Coahoma 35, Littlefield 28 — Boyd Cox threw for 261 yards and three scores and Tristan Guerrero hauled in four catches for 113 yards and one TD to lead Coahoma (5-1, 1-0) to an important district win.
The Bulldogs have now won five straight games since falling to archrival Forsan in their season opener.
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:
When word came of last week’s epic 62-61 win by Stephenville at Everman, one could only expect there to be some epic performances involved.
There were.
And at the top of that list is our Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week, Tate Maruska, a junior running back who went absolutely bananas in that game.
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.
As just a junior, Billy Bailey has already established himself as one of Coahoma’s most explosive playmakers and reliable leaders.
Perhaps not surprisingly, he’s also one of the Bulldogs’ tone setters where unselfishness is concerned.
After filling in capably at quarterback — a position he had never played in his career — for CHS in 2021, Bailey will cede much of his time behind center to freshman Boyd Cox this fall.
The speedy junior can help the team more, coach Chris Joslin feels, in a hybrid role that will see him split out wide when Cox is quarterbacking. And that’s all the explanation Bailey needed to accept and embrace his new position.
The Coahoma Bulldogs understand the challenge ahead of them in 2022. Housed in District 4-3A Division II with No. 12 Abernathy, No. 13 Idalou, No. 19 Lubbock Roosevelt and 2021 area finalist Stanton, they know they play in one of the toughest leagues in the state in Class 3A DII.
But despite being beaten out by those same teams for playoff spots last year during a difficult 3-7 campaign, coach Chris Joslin’s team is excited — not intimidated — by the opportunity to compete with them again this fall.
And with 15 of 26 lettermen back from last year’s team, including six starters on both sides of the football, the Bulldogs have every intention of being one of their district’s four playoff teams when the dust settles in November.
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 3A Division II with the Coahoma Bulldogs. On Monday we will take a look at the Comanche Indians, followed by the Dublin Lions on Tuesday.
Continue reading “COUNTDOWN TO TWO-A-DAYS: Coahoma Bulldogs”
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.
AUSTIN — For nearly a month, a young, unheralded Coahoma softball team captivated the Big Country with one postseason comeback after another to elimate a row of powerhouses.
Merkel, Holliday and Franklin had all fallen in succession in elimination game comebacks by the Bulldoggettes. So when Hallettsville took a late 6-3 lead in Thursday’s 3A state championship game, it was nothing out of the norm.
With one exeption: Hallettsville managed to stave off the inevitable Coahoma rally and held on for a 6-5 win at McCombs Field.
AUSTIN — On paper, it was a Class 3A state semifinal softball game. But it took three hours and fifteen minutes, nine innings, a combined 24 runs, 29 hits and six errors for Coahoma and Franklin to finally settle the issue.
Hannah Wells was 3 for 4 with a double, two homers and six RBIs to lead Coahoma to a come-from-behind 14-10 extra-inning win Wednesday at McCombs Field. The victory advances the Bulldogettes to the Class 3A state title game against Hallettsville, set for 1 p.m. on Thursday at the same venue.
For Coahoma (33-4-1), it was the third straight elimination game in postseason play that saw the Bulldogettes rally from an early deficit. CHS rallied to eliminate Merkel in Game 2 in the Region I semifinals and rallied again to eliminate Holliday in the regional title game.
Franklin closed the year at 36-5.
The Big Country will be heavily represented at this week’s UIL state softball tournament as Coahoma, Stamford and Hermleigh will vie for championships.
The action begins Tuesday as the Lady Cardinals take on Chireno at 10 a.m. in the Class 1A semifinals. Stamford will take the next step in defending its Class 2A championship by facing Lovelady at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the semis.
Making its first state appearance since 2008, Coahoma will meet Franklin at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the Class 3A semifinals. All games will be played at the University of Texas’ Red and Charline McCombs Field.
Here’s a look at what each team is facing in Austin:
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Coahoma-Holliday softball region championship series (65 images)”
ABILENE — If someone had told you that the Coahoma softball team would see its top four hitters held to one combined RBI on a day that the team committed seven errors against defending regional champion Holliday, would you have guessed a win or a loss for CHS?
