Big Spring 28, San Angelo Lake View 21 — AJ Yanez passed for two touchdowns and ran for another, and Xander Garcia added 141 yards and a score on the ground to lead the Steers to a hard-fought win over the Chiefs.

Big Spring (4-5, 1-1), which rallied from an early 7-0 hole to take a 14-7 lead into a halftime and a 28-14 lead into the fourth quarter, ran for 258 of its 304 yards, while limiting Lake View to just 255 yards of total offense.

Andrews 71, Big Spring 14 — JaeSean DeBouse caught two touchdown pass and ran for two more scores as the Mustangs piled up 433 yards rushing in a lopsided win over the Steers.

Behind DeBouse, who ran for 97 yards and received for 41, Andrews (2-6, 1-0) also got a productive rushing games from Anthony Santibanez (8-71), Beau Hudson (4-68), Leeroy Millan (7-53, 2 TDs), Merq Saiz (7-49, 1 TD) and John Brus (6-47, 1 TD) in building a 57-7 lead by halftime.

All of District 3-4A Division I was idle on Friday, with district play opening next week. 

Here’s a quick look at the approaching matchups: 

Big Spring 49, Kermit 20 — The Steers rallied from an early 20-0 hole with 49 unanswered points to turn a three-score deficit into a lopsided win.

Quarterback AJ Yanez fueled the comeback, running for four touchdowns, including three in the first half to help Big Spring to a 29-10 halftime lead.

Fort Stockton 44, Big Spring 20 — Kasch Norman, Gerry Diaz and Landon Havins all topped the 100-yard rushing mark as the Panthers piled up 384 yards on the ground in a comfortable win over the Steers.

Norman ran for 112 yards and a TD, while Diaz added 105 yards and two scores and Havins had 103 yards and one touchdown to help Fort Stockton increase a 23-14 halftime lead to 44-14 by the start of the fourth quarter.

Big Spring 43, Snyder 36 — Marcus Rios passed for 268 yards and four touchdowns and added 101 yards on the ground to fuel to the Steers to thrilling win over the Tigers.

After racing out to a 15-0 first-quarter lead, the Big Spring (2-3) found itself down 28-22 early in the third quarter and trailing 36-29 early in the fourth. But the Steers rallied to tie the game with about two minutes to play before turning a late interception into the game-winning score with less than a minute remaining.

Big Spring 40, El Paso Bel Air 21 — The Steers raced out to a 27-0 lead and took care of business from there to break into the win column with a three-touchdown victory over the Highlanders.

AJ Yanez passed for 189 yards and a touchdown, while Jeremy Minter ran for a pair of scores and Kaine Valenzuela had 90 yards and a touchdown receiving to lead Big Spring (1-3)

Borger 45, Big Spring 28 — The Steers outgained the Bulldogs 411-298, including a 276-195 advantage on the ground, but five turnovers were too much to overcome in a three-score loss.

Jeremy Minter ran for 160 yards and three touchdowns and added a 24-yard touchdown catch on a screen pass from AJ Yanez (10-18-1—133, 1 TD passing), but the Steers were done in by four lost fumbles and an interception.

Lubbock High 31, Big Spring 20 — Braiden Dunkerson rushed for 204 yards and three scores to lift Lubbock High to a win over Big Spring (0-2). 

The Westerners (1-1) broke into the win column with 303 yards in total offense. 

El Paso Riverside 49, Big Spring 21 — After a competitive first quarter, the Steers couldn’t keep pace with the Rangers in a game that was postponed to Saturday due to weather, allowing 35 unanswered points in a four-touchdown loss.

Behind a touchdown run by Isiac Martinez and a 45-yard touchdown pass from AJ Yanez to Eithan Threats, Big Spring went into the second quarter with the game tied at 14. But Riverside outscored the Steers 21-0 in the second quarter and 14-0 in the third to pull away. 

Marked by youth on both sides of the football, the Big Spring Steers won’t return much production in 2024. Junior linebacker RJ Gomez is the exception.

Seeing time at both inside linebacker to defensive end a year ago, Gomez broke out as a sophomore, emerging as a true playmaker for the Big Spring defense.

Now making the move back to middle linebacker in the Steers’ new 3-3 stack alignment, the junior will need to be a leader on and off the field if coach Cannon McWilliams’ young squad hopes to accomplish its goals this fall.

On paper, it might appear that the Big Spring football team is in for a rebuilding year in 2024. The Steers return just four starters on both sides of the football and must replace almost all of their offensive production from last year’s 2-9 team.

But despite those factors and the challenges they would seem to present, coach Cannon McWilliams enters his sixth season as the BSHS head coach excited about the season ahead.

What the Steers lack in experience, he said, they make up for with a desire to compete and grow. And with so many spots up for grabs and players eager to seize them, McWilliams is choosing to view this as a season of opportunity for a still-building program.

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. 21. 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. 5, we’ll be spotlighting each 11-man team in the area and posing some of the key questions they’ll face in 2024 as part of our annual “Countdown to Two-a-Days” series.

Today, we take a look at the Big Spring Steers.

Continue reading “COUNTDOWN TO TWO-A-DAYS: The Big Spring Steers … four days to two-a-days” →