EULA — The Comanche and San Saba girls basketball teams, ranked No. 5 and 16 in Class 3A and 2A respectively, completed perfect runs through the Eula Holiday Classic semifinals on Friday to claim spots in the event’s championship game Saturday evening.
Comanche, which cruised through Roscoe (72-43) and Hermleigh (73-44) on the tournament’s opening day Thursday, survived a test from Class 1A No. 10 Whiteface on Friday, outlasting the Lady Lopes for a 45-38 victory in the semifinals. And San Saba followed Thursday’s 63-37 win over Ballinger with hard-fought victories over Canadian (59-45) and tournament host Eula (59-55) to earn its spot in the title game.
The Maidens and Lady Dillos will match up for the tournament championship at 5:20 p.m. on Saturday, while Eula will take on Whiteface for third place at 1:20. The Jim Ned boys will also compete for third place, taking on Tolar at noon after dropping a tough 50-48 game to Holiday in the semifinals Friday.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a Class 1A girls team from the outer reaches of our coverage area land our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award. But Gordon’s Caitlyn Parsons put an end to the drought with a huge performance in the Mesquite Pit Classic in Poolville. 
Big numbers are always great to have when we decide the winner of our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award. Solid numbers across multiple tasks are even better. 
Korda Moore has been playing well all year for the Sweetwater Mustangs. But he picked the right moment for one of his best games last Friday, helping the Mustangs clinch a playoff spot with a 51-38 win over Snyder. 
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. 
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.
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. 
Contrast in styles games make for excellent entertainment and are usually high on our list of potential Big Country Preps Games of the Week. 
Our final Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the 2022-23 school year could have gone any number of directions. 
A no-hitter alone is often enough to secure the Big Country Preps Player of the Week award. But when it’s backed by a solid offensive performance, it’s very difficult to get knocked off of the perch. 
Bangs southpaw Abby Wolf has thrown so many no-hitters this year, that the subject barely raises an eyebrow. But in consecutive district wins over Coleman and Christoval last week, the sophomore managed to create a stir. 
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. 
Four hits in one day is a great day for any hitter. But to get one hit of each kind – single, double, triple and a home run – is one of softball and baseball’s genuine rarities.
Back-to-back shutouts. 
For Duane Hopper, there truly is no place like home.
