San Saba 64, Goldthwaite 6 — The Armadillos rolled up more than 600 yards in total offense to improve to 4-1 on the year.
Risien Shahan threw for 367 yards and six scores and Stone Sears rushed for 97 yards and one TD on only 11 carries to lift San Saba in the district opener for both clubs.
Photos courtesy of ColemanToday.com
Abbi Allen laughs when asked about her initial motivation for joining the fledgling Coleman High School volleyball program three years ago. After all, she had played basketball since age 7 and already was an accomplished player. Why try a new sport you’ve never played?
“If you want to know the truth, if you don’t play volleyball at Coleman in the fall, you have to run cross country. And cross country just isn’t my cup of tea,” said Allen, now a third-year starter for the Coleman Bluekatts volleyball team.
“I always thought volleyball could be fun, and it has been. So that made it like a double bonus.”
De Leon 20, Seymour 19 — Keegan Gilbreath rushed for 207 yards, passed for 180 and accounted for all three Bearcat touchdowns in DHS’ first win of the season.
De Leon overcame a 13-7 halftime deficit with a pair of third-quarter touchdowns to get the win. A botched Seymour PAT in the fourth quarter left the Bearcats in the lead at the final whistle.
Stamford 54, Archer City 46 — Zhawn Holden threw for 420 yards and seven touchdowns as the Bulldogs rallied to beat Archer City.
Holden hit eight different receivers on the night. Ryheem Smith was his favorite target, hauling in six catches for 167 yards and four scores.
Dylan Faulks caught five Holden deliveries for 146 yards and four three TDs.
Stamford improved to 3-2 on the year. Archer City fell to 2-2.
LAST WEEK: 36-12, .750
SEASON TOTAL: 152-47, .763
I have not been to Bangs for a Game of the Week since 2013 — the last time the Dragons posted more than six wins in a season and the last winning record they had prior to last year’s 6-5 mark.
That drought ends tomorrow, when I travel to BHS for an interesting showdown between the Dragons (3-0) and Class 2A Division I power Hawley (3-1).
Bangs has the better overall numbers, but Hawley has faced a slightly tougher overall schedule, making this pick a perplexing one.
Goldthwaite 34, Florence 3 — Jackson Patrick rushed for 159 yards, passed for 108 and accounted for all five Eagle touchdowns in a rout of Florence.
Florence opened the scoring with an early 30-yard field goal, only to see Goldthwaite answer with 34 straight points.
Goldthwaite improved to 2-2 with the win. Florence fell to 0-4.
Ballinger 21, Clyde 14 — Trailing 14-7 after three quarters, Ballinger rallied with two fourth-quarter touchdowns to improve to 4-0.
Carter Arrott scored on a 13-yard run with 9:36 to play to knot the game at 14. Shortly thereafter, Garrett Dixon scored on another 13-yard run at the 6:49 mark to put the Bearcats over the top.
Dylan Neuman led Clyde (1-3) with 75 yards passing, 109 yards rushing and one score.
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.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps’ Pick ‘Em Panel (Week 4)”
After leading Coleman to a 31-7 record over his first three seasons as a head coach, John Elder knew he was in for a prolonged rebuild.
With a series of classes coming up that were light on numbers — particularly on the boys side — he understood it was going to be a challenge to build and field competitive teams.
Faced with that reality, many coaches might have left for greener pastures. Elder didn’t view that as an option.
Instead, he stuck it out at Coleman, fighting through a trio of tough campaigns that saw the Bluecats go a combined 9-22. He did so, he said, for two reasons: First, because he believes adversity is a part of athletics and running from it would have set a bad example for his players. And second, because he knew his team would improve as it matured, and he wanted to be there to see that process through.
LAST WEEK: 42-9, .824
SEASON TOTAL: 116-35, .740
Week 4 arrives and I’m finally hitting my stride on pick accuracy.
It’s been an odd year thus far, both in terms of results and overall feel. It’s been tough to gauge.
Nonetheless, we’re hitting the road once again this Friday, with the Big Country Preps Game of the Week landing at Chesley Field in Cisco, where the Loboes (2-1) will play host to a Jim Ned club that is two divisions larger than they are.
We have said all along that the Sweetwater Mustangs would be among the most explosive teams in the Big Country in 2020, and Friday gave us a glimpse of it.
