Category: Brownwood Lions

by Evan Ren

CAPITAL FARM CREDIT/BCP PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jim Ned’s Wishert claims the top spot

It’s one thing to rush for more than 300 yards and three scores against a struggling program. We see that all the time from the area’s top running backs. 

But it’s an entirely different thing when those yards come against a solid team with a sturdy defense. That’s earning it the hard way.

Jim Ned’s Xavier Wishert, our Capital Farm Credit/Big Country Preps Player of the Week, took that route on Friday night when he charted 313 yards rushing and three scores on just 20 carries in a 37-20 road win over the Wall Hawks. 

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by Daniel Youngblood

District 5-4A Div. I Week 8 Report: No. 2 Stephenville cruises past Alvarado to stay unbeaten

Stephenville 56, Alvarado 0 — The second-ranked Yellow Jackets had no trouble with the Indians, piling up 542 yards of offense and taking advantage of three Alvarado turnovers in a shutout victory.

Stephenville (2-0 in district) led 35-0 by halftime and cruised from there to its seventh straight win to open the season. Alvarado, meanwhile, dropped to 2-5 overall and 1-1 in league play.

Ryder Lambert passed for 277 yards and four touchdowns in the victory, while Tate Maruska rushed for 143 yards and two TDs on just seven carries and Coy Eakin had 135 yards and three scores receiving on four catches. 

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Roscoe travels to Ralls for crucial district game (w/ Evan Ren’s Big Country Picks)

LAST WEEK: 40-7, .851
SEASON TOTAL: 287-63, .820

Week 8? Are you kidding?

I ask the same question, or some variant of it virtually every year. We just finished with two-a-days. How can we possibly be this deep in the season so quickly?

Yet hear we are. A cold weather snap approaching. Thanksgiving right around the corner —as are the playoffs.

This week’s Game of the Week will see me traveling north to Ralls where the surprising Roscoe Plowboys, off to their best start in years, will be in a showdown for the district lead.

The column hit at 85 percent accuracy last week and is now up to 82 percent on the year. So we’ll see if we can keep the momentum going through the home stretch.

Let’s have a look at this week’s picks: 

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by Daniel Youngblood

Big Country Preps’ Pick ‘Em Panel vs. Twitter Polls (Week 8)

Each week here at Big Country Preps, we’ll post our picks for all of that week’s 11-man games, in addition to the results of Evan Ren’s Twitter polls for each matchup.

For those interested in voting, polls go up on Monday night each week and close Thursday morning.

Disagree with our picks or the Twitter consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.

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by Evan Ren

Big Country Volleyball Statistical Leaders (through Oct. 12)

Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m.

This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.

We will continually update the database throughout the regular season.

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by Daniel Youngblood

District 5-4A Div. I Week 7 Report: Lambert leads No. 2 Stephenville to blowout win at La Vega

Stephenville 35, Waco La Vega 7 — The No. 2 Yellow Jackets dominated the sixth-ranked Pirates from start to finish, building a 28-0 halftime lead and cruising from there to a huge district-opening victory.

Stephenville (6-0, 1-0), which limited La Vega (3-3, 0-1) to one third-quarter touchdown, got another big night offensively from quarterback Ryder Lambert, who finished with 294 total yards and had a hand in four touchdowns (three passes and a run).

Coy Eakin, the area’s leading receiver, was the on the receiving end of Lambert’s first TD pass and added a rushing score to put the Jackets up 14-0 in the first quarter. Kyle Ward’s first of two TD receptions was followed by a seven-yard touchdown run by Lambert in the second quarter to give SHS .

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF WEEK: Unbeaten Early, Jim Ned clash in huge district opener (w/ Evan Ren’s Big Country Picks)

LAST WEEK: 39-4, .906
SEASON TOTAL: 247-56, .815

Gramps Ren is back in the groove, hitting over 90 percent of his picks a week ago, to push this column’s season percentage to .815 as we head into district play across the area.

Whether or not I can keep the momentum remains to be seen, entering what might be the toughest week of area picks I’ve seen this year, with multiple games that I would rate as near-tossups.

This week’s Big Country Preps Game of the Week will see us heading to Tuscola where Jim Ned will begin its District 3-3A DI title defense against a red-hot, unbeaten team from Early.

Let’s have a look at this week’s picks …

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by Evan Ren

Big Country Volleyball Statistical Leaders (through Oct. 5)

Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m.

This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.

We will continually update the database throughout the regular season.

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Steers plays host to Littlefield, Gramps Ren rebounds (w/ Evan Ren’s Big Country Picks)

LAST WEEK: 45-6, .882
SEASON TOTAL: 208-52, .800

After a disastrous night of picking football games on Sept. 19 that saw his season percentage dip below .800, Gramps Ren has rebounded. Thank you, thank you. 

Last Friday saw this column hit with more than 88 percent accuracy on games throughout the Big Country, pulling its season percentage to an even .800 as we hit the season’s midpoint. 

This week I’ll be heading west — way West — to the very edge of our coverage area to get a first-hand look at the Big Spring Steers in their matchup with Littlefield in our Big Country Preps Game of the Week. 

Let’s dive in to this week’s picks, shall we? 

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by Daniel Youngblood

District 5-4A Div. I Week 5 Report: No. 5 Stephenville dominant again in win over Waco Connally

Stephenville 44, Waco Connally 12 — Ryder Lambert passed for 206 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 148 yards and another score to help the No. 5 Yellow Jackets remain unbeaten with a blowout win over the Cadets.

