Big numbers are always great to have when we decide the winner of our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award. Solid numbers across multiple tasks are even better.
That was the case with this week’s spotlight player, Buck Powell, of Hico, who helped the Tigers to a 47-14 rout of Maud in the Class 2A DII bi-district round on Friday.
With a new season of boys high school basketball poised to begin, it’s time to take a look at what the Big Country will produce on the court.
Below you will find our top teams in each classification in the Big Country Preps coverage area, from Big Spring in the West, to Brock in the east and from Brady in the south to Munday in the north.
Our rankings of the top teams in each class are given, along with a season outlook, cataloguing our expectations for each club.
Here’s our preview. We’ll see you on the road.
Clyde 34, Breckenridge 14 — Blake Carr threw for 205 yards and three scores and rushed for 134 yards and another TD to help Clyde lock down the No. 1 seed.
The Bulldogs (9-1, 4-1) rolled up 465 yards in total offense and blew the game open with a 20-0 second half.
LAST WEEK: 47-5, .903
SEASON TOTAL: 438-91, .827
With the column hitting at more than 90 percent accuracy last week, we now close the regular season on the upswing and with something uncommon: A local Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
While our weekly picks column generally highlights the top area game outside of the Abilene city limits, this week seems to call for us to stay at home with rivals Wylie (6-3, 3-1) and Cooper (4-5, 3-1) fighting for sole possession of the No. 2 seed in District 2-5A Division II.
NOTE: This will be our final installment of Big Country Volleyball Statistical Leaders for the 2023 season
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m. roughout the regular season.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Jim Ned 36, Vernon 32— Brayden Shipman rushed for 241 yards and two scores, including a 63-yard run with 1:00 left in the game to set up the game-inning TD.
With the win, Jim Ned (7-2, 3-1) is now in a first-place tie with both Iowa Park (4-5, 3-1) and Clyde (8-1, 3-1) with one game left in the regular season.
LAST WEEK: 44-7, .862
SEASON TOTAL: 391-86, .820
It really didn’t take long for people to start talking about the Hawley – Stamford matchup in 2023. In fact, this one was on our calendar as a possible Game of the Week before the season even started.
Who will win? That depends on who you speak with. Our Twitter poll is split virtually down the middle and even the computers see this one as a near tossup.
Stamford (7-0, 4-0 District 4-2A DII) enters this game scarcely challenged, rolling over the opposition by an average tally of 45-8. Hawley (6-2, 4-0), on the other hand, comes in with some battle scars after a brutal schedule featuring Jim Ned, Lubbock Roosevelt and Albany.
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m. roughout the regular season.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Clyde 48, Bowie 21 — The Bulldogs (8-0, 3-0) remained unbeaten, clinched a playoff spot and took another step toward a district title with a road win at Bowie.
Blake Carr threw for 260 yards and five scores and Fabian Gomez rushed for 97 yards and another TD to lift Clyde, which can clinch the district championship with a win at Iowa Park next week.
LAST WEEK: 40-8, .833
SEASON TOTAL: 347-79, .814
As Week 9 of the 2023Texas High School football season gets underway, there are multiple high-profile games that would qualify as our Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
But we’re settling for a rare Thursday night matchup at Tarleton State University where seventh-ranked 4A DI Stephenville (5-2, 1-0) will play host to fourth-ranked China Spring (6-2, 2-0) in a game will give the victor sole possession of first place in District 5.
Picking who wins it may come down to throwing darts, but I do believe China Spring has one key advantage.
Big numbers are one thing. But when they come in the clutch in a multitude of areas, that’s difficult to top for our weekly Big Country Preps Player of the Week award.
This time around, it’s Sweetwater junior running back-linebacker Korda Moore taking the top spot for the week ending Oct. 14.
Moore had a big night in last week’s dramatic 45-41 win over Midland Greenwood, with 25 carries for 187 yards and four TDs. He also caught three passes for 65 yards and two more scores.
But he wasn’t finished there. He also completed a 23-yard pass and scored on two two-point conversion runs to finish with 40 total points on the night.
Vernon 42, Breckenridge 20 — The Lions pounded out 388 yards rushing to hand Breckenridge a loss at Buckaroo Stadium.
Breckenridge, which hurt itself with three turnovers, was limited to 286 yards in total offense. Camden Escalon led the Bucks with 226 yards passing a two scores.
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.
Jim Ned 34, Bowie 6 — Brayden Shipman rushed for 126 yards and one score and Dean Guffey threw for 84 yards and another TD to lift Jim Ned to a win over Bowie.
The Indians (5-1, 1-0) finished with a modest 256 yards in total offense.
