With a new season of boys high school basketball poised to begin, it’s time to take a look at what the Big Country will produce on the court.
Below you will find our top teams in each classification in the Big Country Preps coverage area, from Big Spring in the West, to Brock in the east and from Brady in the south to Munday in the north.
Our rankings of the top teams in each class are given, along with a season outlook, cataloguing our expectations for each club.
Here’s our preview. We’ll see you on the road.
Coleman 42, Bangs 0 — Brayden Torres passed for 183 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 91 yards and two more scores to lead the Bluecats to a blowout win over the Dragons.
With the column hitting at more than 90 percent accuracy last week, we now close the regular season on the upswing and with something uncommon: A local Big Country Preps Game of the Week. 
It really didn’t take long for people to start talking about the Hawley – Stamford matchup in 2023. In fact, this one was on our calendar as a possible Game of the Week before the season even started. 
San Saba 40, Goldthwaite 35 — Ethan Gonzales ran for 139 yards and two touchdowns and Lane Millier added 85 yards and a score on the ground and 92 yards and another TD through the air to lift the Armadillos to a thrilling win over the Eagles.
As Week 9 of the 2023Texas High School football season gets underway, there are multiple high-profile games that would qualify as our Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
Bangs 41, San Saba 38 — Kenny Cole rushed for 212 yards and three touchdowns to go with 56 passing yards to lead the Dragons to a key district win over the Armadillos.
Big Country Preps makes a point of sharing the love and we look for opportunities to take our Game of the Week to as many different places that make sense each year. 
Goldthwaite 42, Bangs 14 — Ethan Deeds passed for 136 yards and two touchdowns — both to Luke Sanderson — and rushed for 93 yards and two more scores as the Eagles pounded out 259 yards on the ground to pull away from the Dragons for a lopsided victory in a near must-win game for both teams.
SAN SABA — A powerful running game, operated at a quick tempo powered De Leon to a 42-20 win at San Saba on Friday night. 
Contrast in styles games make for excellent entertainment and are usually high on our list of potential Big Country Preps Games of the Week. 
San Saba 32, Hamilton 28 — Ethan Gonzales ran for 215 yards and three touchdowns while Lane Miller added a pair of rushing scores of his own to lead the Armadillos to an upset win over the Bulldogs in the district opener for both squads.
TUSCOLA — Jim Ned coach Matt Fanning is one of those guys who barely flinches when someone mentions his accomplishments. So it should come as no surprise that he had to be told early in the season that he was approaching the school record for career wins by a football coach. 
De Leon 42, Cross Plains 7 — Heston Jobe hit 15 of 21 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns while adding 66 yards and two more scores on the ground to lift the Bearcats to a comfortable win over the Buffaloes.
DE LEON — Third-year De Leon coach Jacob Marwitz has spent much of his tenure trying to mold his team into a cohesive unit. Everybody on the same page. Everybody has the same goals. Nobody is more important than anyone else. 
DE LEON — The biggest word in the De Leon football dictionary for 2023 might be “if.” 
It’s difficult to trump a no-hitter, though Snyder’s Ava Aviles came close last week. 
You know you’re on a roll when you throw a no-hitter and it’s your second-best performance of the week. 
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. 
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. 
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.
