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.
Here are our second-team selections for the 2026 All-Big Country Preps softball 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 Softball 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 softball selections, please click the links below.
LUBBOCK — The Brownwood girls track team feasted at the Region I-4A meet Friday and Saturday at Lowrey Field, collecting nine medals and five automatic state berths to make a comfortable run to the event’s team championship.
The Lady Lions, who accounted for all but two of the area’s medals on the girls side, got scoring from 13 entries on their way to 107 points — topping second-place Canyon by 31 points and third-place Krum by 44.
The BHS girls success headlined a strong overall showing by area athletes, who combined to claim 22 medals and 12 automatic spots to the Class 4A state meet May 14 in Austin.
EULA — The Snyder softball team left nothing to chance in its Region I-4A Division II bi-district series with Glen Rose, following a 7-0 win in Game 1 on Thursday with a 10-0 victory Saturday to clinch the best-of-three affair at the Eula softball field.
After using a four-run first to take control of the opener, coach Regina Cummings’ squad scored five in the second inning of Game 2, which was more than enough offense for starter Sydnee Gomez, who tossed six shutout innings for the second consecutive game.
Gomez allowed just one hit and two walks while striking out 13 to earn her second win of the young postseason, while Hannah Rangel closed out the game with a scoreless inning, just as she did in Game 1.
EULA — The Snyder Lady Tigers opened their postseason with a shutout win Thursday night, using a four-run first inning to set the tone for a 7-0 victory over Glen Rose in the opener of a best-of-three Region I-4A Division II bi-district series at the Eula softball field.
Coming off an undefeated run to the District 5-4A championship, SHS controlled the game from start to finish, thanks to the early offensive explosion and a strong start in the circle by Sydnee Gomez.
Coach Regina Cummings’ Lady Tigers, who reached the state semifinals a year ago, will now have a chance to close out the series when it resumes at 10 a.m. Saturday back in Eula.
Scoring and rebounding is only part of the story when it comes to basketball. Behind the scenes and beyond the view of the public, is where character is often measured. And it is with our Big Country Preps Gym Rat Team that we salute the individuals who exude the most of it.
This team isn’t about who the best players are, though some of the area’s top players are on this list.
The Gym Rat team is about effort, discipline, toughness, coachability and selflessness — traits that coaches love above all else and that championship foundations are built upon.
It is for that reason that our Gym Rat team is selected entirely by area coaches, described in their own words. And Big Country Preps is absolutely honored to present these individuals to you — the best “team players” (boys and girls) that the area had to offer during the 2025-26 season.
Players are listed in no particular order.
Enjoy.
Entering the week at 35-1 and ranked No. 1 in Class 2A, the Lipan Indians have won 33 straight games since suffering their only loss of the year to Class 4A Dallas Roosevelt in mid-November.
At the heart of that success has been standout point guard Court Gaylor, who performed at a high enough level in LHS’ first two playoff games to claim our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award.
Below are the current season statistical leaders for Big Country boys basketball through Feb. 19. With the end of the regular season, this will be the FINAL boys basketball leaders we post this year.
This database has been continually updated for our subscribers throughout the regular season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Is your favorite team missing? If so, please pass along a friendly reminder to your coach to check his email for our weekly stats request. We’ll be happy to add them to our database after they arrive.
Below are the current season statistical leaders for Big Country girls basketball through Feb. 12. This will be our FINAL girls stat leaders for 2026.
This database has been continually updated for our subscribers throughout the regular season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Is your favorite team missing? If so, please pass along a friendly reminder to your coach to check his or her email for our weekly stats request. We’ll be happy to add them to our database after they arrive.
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: Glen Rose-Stephenville basketball doubleheader (45 images)”
STEPHENVILLE — With area rival Glen Rose paying them a visit on Tuesday, the Stephenville Honey Bees and Yellow Jackets made the most of the annual occasion by sweeping a varsity doubleheader at Gandy Gymnasium.