Bowie fell to 1-5 and 0-1.
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.
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m. roughout the regular season.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
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.
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m. roughout the regular season.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
The biggest problem I have with our high school football scheduling practices in Texas is that by the second year of the alignment period, many of those schedules are out of date and no longer suitable for schools that have been hit hard by graduation. And if you want an example of that, I’ll give you one close to home: the Cisco Loboes.
Cisco (1-4), which notched its first win of the season last week with a victory at Colorado City, is both young and thin in the numbers department. It’s one of those years that every program below the 4A level will eventually run into. And unfortunately, since the Loboes had reeled off 12 straight winning seasons, including a state title in 2013, their nondistrict schedule was merciless.
No Class 2A team was willing to take them on, so they ended up with four straight likely playoff teams from Class 3A in Clyde, Wall, Breckenridge and Jacksboro.
Breckenridge 36, Benbrook 28 — The Buckaroos allowed more than 400 yards in total offense to Benbrook, but survived a shootout on the road.
Two turnovers, forced by the Breckenridge defense, were a key, along with 243 passing yards, to give the Buckaroos (3-2) their third straight win after an 0-2 start.
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.
There are big games and then there are those that border on insanity.
Moran running back Ellis Hise, our Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the week ending Sept. 16, fell squarely into the latter category on Saturday with a performance that was absolutely nuts.
Helping the Bulldogs to a thrilling 68-67 win over Mullin in one of the top six-man games the Big Country has seen this year, Hise rushed for 287 yards and six touchdowns on only 26 carries. But that’s just the beginning.
Jim Ned 38, Rockdale 12 — Dean Guffey threw for 201 yards and two scores and Aiden Ellis rushed for 150 yards and another TD to keep Jim Ned (4-0) unbeaten.
The Indians rushed for 314 yards as a team while accumulating 515 yards in total offense.
Rockdale dropped to 1-3.
With the win, Jim Ned coach Matt Fanning (54-13) became the winningest football coach in Jim Ned football history, passing former Coach Brad McCoy (53-19).
When it comes to individual performances, there are big games and there are big games.
And then there’s what Cooper junior Daniel Bray did against San Angelo Central last week in leading the Cougars to their first win of the season.
The explosive tailback, who had been limited some in the first two weeks by a nagging ankle injury and the growing pains of a young offensive line, broke out in a historic way in that 53-45 victory over the Bobcats. By the time the game was over, he had rushed for a school-record 366 yards and seven touchdowns on just 21 carries, making a case for our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award that was too compelling to pass over — even in a week with a number of other monster performances.
Breckenridge 41, Cisco 6 — Breckenridge (1-2) earned its first win of the year after forcing five Cisco turnovers.
The Buckaroos, who threw for 218 yards and rushed for 137, built a 27-6 halftime lead and were never threatened after that.
Clyde 34, Eastland 21 — Clyde rolled up 441 yards in total offense and shut Eastland out after the break to improve to 2-0.
Blake Carr was 10 of 20 for 237 yards and two scores and rushed for 167 yards and two more TDs to lead Clyde, which closed with 442 yards in total offense.
Clyde 40, Cisco 28 — Blake Carr threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 97 yards and another score to lead Clyde to a win over Cisco.
The Bulldogs closed with 483 yards in total offense with senior receiver Daijon Booker accounting for 218 yards of it on seven receptions.
BRECKENRIDGE — From 1972-1974, the Miami Dolphins and their “No-Name” defense reached three straight Super Bowls, winning the latter two. Their nickname, derived from a comment made by Dallas coach Tom Landry, was a suitable fit for a defense that played well, despite having no house
Some 50 years later, the nickname has resurfaced at the high school level in Breckenridge, where the Buckaroos are hoping that an unsung group of young players can offset heavy graduation losses in time to push the team into the playoffs.
BRECKENRIDGE — Rebuild or reload?
The Breckenridge Buckaroos have reached that important stage with fourth-year coach Casey Pearce, returning a modest five starters on both sides of the ball among 17 lettermen.
Only 11 lettermen were lost, but most of them played a key role in last year’s 8-3 mark before earning their diplomas in the spring.
So the question is, do the Buckaroos have enough young talent coming up to keep the program moving forward? They believe they do, courtesy of an abundance of speed, experience at quarterback, capable skill people and a 10-0 JV team adding an influx of young talent to the mix.
Day 6 of Big Country Preps’ 2023 Photo Tour is now in the books, with one more day of shooting yet to come from practice fields throughout the area.
Here are but a few of the images collected Friday and Saturday:
Continue reading “Scenes from Big Country Preps Photo Tour Days 6”
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 I with the Breckenridge Buckaroos. On Thursday we will take a look at the Clyde Bulldogs, followed by the Jim Ned Indians on Friday.
