Forsan 40, Kermit 32 — The Buffaloes stayed hot with their fourth consecutive win, rushing for 236 yards in a hard-fought victory over the Yellow Jackets.
Kevin Kligora led Forsan with 71 yards on the ground, while Grant Roman (8-56, 2 TDs), Huston Stockton (7-51, 1 TD), Yandell Melendez (8-20, 1 TD) and Hayden Bowlin (2-19, 1 TD) all had rushing touchdowns.
There are big games and then there are those that border on insanity.
Moran running back Ellis Hise, our Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the week ending Sept. 16, fell squarely into the latter category on Saturday with a performance that was absolutely nuts.
Helping the Bulldogs to a thrilling 68-67 win over Mullin in one of the top six-man games the Big Country has seen this year, Hise rushed for 287 yards and six touchdowns on only 26 carries. But that’s just the beginning.
Forsan 41, McCamey 21 — The Buffaloes rushed for 382 yards, getting 151 yards and a touchdown from Kevin Kligora and 135 yards and three scores from Huston Stockton to run away from the Badgers.
Forsan (3-1) used a 15-point second quarter to take a 21-14 lead into halftime, before outscoring McCamey 14-0 in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
Forsan 32, Stanton 14 — Nicholas Holloway passed for 148 yards and three scores, hitting Hayden Bowlin (3-66 receiving) with two of those TDs and Brycen Cervantes (3-76) for the other to lift the Buffaloes to their second consecutive win.
Forsan (2-1), which finished with 311 total yards, rushed for 92 of those, getting a team-high 48 yards from Kevin Kligora and rushing touchdowns from Holloway (4-3 rushing) and Grant Roman (4-29).
Forsan 24, Post 6 — Kevin Kligora rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown while Nicholas Holloway passed for one score and ran for another to lead the Buffaloes to an impressive win over the Antelopes.
Forsan (1-1) outgained Post 312-232 and won the turnover battle 2-1. This allowed the Buffs to build a 12-0 halftime lead that was never threatened after the break.
After a summer-long effort to produce our football preview, it is good to be back in our school year routine — a big part of which is our Big Country Preps Player of the Week.
That said, we are proud to hand our first accolade for 2023-24 to Snyder senior quarterback Easton Stewart, who led the Tigers to a 42-0 season-opening win over Slaton last week.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Forsan-Coahoma football (60 images)”
Wink 54, Reagan County 48 (OT) — The Owls gave the Wildcats all they could handle, but ultimately Wink was just a little too much for Reagan County, rallying from deficits at the end of each of the first three quarters for a thrilling overtime win.
The Owls, who led 24-14 at halftime and 48-40 at the end of three quarters, finished with 397 yards of total offense, getting 243 yards and five touchdowns passing and 93 yards and an additional score on the ground from quarterback Kason Brown.
BIG SPRING — The 10th annual Howard County Bowl had everything you could ask for as a football fan.
Game ball delivered by a U.S. Army Golden Knight skydiver who lost both of his legs in a training accident in 1994? Sgt. First Class Dana Bowman delivered with that.
Big plays. Trick plays. A pooch kick recovery. Blocked kicks. 84 total points. 11 total touchdowns. A two-point conversion. Three field goals. 1,001 yards of combined offense. 44 total first downs. Hard hits. You can check those boxes as well.
If that’s not enough, how does a 99-yard touchdown pass sound? That also happened as Coahoma opened the season with a 50-34 win over Forsan on Friday at Memorial Stadium in the highest scoring game in the rivalry’s short history.
Playing for a Forsan program that prides itself on blue-collar toughness, selflessness and general physicality, senior running back/linebacker Kevin Kligora may be one of the best examples on the 2023 FHS roster of what it means to be a Buffalo.
The hard-nosed senior is two-way standout for coach Jason Phillips’ squad, and his approach to the game checks all the boxes the longtime Forsan mentor looks for in his players.
That approach got Kligora on the field as a sophomore and made him a statistical leader for the Buffs last year as a junior. And now in his senior year, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound bruiser will be called on to add a new level of leadership to his game.
In 14 years as Forsan’s head coach, Jason Phillips has developed an identity and built an expectation of success around a physical brand of football.
This year, he and his Buffaloes will be leaning on that tried and true formula to maintain the momentum they’ve built the past two seasons in posting a combined 19-5 record.
FHS returns 16 lettermen from last year’s 9-3 squad, including five offensive and seven defensive starters, and Phillips has faith that that nucleus and call-ups from a successful junior varsity team can the keep the program rolling in 2023.
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 Wednesday, Aug. 16. 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 July 31, we’ll be spotlighting each 11-man team in the area and posing some of the key questions they’ll face in 2023 as part of our annual “Countdown to Two-a-Days” series.
We continue in Class 2A Division I with the Forsan Buffaloes. On Thursday we will take a look at the Anson Tigers, followed by the Cisco Loboes on Friday.
Continue reading “COUNTDOWN TO TWO-A-DAYS: The Forsan Buffaloes … 33 days to two-a-days”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Stamford-Forsan softball regional championship playoff (92 images)”
The Stamford softball team is headed back to the Class 2A state tournament for the third consecutive year after routing Forsan 15-1 in Game 2 of the Region I-2A championship series Saturday at Abilene Christian University’s Poly Wells Field.
Leading 4-0 after five innings, the Lady Bulldogs exploded for five runs in the sixth and six more in the seventh to turn a competitive ballgame into a blowout and make an easy winner out of freshman ace Emma Follis, who held a potent Lady Buffalo lineup to just one run on four hits in the victory.
The win, which came after thunderstorms delayed the game’s start by about an hour and a half, improved coach Sean Slavin’s squad to 27-6-1 on the season, while Forsan saw its campaign end at 28-10.
