Here’s a complete rundown of Thursday and Friday’s Class 4A playoff results in the Big Country:
Category: Glen Rose Tigers
BIG COUNTRY PREPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Evans takes award with monstrous performance
When someone hits 27 of 34 passes for 441 yards and five scores, it’s generally the type of performance that appears on our Player of the Week radar screen.
When it’s done in only two and a half quarters, however, it makes everyone sit up and do a doubletake.
That was the case for Glen Rose quarterback Canyon Evans, who shredded Fort Worth Dunbar in a 61-7 win on Friday that saw him removed before the onset of the fourth quarter.
DISTRICT 4-4A DIV. II WEEK 11 REPORT: Glen Rose, Benbrook Godley take Week 11 wins
Glen Rose 61, Fort Worth Dunbar 7 — Canyon Evans threw for 441 yards and five scores, hitting 27 of 34 throws along the way to lead the Tigers to an easy win.
Glen Rose produced a dominating defensive effort as well, limiting Dunbar to only 141 yards in total offense (50 on the ground).
BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Stamford, Hawley clash in rematch of last season’s thriller
LAST WEEK: 45-8, .849
SEASON TOTAL: 464-122, .791
The regular season ends Friday night (if you can believe it) and there’s no better way to close things up than with No. 5 Class 2A DI Hawley (9-0, 4-0) at No. 1 Stamford (9-0, 4-0).
The winner will earn the District 4 championship and No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs, so much is at stake.
I’m leaning toward Stamford here for three reasons: First, the overall team speed of SHS is unmatched by anyone in the area.
Secondly, the Bulldogs have an intangible working here — specifically a last-second miracle touchdown scored by Hawley’s
Camden Ables from 45 yards out with 0:47 left in last year’s game.
DISTRICT 4-4A DIV. II WEEK 10 REPORT: Godley, Dunbar and Glen Rose notch victories
Godley 65, Venus 0 — The Wildcats rushed for 241 yards as a team to beat Venus.
Shawn Kazouh led the way with 109 yards and two scores on six carries. Christian Escobedo added 97 yards on eight carries and another score.
Godley improved to 5-4 overall and 2-2 in league play.
Venus fell to 0-9 and 0-4.
GAME STORY: Glen Rose races past previously unbeaten Benbrook for ninth consecutive district title
FORT WORTH — Canyon Evans completed his first 10 passes, threw for four touchdowns and accumulated 259 passing yards to lead Glen Rose to a resounding 52-14 win over previously unbeaten Benbrook on Friday night in a battle matching the District 4-4A Division II leaders at Herman Clark Stadium.
Evans struck early (on the game’s second play) and often, and the question of “who will win this touted matchup?” quickly transformed into “by how many points will the Tigers prevail?”
The answer, 38, represented an exclamation point, not only for the game, but for the district championship, as Glen Rose secured its eighth straight title and ran its record to 7-2 overall and 4-0 in district. With one game left, the Tigers can’t be supplanted as league champ and will represent 4-4A Division II as the top seed. Benbrook is now 8-1 and 3-1.
DISTRICT 4-4A DIV. II WEEK 9 REPORT: Glen Rose, Benbrook both win, setting up district showdown
Glen Rose 58, Venus 0 — 
The Tigers (6-2, 3-0) had little trouble putting away struggling Venus team (0-8, 0-3).
Christian Ballesteros was among the notables for Glen Rose, contributing eight tackles to the shutout.
BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Loboes play host to Hawley in Big Country Preps Game of the Week
LAST WEEK: 41-10 .803
SEASON TOTAL: 367-108, .772
Football season doesn’t feel complete without at least one visit to Chesley Field in Cisco. And Friday night, the Big Country Preps Game of the Week will stop by for a crucial District 4-2A DI matchup between the Loboes (5-2, 1-1) and Hawley (7-0, 2-0).
For Hawley, a win here will keep open the possibility of an unbeaten regular season. For Cisco, a victory would signal the beginning of a climb back into area prominence.
Big Country Volleyball Statistical Leaders (as submitted by area coaches through Oct. 22)
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m. roughout the regular season.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
DISTRICT 4-4A DIV. II WEEK 7 REPORT: Glen Rose, Benbrook and Hillsboro open district play with wins
Glen Rose 45, Godley 35 — Canyon Evans threw for 309 yards and four scores and Josiah Groeneweg rushed for 94 yards and another score to lift Glen Rose (4-2, 1-0) to a win in its district opener.
Godley (3-3, 0-1) was led by Wyatt Burke, with 287 yards passing for three scores.
BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Comanche plays host to Jim Ned (w/ Evan Ren’s Big Country Picks)
LAST WEEK: 32-12, .809
SEASON TOTAL: 279-91, .757
Now it’s time to get down to business.
With most of the Big Country taking an open date last Friday as a prelude to district play, we now dive headfirst into the games that count the most.
District play opens tomorrow for most leagues in the area, the intensity of which is already tangible.
Can you feel it?
We’ll see you on the road.
Here’s this week’s area picks:
BIG COUNTRY PREPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Coahoma has planted a Vineyard in its backfield
With the bulk of the area’s football teams taking the night off in a bye week prior to district, the question last Friday was if we could find an ample supply of top games and top performances to cover.
We actually found several — topped by a show-stopping effort by Coahoma’s Jaidyn Vineyard in an unforgettable 71-70 win over Littlefield in our Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
DISTRICT 4-4A DIV. II WEEK 5 REPORT: Glen Rose falls to high-powered Alvarado
Alvarado 71, Glen Rose 50 — 
With starting quarterback Canyon Evans nursing an injury to his non-throwing shoulder, the Tigers lacked the firepower to keep up with unbeaten Alvarado.
