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.
Coleman 47, Bangs 0 — The Bluecats nailed down the No. 2 playoff seed out of this league, outgaining the Dragons 455-77 in a dominating win.
Fueled by a 337-yard rushing effort, Coleman (8-2, 5-1) cruised to a 27-0 halftime lead and increased that to 41-0 by the start of the fourth quarter. Quarterback Jadin Jackson led the way, rushing for 141 yards and two touchdowns on just six carries while going 6-of-8 passing for 118 yards and two more scores.
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.
Bangs 34, Hamilton 27 — The Dragons picked up an important district win over the Bulldogs, scoring the final two touchdowns to rally from a 27-20 fourth-quarter deficit.
Bangs (6-3, 4-1) finished with 346 yards of total offense, getting 148 yards and three touchdowns rushing from Guy Powell and 119 yards and two scores passing from Kenny Cole. Powell was also the Dragons’ leading receiver, catching three passes for 71 yards and two more scores.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Coleman-Hawley volleyball (78 images)”
Coming off a big five-set win over Albany on Saturday that opened the door for a co-championship in District 6-2A, the Hawley Lady Cats barreled through that door on Tuesday, sweeping Coleman 25-19, 25-14, 25-16 on Senior Night to share the league title with the Lady Lions.
On a night that began by honoring their only two seniors, Kylie Chesser and Mikayla Neble, the Lady Cats took care of the visiting Bluekatts without too much trouble, claiming their sixth consecutive win to wrap up the regular season at 23-16 overall and 7-1 in district play.
Coach Amy Eckhoff’s squad, which will flip for seeding with Albany, will now enter the Class 2A playoffs as either No. 1 or 2 seed out of District 6-2A and take on either the third- or fourth-place team out of District 5 — a four-team league comprised of Water Valley, Sonora, Miles and Junction.
Tolar 57, Bangs 0 — Playing BHS with sole possession of first place in the district standings on the line, the Rattlers ran away from the Dragons in shutout win.
Tolar (8-0, 4-0) held a potent Bangs offense to just 191 yards, using a 29-point second quarter to break open what was a scoreless game to that point. the Rattlers followed the big second quarter with 14 points in each of the next two to pull away even further in the second half.
Bangs 42, San Saba 35 — Guy Powell rushed for 193 yards and four touchdowns on 22 carries to lift Bangs to a crucial district win over the Armadillos.
San Saba managed 505 yards in total offense but hurt itself with nine penalties and a 10 percent success rate on third downs.
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: Tolar-Coleman football (43 images)”
San Saba 35, De Leon 21 — The Armadillos picked up a big district win, outscoring the Bearcats 14-0 in the second half to break open what was a back-and-forth affair early.
De Leon (4-3, 1-2) held leads at 7-0 and 14-7 thanks to touchdown runs by Kallen McIlvain, and the Bearcats rallied from their first deficit with a 31-yard scoring run by Heston Jobe that made it a 21-all game at halftime. But San Saba (5-2, 1-2) countered with the only two touchdowns of the second half, sealing the victory in the fourth quarter with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Lance Taylor to Levi Glover.
COLEMAN — It didn’t clinch anything. It was too early in the district schedule to do that. But Tolar’s 16-6 win over Coleman in the Big Country Preps Game of the Week was important enough to put the Rattlers in the District 5-2A DI driver’s seat.
A lot of defense and a lot of bruising sophomore running back Peyton Brown carried Tolar (6-0, 2-0), which gradually built a modest 16-0 lead before hanging on for the win at Hufford Field.
Brown (6-2, 208) rushed for 143 yards and two scores on 27 carries and the Rattler defense limited Coleman (5-2, 2-1) to 197 total yards in a game that lived up to its billing as a physical trench war.
Jadin Jackson led the Bluecats with 112 yards passing, 36 yards rushing and Coleman’s only TD.
De Leon 44, Goldthwaite 19 — The Bearcats controlled the game from start to finish, racing out to a 20-7 halftime and cruising from there to a comfortable win over the Eagles.
De Leon (4-2, 1-0) piled 437 yards, 343 of those on those on the ground, to grab the momentum early and maintain it throughout the remainder of the game.
Some people in the Big Country may not even know where tiny Three Way High School is.
For the record it’s on the outskirts of Stephenville, it plays in District 11-1A DI (six-man) and if our Big Country Preps Player of the Week has any say about it, you’ll be hearing a lot more about the Braves in the near future.
Colt Berry, a senior spreadback, had an eye-popping performance last week in a 73-54 win over Aquilla, amassing 561 all-purpose yards to help the Braves (1-3) to their first win of the year.
Bangs 49, De Leon 21 — Guy Powell rushed for 323 yards and five touchdowns on just 14 carries and added a kickoff return TD for good measure to lead the Dragons to an impressive district-opening win over the Bearcats.
Bangs, which rushed for 505 of its 583 total yards, led just 28-21 at halftime, but the Dragons took control in the second half to improve to 3-2 overall and 1-0 in league play.
In addition to Powell’s big game, BHS got 78 yards passing and 56 yards and a touchdown rushing from quarterback Kenny Cole. De Leon (3-2, 0-1), which finished with 543 total yards (286 rushing, 257 passing) was led quarterback Heston Jobe (18-27-1—257 passing; 14-107 rushing) and running back Kallen McIlvain (25-165, 3 TDs rushing; 1-27 receiving).
De Leon 52, Hico 7 — The Bearcats ran away from the Tigers for their second consecutive win, racing out to a 38-0 halftime lead to end the competitive phase of the game early.
De Leon (3-1) got strong performances from quarterback Heston Jobe (9-11-0—220, 3 TDs passing; 8-108, 2 TDs rushing) and running back Kallen Mcilvain (16-186, 2 TDs rushing), while Jake Cooper (3-79, 1 TD) and Andrew Coan (2-86, 2 TDs) had big days receiving the ball.
Hico, which was limited to 249 yards (all rushing), was led by Carson Keller, who rushed for 115 yards and the Tigers’ only touchdown on 12 carries.
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:
Bangs 53, San Angelo Grape Creek 6 — The Dragons busted into the win column with a dominant showing against the Eagles, rushing for 246 yards in a blowout win.
Bangs (1-2) finished with 387 yards as a team, led by running back Guy Powell who rushed for 188 yards and three touchdowns on just seven carries. Quarterback Kenny Cole, meanwhile, completed six of eight passes for 141 yards with TDs to Nate Stoffer (2-57), Guy Funk (1-44) and Hunter Newton (2-37).
The Dragons, who held Grape Creek to just 233 yards of total offense, controlled the game from the outset, building a 33-6 halftime lead on their way to the 47-point victory.