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football scheduling practices in Texas is that by the second year of the alignment period, many of those schedules are out of date and no longer suitable for schools that have been hit hard by graduation.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.
Cisco 36, Colorado City 7 — With a brutal non-district schedule featuring likely 3A playoff teams now behind them, the Cisco Loboes settled in to face their first 2A DI opponent in their district opener. 
Anson 21, Haskell 20 — It all boiled down to turnovers in this tough Anson road win, with the Tiger defense charting five takeaways to key the victory. 
Stamford 27, Ballinger 0 — Christian Duran threw for 205 yards and two TDs and rushed for 71 yards and another score as Stamford improved to 3-0.
CISCO — Decent numbers backed by an unwavering work ethic have helped Cisco maintain one of the most successful football programs in the Big Country for more than two decades.
CISCO — After a successful three-year run that has seen his Cisco Loboes post a 32-10 overall record with three straight appearances in the Region I-2A DI title game, coach Kevin Stennett has a problem on his hands. 
Our final Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the 2022-23 school year could have gone any number of directions. 
ABILENE — Two days removed from suffering a walk-off 3-2 loss to Cisco in Game 1 of a Region I-2A quarterfinal in Brownwood, the Stamford Lady Bulldogs turned the tables on CHS by following a very similar script. 
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. 
CISCO — Two very likely playoff teams got a sneak preview of what postseason competition will be like in a nondistrict softball game on Tuesday. 
It’s not often that a Big Country baseball team charts two no-hitters in the same week. But when two pitchers with the same last name are charting the no-nos it’s about as common as the planets aligning. 
CLYDE — Having split their two regular season meetings and ending in a first-place tie, it was time for the Cisco and Stamford girls basketball teams to settle the issue on Friday in a District 10-2A tiebreaker for the No. 1 seed. 
Eula’s Clayton Gray, our Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the week ending Feb. 4, earned the accolade on two fronts. Not only did he post big numbers in consecutive wins over Moran and Rising Star, but he also reached an impressive milestone in the process. 
STAMFORD — A pair of area rivals clashed twice on Friday as the Cisco girls and boys basketball teams paid a visit to Stamford for an important varsity doubleheader in District 10-2A. 
CISCO — With very young, inexperienced Hamlin basketball teams coming to town on Friday, the Cisco girls and boys took advantage of the opportunity to strengthen their positions in District 10-2A with a pair of lopsided wins. 
It’s always a significant accomplishment to chart a double-double. But when one averages a double-double over the course of five straight games, you begin to put a blip on the area radar screen.
Consistency and versatility always score big in our Big Country Preps Player of the Week column. 
ABILENE — It was not only billed as a rematch of a superb Big Country Preps Game of the Week from Week 11, but also of a nail-biting Region I-2A Division I title game last year. Cisco and Hawley had produced back-to-back classics and the entire Big Country was expecting to see another one.
