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.
He entered last week as the leading scorer in the entire Big Country, putting up more than 37 points per game. So few will be surprised to hear that Benamin’s Grayson Ridgon has put up yet another performance worthy of our Big Country Preps Player of the Week Award.
Yet last week’s numbers were big, even by his standards.
Helping the Mustangs to consecutive routs of Harrold (100-36) and Crowell (93-53), the sophomore guard poured in 50 and 51 points respectively and even found time to snag a head-turning 20 rebounds in the Crowell 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.
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).
A year ago, a sizeable group of first-year Big Country football coaches accepted a difficult challenge — taking over programs where the cupboard needed to be restocked.
—Chris Evans inherited a Hamlin program lacking numbers and experience.
— Britt Hart took over a Stamford program that was so young, that several of his varsity players were less than a year removed from playing in their final junior high game.
— Danny Dudgeon became the eighth head coach since the turn of the century at Clyde, where it is hoped he can build something long-lasting and stable.
— Jacob Marwitz inherited a 1-9 team low on numbers, low on experience and low on confidence at De Leon.
— Jake Escobar took on perhaps the most pressure-packed challenge, where he brought a spread offense to a Comanche program that had been successful running the wing-T. It was a difficult about-face.
Needless to say, 2021 wasn’t a banner season for any of these guys, who to a man, had to set a foundation for success before success could actually be tasted.
Evans was 0-10, Hart was 3-7, Dudgeon was 1-9, Marwitz was 0-10 and Escobar was 1-9. Combined record: 5-45 (.100).