Set logic aside.
Not only did the Bulldoggettes rally to eliminate Holliday with a 7-4 win in Game 2 of their Region I-3A championship series at Abilene Christian University, but they did it with the bottom half of their lineup.
ABILENE — It took until the top of the sixth inning for Holliday to finally scratch home a run against Coahoma freshman Hannah Wells on Thursday. But just when the momentum began tilting the Lady Eagles’ way, Coahoma slammed the door shut.
Leading 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth, the Bulldoggettes scored a decisive three runs to take Game 1 of the Region I-3A championship series, 5-1, at Abilene Christian University.
Wells tossed a one-hitter with 13 strikeouts and Christian Everett was 1 for 2 with a two-run double to lead Coahoma (31-4-1), which can clinch a berth to the state tournament with a win in Game 2, slated for 2 p.m. Saturday at ACU. Game 3, if needed, will follow 30 minutes after Game 2.
COAHOMA — Softball teams that start multiple underclassmen generally fall under the “rebuilding” label and are either out of contention for a playoff spot or consider themselves as fortunate if they land a low seed. For such a club to reach a regional final with a shot at going to the state tournament is indeed rare.
Welcome to Coahoma — where an extraordinary youth movement has pushed an already good program to the threshold of a regional championship.
CHS (30-4-1) will face defending Region I-3A champion Holliday (32-2) in a best-of-three title series beginning at 6 p.m. on Thursday at Abilene Christian University. Game 2 is slated for 2 p.m. on Saturday with Game 3, if needed, beginning 30 minutes after Game 2 at ACU.
If they are to advance, a gifted nucleus of sophomores and freshmen will be at the forefront of the effort.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Brock-Coahoma baseball playoff (116 images)”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Coahoma-Merkel region quarterfinal Games 1 & 2 (101 images)”
While the Merkel Lady Badgers built a 6-1 lead through three innings on Saturday, Coahoma coach Alex Orosco remained patient throughout Game 2 of their Region I-3A quarterfinal series.
Already up a game following Friday’s 5-3 win in Game 1, Orosco had ace pitcher Hannah Wells waiting in the wings and was waiting for an opportunity to call on her in for a closing roll.
That opportunity presented itself when Coahoma rallied to take a 7-6 lead in the fourth inning, after which Wells was shifted from third to the pitching circle where she blanked Merkel for four straight innings in a 9-6 win at ACU.
BIG SPRING — A good start, backed by tough pitching was enough to lift Coahoma to a 5-3 win over Merkel in Game 1 of Region I-3A softball quarterfinal at Big Spring High School on Friday.
Hannah Wells tossed a complete game three-hitter with 13 strikeouts and was 1 for 3 with a double and an RBI to lead Coahoma (27-4-1) which can close the series out with a win in Game 2, set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Abilene Christian University. Game 3, if needed, will follow 30 minutes after Game 2.
Merkel, which hurt itself with an uncharacteristic four errors, fell to 26-3. Eva Rodriguez was 1 for 2 with a run scored and Catherynn Bennington was 1 for 3 with a run scored to lead the Lady Badgers
“(Wells) did a great job,” Coahoma coach Alex Orosco said. “First of all, she was getting ahead. She got squeezed a little bit, but she overcame it.”
Four years ago, at the urging of superintendent Brad Cox, Coahoma’s Vance Ott joined the Bulldog track team on a lark.
Few could have predicted — or even dreamt — at the time that that would serve as the first chapter of one the greatest success stories in Big Country track and field history.
Ott, who would become the area’s first wheelchair division state qualifier that year as a freshman, became the Big Country’s first state medalist and champion last spring as a junior. Now preparing to compete in his final state meet on Friday, the senior has a collegiate career to look forward to at the University of Arizona and a dream to one day represent Team USA in the Paralympic Games.
That’s quite a rise for for a young man whose original high school plans didn’t include track at all.
Coahoma (4-1) — The Bulldogs were idle on Friday night but will see action again when they play host to Littlefield on Oct. 7 in the district opener for both clubs.