Led by our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, Leo Holsey, SHS amassed nearly 700 yards in total offense in a 58-42 win over San Angelo Lake View.
A junior in his third varsity season, Holsey hit 14 of 26 throws for 254 yards and four scores and rushed for 111 and three more TDs to help the Mustangs improve to 1-1. He finished the day with 365 total yards and a direct hand in seven scores.
“He came out focused and prepared,” Sweetwater coach Ben McGehee said. “I thought he did a great job running the offense all night in the run and passing game.”
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COLEMAN — Missed point-after tries can force some tough coaching decisions, but that’s the position Brady’s Shay Easterwood found himself in on Friday night at Coleman’s Hufford Field.
And his decision to chase points would haunt him later as the Bluecats rallied for a 15-12 homecoming win over Easterwood’s Bulldogs.
JD Ibarra’s 63-yard fumble return for a touchdown had put Brady up 12-0 midway through the second quarter, and Easterwood made the call to go for a two-point conversion. The Bulldogs fumbled on that play, and Dylan Mickler took it the other way for a defensive two-point conversion cutting Brady’s lead to 12-2.
That wild swing of momentum and emotion proved to be a catalyst for John Elder’s Coleman squad.
Cisco 14, Breckenridge 0 — Cisco improved to 2-1while handing Breckenridge (0-3) its third straight shutout defeat.
Hunter long rushed for 116 yards and a score and threw for 81 more to lead the Loboes, who limited Breckenridge to 137 yards in total offense.
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.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps’ Pick ‘Em Panel (Week 3)”
Big Country Preps will publish 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.
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.
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.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps’ Pick ‘Em Panel (Week 2)”
LAST WEEK: 34-15, .694If this were a horse race, Gramps Ren just stumbled out of the gate.
A .694 pick percentage is one of the worst weeks I’ve had in recent memory — brought on by a disastrous 15-9 tally (.625) in the six-man ranks.
That stinks.
Alas, we have yet to reach the first turn, so it’s way early. If I’m not hitting over .800 down the backstretch, I may resort to consulting with a palm reader.
Here’s a look at this week’s Big Country football games.
I’ll see you on the road.
It has been at least years since we’ve seen the type of offensive execution exhibited by the Big Spring Steers in Friday’s 36-14 win over Vernon. And Big Country Preps has never had a Big Spring player as its player of the week.
Until now.
Junior quarterback Gabriel Baeza helped bring both of those streaks to a close, hitting 20 of 32 passes for 282 yards and four scores. In his spare time he also rushed nine times for 56 yards and two more touchdowns, giving him 338 total yards and a direct hand in six scores.
In doing so, he takes our first Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the 2020-21 school year. It was the first season-opening win for the Steers since a 58-56 win over Kerrville Tivy on Aug. 30, 2014.
Cisco 39, Clyde 14 — The Loboes helped first-year coach Kevin Stennett chalk up the first win of his career behind 450 yards in total offense.
Hunter Long rushed for 316 yards and three scores and threw for 36 yards and another TD to lead the Loboes (1-0).
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.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps’ Pick ‘Em Panel (Week 1)”
LAST WEEK: 0-0, .000
SEASON TOTAL: 0-0, .000
After picking a career-high 83 percent a year ago, I was feeling quite self-assured and self-important at the close of last football season.
Little did I realize that a year later, I’d be happy to just to have games to pick and not care about what the percentage is.
In short, the world has dealt me a serious dose of perspective.
We have football, ladies and gents. Let’s hope a sense of normality returns with it.
At any rate, let’s take quick look at this week’s area contests.
I’ll see you on the road.
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 2020.
We hope you enjoy this list and that you’ve enjoyed our position rankings as we get set to kickoff a new season.
Continue reading “BCP Football Preseason Position Rankings: Quarterbacks”
Video podcast No. 1 features Big Country Preps’ Evan Ren and Daniel Yonngblood making their picks for Week 1 of the 2020 high school football season.
As we wind down our eight-part preseason position rankings series, we arrive finally at the Big Country’s top rushers.
After breaking down this year’s crop of receivers and tight ends Monday, we move now to the area’s top backs, ranking our top 10 with a list of others to watch in 2020. Don’t forget to check in Wednesday night 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.