Ira junior Hudson Luft had a week that was nothing short of eye-popping — eye-popping enough to earn him our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award for the week ending Dec. 7.
Luft takes it this time around with a performance that went as follows: 28 points, 10 boards vs. Spur, 18 points, eight steals vs. Eden, 46 points, four steals vs. Loraine, 21 points vs. Robert Lee, 30 points, six steals vs. Roscoe and 24 points vs Winters.
Canyon West Plains 49, Brownwood 14 — West Plains rolled up 510 yards in total offense, including 306 yards rushing to eliminate the Lions.
Slade Russell rushed for 121 yards and two scores, Reid Macon rushed for 120 yards and two more TDs to lead West Plains (9-3), which will face Lampasas (10-2) in the regional semis.
Brownwood, which hurt itself with five turnovers, finished at 6-5. The Lions were led by Judson Coalson, who rushed for 94 yards and passed for 94.
Brownwood 42, Marble Falls 14 — Levi Pearson rushed for 108 yards and two scores and Matt Rodriguez rushed for 132 yards and another TD to lead Brownwood over Marble Falls.
After a 14-14 first quarter, the Lions scored 28 answered points to take control of the game.
LAST WEEK: 45-8, .849
SEASON TOTAL: 464-122, .791
The regular season ends Friday night (if you can believe it) and there’s no better way to close things up than with No. 5 Class 2A DI Hawley (9-0, 4-0) at No. 1 Stamford (9-0, 4-0).
The winner will earn the District 4 championship and No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs, so much is at stake.
I’m leaning toward Stamford here for three reasons: First, the overall team speed of SHS is unmatched by anyone in the area.
Secondly, the Bulldogs have an intangible working here — specifically a last-second miracle touchdown scored by Hawley’s
Camden Ables from 45 yards out with 0:47 left in last year’s game.
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: Brownwood-Stephenville football (80 images)”
Lampasas 61, Marble Falls 7 — After racing out to a 31-7 first-half lead, the Badgers had an easy time of it on Friday night.
Lampasas improved to an 8-2 overall record (3-1 in league play) in its final regular season game of the year.
Marble Falls dropped to 2-7 and 0-3.
STEPHENVILLE — In the first half of Friday’s District 4-4A Division I matchup, Brownwood held rival Stephenville to just 96 yards of total offense even though the Yellow Jackets held a 13-0 lead at the break.
The good feelings on the Brownwood sideline didn’t last very long after that.
No. 4 Stephenville ended its run at Tarleton State’s Memorial Stadium with a 44-0 win to clinch at least a share of the district championship, earning a bi-district playoff matchup with San Angelo Lake View in the process.
Photos provided by Melissa Carroll and Kelly Moody
There’s a great deal of excitement brewing around the Tolar volleyball team heading into postseason play and with good reason. If the Lady Rattlers (28-9, 12-1 District 8-3A) manage to knock off Comanche on Tuesday, they will set a school record for wins in a season.
Secondly, senior setter Abbie Soileau is dishing assists like they were going out of style — including the 47 she tallied last week in wins over No. 25 Peaster and Early. That lifted her season total to a Tolar school record 1,032 assists on the year and more 1,700 for her career.
Brownwood 31, Burnet 30 — 
In perhaps the most exciting game produced in the Big Country on Friday, Brownwood held off Burnet in overtime.
Judson Coalson threw for 275 yards and three scores and rushed for 121 yards to lead the Lions.
LAST WEEK: 41-10 .803
SEASON TOTAL: 367-108, .772
Football season doesn’t feel complete without at least one visit to Chesley Field in Cisco. And Friday night, the Big Country Preps Game of the Week will stop by for a crucial District 4-2A DI matchup between the Loboes (5-2, 1-1) and Hawley (7-0, 2-0).
For Hawley, a win here will keep open the possibility of an unbeaten regular season. For Cisco, a victory would signal the beginning of a climb back into area prominence.
Stephenville 63, Marble Falls 0 — The Yellow Jackets coasted to the win behind 546 yards in total offense.
Ryan Gafford topped the stat sheet for Stephenville with 222 yards passing and four scores.
The Yellow Jackets improved to 6-1 and 1-0 with the win; Marble Falls fell to 2-6 and 0-2.
Lampasas 30, Brownwood 20 — Trailing 20-17 at the end of the third quarter, Lampasas closed the game with a 28-yard TD from Haegan Oncken at the 11:00 mark.
Two possessions later, Corbin Dotson scored with a 28-yard TD with three minutes left.
Brownwood was led by Judson Coalson with 116 yards passing and 54 yards and two TDs rushing. Trey Mosley added 58 yards and a score on the ground.
LAST WEEK: 32-12, .809
SEASON TOTAL: 279-91, .757
Now it’s time to get down to business.
With most of the Big Country taking an open date last Friday as a prelude to district play, we now dive headfirst into the games that count the most.
