Ballinger 34, Colorado City 14 — Malachi Bentley ran for 104 yards and two touchdowns, and Wyatt Clemens passed for 190 yards and ran for 30 yards and two TDs to lead the Bearcats to a three-touchdown win over the Wolves.
Ballinger (6-1, 3-0) also got a rushing score from Brody Wilde in rallying from a 14-13 halftime deficit with 20 unanswered points in the second half.
Ballinger 40, Forsan 36 — Wyatt Clemens passed for 313 yards and four touchdowns, hitting Hunter Kresta nine times for 163 yards and two of those scores to lead the Bearcats to a thrilling win over the previously unbeaten Buffaloes.
Clemens also ran for 74 yards and another TD as Ballinger (5-1, 2-0) amassed 482 yards of total offense. Pierson Nord (7-81 receiving) and Brody Wilde (2-46) also caught scoring passes for the Bearcats, who also got a rushing TD run from Malachi Bentley.
As Forsan rides a six-game win streak into its District 4-2A Division I game at Ballinger on Friday, the undefeated Buffaloes are also eyeing something that didn’t seem likely at this time last season: a playoff berth.
In 2025, under then first-year coach Casey Thompson, the Buffs started 1-4 heading into district play. Then they lost their district opener.
“We had,” acknowledged Thompson, “a rough start.”
Fortunately for Forsan, there’s a very significant “but …” to add, because it was at roughly this time in the season when it became apparent to Thompson, to Forsan fans, and, especially, to the members of the Buffaloes’ roster that a corner had been turned.
The team went 3-1 over its final four regular season games, which entitled the Buffs to add another, in the playoffs, thus fulfilling a goal perhaps only Thompson envisioned as possible to achieve as the October stretch of the schedule played out.
Even in an otherwise “quiet” week, six-man players find a way to make a lot of noise.
With many of our teams enjoying an open week prior to district play, Knox City and Roby got into a knock-down drag-out six-man game, with the Greyhounds winning 86-80.
So great was this game, that our Big Country Preps Player of the Week emerged from the losing side of this matchup, with Roby quarterback Eli Weatherly taking our Player of the Week award for the Week ending Oct. 3
Forsan 48, Reagan County 16 — Ashton Ellis ran for 144 yards and two touchdowns to fuel the unbeaten Buffaloes to a lopsided win over the Owls.
Owen Bishop and Coy Evans combined for 125 yards and three touchdowns passing for Forsan, which was led in receiving by Evans (3-58, 2 TDs) and Korbett Worden (1-48, 1 TD).
A week ago, Graham senior quarterback Cooper Corley narrowly missed taking our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award.
This time around, there was no stopping him.
Corley, who led the Steers to a 48-21 win over Peaster, hit 16 of 27 throws for 307 yards and two TDs.
He also rushed 12 times for 132 yards and four more scores and caught a 29-yard TD pass for seven touchdowns on the night.
“Very rarely do you see a kid total 7 TDs in a night and score in three different ways,” Graham coach Clay McChristian said. “He scored at least one touchdown passing, rushing, and receiving.
“That is right at 1000 total yards and 13 TDs in the last two weeks against two quality opponents.”
Forsan 46, Ozona 22 — Owen Bishop passed for 207 yards and three touchdowns, and Ashton Ellis ran for 112 yards and two scores and received for 62 yards and another TD to help the Buffaloes pull away for a lopsided win over the Lions.
Coy Evans added 91 yards and a TD receiving for Forsan (5-0, 1-0), which got pick-sixes on defense from Kalen Kemper and Matthew Blakeney.
Ballinger 40, Brady 35 — Wyatt Clemens passed for 300 yards and six touchdowns, hitting Hunter Kresta eight times for 186 yards and four of those scores to lead the Bearcats to a thrilling win over the Bulldogs in a rivalry game.
Kresta had TD catches of 12, 3, 43 and 80 yards to help Ballinger (3-1) rally from a 28-21 halftime deficit to claim the victory.
Forsan 48, Stanton 22 — Forsan rode an efficient offensive performance and a stellar special teams effort to a comfortable win over Stanton.
FHS (3-0) scored touchdowns on a kickoff return (54 yards by Korbett Worden), a punt return (75 yards by Cole Wyatt) and a fake field goal (33-yard double pass from Owen Bishop to Wyatt) while also getting 134 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, led by Worden with 98 yards and two scores.
Ballinger 27, Odessa Compass 20 — Brody Wilde had an 89-yard kickoff return touchdown and a 70-yard pick-six to go with 40 yards rushing and 26 yards receiving to power the Bearcats to a hard-fought win over the Cougars.e
Wyatt Clemens added 165 yards and two touchdowns passing, and Hunter Kresta received for 91 yards and a TD as Ballinger made a 21-14 halftime lead hold up in the final two quarters for its second straight win to start the season.
Before Haskell senior quarterback Haegen Pinkerton arrived at HHS as a freshman, the name of Pinkerton was something I associated with the famous detective agency.
I now associate it with statistical insanity, and you should associate it with the Big Country Preps Player of the Week.
Pinkerton, who was behind center in Haskell’s 80-62 loss to Stamford, had one of the biggest nights I can recollect in a losing effort, accounting for seven touchdowns on Friday.
