Category: Hamlin Pied Pipers

by Brandon McAuliffe

FEATURE: PlayMaker deals with change to continue its mission

Over its first five years, the annual PlayMaker: Making A Difference even has dealt with a constant venue change — never being held in the same spot twice.

This year’s event, however, saw a change that Hamlin football coach (and event organizer) Russell Lucas couldn’t have even predicted.

Slated to be a three-day retreat at co-organizer Dan Byerly’s ranch south of Hamlin (the sixth venue in the event’s six years), Lucas and his staff had to call a late audible Saturday morning to move the event from the ranch to Hamlin High School.

Yes, a second venue for this year.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Daniel Youngblood

BCP Podcast No. 38: Evan, Daniel discuss All-Big Country Preps basketball teams

In this week’s Capital Farm Credit Wednesday Night Podcast, Evan Ren and Daniel Youngblood discuss the inaugural All-Big Country Preps boys and girls basketball teams, giving insight into the selection process and sharing their opinions the superlative award winners and first-tema selections.

To read more on this year’s selections, click the links below:

by Evan Ren

All-Big Country Preps Girls Basketball Team: First-Team Roster

Here are our third-team selections for the inaugural All-Big Country Preps girls basketball team. For the rest of this year’s boys and girls basketball selections, click the links below.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Evan Ren

All-Big Country Preps Girls Basketball Team: Second-Team Roster

Here are our third-team selections for the inaugural All-Big Country Preps girls basketball team. For the rest of this year’s boys and girls basketball selections, click the links below.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Evan Ren

All-Big Country Preps Girls Basketball Team: Third-Team Roster (w/ honorable mention)

Here are our third-team selections for the inaugural All-Big Country Preps girls basketball team. For the rest of this year’s boys and girls basketball selections, click the links below.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Goswick leads Westbrook girls past Hamlin, into second round

MERKEL — Miranda Goswick and the Westbrook Lady Wildcats were too much for Hamlin on Monday, riding an early 14-2 lead to a 52-38 win in a Region II-1A bi-district playoff at Badger Gym.

Goswick, a 6-foot-1 senior post, put on a clinic inside, hurting the Lady Pipers for 26 points to help her team improve to 18-8 and advance to take on District 16-1A champion Benjamin (25-5) later this week in the area round.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Daniel Youngblood

DANIEL YOUNGBLOOD: This week in Big Country boys basketball (Feb. 3-9)

It’s hard to believe, but there only three dates remaining on the boys basketball schedule.

After Tuesday and Friday, most local and area teams will have just one game remaining to either fight their way into the playoffs or improve their seeding with a big win.

That makes all games this week important, whether teams are playing for their playoff lives/positioning or to spoil those of their opponents. We’ve got a great slate of games coming up, so let’s take a look forward to the biggest of those and back at the biggest developments last week brought.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Brandon McAuliffe

FEATURE: Kelly Jeffrey’s cancer fight ‘inspires’ Hamlin and family

UPDATE:  Hamlin assistant basketball coach Kelly Jeffrey passed away Tuesday, February 19. She leaves behind her husband Joe and five daughters: Kollin Smith, Erica Larry, Olivia Bradbury, Addie Jeffrey and Klaire Jeffrey. She is also survived by her parents John and Barbara Godfrey, one brother and her parents. The family is asking that memorials be made to the Hamlin Food Bank, the First Baptist Church Youth Mission Trip or the Coach Kelly Jeffrey Character, Courage and Commitment Scholarship Fund.

HAMLIN — Basketball took a back seat Friday night at Piper Court and for good reason.

For the second time in five years, Hamlin assistant girls basketball coach Kelly Jeffrey, 56, is fighting cancer, and the prognosis is not good.

What started off as breast cancer has since spread to Jeffrey’s brain, and the communities of Hamlin and Aspermont banded together to support the veteran coach of 32 years — 23 of which have been spent in Hamlin.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Aspermont girls clinch district championship; Hamlin boys stage furious rally

HAMLIN — The Roby girls basketball team had won 17 district titles in a row, but when Jerry Carrion took the job at Aspermont three years ago, he wanted his team to believe it could become champions.

