LAST WEEK: 46-12, .793
SEASON TOTAL: 229-61, .789
More often than not, Big Country Preps makes an appearance at the annual Stephenville-Brownwood matchup. Because more often than not, it produces a game worthy of one of Texas’ top rivalries.
This year is no exception as Stephenville travels to famous Gordon Wood Stadium for the Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
Albany 31, Comanche 13 — Chip Chambers passed for 178 yards and three touchdowns and Adam Hill rushed for 136 yards and a score to lead the Lions to a comfortable win over the Indians.
Behind those two, Albany outscored Comanche 10-0 in the third quarter, stretching a 14-7 halftime lead to three scores by the start of the fourth.
LAST WEEK: 44-11, .800
SEASON TOTAL: 183-49, .788
Some weeks are just loaded with competitive area games and Week 5 of the 2023 season falls squarely into that category.
This week’s menu features six or seven games that under normal circumstances, would qualify for our Big Country Preps Game of the Week. This forces us to push some great matchups aside to select our spotlight game.
This week, we go with a battle of unbeatens — Class 3A Division I Clyde (4-0) at Class 4A Div. II Sweetwater (4-0) — at the famed Mustang Bowl at SHS.
Albany 27, Hawley 14 — Albany improved to 4-0 with a win in this matchup of defending state champions behind three TD passes from Chip Chambers.
Leading 27-14 at the break, the Lions held on through a scoreless second half at Hardin-Simmon’ Shelton Stadium in a game that was moved due to Hawley’s Forrest Field being rendered unplayable by recent rainfall.
Hawley (2-2) was led by Keagan Ables, who threw for 231 yards and one score.
Albany 41, Seymour 14 — The Lions threw for only 26 yards, but with Adam Hill rushing for 326 yards and four scores, they didn’t really need to throw the football around much.
Albany improved to 3-0 with the win.
Hamlin 19, Water Valley 14 — First-year Hamlin Coach Jason Botos earned his first victory as his Pied Pipers rushed for 201 yards as a team.
Clayton Rister led Hamlin (1-1) with 113 yards rushing on 14 carries with one TD.
Roscoe 42, Colorado City 0 — Roscoe used a dual-threat offense and a strong defensive effort to beat C-City in the opener for both teams.
Jace Arnwine threw for 258 yards and two scores and Ivan McCann rushed for 139 yards and two more touchdowns to lift the Plowboys, who limited C-City to only 107 yards in total offense.
Continue reading “DISTRICT 6-2A DII WEEK 1 REPORT: Roscoe opens season with big win over C-City”
In 14 years at Cross Plains, 12 of those as head coach, Daniel Purvis has seen all kinds of rosters. And at a school that has teetered on the enrollment line between 11- and six-man numbers over that span, many of those have been undersized compared to their district peers.
That won’t be an issue for the 2023 Buffaloes.
This year’s Cross Plains team will not only be big up front, where the average weight of their offensive line starters tops 240 pounds, it will be experienced as well. All five starters are back for the Buffaloes, who will have seniors at four of the five line spots, and Purvis and his offensive coordinator, Chad Barron, have every intention of taking advantage of that.
With a 72-59 record in his 12 years as Cross Plains’ head football coach, Daniel Purvis has built a winning program, capable of consistently making the playoffs.
The Buffaloes have reached the postseason in 10 of those 12 seasons, including each of the past eight — a notable feat for a school that is still more than 100 games below .500 all time.
But with just one playoff victory out of all those trips, Purvis still has greater goals and aspirations for his program. And with the bulk of his talent back from a team that went 7-4 a year ago, the coach feels this year’s group could be the one that sets CPHS on that path.
Day 2 of Big Country Preps’ 2023 Photo Tour is now in the books, with six more days of shooting yet to come from practice fields throughout the area.
Here are but a few of the images collected Tuesday:
Continue reading “Scenes from Big Country Preps Photo Tour Day 2”
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. 16. 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 July 31, we’ll be spotlighting each 11-man team in the area and posing some of the key questions they’ll face in 2023 as part of our annual “Countdown to Two-a-Days” series.
We continue in Class 2A Division II with the Cross Plains Buffaloes. On Friday we will take a look at the Hamlin Pied Pipers, followed by the Roscoe Plowboys on Saturday.
Continue reading “COUNTDOWN TO TWO-A-DAYS: The Cross Plains Buffaloes … 39 days to two-a-days”
CROSS PLAINS TEAM PHOTO LEFT TO RIGHT: Theron Albrecht, Gray Albrecht, Asher Moses, Noah Moses, Ryan Reed and Ryder Reed.
