“Damarrius Walker is a very talented young man,” Sweetwater coach Brian Hodnett said. “There isn’t much in track and field that he can’t do!
“We as a staff are excited to see how far he can go this year.”
So is the rest of the area as our Big Country Preps Player of the Week collects the award after scoring 44 points individually at the Hamlin Pied Piper Relays last week.
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.
Softball tournaments can distort the significance of pitching accomplishments due to inning caps or time limits, rendering perfect games or no-hitters into half-versions of their true selves.
However, there is no denying that tournaments are work, especially for pitchers, and our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, Hamlin southpaw Zoe Moore, earned the accolade with a 4-0 record in the Wichita Falls Sunrise Optimist Tournament last week.
It’s always a good sign early in the season when you’re getting good pitching against quality competition. And in the case of the Big Spring Lady Steers, the numbers in the circle thus far are downright encouraging.
Courtesy of senior Alexcia Munoz, the Lady Steers are off to a 5-1 start, including a 4-0 mark from Munoz in last week’s Abilene Icebreaker tournament.
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: Abilene Icebreaker Softball Tournament (241 images)”
ALBANY — Albany and Hawley both won state championships in football less than two months ago and are now set to square off for at least a share of the District 10-2A championship on Tuesday night.
The showdown comes after the Lions dominated Cisco 46-33 on Friday night, jumping out to a double-digit first quarter lead and never looking back.
It sets up a game with major playoff implications as the eventual runner-up between Hawley (12-4, 10-1) and Albany (13-3, 9-2) would face Class 2A’s top-ranked team, Lipan, in the second round of the playoffs. While the Bearcats lead the Lions by a game in the district standings, an AHS win would secure coach Ryder Peacock’s team the No. 1 playoff seed by virtue of its 51-48 win on Jan. 20.
CLYDE — With an icy rain falling outside, the Merkel and Clyde varsity basketball teams met for an early doubleheader on Tuesday in an effort to stay ahead of the weather and stay and ahead of each other in the District 6-3A standings.
The twin bill produced a split result, with the Merkel girls opening the afternoon with a 51-36 win over their host to remain in contention for a high playoff seed. The Clyde boys returned the favor in Game 2, handing the Badgers a 63-26 loss to cripple MHS’ playoff chances.
If you haven’t heard of Cisco’s Gavin Landenberger yet, that’s understandable. He and his talented brother, Aiden, were move-ins from Mississippi late last year and weren’t eligible to play varsity ball at CHS.
Now freely able to play, the siblings are making up for lost time and Gavin is currently making enough noise to draw attention from the entire area.
Named as our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, the senior guard absolutely went off last week, beginning with a 28-point night in a win over Albany. He followed that three days later with 32 points in a come-from-behind win at Stamford. The latter saw him hit four straight-3-pointers in an 18-point third quarter.
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: Clyde-Ballinger girls basketball (48 images)”
BALLINGER — Ballinger senior point guard Addison Martin entered Tuesday’s District 6-3A opener against Clyde at Joe Forester Gymnasium thinking that she was roughly 40 points away from hitting 1,000 for her career.
The four-sport star was shocked when coach Kinzee Willis called timeout after she recorded a steal and layup midway through the second quarter for her sixth point of the night when she saw the Ballinger student body unfurl a 1,000 point banner and four golden balloons signifying the achievement while cheerleaders shot off confetti in the bleachers.
It was a celebratory achievement that carried over to the court as the Lady Cats recorded a 55-32 win as they honored their point guard.
NOTE: This will be our final Player of the Week column for 2022. It will return on Monday, Jan. 9.
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.
Munday senior Jaxon Bowman did precisely that last week, helping the Moguls to a 5-0 record and the tournament championship at Blackwell. Aside from averaging 11.2 points per game, the senior grabbed a whopping 13 boards per contest to along with a combined 12 steals as Munday improved to 12-2.
After highlighting the Big Country’s top guards and forwards the past two nights, we now take a look at the area’s best big men.