With Friday’s 44-41 win over Hamlin at Piper Court, Carrion’s squad clinched the District 14-1A championship and the league’s top playoff seed as a result.

The win was the Lady Hornets’ third of the year over the Lady Pipers, and they have come by a combined six points.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Daniel Youngblood

DANIEL YOUNGBLOOD: This week in Big Country boys basketball (Jan. 27-Feb. 2)

We’ve hit the home stretch of the high school boys basketball season.

At this stage, not only is every game important, but they’re all rematches, which guarantees some bad blood to go with the desperation and urgency that make district title and playoff chases so much fun.

As always, we’ve got some big matchups to look forward to and some key developments to look back on, so let’s go ahead and jump in and see what’s in store for big country hoops fans this week.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Evan Ren

GAME STORY: Hamlin, Roby split district doubleheader (w/ box scores, photo gallery)

HAMLIN — It wasn’t a good night for shorthanded teams on Friday in a District 14-1A doubleheader that saw Roby and Hamlin split the girls-boys twin bill. 

The Roby girls hung on to win Game 1, 40-36, over a Hamlin team that suited only seven players and played only five. The Hamlin boys returned the favor in Game 2, handing a Roby team that only suited six players a 52-20 loss.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Evan Ren

Big Country Preps Player of the Week: Haskell’s Taylor, Hanson share first honor of ’19

Landry Hanson (C’Era Taylor shown above)

One of the biggest challenges with any Player of the Week column is breaking ties between comparable or equally impactful performances.

This is especially true when the players you’re deciding between play for the same team.

How do you decide who gave the better effort when both played key roles in the same unit’s success?

This week, we don’t.

After leading the No. 4 Haskell Maidens to a 7-0 record over the holidays, including an impressive 4-0 run through the always tough Eula Holiday Classic, junior guard Landry Hanson and senior post C’Era Taylor share our first Big Country Preps Player of the Week award of 2019.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Evan Ren

EVAN REN: This week in Big Country girls basketball (Jan. 6-12)

The holidays are behind us, the district races are heating up and we’re entering that oh-so-brief brief time of year when basketball is king in Texas. 

For the next six weeks, we will be focusing entirely on area hoops, keeping tabs on the developing playoff picture and which of our area teams has the best shot of reaching the state tournament. 

As always, that should prove interesting, given that the Big Country perennially has a handful of teams with a chance of reaching the Final Four. 

Top Upcoming Matchups: Tuesday night, it’s difficult not to like the matchup between Class 1A No. 24 Aspermont (18-2) and No. 25. Hamlin (15-6) — the winner of which will have a leg up in District 14-1A. This game is particularly important for AHS, which can help its own cause greatly by defending its home turf.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Daniel Youngblood

BCP Podcast Greatest Hits Part 2: Evan, Daniel revisit conversations with Duncan, Sandford, Lucas

With Big Country Preps’ Evan Ren and Daniel Youngblood taking a two-week break from the Capital Farm Credit Wednesday Night Podcast to celebrate the holidays, we take a look back at three more of our favorite interviews from the first six months of our weekly podcast.

In Part 2 of our two-part “Greatest Hits” series, we revisit our conversations with current Wichita Falls Times Record News sports writer Zach Duncan, Early football coach and former pro baseball scout Blake Sandford and Hamlin football coach Russell Lucas.

We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane.

by Daniel Youngblood

DANIEL YOUNGBLOOD: This week in boys basketball (Dec. 30-Jan. 5)

A second straight holiday week brings a light schedule for area boys basketball teams, but as the calendar turns from 2018 to 2019, all games played become more and more important.

Many Big Country teams have either already started district play or do so this week. And those that won’t be playing league games Friday will be preparing to do so in short order. If you’re a high school basketball fan, there’s a lot to like about this time of year.

Here’s a look at what you can look forward to this week in the Big Country and what you might have missed last week.

Top Upcoming Matchups: It’s tough to call any game played in the first week of January a must-win, but that could be the situation the Abilene High Eagles find themselves in Friday when they host San Angelo Central at 7:30 p.m.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Evan Ren

Anson Lions Club Tournament roundup

In an otherwise difficult tournament for Big Country area teams, it was the Roscoe Plowgirls who emerged with a chance at taking home a championship at the Anson Lions Club Tournament on Friday. 