FORSAN — For months, Forsan softball coach Shanna Taylor wrestled with the idea of stepping down from a labor of love.
An 18-year journey that included more than 300 career victories and two state championships (2009 and 2010) had reached a crossroads: Should she continue on, or call it a career and enjoy some quality time with her family?
Eventually, she chose the latter — a decision she was comfortable with, but not without a degree of sadness as her Lady Buffaloes began what she knew would be her final season on the diamond. A season, as fate would have it, that has been extended to this week’s Region I-2A championship series where her Lady Buffaloes (28-8) will face off with area power Stamford (25-6-1) with the winner advancing to the state tournament.
Game 1 is slated for 5 p.m. Thursday at Abilene Christian University. Game 2 will begin at noon on Saturday at ACU, with Game 3 (if needed) following 30 minutes after Game 2.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Forsan-Bangs softball region semifinal playoff (81 images)”
ABILENE — Less than 24 hours after posting a combined 29 runs and more than 30 hits, the Forsan and Bangs softball teams produced a near polar opposite of the 16-13 FHS win in Game 1.
Friday at Abilene Christian University, the same two teams, with the same two pitchers in the same venue locked horns in a 1-0 Forsan win in Game 2 which ended the series and pushed the Lady Buffaloes into the Region I-2A championship. There, they will meet either Stamford or Colorado City at a sit and time to be determined.
The difference, according to Forsan pitcher Maddie Roach, may not be what you would expect to hear. Coming off a rough outing in Game 1 that saw her allow 13 runs on 16 hits, Roach spent much of Game 2 smiling, laughing and even dancing a bit to tunes being played over the PA while she was on the field.
“I think it’s because I kept a good attitude today,” said Roach, who delivered seven straight empty frames on Friday. “And there was better music on.”
ABILENE — If Game 1 of a Region I-2A softball semifinal between Forsan and Bangs is any indication of what’s ahead, one shouldn’t take anything for granted.
Leading 9-0 heading into the bottom of the second, Forsan blew the lead and eventually fell behind 13-10 only to rally for a 16-13 win in a thriller at Abilene Christian University.
K’Dynce Speck was 3 for 5 with a double, homer and four RBIs and Emma Buske was 2 for 5 with a double and three runs scored to lead Forsan (27-8), which can end the series with a win in Game 2, set for 5 p.m. Friday at ACU. Game 3, if needed, will follow 30 minutes after that.
“That was a really good game,” said Forsan coach Shanna Taylor, who will retire after 18 years at FHS at the conclusion of this season. “Bangs is really scrappy, but our team has a lot of fight in them and a lot of grit, so I was glad to see them come back and fight for that win.”
AUSTIN — After a slow start in the field events on Friday saw the Big Country net just four medals, things heated up in the evening session when the track events got rolling.
Big Country athletes picked up 10 medals under the lights at Mike A. Meyers Stadium at the University of Texas, giving the area 14 for the day.
On top of that, the Stamford girls team finished in a three-way tie with Refugio and Panhandle with 32 points to claim a share of the state championship. Goldthwaite’s girls finished three points back in fourth.
CANYON — Behind gold medal efforts by Coleman’s Braxton Smith and Colorado City’s Jordan Raschke, the Big Country locked up seven state berths over the weekend at the Region I-2A track meet at West Texas A&M University Track & Field Complex.
Smith won the boys long jump and Raschke the boys 110-meter hurdles to headline a list of 12 area entries to medal at the meet — six on the boys side and six on the girls side.
The Bluecats, who also got a silver medal from Clayton Lackey in the discus and a bronze in the 400 relay, had the top team finish of any Big Country squad, scoring 34 points to finish third behind champion Panhandle (77) and runner-up Plains (47).
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.
Missing a perfect game by one hit batsman in a 7-0 win over Coleman, she followed that with three perfect innings in a 15-0 route of Christoval.
In other words, Wolf tossed nine complete hitless innings last week, along the way walking none and fanning 13.
Cisco 55, Reagan County 0 — The Loboes dominated Reagan County, rolling up 555 yards in total offense, of which 378 were on the round.
Hunter Long and Trent Huston combined for 263 yards rushing and four touchdowns to lead Cisco (9-2), which led 42-0 at the break.
BROWNWOOD — Not until the game’s final minute did the Stamford Bulldogs have the lead in Friday’s 2A DI bi-district game with Forsan at Gordon Wood Stadium.
It lasted for a grand total of 16 seconds.
Trailing 14-13 with under a minute to play, Forsan got the last word with a 63-yard touchdown strike from Cade Wallis to Brooks Wright and a subsequent two-point conversion run by Kevin Kilgora with 0:37 showing on the clock. The Buffaloes (9-2) then held on for a 21-14 win, advancing to face New Deal next Thursday in the area round.
Continue reading “GAME STORY: Forsan survives wild finish to eliminate Stamford, 21-14”
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.
Sonora 48, Forsan 21 — The Broncos rode a fast start to a comfortable win over the Buffaloes, pulling ahead 28-0 by halftime and protecting that lead from there.
Sonora (8-2, 4-1) outgained Forsan 642-249, rushing for 464 yards in the victory. Quarterback Jaime Buitron led that effort, rushing for 235 yards and four touchdowns while adding 178 yards and two more scores through the air.
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.
Forsan 47, Ozona 14 — The Buffaloes locked up at least a share of their first district championship since 2015 with a blowout win over the Lions.
Forsan (8-1, 4-0), which outgained Ozona 463-249, built a 19-7 lead by halftime and used a 21-point fourth quarter to put the Lions away for good.