In the case of the Honey Bees (20-12, 5-5) their 30-19 win changed nothing in the way of playoff seeding. SHS remains a No. 2 seed and will face Wolfforth Frenship next week in the bi-district round. For the Stephenville boys, however, Tuesday’s 63-37 victory kept the Yellow Jackets (28-3, 6-2) in the hunt for a possible District 6-4A title.
The ‘Jackets will play host to league-leading Brock (22-9, 7-1) on Friday with a chance of grabbing a piece of the district lead.
The Glen Rose girls fell to 20-16 and 5-5; while its boys team slipped out of a first-place tie with Brock to 20-10 and 6-2. The Tigers, however, can still land in a three-way tie for first in the event of a Stephenville win over Brock.
Comanche senior J’Lee Salinas is no stranger to BCP accolades, having already won our Player of the Week award as well as being named to our All-Big Country Preps team.
Well, she’s done it again after helping Comanche sweep district mates Millsap and Peaster — taking our Player of the Week award for the week ending Feb. 7.
Salinas had a solid week with a double-double in a win against Millsap (83-27), finishing with 24 points,10 rebounds, four assists and six steals.
The boys basketball regular season is nearing its end, and district championship and playoff pictures across the area are coming into view.
Most leagues now have clear favorites in both their title and playoff races, but several remain unresolved with just two or three games left to play.
With just a couple of weeks of games remaining, let’s dive in and take a look at this week’s biggest games and last week’s most significant developments.
Surprised — and in some cases, stressed out — faces could be seen in abundance Monday morning at Abilene’s Region 14 Education Services Center, where coaches from throughout the area and beyond gathered to learn their new district homes as part of the University Interscholastic League’s biennial realignment.
In what can best be described as a seismic shift in the Big Country football landscape, a majority of area schools were placed in unfamiliar environs — be that a new district with new foes or even a new region entirely.
The now venerated process by which the UIL releases the packet containing the new district alignments for football, basketball and volleyball is frequently compared by coaches to waking up on Christmas morning to find what presents await under the three. And on this day, in particular, few found the gifts they were expecting.
Last week’s winter storm made for a wild week of action, condensing a week’s worth of games into three day’s time. And the results were as unpredictable as you might expect given the circumstances.
We saw several district championship and playoff races shaken up by upsets and others take shape as the cream continued its rise to the top.
As we do here weekly, it’s time to take survey of the Big Country boys basketball landscape. We hope you enjoy this look at the biggest developments from last week and the biggest games this week’s slate has to offer.
Mother Nature did her best to bring the high school basketball season to a standstill, sending a winter storm that put most Big Country teams on the shelf for a week. But the action around that unexpected break gives us plenty to talk about in this week’s look at the area boys basketball scene.
With a number of excellent (and meaningful) games last week and some big matchups slated for the next few days, the area district races remain as intriguing as ever.
Let’s go ahead now and take a look at the biggest games the area slate has to offer this week and some of the outcomes last week that helped shape the weeks to come.
The winter storm that blew across most of the state over the weekend wreaked havoc on the area basketball schedule, forcing most of last Friday’s games to be pushed up a day and the bulk of this week’s early games to postponed all the way to Thursday.
But icy weather — and the bevy of schedule changes that came with it — have done little to cool the area’s rapidly heating district races.
We still had a number of thrilling and significant results last week and have a bunch of intriguing games to look forward to over the next few days. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the biggest of those in our weekly look at the Big Country girls basketball scene.
You have to appreciate a player who can contribute big numbers in several different ways. And in the case of our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, such players have an advantage when it comes to taking down our weekly award.
This time around, it’s Cisco junior Owen Kilpatrick, who posted a triple-double in a 74-38 win over Abilene TLCA, finishing with 18 points, 21 rebounds and 12 assists.
Most high school football teams have that one player acknowledged by the coaching staff as the prime example of what a teammate should be.
