With the start of football season around the corner, it’s time to take a look at the players who will be making the biggest impact in 2021.
For the first installment in an eight-part series that will cover all position groups, we’ll be taking a look at the area’s top defensive linemen, ranking our top 10 with a list of others to watch this fall.
As with any such list, these rankings are subjective. We hope you enjoy reading through them.
Without further ado it is time for us to make our Big Country predictions, district-by-district.
This is the culmination of several weeks of research and two solid months of summertime labor, so we’re more than ready to post it.
Every year, one of the things I look forward to most, is mapping out the upcoming football season — charting the games I believe will have the greatest impact.
First and foremost, it’s a preseason menu for area fans who enjoy driving to some of the Big Country’s best football games on a weekly basis. Call it a football roadmap of sorts.
EARLY — Sharing carries with Alex Jacobs each of the past two seasons, Early tailback Tre Beam has proven he can produce at a high level. 
But until this year, the talented senior has never had an opportunity to be the Longhorns’ featured ball-carrier.
With Jacobs’ graduation clearing the way to more rush attempts this fall, Beam will see an increased role on the offensive side in his final high school campaign. And after watching him rush for 980 yards and 12 touchdowns on just 154 carries the past two years, coach Daniel Price is excited to see what the back can do with more touches.
EARLY — In Daniel Price’s first year as a head coach last fall, the Early Longhorns took a big step forward, going 5-6 to earn their program’s first playoff berth since 2008.
With 17 lettermen back from that team, including eight starters on both sides of the ball, EHS will be looking to take the next step this season.
Loaded with skill-position talent, and bolstered by a strong group of juniors who gained valuable experience last year, the Longhorns are hoping to not only return to the postseason in 2021, they want to do some damage once there.
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 Saturday, Aug. 14. 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 Aug. 2, we’ll be spotlighting each 11-man team in the area and posing some of the key questions they’ll face in 2021 as part of our annual “Countdown to Two-a-Days” series.
Today, we stay in Class 3A Division I with the Early Longhorns. On Thursday, we will take a look at the Jim Ned Indians, followed by the Wall Hawks on Friday.
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LINK … GAME STORY: Jim Ned hangs on to edge Early 3-2
BROCK — In the old days, it may have called a white knuckler — a stressful situation where failure simply wasn’t an option.
Yet that’s what Jim Ned reliever Blaine Palmer faced with two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh inning — asked to protect a 3-2 lead over Early in a one-game 3A regional quarterfinal.
Palmer overcame an early rush of nerves and delivered a game-clinching strikeout of Early’s Riley Hill to send the Indians (30-0-1) to the Region I-3A semifinals where they will face either Shallowater or Denver City next week.
Early, which saw a solid performance by starting pitcher Caydon Laird go to waste, closed the season at 23-9. But not before putting a serious scare into the Indians in game’s final inning.
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LINK … GAME STORY: Laird, Early bounce back from slow start to rout Ballinger in Game 1
A rocky first inning proved merely a mild inconvenience for the Early baseball team Thursday at Abilene Christian University’s Crutcher Scott Field, where the Longhorns rallied from a 3-1 first-inning deficit to run-rule Ballinger 14-3 in Game 1 of a best-of-three Region I-3A area-round series.
Sophomore starter Caydon Laird bounced back from allowing three runs in top of the first to shut out the Bearcats the rest of the way, and the EHS lineup gave him six runs in the second and five in the third to make a winner out of the right-hander.
Up 12-3 after three innings, the Longhorns tacked on two more runs in the fourth to put the run rule into effect and put themselves in position to close out the series when it resumes with Game 2 at 1 p.m. Friday at the same site.
CHECK FOR LIVE UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY AT BIGCOUNTRYPREPS.COM
Continue reading “LIVE: State Track and Field Meet medalists and Big Country Placings (DAY 1)”
Having already released our picks for the girls state track meet earlier this evening, we now present the boys event, using the same approach.
We’ll comb through each event involving a Big Country athlete (or athletes) and assess if they are favorites, dark horses or long shots to get on the medal stand.
Let’s not waste any time. Let’s dive in.
I don’t care who you are — even if you’re a non-fan when it comes to track and field.
The excitement of the state meet in Austin will capture your attention if you catch sight or sound of it. It’s inescapable.
And once per year, it is my pleasure to examine the multitude of Big Country athletes heading to Austin for the event and pick who we can expect to see on the medal stand from our area.
Let’s begin with the girls side, looking at each event in which a Big Country athlete has qualified for state.
Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through April 29:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
In a week filled with unforgettable moments, several of our nominees handed in by area coaches could justifiably be called our Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week.
We finally settled on Clyde sophomore Payton Phillips, who stunned attendees at the Region I-3A meet by taking gold in both the long jump (18 feet, 6 inches) and the 100 hurdles (15.12) — breaking school records that were 25 and 15 years old, respectively.
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through April 22:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches as of April 22. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through April 22:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches as of April 22. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through April 15:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches as of April 15. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through April 15:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches as of April 15. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
Photos may be purchased for $7 each by clicking on the small shopping cart emblem below the lower right corner of the gallery. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
LINK … GAME STORY: Brock uses quick start to earn crucial win at Early
EARLY — Hoping to force a first-place tie in District 8-3A with perennial power Brock, coach Todd Hatton and a youthful Early baseball team knew they needed a quick start when the Eagles paid them a visit on Tuesday.
It didn’t happen.
Quite the contrary, it was Brock that got out of the gate quickly, smothering Early with a six-run first inning and a six-run second in a 12-1 win via the five-inning 10-run rule.
Last year’s COVID pause came at a tough time for the Early baseball program.
Off to a solid start with seven returning seniors on the squad, the Longhorns appeared poised to build on the co-district championship they achieved the year before.
Fast forward to this season, and things looked less certain for coach Todd Hatton and his bunch.
With just two seniors, four juniors a slew of sophomores, and a limited number of games last spring through which to gain experience, EHS entered the season as something of a wild card. But sitting at 14-6 overall and 6-1 in league play heading into the second half of District 8-3A action, the youthful Longhorns can’t help but be pleased with their current position — and the rapid progress they made to get here.
Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through April 8:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches as of April 8. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through April 8:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches as of April 8. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
Photos may be purchased for $7 each by clicking on the small shopping cart emblem below the lower right corner of the gallery. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
A strained hip may have slowed Aspermont junior Sadie Gentry, but you’d never know it by watching her compete.
A week ago, Gentry took gold in the high jump (4-8) and the 400 meters (63.8) at the District 15-1A meet. She then helped the 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams take district titles as in 52.9 and 4:33, respectively.
Her four district titles were more than sufficient to earn her our Capital Farm Credit Player of the Week/BCP Player of the Week award for the week ending April 3. But when you add the fact that she was nursing a sore hip and following orders to not overdo it, her performance becomes even more significant.