District play opens tomorrow for most leagues in the area, the intensity of which is already tangible.
Can you feel it?
We’ll see you on the road.
Here’s this week’s area picks:
Brownwood 55, Ingleside 7 — Judson Coalson threw for 257 yards and three TDs and Trey Mosley rushed for 136 yards and two more scores to help Brownwood to an easy win over Ingleside.
The Lions (3-2) quickly jumped out to a 27-0 first half lead and never looked back.
Limited to 226 yards in total offense, Ingleside fell to 4-2.
Stephenville 38, Waco La Vega 28 — 
The Yellow Jackets gradually built a 38-14 lead by the 11-minute mark of the fourth quarter, capped by a 46-yard TD run by Sawyer Wilkerson.
SHS then had to hold off a late La Vega rally attempt which saw the Pirates add a pair of late touchdowns, including a 1-yard scoring run by Bryson Roland to get La Vega within two scores with four minutes left.
LAST WEEK: 47-11, .810
SEASON TOTAL: 141-59, .705
After nosediving in Week 2 with one of the worst pick records I’ve ever had, the column rebounded in Week 3 with an .810 percentage to push my overall tally over .700 again.
As for this week’s Big Country Preps Game of the Week, Mr. Yale Youngblood will be on hand in Tolar to cover Comanche’s road game with the Rattlers in what should be a fun one.
I’ll be heading to Ballinger, where the Bearcats (3-0) will play host to Brady (2-1) in a battle of upstarts.
Let’s dive into this week’s picks:
BROWNWOOD — Wins are seldom easy for visitors at Gordon Wood Stadium, but the Glen Rose Tigers managed to make it look that way on Friday with a 44-16 win over the Lions in the Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
Canyon Evans hit 27 of 35 passes for 327 yards and three touchdowns and Keltyn Raymond added two important rushing TDS to lead the Tigers (3-0), who used a 27-0 second quarter to ruin Brownwood’s home opener.
“Canyon and our receivers are so well-synced,” Glen Rose coach Cliff Watkins said. “They do such a good job of knowing where the windows are and where they need to get to.
LAST WEEK: 46-28, .621
SEASON TOTAL: 94-48, .661
Abysmal.
That’s about the only adjective that comes to mind when trying to describe my Big Country football picks, which are off to the single worst start through two weeks that I’ve ever experienced in 18 years of covering area football.
A percentage of .621 after two weeks of play is beatable by throwing darts, flipping coins, or even consulting with your local horoscope page. Yet here I sit, trying to dig myself out of the hole I’ve created. But enough of that, Glen Rose at Brownwood is our Big Country Preps Game of the Week, in a week filled with interesting matchups.
Let’s have a look at them:
Brownwood 17, Wall 7 — Trey Mosley ran for 223 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries to lift the Lions to a win over the Hawks in their first game of the year.
Brownwood (1-0), which had its opener against Wylie canceled due to lightning, went to halftime tied at 7-all, and the score stayed there through the third quarter. But the Lions closed the game with 10 unanswered points in the fourth to pull away for the two-score victory.
Stephenville 38, Midlothian Heritage 3 — Ryan Gafford threw for 242 yards and two scores as the Yellow Jackets dominated Class 5A Heritage.
Tristian Gentry was Gafford’s favorite target, resulting in four receptions for 109 yards and a score. Comanche Transfer Sawyer Wilkerson led the ‘Jackets in rushing with 48 yards on eight carries and one TD.
LAST WEEK: 0-0, .000
SEASON TOTAL: 00-00, .000
Week 1 is often loaded with difficult picks and 2024 is no exception.
Our first slate of games this year has a number of contests that could have qualified for the Big Country Preps Game of the Week. But we finally settled on Albany at Stamford for the spotlight.
The two-time defending state 2A DII state champions, minus several key players lost to graduation, facing a Stamford club bringing back most of its skill and a ton of speed.
BROWNWOOD — Defining a special football accomplishment can depend on what sideline your standing on. By that I mean all things are relative when it comes to stirring the blood of a Texas high school football fan.
A .500 season at La Mesa, for example, will win you the key to the city at a place that hasn’t seen a record like that in 23 years. But good luck winning any popularity contests if you follow Denney Faith at Albany with a 5-5.
That’s the problem with weighing accomplishments when speaking of programs with a storied past. Programs such as Brownwood, which has reached the state championship pinnacle seven times has a different viewpoint on what’s “special.”
BROWNWOOD — With the loss of talented quarterback Ike Hall (Tarleton State), all-Big Country Preps kicker Junior Martinez and offensive lineman Quinton McCarty (Navarro College) among 21 graduated lettermen, one may be expecting a rebuilding phase in Brownwood.
Not just yet.
The Lions, you see, still have 19 lettermen returning from last year’s 12-2 team and several promotees up from a 10-0 JV team. So the mindset at Brownwood is more to reload, rather than rebuild.