For the final installment in our three-part boys basketball position rankings series, we rank the Big Country’s top 10 post players.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading through our rankings, and make sure to check back for all our boys and girls basketball coverage this season.
After kicking off our boys basketball position rankings series on Tuesday with the guards, we now shift our attention to the forwards.
For the second installment in our three-part series, we rank the area’s top-10 players at that position for 2022-23.
We hope you enjoy our list.
With boys basketball season beginning this week, it’s time to shine a spotlight on some of the players you’ll be reading about throughout the 2022-23 season.
For the first installment in a three-part series that will cover all positions on the area boys basketball scene, we’ll be taking a look at the Big Country’s top guards, ranking our top 10 with a list of others to watch this winter.
We hope you enjoy reading through our list.
If it’s true that big-time players make big-time plays in big moments, few had a stronger claim to that “big-time” title this past week than Wylie sophomore Hayden Wright.
The Bulldogs free safety not only came through with three interceptions in his team’s 20-10 District 2-5A Division I title-clinching win over crosstown rival Cooper, he recorded all three picks in the fourth quarter as Wylie was trying to hold off a late Cougar rally.
For that effort, which saw him snatch his fourth, fifth and sixth interceptions of the season, the young playmaker has been named the Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the week ending Nov. 5.
Breckenridge 50, Clyde 20 — The Buckaroos used a balanced attack of 226 yards passing and 234 yards rushing close the regular season with a win.
Breckenridge led 28-6 at the break and 39-6 heading into the final stanza before coasting to the finish line.
After focusing on the top guards and forwards the Big Country has to offer the past two nights, it’s time to shift our attention to the paint.
For the final installment in our three-part position rankings series, we list our top-10 post players for the 2022-23 season.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading through these rankings, and make sure to come back next week when we’ll feature the top boys basketball players in the Big Country.
After kicking off our girls basketball position rankings series with the guards on Tuesday, we now turn our attention to the forwards.
For the second installment in our three-part series, we rank the area’s top 10 players at that position with some others to watch for in 2022-23.
We hope you enjoy our list.
With the girls basketball season upon us, it’s time to take a look at the local and area players who will be making the biggest impact for their teams during the 2022-23 season.
For the first installment in a three-part series that will cover all positions, we’ll be focusing on the Big Country’s top guards, ranking our top 10 with a list of others to watch this season.
As with any such list, these rankings are subjective. We hope you enjoy reading through our selections.
Breckenridge 33, Bowie 0 — The Buckaroos snapped a two-game losing skid with a rout of the Jackrabbits.
The Buckaroos stymied the Bowie offense, limiting BHS to only 70 total yards and nine first downs and forcing nine turnovers.
Jim Ned 32, Breckenridge 25 — Troy Doran rushed for 182 yards and a score and the Jim Ned defense forced two costly Breckenridge turnovers to secure a huge win on the road.
With standout Breckenridge two-way player Jerry Lawson out with an injury, the Indians too full advantage of his absence on both sides of the ball.
Snyder quarterback Easton Stewart barely makes a dent when he steps on the scale, standing in at 5-foot-8 and only 140 pounds. But the SHS junior was plenty big enough to lead the Tigers to a 35-21 upset over Graham last week at Tiger Stadium.
Our BCP Player of the Week connected on 27 of 34 pass attempts for 282 yards and five scores and rushed for an additional 30 to lead the Tigers (3-5, 1-1) to a crucial victory.
CLYDE — Volleyball is all about gaining, and sustaining, momentum.
With the District 6-3A lead on the line, it was the Wall Lady Hawks who were able to seize momentum early and roll to a 25-19, 25-21, 25-9 win over Clyde on Tuesday night at Bulldog Gym.
Wall scored the first five points of the match, never trailing in the first set, as the Lady Hawks improved to 33-5 overall and 6-0 in district. Including Tuesday’s sweep, the Lady Hawks have won 18 of 19 sets during district play.