed when our stats are posted, but will be added to the lists below as they are received in the coming days.
Each Thursday night, Big Country Preps will publish area boys and girls basketball statistical leaders.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Teams that do not submit their statistics in a given week will not be listed when our stats are posted, but will be added to the lists below as they are received in the coming days.
Evan and Dan go over the 2021 All-Big Country Preps Football Team, plus Player of the Year, Offensive and Defensive MVPs, Coach of the Year and more!
Most high school football teams have that one player acknowledged by the coaching staff as the prime example of what a teammate should be.
He’s the guy who seldom misses any practice time and is a regular in the weight room. He’s early to arrive. He’s late to leave, takes pride in being coachable but seldom needs direction.
He always sets the right example for younger players. He doesn’t gripe and, above all else, he’s tough enough to make all the aforementioned traits possible.
Know someone like that? Here is where they are honored.
Welcome to Big Country Preps’ “True Grit” team — a collection of area players nominated by their head coaches, who exemplify the character traits football mentors want throughout their roster.
Not all of them are great players. In fact, many of them will never play a down of college football. But every single one of them is making the most of their high school football experience and has helped those around them do the same.
We are absolutely honored to present these young men to you — the toughest, hardest-working football players the Big Country had to offer in 2021.
Here are our selections for the 2021 All-Big Country Preps Football Team (Third-Team roster). For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking on the “Buy on SmugMug” link below a selected photo. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Ballinger-Jim Ned basketball doubleheader (74 images)”
TUSCOLA — For a quarter Tuesday, the Ballinger Ladycats gave third-ranked and undefeated Jim Ned all it could handle in the opening game of a District 6-3A basketball doubleheader at Bill Thornton Arena. But the Lady Indians countered with a 17-4 run through the second period and were never threatened again in a 62-37 victory.
Facing a zone look from the Ladycats, it took Jim Ned a little time to find its footing offensively. But after Ballinger rallied from an early 8-2 deficit to take a brief lead at 11-10, coach Hunter Cooley’s squad finished the first quarter on a 5-2 run before hitting six of its eight 3-pointers over the next two periods to pull take an 18-point lead into the final quarter.
From there, it was academic as the Lady Indians improved to 16-0 overall and 3-0 in league play with the comfortable win.
While scoring a lot of points is always an attention-getter, the Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week column puts a great deal of value in players who can contribute in a variety of ways. And today’s winner is a prime of example of that.
Stamford junior guard Laylonna Applin takes our accolade after helping the Lady Bulldogs to a 5-0 record on the week, with wins over Burkburnett, Christoval, Class 4A No. 13 Sanger, the San Angelo Central JV and Veribest. The last for victories came in the Ballinger tournament, at which Applin was named MVP.
Yes, she did plenty of scoring, dropping in an eye-popping 134 points through five games. But Applin did a lot more than just put the ball in the hoop.
Jim Ned 49, Muleshoe 20 — Jim Ned rolled up 525 yards in total offense to corral the Mules.
Xavier Wishert rushed for 312 yards on 34 carries and Tate Yardley threw for 128 yards and two more TDs to lead the Indians (12-0), who advance to face Brock in the Region I-3A DI semifinals next week.
Leading 7-6 after the first quarter, Jim Ned secured the upper hand with consecutive second-quarter TDs — an 8-yard run by Wishert at the 11:56 mark, followed by a 15-yard TD pass from Yardley to Wishert at 5:27.
Big numbers will generally get one strong consideration for our Capital Farm Credit/Big Country Preps Player of the Week award. But when those numbers come against a team from a much larger classification, it quickly makes us take notice.
Class 2A Hico’s Grace Booth did exactly that last week in a 61-57 win over Class 4A Mineral Wells, dominating both ends of the floor to lead the Lady Tigers in their season opener.
Aside from the 40 points she poured in, Booth snagged 10 rebounds to chart a double-double. She also forced multiple turnovers (viewable on the video above), including three steals.
Early 43, Pilot Point 21 — Tre Beam rushed for 214 yards and one touchdown and Jaxyn Price threw for 118 yards and three TDs to lead Early to a stunning win over favored Pilot Point.
The Longhorns used a 29-0 first quarter to gain an upper hand which they never relinquished.