He’s the guy who seldom misses any practice time and is a regular in the weight room. He’s early to arrive. He’s late to leave and takes pride in being coachable, though he seldom needs direction.
He always sets the right example for younger players. He doesn’t complain and, above all else, he’s tough enough to make all the aforementioned traits consistently possible.
Know someone like that? Here is where they are honored.
Here are our first-team selections for the 2025 All-Big Country Preps football team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Here are our second-team selections for the 2025 All-Big Country Preps football team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Here are our selections for the 2024 All-Big Country Preps Football Team (Third-Team roster). For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
District races are heating up throughout the Big Country and the cream is quickly rising to the top in our area leagues.
Last week and helped provide some clarity in a number of district’s throughout the BCP coverage area, and this week will, no doubt, do the same.
Without further ado, let’s go ahead and dive into this week’s column and take a look at the biggest games on this week’s slate and some of the top results last week had to offer.
With district play either underway or starting this week for all area boys basketball teams, it’s time to start taking a closer look at how our Big Country hoops races are shaping up.
And as we’ve done in the past, we’ll break down our top upcoming matchups, the top results from the previous week and the area’s biggest surprise right here each Sunday, starting with this column.
We hope you enjoy a look at this week in area boys basketball.
Nobody played a tougher schedule over the holidays than the Wall boys. And nobody had a bigger impact on their successful run through a brutal five-game stretch than 6-foot-7 big man Paxton Brake who takes our first Big Country Preps Player of the Week for 2026.
Brake, a junior, scored a combined 70 points through the break, averaging 14 points, 9.2 boards and 3.2 assists to help the Hawks go 4-1 over the break with wins over Decatur, Lorena, Ponder and Sweetwater, along with a close loss to perennial power Brock.
Wall enters this week at 17-5 overall.
You have to love a great all-around performance and in the case of Brayden Henry, our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, his effort in last week’s 84-25 bi-district win over El Paso Bel Air was a record-setter.
Aside from going 6 of 7 through the air or 56 yards and one TD, he also rushed five times for 137 yards and three more scores.
Glen Rose 43, Fort Worth Dunbar 20 — Judd Connally threw for 195 yards and four scores and rushed for 161 yards and two more TDs as Glen Rose rolled to a 23-point win over Dunbar.
With the victory, Glen Rose evened its record at 5-5, bookending the regular season with an 0-5 start, a 5-0 finish and a district title.
Glen Rose 53, Fort Worth Benbrook 14 — After an 0-5 start against a murderous non-district schedule, the Glen Rose Tigers have rebounded with four straight wins — the last of which, a 53-14 rout of Fort Worth Benbrook, clinched the district championship.
Judd Connally threw for 177 yards and two scores and rushed for 92 yards and two more TDs to lift the Tigers. Tyson Sullivan was another key contributor, rushing for 116 yards and two scores on only 12 carries.
Benbrook, which was in pursuit of the district title, fell to 5-4 and 3-1.
Glen Rose 70, Venus 0 — The Tigers (3-5, 3-0) won their third straight game after an 0-5 start while keeping Venus (0-8, 0-3) winless.
Judd Connally threw for 155 yards and four touchdowns and Tyson Sullivan rushed for 91 yards and two more scores to lead the Tigers, who will host Fort Worth
Benbrook (5-3, 3-0) for the district title next Friday.
Glen Rose 56, Hillsboro 14 — Judd Connally threw for 265 yards and one score and Tyson Sullivan rushed for 125 yards and four TDs to lead Glen Rose (2-5, 2-0) to its second straight win.
The Tigers will play host to Venus next Friday.
With Hamlin extending its winning streak to five, I can hear its detractors (and with some validity) saying that the Pipers have yet to be tested by an upper tier 2A DII team.
Hamlin fell to Division I Anson in an injury-plagued opener, but hasn’t faced a team currently over .500 since.
OK, that’s fine.
