Big Spring 20, Sweetwater 7 — Gavin Padron passed for 286 yards and two touchdowns while Kavien Ford rushed for 96 yards to fuel the Steers to a two-touchdown win over the Mustangs.
Big Spring, which improved to 3-1 with the victory, outgained Sweetwater 401-159 and held a 3-2 advantage in the turnover margin. Despite this, the Steers trailed 7-0 after one quarter and were tied 7-all at halftime, before taking control of the game with a pair of scores in the third quarter.
BROWNWOOD — With an unbeaten but shorthanded Glen Rose team coming to Gordon Wood Stadium on Friday, the Brownwood Lions were well prepared for the normally explosive Tigers.
With standout Glen Rose quarterback Hudson White out with an injury, the Lions held the Tigers to a season-low 275 yards in total offense in a 17-3 win.
Ike Hall threw for 94 yards, rushed for 53 and accounted for two scores to lead Brownwood (3-1), which notched its third straight win since a season-opening loss to Wylie.
LAST WEEK: 51-10, .836
SEASON TOTAL: 131-42, .757
Football picks are something I take pride in and it irritates me to no end when I stink it up. So let’s just say, I burned some midnight oil to get that situation corrected last week.
As a result, the column recovered with a solid .836 percentage in Week 3, salvaging my bruised ego after a disastrous Week 2 tally. In all, 51 of 61 area picks hit the mark last week, elevating my season’s record above 75 percent.
That’s more like it.
Week 4 in the meantime, presents a lineup of some of the most difficult area picks we’ve had this season — including an explosive Glen Rose team facing Brownwood in our BCP Game of the Week. Let’s dive in, shall we?
Here’s this week’s forecast:
In a week that featured several performances worthy of capturing the Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week award, Clyde quarterback Blake Carr narrowly captured the top spot with an explosive performance in a 41-21 win over Merkel.
Carr, a junior, hit 18 of 23 passes for 311 yards and four scores as CHS improved to 2-1 on the year. He also rushed six times for 106 yards and a fifth touchdown on a 46-yard run.
Brownwood 33, Burnet 20 — The Lions rallied from a 14-0 first-quarter deficit to defeat Burnet, outscoring the Bulldogs 33-7 over the final three quarters of a two-touchdown win.
Brownwood (2-1) pulled ahead 17-14 by halftime, before using a 9-0 run through the third quarter to take control of the game.
The Lions, who outgained Burnet 436-240, were led by quarterback Ike Hall (14-20-1—246, 1 TD passing; 9-25, 2 TDs passing) and running back Konlyn Anderson (22-132, 1 TD rushing). Thad Hinds also had a big day for for the Brownwood offense, catching nine passes for 185 yards and a score.
Brownwood 55, Marble Falls 16 — The Lions got off to a fast start and never let up in a blowout win over the Mustangs.
Brownwood (1-1) scored the first 24 points of the game, led 27-8 by halftime and increased its advantage to 55-8 before Marble Falls got back on the board with the game’s final touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
The Lions outgained the Mustangs 402-201, getting a big game from quarterback Ike Hall, who went 9-of-13 passing for 189 yards while rushing for a team-high 79 yards and a touchdown. Running back Konlyn Anderson added 69 yards and three TDs on 16 carries, while Thad Hinds (3-77) and Jordan Leach (3-47) led the Lions in receiving.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Wylie-Brownwood football (90 images)”
Pampa 27, Big Spring 20 — Gavin Padron passed for 407 yards and three touchdowns for the Steers, but it wasn’t enough in a hard-fought loss to the Harvesters.
Big Spring (0-1) led 14-13 at halftime, but Pampa, which finished with 381 total yards (196 passing, 185 rushing) held the Steers to just one second-half touchdown in rallying for the victory.
In addition to Padron’s big day, Big Spring got a huge receiving performance from junior Zeyire Franklin, who hauled in seven passes for 196 yards and a touchdown. Ricky Escovedo (5-63) and Kavien Ford (3-21) also had receiving scores, while Eli Cobos had a team-high nine catches for 84 yards.
BROWNWOOD — The Wylie Bulldogs played one half of great offensive football and one half of clutch, shutdown defense Friday in their season opener against Brownwood. In the end, that was enough to add up to a thrilling 30-24 win over a scrappy Lions squad at Gordon Wood Stadium.
The Bulldogs put up 292 yards of offense over the first two quarters in building a 30-17 halftime lead, before hanging on for dear life in the second half.
Despite playing most of the final two quarters on its end of the field, the Wylie defense held Brownwood to just one second-half touchdown, forcing a fourth-quarter fumble at the 5-yard line to stymie a potential go-ahead drive before sealing the game with a three-and-out with under two minutes to play.
7:30 p.m. Friday at Gordon Wood Stadium, Brownwood
Continue reading “VIDEO: Wylie coach Clay Martin previews season-opening trip to Brownwood”
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.
Logan Knight (#71) can be seen in this Hart High School highlight reel from last year, playing right tackle as a sophomore.
BROWNWOOD — 16-year-old Logan Knight admits he’s currently experiencing some culture shock in Brownwood.
The new arrival from Santa Clarita, Calif., is unaccustomed to such an abundance of friendly people. The lower cost of living has been a stunner. So, as one may expect, has been the level of passion Texas has for the game of football.