Unfortunately, they had one rather large roadblock: The fifth-ranked undefeated Vega Lady Longhorns (24-0), who handed Roscoe a 58-22 loss in the title round. 

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Evan Ren

PHOTO GALLERY: Evan Ren’s Top 100 football photos for 2018

FEATURED SCHOOLS: Albany, Anson, Baird, Breckenridge, Brock, Brownwood, Clyde, Coahoma, Colorado City, Comanche, Cross Plains, Dublin, Eastland, Forsan, Hamlin, Haskell, Jim Ned, Merkel, Snyder, Stamford, Stephenville, Wall and Winters.

Photos may be purchased for $7 each by pushing the small shopping cart emblem below the lower right corner of the gallery.

by Daniel Youngblood

This week in boys basketball (Dec. 23-29)

Top Upcoming Matchups: With teams enjoying a mandatory five-day break for the holidays, we’ve got a back-loaded schedule this week. But that’s not to say it’s an uninteresting one.

In fact, with holiday tournaments scheduled throughout the state, including a few right here in the Big Country, it is anything but.

Headlining that list are the Eula Holiday Classic, Brownwood’s Texas Bank Holiday Classic and the Anson Lions Club Holiday Tournament, which combined will feature more than 20 Big Country boys basketball teams. 

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Daniel Youngblood

BCP Podcast No. 27: Evan, Daniel talk hoops, tackle all-state football snubs

In their final Capital Farm Credit Wednesday Night Podcast of 2018, Big Country Preps’ Evan Ren and Daniel Youngblood look back at Albany and Brock’s state semifinal losses, take a look at the area players who did — and didn’t — make the Associated Press all-state teams and talk about some of the top boys and girls basketball story lines of the early season. 

by Evan Ren

Big Country puts several on Class 2A all-state team

The 2018 Texas Associated Press Sports Editors Class 2A all-state high school football team was announced on Sunday, with several Big Country Players receiving honors.

Topping that list was Stamford quarterback Peyton Bevel, who was named Offensive Player of the Year after completing 196 passes in 309 attempts for 3,849 yards and 50 touchdowns during the regular season. 

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Evan Ren

Evan Ren’s Big Country Playoff picks: Albany, Brock head into state semis

LAST WEEK: 4-1, .800

SEASON TOTAL: 445-98, .820 

To my recollection, I’ve never gone into semifinal week with fewer than 100 missed picks on the year. While it has been common for this column to hit around 80 percent accuracy for a season, as a general rule, I’ll miss more than 100 picks along the way, with that number usually topped somewhere around the area round or regional semis. 

But here we are, still running at an all-time high .820 with just a handful of games left. Now that I’m done patting myself on the back, it’s time to jump into this week’s action. 

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Daniel Youngblood

BCP Podcast No. 26: Evan, Daniel talk Jim Ned hoops with Hunter Cooley

A former high school standout at Hawley and college All-American at Abilene Christian University who has led both the boys and girls basketball programs at Jim Ned, Hunter Cooley has been a part of the Big Country hoops scene for decades now.

This week, he took some time to talk a little basketball with Big Country Preps’ Evan Ren and Daniel Youngblood, touching the strength of this year’s Jim Ned girls team, his coaching career and his thoughts on the current state of the game in this week’s Capital Farm Credit Wednesday Night Podcast.

Also in this episode, Evan and Daniel bid farewell to the De Leon and Hamlin football teams and preview this week’s state semifinal games for Albany and Brock.

by Evan Ren

West has huge night to lead Albany to second win over Hamlin (box & photo gallery included)

If one player may serve as a microcosm of the remarkable turnaround seen by the Albany Lions this year, it may very well be quarterback Ben West. 

And if one West performance may exhibit that argument, then Thursday’s five touchdown-pass effort in a 41-27 regional title win over Hamlin is arguably the best example.  

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Evan Ren

BCP Week 15 Playoff forecast: Six Big Country teams remain (w/ Evan Ren’s playoff picks and BCP Drive-Time Podcast)

LAST WEEK: 7-2, .777

SEASON TOTAL: 441-98, .818 

I’ll be honest with you.