Continue reading “COUNTDOWN TO TWO-A-DAYS: The Breckenridge Buckaroos … 12 days to two-a-days”
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.
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: Region I-3A track meet (118 images)”
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.
The Breckenridge boys track team is peaking at the right time.
That’s good news for Mark Young’s Buckaroos as they head into the Region I-3A Meet this Friday and Saturday at Abilene Christian University.
Young has a special place in his heart for the mile relay, an event he ran during his college days at ACU. That explains why he was still pumped up a couple days after Breckenridge ran an area-best 3 minutes, 22.79 seconds at last week’s Districts 7/8-3A area meet.
A no-hitter alone is often enough to secure the Big Country Preps Player of the Week award. But when it’s backed by a solid offensive performance, it’s very difficult to get knocked off of the perch.
Brock sophomore Jesse Rusinek takes this week’s accolade after holding Eastland hitless in a 15-0 mercy rule win that saw him miss a perfect game by one walk. He fanned 12 in the process.
“He was dealin’ out there,” Brock coach Kobe Page said of the stuff Rusinek had in the Eastland game. “When he’s on, he’s pretty tough … just showing up, battling and moving the ball around the strike zone. He was ‘on.'”
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: Early-Breckenridge baseball (70 images)”
BRECKENRIDGE —It took nearly 3.5 hours and 11 innings to settle the issue. But the Breckenridge Buckaroos finally got what they desperately needed on Tuesday to keep their hopes for a No. 2 playoff seed alive.
Facing second-place Early and needing a win to force a tie in the standings, Breckenridge rallied from two separate deficits — the last of which came in extras to lift the Buckaroos to a thrilling 6-5 win in a classic Big Country matchup at O.D. Woodward Stadium.
Caiden Marin provided a game-winning single, Bryson Herring was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs and Marco Jaramillo got the win in relief to lift Breckenridge (10-13-1, 8-3 District 8-3A) which is now locked in a second-place tie with Early with three games to play.
Clyde’s Payton Phillips is no stranger to our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award. She’s no stranger to gold medals either.
And for the third time since last year, the CHS senior has captured our weekly accolade — this time with an armful of hardware.
In her latest performance, Phillips won four separate district championships and took silver in a fifth at the District 6-3A track meet.
It’s difficult to trump a no-hitter, though Snyder’s Ava Aviles came close last week.
Aviles, who threw back-to-back two-hitters for Snyder softball, is our first runner-up to her classmate, Player of the Week Ty Davis and his first career no-hitter.
Davis earned a 13-2 five-inning win over Levelland last week, holding LHS hitless in the mercy rule win, finishing with five strikeouts.
“Ty has continued to improve on the mound and has given us some excellent innings this season, none bigger than last Tuesday with his no-hit performance,” Snyder coach Shane Stewart said. ” I am proud of him and looking forward to watching him mature as a pitcher and a young man.”
You know you’re on a roll when you throw a no-hitter and it’s your second-best performance of the week.
That was the case for Hico junior pitcher Kiersten Fincannon, not only threw a no-hitter in a 24-0 win over Meridian, but also tossed a perfect game in a 22-0 rout of Itasca.
While Hawley’s Kason O’Shields is better known for his prowess on a football field, the HHS senior is actually a remarkable all-around athlete who is capable of having an impact in a variety of different sports.
This week is a prime example of that, as O’Shields takes our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award for the week ending February 18.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
EULA — For a half, the Breckenridge girls basketball team gave No. 2 Jim Ned all it could handle Thursday in a Region I-3A area round matchup at Mary Mosley Gymnasium.
But a Lady Indians squad not accustomed to playing in tight games rose up to meet the challenge in the second half, using an 11-6 run through the third quarter to create some cushion in a 42-30 win.
The victory — just Jim Ned’s seventh this year by less than 14 points — earned the Lady Indians (33-1 on the season) a region quarterfinal matchup next week with District 6-3A mate Ballinger, which knocked off Wichita Falls City View 56-46 on Thursday.
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: Eastland-Breckenridge basketball doubleheader (83 images)”
BRECKENRIDGE — The Breckenridge girls and boys basketball teams had different reasons for needing wins over Eastland in Friday’s varsity doubleheader in Breckenridge.
But by night’s end, both had achieved their mission in a convincing two-game sweep at Breckenridge High School.
The BHS girls opened the twin bill with a come-from-behind 48-32 win to secure their hold on a playoff seed. The Breckenridge boys completed the sweep in the nightcap to keep their fading playoff hopes alive with a 48-31 win.