CROSS PLAINS — While his relay teams were getting their photos taken following the Region II-1A track meet, Cross Plains boys track coach Daniel Purvis noticed an oddity that he had never before realized.
The entirety of his three relay teams consisted of three sets of brothers: Theron and Gray Albrecht, Asher and Noah Moses, along with Ryan and Ryder Reed. Six athletes, all with one sibling to call a teammate and all six qualifying for this week’s state track meet in Austin.
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.
And for the third time since last year, the CHS senior has captured our weekly accolade — this time with an armful of hardware.
In her latest performance, Phillips won four separate district championships and took silver in a fifth at the District 6-3A track meet.
All good things must come to an end, and for the Cross Plains boys basketball team, the end is the tenure of Dade Cosby leading the program.
On Tuesday, Cosby announced that he was stepping down from the program that he’s been part of for nearly a decade in order to focus on his other job — being the superintendent of the school district.
His coaching career came to a close with a 53-35 loss to Aspermont in the area round of the playoffs on Friday night.
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: Aspermont-Cross Plains boys basketball playoff (38 images)”
ANSON — The Cross Plains Buffaloes started the postseason off with an upset win over Hermleigh on Tuesday night.
There would be no repeat of that magic in the area round with the Buffaloes giving up the first 14 points of the game on their way to a 53-35 loss to Aspermont at Tiger Gymnasium on Friday night.
The slow start was something that coach Dade Cosby’s team wasn’t able to overcome, but they never stopped fighting.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
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: Cross Plains-Eula girls basketball (35 images)”
EULA — Mary Mosley Gymnasium has earned a reputation of being a tough place to play, much like The Teepee was at Haskell until Haskell ISD opened a new gym recently.
With the Eula boys basketball team playing a nondistrict road game on Tuesday night, the Lady Pirates saw a smaller than usual crowd for their District 13-1A game against fifth-ranked Cross Plains.
But while it lacked in size, the crowd was loud and rambunctious, helping pave the way for a 46-27 win.
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.
Consistency and versatility always score big in our Big Country Preps Player of the Week column.
Add a few extras to your stat sheet and play well over several games and you’ll generally end up at or near the top of our weekly list.
That is precisely why Comanche sophomore guard Kinsey Glasgow has earned our Player of the Week award for the Week ending December 3.
Having fought his way through a mid-season injury, Albany quarterback Cole Chapman is back in form.
Our Big Country Preps Player of the Week was the dual threat we’ve grown accustomed to seeing on Saturday, leading the Lions (11-2) to a 35-18 whipping of formerly unbeaten Wink in the Region II-2A Division II semifinals.
With standout running back Sawyer Wilkerson getting much of the media attention in 2022, the Comanche Indians have been receiving efficient, under-publicized play from the quarterback spot through much of a 10-1 record.
Last week was perhaps the best example of that, with junior signal caller Layden Welch torching Henrietta with an 11 of 16 passing performance for 248 yards and five TDs in a 69-27 win.
But that’s just the beginning.
Welch also rushed 11 times for 65 yards and two scores. He gathered five solo tackles, four assisted stops, forced a fumble and deflected a pass to help CHS advance to the area round.
Cisco 55, Reagan County 0 — The Loboes dominated Reagan County, rolling up 555 yards in total offense, of which 378 were on the round.
Hunter Long and Trent Huston combined for 263 yards rushing and four touchdowns to lead Cisco (9-2), which led 42-0 at the break.
BIG SPRING — The 2022 football season didn’t start or finish the way the Cross Plains Buffaloes had hoped it would.
A season filled with promise was struck by tragedy when standout running back Ryan Hopkins died in a preseason auto accident. In his absence, the Buffaloes gradually battled their way to a Class 2A Division II playoff spot in Big Spring, where Thursday they fell as a No. 4 seed in the bi-district round to a powerhouse Wink team, 60-0 at Memorial Stadium.
Cannon Gibson threw for 231 yards, rushed for 115 and accounted for five touchdowns to lift Wink (11-0), which will face either Santo or Seymour in the area round. The Wildcats led Cross Plains 54-0 at the break, after which both clubs agreed on playing the second half with a running clock.
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.
Roscoe 16, Hamlin 14 — Jax Watts threw for 109 yards and one score and Parker Gleaton scored a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter to push Roscoe into the playoffs and Hamlin out.
The Plowboys managed only 201 yards in total offense but held Hamlin to 171.
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.