Hitting 15 of 22 throws for 193 yards, three of Pinkerton’s deliveries went for scores. But it was on the ground where he did most of his damage, rushing 29 times for 290 yards and four touchdowns to help keep the Indians competitive.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Coahoma-Forsan football (55 images)”
Colorado City 29, Roscoe 22 (OT) — The Wolves followed up their shocking upset of Sonora in last season’s finale with another impressive showing to open the 2026 campaign, outlasting the Plowboys in overtime.
Quarterback Ace Mejia led the way for C-City, rushing for 173 yards and two touchdowns to go with his 107 yards and additional TD passing, while sophomore Joel Hernandez finished with 86 yards on just eight carries, including the game-sealing 22-yard touchdown run in overtime (shown in the video above).
After a week of highlighting area playmakers, we wrap up our eight-part preseason position rankings series with the Big Country’s best signal callers.
To complete our look at the area’s top players, we’ve ranked our top 15 quarterbacks with a list of others to watch in 2026.
We hope you enjoy this list and that you’ve enjoyed our position rankings as we get set to kick off a new season.
BIG SPRING — With a combined eight turnovers and 150 penalty yards between the teams, Thursday night’s season opener between Coahoma and Forsan wasn’t a game either coach will be citing as model of desired execution.
But in terms of passion, effort, will to win and, ultimately, intrigue, the annual Howard County Bowl was a masterpiece worthy of the Louvre.
After enduring an almost-hour and a half lightning delay before kickoff, the teams battled to a stalemate through four quarters before Forsan, which had tied the game with 31.6 seconds remaining in regulation, sealed a 22-20 victory with a stop on a two-point conversion try in overtime, setting off a wild on-field celebration fitting of both the thrilling nature of the game’s finish and the intensity of the rivalry between the teams.
As we wind down our eight-part preseason position rankings series, we arrive finally at the Big Country’s top ball-carriers.
After breaking down this year’s crop of receivers and tight ends earlier today, we move now to the area’s top backs, ranking our top 15 with a list of others to watch in 2026. Don’t forget to check in tomorrow when we conclude our series with the top 10 area quarterbacks.
We hope you enjoy this list and encourage you to check out the other position groups, which are linked below.
We’re approaching the final stretch of our eight-part preseason position rankings series, and it’s time to look at the Big Country’s top receivers.
After starting the offensive portion of our series with the linemen, we now shift our attention to the playmakers on the perimeter, ranking our top 15 wideouts/tight ends with a list of others to watch in 2026.
We hope you enjoy our list and encourage you to check out the other position groups, which are linked below.
With the defensive and special teams rankings behind us, it’s time to look at the area’s top offensive players. And we’ll start with the foundation of any productive offense: the offensive line.
For the fifth installment of our eight-part preseason position rankings series, we turn our attention to the trenches, ranking the Big Country’s top 15 offensive linemen with a list of others to watch in 2026.
We hope you enjoy reading through our rankings.
After recognizing the top defensive players throughout the Big Country over the past three days, it’s time to honor the specialists.
We continue our eight-part preseason position rankings series by naming our top 10 kickers and top three punters to watch this fall.
We hope you enjoy this list and that you have enjoyed our position rankings as we get set to kickoff the 2026 season.
After starting with the linemen and linebackers, we turn to the defensive backfield to complete our look at the top defenders in the Big Country.
For the third installment in our eight-part preseason position rankings series, we shift our focus to the secondary, giving our list of the area’s top 15 defensive backs and others to look out for in 2026.
We hope you enjoy our list.
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 2026.
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 15 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.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps Preseason Football Position Rankings: Defensive Linemen”
The time has arrived for us to make our Big Country predictions, district-by-district.
Several weeks of research and two solid months of summertime labor have gone into this, so we’re more than ready to post it.
With that please dive in and study our take on the upcoming season, along with the more than 80 preseason stories we posted earlier today. Enjoy! We’ll see you on the road!
If an experienced Forsan team is to achieve the type of success it’s hoping to this season, there’s a good chance senior linebacker Korbett Worden will be at the center of it.
The playmaking senior linebacker was certainly in the middle of his share of action last year, tallying 101 tackles from his spot in the Buffaloes defense.
Now entering his final high school season, Worden is hoping to build on the success he experienced as a junior and lead FHS to a better season in the process. And second-year Forsan coach Casey Thompson is looking forward to watching both happen.
The Forsan football team went through some growing pains in its first year under coach Casey Thompson, but wins in three of their final four regular-season games allowed the Buffaloes to close the 2025 season in the playoffs.
With the bulk of the roster back from that 4-7 squad, including 18 seniors and nine starters both ways, Thompson and his players are expecting the momentum gained through that strong finish to carry over in a major way this fall.
The Buffs will have to replace do-it-all standout Hayden Bowlin, who accounted for most of the team’s offensive production a year ago, but the staff feels they’ll have the talent, depth and experience to put pressure on opponents in ways they weren’t able to for most of last season.
Here are our second-team selections for the 2026 All-Big Country Preps baseball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Here are our second-team selections for the 2026 All-Big Country Preps baseball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to release our 2026 All-Big Country Preps baseball teams.
Here, you will find our Rising Stars Team honoring the top freshmen and sophomores in the Big Country.
For the rest of this year’s baseball selections, please click the links below.
Here are our first-team selections for the 2026 All-Big Country Preps softball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.