And it is football that may provide Knight with his biggest surprise yet as he approaches his junior year and first game under the Friday night lights of Texas. To a certain extent, he’s already suprised, he likes what he has seen and he’s eager to be a part of it when the season rolls around.
BROWNWOOD — After laboring through a 4-7 season with a young team last year, the Brownwood Lions are looking to take a step forward in 2022.
And they have the weapons to do it.
Armed with seven offensive and 10 defensive returning starters among 24 lettermen, Brownwood is expected to field a varsity roster in excess of 40 players — including promotees from a 10-0 JV team.
Day 6 of Big Country Preps’ 2022 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:
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 stay in Class 4A Division I with the Brownwood Lions. On Sunday we will take a look at the Stephenville Yellow Jackets before closing out our series with Abilene High, Cooper and Wylie.
OTHER 2022 ALL-BIG COUNTRY PREPS TEAMS
Character, grit and work ethic aren’t seen in a box score. And it is with our Big Country Preps All-Hustle Team that we wish to honor those players (male and female) who exemplify those qualities.
The All-Hustle team isn’t about who the best baseball and softball players were. It honors the best teammates.
It is here where effort, discipline and coachability — traits that coaches wish they had in every player and upon which championships are built — are honored.
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 Big Country had to offer during the 2022 baseball and softball seasons.
The players below are listed in no particular order.
The Stephenville girls and Big Spring boys both finished third in their respective team competitions over the weekend at the Region I-4A track meet to headline a strong effort for area teams and athletes.
The Honeybees amassed 94 points to finish behind only team champion Canyon (122) and runner-up Argyle (106) while the Steers finished with 52 points — 10 behind second-place Decatur and 51 behind boys champion Argyle.
In all, Big Country relay teams and athletes accounted for 21 total medals — 10 on the boys side and 11 on the girls side.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Stephenville-Brownwood baseball (37 images)”
BROWNWOOD — Sophomore Luke Heller threw six innings of four-hit baseball as Stephenville knocked off Brownwood 11-1 in District 6-4A play on Tuesday night at Morris Southall Field.
Heller allowed just one run and one walk while striking out eight, and his effort on the mound was enough to give the Yellow Jackets offense time to get going.
It was an effort coach Justin Swenson was excited to see with the playoffs just around the corner.
It’s difficult to top back-to-back shutouts when searching for a Player of the Week, especially when one of the vanquished is a solid team from a higher classification.
That was the case last week for Colorado City softball pitcher Kaci Rivera, who held both Big Spring (7-0) and Borden County (6-0) to a goose egg, with 23 strikeouts in 14 innings of work.
Our Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week allowed only five total hits in the two games, to go with two walks.
“Kaci has really started to show her dominance on the mound,” coach Krysten Marr said. “She is a fierce competitor on both sides of the ball and we are excited to see how she does going into district play.”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Cooper-Brownwood softball (72 images)”
BROWNWOOD — The Cooper softball team closed out nondistrict play with a 22-10 win over Brownwood on Friday, taking advantage of 18 hits and 11 Lady Lions errors to turn a two-run lead after three innings into a run-rule victory.
The Lady Cougars never trailed after scoring four runs in the first inning. But holding just a 7-5 lead after three, it wasn’t until after an eight-run fourth that they were able to finally pull away.
The victory improved coach Stacey Herring’s team to 12-6-2 on the year heading into Tuesday’s District 4-5A opener against Lubbock Cooper.
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.
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.
When selecting our Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week, it’s not entirely about numbers, though that’s certainly a part of it. The
quality of the competition counts, as does the importance of the game itself.
And when factoring in all of the above, nobody had a better overall week than Merkel senior Alyssa O’Malley, who has been among the area’s most consistent performers all season.
CAPITAL FARM CREDIT WEDNESDAY NIGHT PODCAST: Brownwood boys hoops coach Will Parker joins the show
The Brownwood Lions’ basketball team has hit to court running – literally – this season under new head coach Will Parker.
Brownwood is 18-7 overall and 2-0 in District 6-4A after league wins over Gatesville, 91-66 on Tuesday, and at Stephenville, 67-59 on Friday. This week the road gets tougher as Brownwood plays at Tuesday at Glen Rose (17-5, 1-1) and hosts Lampasas (19-10, 2-0) on Friday.
“It should be a dog fight for the playoff seedings,” Parker said of the District 6-4A race. “We had a good battle with Stephenville and beat them by eight points. Gatesville beat Stephenville by two, and Lampasas beat Glen Rose by three.
“Our game at Stephenville was physical and loud. It was a rivalry game, and they had a big crowd. Our seniors stepped up. We knew we had to outrebound them to limit their second-chance points, and we outrebounded them 49-44. And we two fewer turnovers than they had.”
More often than not, our Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week has led a winning effort of some sort. But we do make exceptions, and this week’s accolade is an example of that.
In last week’s 69-68 loss to Huckabay, Strawn freshman (yes, freshman) Grayson “Chaka” Rigdon put forth an absolutely show-stopping performance, dropping 54 points on HHS to go with 14 rebounds, two assists and three steals. This came on the heels of a 24-point, 10-rebound night he had in a 64-41 loss to Lingleville.