Cardea Collier rushed for 318 yards and threw for 268 to lead Alvarado (5-0) which might be fielding the best team it’s had in more than 10 years.
Glen Rose (3-2) was led by Josiah Groeneweg with 296 yards rushing and three scores on 32 carries.
BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Rattlers play host to Comanche
LAST WEEK: 47-11, .810
SEASON TOTAL: 141-59, .705
After nosediving in Week 2 with one of the worst pick records I’ve ever had, the column rebounded in Week 3 with an .810 percentage to push my overall tally over .700 again.
As for this week’s Big Country Preps Game of the Week, Mr. Yale Youngblood will be on hand in Tolar to cover Comanche’s road game with the Rattlers in what should be a fun one.
I’ll be heading to Ballinger, where the Bearcats (3-0) will play host to Brady (2-1) in a battle of upstarts.
Let’s dive into this week’s picks:
BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: High-powered Glen Rose passing game lifts Tigers to win at Brownwood
BROWNWOOD — Wins are seldom easy for visitors at Gordon Wood Stadium, but the Glen Rose Tigers managed to make it look that way on Friday with a 44-16 win over the Lions in the Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
Canyon Evans hit 27 of 35 passes for 327 yards and three touchdowns and Keltyn Raymond added two important rushing TDS to lead the Tigers (3-0), who used a 27-0 second quarter to ruin Brownwood’s home opener.
“Canyon and our receivers are so well-synced,” Glen Rose coach Cliff Watkins said. “They do such a good job of knowing where the windows are and where they need to get to.
BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Glen Rose visits Brownwood (w/ Evan Ren’s Big Country Picks)
LAST WEEK: 46-28, .621
SEASON TOTAL: 94-48, .661
Abysmal.
That’s about the only adjective that comes to mind when trying to describe my Big Country football picks, which are off to the single worst start through two weeks that I’ve ever experienced in 18 years of covering area football.
A percentage of .621 after two weeks of play is beatable by throwing darts, flipping coins, or even consulting with your local horoscope page. Yet here I sit, trying to dig myself out of the hole I’ve created. But enough of that, Glen Rose at Brownwood is our Big Country Preps Game of the Week, in a week filled with interesting matchups.
Let’s have a look at them:
DISTRICT 4-4A DIV. II WEEK 2 REPORT: Glen Rose, Benbrook, Dunbar, Godley impressive in wins
Glen Rose 28, Gatesville 12 — Normally explosive Glen Rose is also playing some serious defense, allowing only 26 points to date and limiting Gatesville to 12 in Friday’s road win.
Lineman Keltyn Raymond led the effort on Friday with 10 tackles, including six solos. Caden Marrs wasn’t far behind, finishing with nine total stops.
DISTRICT 4-4A DIV. II WEEK 1 REPORT: Tigers open with easy win over Grandview
Glen Rose 49, Grandview 14 — Canyon Evans threw for 329 yards and five scores to lead Glen Rose to a rout of Grandview at home.
Braylon Reid led the Tigers in rushing with 62 yards and one score on 10 carries.
Glen Rose (1-0) will take on Gatesville (1-0) next Friday on the road.
BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Albany travels to Stamford in Game of the Week
LAST WEEK: 0-0, .000
SEASON TOTAL: 00-00, .000
Week 1 is often loaded with difficult picks and 2024 is no exception.
Our first slate of games this year has a number of contests that could have qualified for the Big Country Preps Game of the Week. But we finally settled on Albany at Stamford for the spotlight.
The two-time defending state 2A DII state champions, minus several key players lost to graduation, facing a Stamford club bringing back most of its skill and a ton of speed.
GLEN ROSE FEATURE: Glen Rose quarterback hopes to emerge further ahead then where he left off in 2023
Action photos provided by Jay Hinton Photography
GLEN ROSE — In 2023, Glen Rose quarterback Canyon Evans pieced together an eye-popping season, hitting 305 of 485 passes for 4,577 yards and 49 touchdowns.
In the process, he helped the Tigers to a 10-5 record (after a 1-4 start), a District 4-4A DII championship, a Region I-4A DII title and a trip to the state semifinals.
He did, however, have a few things to work on — namely a season interception count of 21 and a notable lack of footspeed that limited the Tigers’ options.
None of this was lost on Evans, a 17-year-old senior who has spent a considerable amount of offseason time working on both issues. And in the view of the Glen Rose staff, he’s nearly got both of them conquered.
“I’m a pocket passer at heart and that’s what I love to do,” Evans said. “But if I can run — and I worked on it during the offseason — maybe we can incorporate that into the game.”
2024 GLEN ROSE FOOTBALL PREVIEW: Tigers loaded in 2024
GLEN ROSE — After pushing all the way to the Class 4A DII state semifinals for two straight years, the Glen Rose Tigers and coach Cliff Watkins have set a high standard for themselves.
The good news for the Tigers is that they may have the weapons to meet, or even surpass their recent efforts, which has seen their seasons ended by eventual state champions (Carthage and Gilmer) in back-to-back state semis.
Can they get there in 2024? The numbers would suggest a solid opportunity, with nine offensive and six defensive starters back among 27 lettermen.
COUNTDOWN TO TWO-A-DAYS: The Glen Rose Tigers … five days to two-a-days
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. 21. 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. 5, we’ll be spotlighting each 11-man team in the area and posing some of the key questions they’ll face in 2024 as part of our annual “Countdown to Two-a-Days” series.
Today, we take a look at the Glen Rose Tigers.
Continue reading “COUNTDOWN TO TWO-A-DAYS: The Glen Rose Tigers … five days to two-a-days”