Stephenville led 31-0 by halftime and cruised from there to take a 5-0 record into its bye week next week.

Coy Eakin had touchdown catches of 36 and 32 yards to improve his Big Country-best receiving TDs total to 12, while Corbin Poston hit three field goals in the victory.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Wylie runs away for 49-21 homecoming win over Brownwood

The Wylie football team treated a homecoming crowd to a dominating win Friday, scoring the first 35 points in a 49-21 victory over Brownwood.

The Bulldogs, who came in on a two-game losing streak, got their running game going early and controlled the line of scrimmage throughout, piling up 328 yards rushing while bottling up BHS standout Konlyn Anderson in the win.

Anderson came in as the Big Country’s leading rusher with more than 800 yards through the first four weeks, but it was the Wylie run game that stole the show as four Bulldog players tallied at least 70 yards on the ground.

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Jim Ned, Snyder clash in battle of unbeatens (w/ Evan Ren’s Big Country picks)

LAST WEEK: 36-16, .692
OVERALL: 163-46, .779

After four straight weeks of picking 80 percent or better, the USS Ren ran aground last Friday, bottoming out with a season-low .692 percentage and dropping my season tally to .779.

I generally like to be above 80 percent by midseason, so last Friday served as a wakeup call. Actually, it was more of a gut punch. But I’ll get over it.

This week’s Big Country Preps Game of the Week will see me traveling to Snyder, where the unbeaten Class 4A Tigers will play host to 3A DI state champion Jim Ned in what should be an absolutely electric atmosphere. 

You all set? Let’s dive in to this week’s picks. 

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by Evan Ren

Big Country Volleyball Statistical Leaders (through Sept. 21)

Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m.

This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.

We will continually update the database throughout the regular season.

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by Mike Lee, Special to Big Country Preps

FEATURE: Anderson is Brownwood’s latest bell-cow running back

Konlyn Anderson has exceeded expectations through four games this season as Brownwood’s latest bell-cow running back, a crucial role in Lions head coach Sammy Burnett’s run-first offensive scheme.

“I honestly believe that if we can move the ball on the ground, we can control the clock and control the opponents’ possessions,” Burnett said Saturday. “If we can run, that opens up our RPOs (run-pass options), our play-action passes and our vertical passing game.”

Burnett’s belief in the running game comes from his football roots. He played the 1985 season at Brownwood for legendary coach Gordon Wood and the 1986 and 1987 seasons for Randy Allen, two of the four winningest coaches in Texas high school football history. Both Wood and Allen utilized the run-first Wing-T offense.

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by Daniel Youngblood

District 5-4A Div. I Week 4 Report: Anderson’s big game fuels Brownwood to win over Burnet

Brownwood 31, Burnet 26 — The Lions evened their record at 2-2, using a 21-point third quarter to build a 31-17 lead they’d protect the rest of the way.

The game was scoreless after a quarter and tied 10-all at halftime, but Brownwood finally pulled away after the break.

The Lions rushed for 285 of their 338 total yards in the win, getting 261 yards and two touchdowns from running back Konlyn Anderson. Jordan Leach added an 83-yard touchdown return for BHS, which allowed 371 yards but forced the only two turnovers of the game. 

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by Evan Ren

Big Country Volleyball Statistical Leaders (through Sept. 14)

Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m.

This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.

We will continually update the database throughout the regular season.

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by Daniel Youngblood

District 5-4A Div. I Week 3 Report: Lambert fuels Stephenville past Salado, to 3-0 start

Stephenville 48, Salado 21 — The eighth-ranked Yellow Jackets outscored the Eagles 24-7 in the second quarter to turn a tie game after one period into a 31-14 lead by halftime.

Quarterback Ryder Lambert led the way, throwing five touchdown passes to help Stephenville (3-0) build a 48-14 lead in the fourth quarter.

Kicker Corbin Poston also had a nice game, hitting field goals of 23 and 46 yards while going 6 of 6 on extra-point attempts.

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Brady cancels, Ren goes scrambling (w/ Evan Ren’s Big Country Picks)

LAST WEEK: 42-9, .823
SEASON TOTAL: 85-21, .801

I was very much looking forward to our Big Country Preps Game of the Week – Coleman (2-0) at Brady (2-0). Unfortunately, COVID intervened by midweek, forcing a cancellation of the contest.

On a positive note, there are several other quality games throughout the area for us to focus on, and (taking a bow) the column is already hitting over 80 percent on picks and we’re only in Week 3.

Numbers of that sort are generally reserved for Weeks 7-10, so I’m feeling pressure to keep the early momentum going.

In the absence of our Game of the Week, I’ll be heading to Cross Plains on Friday, where Haskell will be paying a visit to the Buffaloes (COVID allowing, of course).

Let’s dive in to this week’s picks:

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by Daniel Youngblood

District 5-4A Div. I Week 2 Report: Stephenville rides big second quarter to win over Everman

Stephenville 38, Everman 14 — The Yellow Jackets took it to the Bulldogs, using a 28-7 second-quarter advantage to pull away for their second blowout win in as many weeks.

Stephenville (2-0), which outgained Everman 492-254, scored the game’s first 28 points and led 35-7 at halftime before cruising in the second half.

Quarterback Ryder Lambert had a touchdown pass and run to lead the Yellow Jackets, who also got a pair of scoring runs from Julian Irabarren.

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