But there’s one thing to keep an eye on: Hamlin is doing what a good team would do as a heavy favorite — it’s winning comfortably.
In fact, with the exception of a 19-14 win over Crosbyton, the Pipers have outperformed computer projections on a weekly basis. In other words, this club is better than most believed it would be and without question, it’s better than last year.
Continue reading “BIG COUNTRY PREPS NOTEBOOK: Hamlin, Brownwood, Glen Rose and Hawley all on tap tonight”
Glen Rose 56, Godley 21 — Judd Connally threw for 196 yards and four scores and rushed for 192 yards and two more TDs to lead Glen Rose (1-5, 1-0) to its first win of the season.
Godley (2-4, 0-1) was led by Adam Pempsell, with 192 yards rushing and two TDs.
Glen Rose will face Hillsboro on the road next Friday; Godley will host Benbrook on the same evening.
Glen Rose (0-5), idle — The Tigers were open yesterday but will see action again next Friday when they play host to Godley.
Glen Rose’s record could be deceiving. The combined record of the Tigers’ opposition thus far is 20-5 and four of those losses were by a combined 26 points (four scores).
A year ago, the Ruston, La., Bearcats brought 11 DI players to the Lone Star State and beat three quality programs in Longview (21-10), Midland Legacy (38-6) and Stephenville (63-17). Yet they finished 11-3 with three losses to Louisiana teams and failed to win their state title.
What does that say about the quality of Louisiana football?
Regardless, the Bearcats are again dipping their paws into Texas’ talent pool this year, with two more wins over Longview (38-35) and Legacy (49-21). Stephenville is up next in a neutral site game in Longview this Friday and Ruston (4-0) is again loaded, with at least six DI players, including 6-foot-6, 235-pound blue chip tight end Deejay Drain.
Continue reading “BIG COUNTRY PREPS NOTEBOOK: Stephenville, Ruston, La., rematch should be closer”
Alvarado 55, Glen Rose 50 — The Tigers’ hard luck continued on Friday with a fifth straight loss. To date, four of Glen Rose’s five losses have been decided by two scores or less.
Their last three defeats have been decided by one score.
Waco Robinson 41, Glen Rose 40 — The Rockets improved to 3-1 with a win over Glen Rose (0-4).
Robinson amassed 515 yards in total offense, including 293 yards rushing. Evan Moreno led the way for the Rockets with 277 yards rushing and three scores.
The bar was understandably high when the Glen Rose Lady Tigers opened the 2025 volleyball season. With a 31-8 campaign last fall that included a District 6-4A championship and a bi-district title, to boot, Glen Rose earned a postseason playoff berth for the fifth straight season.
In turn, the Lady Tigers earned something else, namely a target on their backs throughout early season tournaments and pre-district matches. That meant they were getting opponents’ best efforts almost every time out.
Twenty nine matches into this season, Glen Rose has forged a respectable 18-11 record. With this week’s schedule featuring the final three nondistrict games on the Lady Tigers’ slate, yet another 20-plus-win season isn’t just possible, it’s almost certain.
Especially once Alex Arrington takes the court.
Brownwood 34, Glen Rose 28 — Judson Coalson threw for 174 yards and two scores to help the Lions (1-2) earn their first win of the season.
Brownwood led 34-7 late in the second half before holding off a Glen Rose rally attempt that saw the Tigers chart three straight TDs in the fourth quarter.
Ryder Ribitzki was the top weapon for Glen Rose, catching five passes for 78 yards and two scores.
Grandview 28, Glen Rose14 — Though the Tigers were favored by two scores, this early season loss wasn’t entirely unexpected for a very young team on the road in its season opener.
With the score knotted at 14-14 at the break, Grandview took control of the game with a pair of third-quarter touchdowns and never looked back.
Glen Rose will face Gatesville at home next Friday.
Gatesville 30, Glen Rose 7 — The Tigers managed only 123 yards in total offense while dropping to 0-2.