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 2021.
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 10 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.
Without further ado it is time for us to make our Big Country predictions, district-by-district.
This is the culmination of several weeks of research and two solid months of summertime labor, so we’re more than ready to post it.
Every year, one of the things I look forward to most, is mapping out the upcoming football season — charting the games I believe will have the greatest impact.
First and foremost, it’s a preseason menu for area fans who enjoy driving to some of the Big Country’s best football games on a weekly basis. Call it a football roadmap of sorts.
HAMLIN — If I were a head football coach, the road I’d take would be paved with cupcakes, apathetic fans and a rock-solid retirement plan.
That’s one of the many reasons I’m not a coach.
You can’t take that approach and ever achieve any level of significance in a game that teaches us to accept challenges and work to overcome them.
HAMLIN — With only three offensive and one defensive starter back, and standout players such as Braydin Warner (QB), Cutter Martin (WR/DB) and Jackson Sepeda (RB/LB) having graduated, Hamlin is facing a challenge in 2021.
The talent that posted a 24-4 record over the last two seasons is gone, leaving first-year coach Chris Evans with the task of reconstructing one of the area’s most successful teams.
With Evan and Dan taking a brief summer break, we present the Best of the Capital Farm Credit Wednesday Night Podcast.
Tonight: Coach Russell Lucas speaks of his move from Hamlin to Sweetwater. Original airdate: March 17, 2021.
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 Saturday, Aug. 14. 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. 2, we’ll be spotlighting each 11-man team in the area and posing some of the key questions they’ll face in 2021 as part of our annual “Countdown to Two-a-Days” series.
We start in Class 2A Division II with the Hamlin Pied Pipers. On Thursday we will take a look at the Roscoe Plowboys, followed by the Albany Lions on Friday.
How many of you once dreamed of hitting a game-winning homerun or shooting the game-winning shot to win a championship?
Hamlin senior Jenna Vancleave experienced the track and field equivalent of the same dream on Friday in Austin, only she had an even greater sense of urgency.
Not only did Vancleave win the girls 2A discus state title on the final throw of the competition at the state meet, but she did it on what she knew would be the final throw of her career. Her performance shares the spotlight with Wylie’s Kylor Aguilar, who took gold in the boys 5A pole vault.
“I just came in hoping for the best,” Vancleave said. “It was all in God’s hands.
“I was very nervous. My stomach hurt so bad, but my coaches talked to me and calmed me down. They were like, ‘You’ve just got to throw. Let it loose and relax.’ So I took that advice and and apparently it worked.”
CHECK FOR LIVE UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY AT BIGCOUNTRYPREPS.COM
Continue reading “LIVE: State Track and Field Meet medalists and Big Country Placings (DAY 1)”
Having already released our picks for the girls state track meet earlier this evening, we now present the boys event, using the same approach.
We’ll comb through each event involving a Big Country athlete (or athletes) and assess if they are favorites, dark horses or long shots to get on the medal stand.
Let’s not waste any time. Let’s dive in.
I don’t care who you are — even if you’re a non-fan when it comes to track and field.
The excitement of the state meet in Austin will capture your attention if you catch sight or sound of it. It’s inescapable.
And once per year, it is my pleasure to examine the multitude of Big Country athletes heading to Austin for the event and pick who we can expect to see on the medal stand from our area.
Let’s begin with the girls side, looking at each event in which a Big Country athlete has qualified for state.
Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through April 29:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
Photos courtesy of Gary Ford
HAMLIN — The first time Charlie Shira sat behind a microphone to work PA at Hamlin High School, Ronald Reagan was President, “Dallas” was the top-rated show on television and the Space Shuttle had yet to get off a launch pad.
That’s a long time ago.
Some four decades later, Shira was honored prior to Tuesday’s Hamlin baseball game with Forsan in a brief ceremony to commemorate his years of service to HHS and to acknowledge his retirement from PA announcing.
It brought to a close a career that included 40 years of track, 30 years of baseball and 25 years of football as the “Voice of the Pipers.”
In a week filled with unforgettable moments, several of our nominees handed in by area coaches could justifiably be called our Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week.
We finally settled on Clyde sophomore Payton Phillips, who stunned attendees at the Region I-3A meet by taking gold in both the long jump (18 feet, 6 inches) and the 100 hurdles (15.12) — breaking school records that were 25 and 15 years old, respectively.
SPRINGTOWN — The Haskell girls track team made a remarkable showing at the Region I-2A track meet Friday and Saturday at Porcupine Stadium, sweeping all three relays to run away with the team title.
The Maidens finished with 106 points to top second-place Stamford by 26 points, headlining an outstanding weekend for Big Country athletes and teams.
In all, area competitors accounted for 33 total metals and 26 state berths, with the bulk of those coming on the girls side of things. Big Country girls claimed 10 gold medals and eight silvers out of their 23 total medals.
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through April 22:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches as of April 22. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through April 22:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches as of April 22. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
HAMLIN — The Hamlin school board approved the hiring of Wheeler’s Chris Evans to be the Pied Pipers’ new head football coach and athletic director at a school board meeting on Monday night.
Evans, who will be replacing new Sweetwater coach Russell Lucas, went 33-16 in four seasons at Wheeler, following up a 6-6 record in his first year in 2017 with records of 8-4, 10-3 and 9-3.
His 2017 squad lost to the Pied Pipers 47-27 in the area round of the playoffs, and Hamlin defeated the Mustangs 56-22 in a regional semifinal as the team made its run to the state championship game in 2019. Continue reading “BREAKING: Hamlin makes hire for new head football coach, athletic director”
Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through April 15:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches as of April 15. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through April 15:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches as of April 15. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through April 8:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches as of April 8. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through April 8:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches as of April 8. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
While scoring and rebounding garner much of the attention in basketball, there are other elements, crucial to success, that seldom grab headlines.
Behind the scenes is where character, effort and sacrifice set the foundation for teams to reach their full potential. And it is with our Big Country Preps Gym Rat Team that we salute the individuals who bring these elements to the table.
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 outworking, outhustling and outgiving everyone around you, both on the floor and off. Hard-working, honest, selfless, tough, coachable kids are what we seek for this roster.
A Gym Rat Team member can be your best player or the last player off the bench. But the one thing all of them bring is an uncompromisingly good attitude.
It is for that reason that our Gym Rat Team is selected entirely by area coaches. And Big Country Preps is truly honored to present these individuals to you — the best “team players” (boys and girls) that the area had to offer during the 2020-21 season.
Players are listed in no particular order.
Enjoy.
THIS WEEK: Hamlin’s Russell Lucas talks about his move to Sweetwater