“It speaks well of our coaching staff,” coach Sammy Burnett said. “They’re high school coaches, but they coach all levels. … So our kids no how to work hard, they expect to be successful and they’re just thirsting for the opportunity to play on Friday night.
“It’s a big deal in Brownwood, Texas and we’ve got a lot of kids ready to do that.”
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 Brownwood Lions.
Continue reading “COUNTDOWN TO TWO-A-DAYS: The Brownwood Lions … three days to two-a-days”
OTHER 2024 ALL-BIG COUNTRY PREPS TEAMS
Our All-Big Country Preps Softball and Baseball Teams, released Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, are in place to honor those who achieved the most on-field success in 2024. It is off the field, however, where character, grit, and work ethic are often measured. And it is with our Big Country Preps All-Hustle Team that we wish to honor those players, male and female, who were (simply put) the hardest-working, best teammates in the area this spring.
This team isn’t about who the best baseball and softball players were.
The All-Hustle team honors effort, discipline, toughness, coachability and selflessness — traits that coaches wish they had in every player and upon which championships are built.
It is for that reason that this team is largely selected by area coaches and described in their own words.
Big Country Preps is now honored to present these individuals to you — the best team players (boys and girls) that the the Big Country had to offer during the 2024 season.
The players below are listed in no particular order.
AUSTIN — The UIL Track & Field State Meet kicked off Thursday with Classes 3A and 4A competing at Mike Meyers Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas, and Big Country athletes made their presence felt to start to the three-day affair.
Area competitors didn’t quite match the 14 medals accrued on the opening day of the 2023 state meet, but they still made a solid showing with 10 combined medals.
Headlining the list of medalists were Brock’s Dylan Foster (300-meter hurdles), Stephenville’s Creece Brister (shot put) and Brownwood’s Ike Hall (triple jump), who all left Austin with gold medals. Continue reading “STATE TRACK ROUNDUP: Stephenville’s Brister, Brownwood’s Hall and Brock’s Foster claim gold medals at 3A/4A meet”
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: Snyder-Brownwood bi-district softball (52 images)”
ABILENE — With a .911 winning percentage on the season, the No. 10-ranked Snyder softball team entered the postseason on an eight-game winning streak heading into its Region I-4A bi-district series with Brownwood.
The Lady Tigers also owned 9-0 and 7-1 wins over the Lady Lions during nondistrict play.
Friday afternoon at Cooper’s Cougar Diamond, Snyder made it 3 for 3 against Brownwood with an 11-1 win to take a 1-0 series lead.
Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through April 25.
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
LUBBOCK — Big Country athletes made a strong showing at the Region I-4A track meet Friday and Saturday at Lowrey Field, combining to earn 19 medals and 12 automatic bids to the state meet May 2 in Austin.
Between the boys and girls competitions, area entries accounted for eight gold medals, four silvers and seven bronzes, while the Stephenville boys did enough to edge Canyon by two points for the team title.
The Yellow Jackets finished with 59 points, headlined by double gold medalist Creece Brister, who won both throwing events. Brownwood, meanwhile, had the highest girls finish, taking third with 48 points, led by gold medals from Kaya Phillips in the 200 and its 800-meter relay team.
Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through April 18.
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through April 18.
With the end of the regular season, this will be our FINAL softball leaders posting for 2024.
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
With plenty of competition for the top spot, our Big Country Preps Player of the Week goes to Clyde senior pitcher Trip Ancheta.
When in doubt, a dominating no-hitter is usually a solid choice.
Ancheta did exactly that in a 14-0 mercy rule win over Grape Creek that saw him work all five innings with 11 strikeouts — narrowly missing a perfect game by one walk.
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: Brownwood-Stephenville baseball (44 images)”
STEPHENVILLE — For the Brownwood Lions, it couldn’t have been a better scenario.
Not only did BHS clinch the District 6-4A championship on Friday, but the Lions did it by completing a season sweep of their archrival Stephenville with a 6-2 win on the Yellow Jackets’ home field.
Brownwood starter Yovani Figueroa delivered 4.1 solid innings to earn the win and Eli Hill was 1 for 3 with a three-RBI double to lead the Lions (20-5-1, 9-1), who blew the game open with a four-run third inning.
“I’ve been blessed to come back with a great bunch of kids,” said first-year Brownwood coach Blake Sandford, a former coach at Early High School. “They’ve worked really hard and bought into the process.”
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through April 11.
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
While we normally try to share the love in our Big Country Preps Player of the Week column, five district titles in one week isn’t easy to sidestep.
And while Wall’s Briggs Jones has already pulled down our award once this year, he earned a second with his showing at the District 6-3A meet in Clyde last week by sweeping the long jump (23-2), the triple jump (44-10.75), the 200 meters (21.92), the 100 meters (10.72) and assisting the 800 relay team to gold with a 1:29.68 split.
Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through April 4.
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through April 4.
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.