I didn’t expect to be forecasting five games this week, with six of our Big Country teams still showing a pulse.

Yet here we are. 

Hamlin, with its monumental upset of Wellington last week, blew up my pick and earned a second shot at its old nemesis, Albany.  And De Leon, another team I had designated to begin basketball season, dominated Riesel to keep on dancing in December. 

Continue reading “BCP Week 15 Playoff forecast: Six Big Country teams remain (w/ Evan Ren’s playoff picks and BCP Drive-Time Podcast)” →

by Evan Ren

EVAN REN: Albany, Hamlin rematch is a weird game in a weird season

Every football season has the unexpected. Every football season has its share of stunners. 

If that weren’t the case, the game would have been kicked to the curb and replaced with soccer a long time ago.

We live for the drama. We live for the shock to our system that only football can provide. 

But seriously, 2018 gave us an overdose. 

In fact, this entire season has been nothing short of weird. And everything surrounding this rematch between Albany and Hamlin on Thursday fits right in with the oddest football season in my recollection. 

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Daniel Youngblood

BCP Podcast No. 25: Evan, Daniel talk Brock football with coach Chad Worrell

In just eight years on the Brock campus, coach Chad Worrell has built the Eagle football program from scratch into a consistent state title threat. This year, he has his team in position for another run to AT&T Stadium, with his Eagles set for a Region I-3A Division I title clash with Shallowater on Thursday.

Worrell took some time this week to chat with Big Country Preps’ Evan Ren and Daniel Youngblood about that matchup, the success his program has enjoyed and his unique offensive and defensive schemes for the Capital Farm Credit Wednesday Night Podcast.

Also in this week’s episode, Evan and Daniel discuss the Big Country football teams lost during last week’s region semifinal round and those that will play for a region championship this week.

by Evan Ren

Big Country Preps Player of the Week: Hamlin’s Sepeda snags the accolade

Big Country Preps Player of the Week isn’t strictly about numbers. 

Sometimes, drama can be the deciding factor. And in that regard, Hamlin’s Jackson Sepeda takes home this week’s Oscar after helping Hamlin to an incredible 21-18 win over heavily favored Wellington — one of the biggest upsets the Big Country has seen in the last decade. 

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Daniel Youngblood

Hamlin pulls off stunner, upsets Wellington 21-18

IOWA PARK — The blueprint for any major upset typically includes three things: a fast start, a few breaks and gut check when momentum inevitably turns in the direction of the favored team.

The Hamlin Pied Pipers (12-1) checked all boxes in their stunning 21-18 win over top-ranked Wellington on Thursday in a Region II-2A Division II semifinal matchup at Hawk Stadium.

Coach Russell Lucas’ squad drove 55 yards for a touchdown on the game’s opening drive, led 13-0 at halftime thanks to a 99-yard fumble return and held off a Skyrocket rally over the final two quarters to extend its season with what may be biggest upset in Texas high school football this season.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Evan Ren

BCP Week 14 Playoff Forecast: Morton, Mavs face Shallowater (w/ Evan Ren’s playoff picks, BCP Drive-Time podcast)

LAST WEEK: 19-5, .791 

SEASON TOTAL: 434-96, .818 

Week 14 has seven of the Big Country’s 11-man teams still showing a pulse and an additional three in the six-man ranks still alive. 

And as one would expect, it only gets tougher from this point forward, with more than half of our teams projected as underdogs heading into this week’s action.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Daniel Youngblood

BCP Podcast No. 24: Albany’s Denney Faith talks Lion football with Evan, Daniel

One of the longest tenured and winningest coaches in Big Country history, Denney Faith has experienced more than his share of success in his three decades in Albany. So it should surprise no one that this area coaching legend has his Lions in the region semifinals once again despite an uncharacteristic 0-5 start to this season.

Faith took some time this week to chat with Big Country Preps’ Evan Ren and Daniel Youngblood about his team’s turnaround, this week’s playoff opponent and what has kept him in Albany all these years for this week’s Capital Farm Credit Wednesday Night Podcast.

Also in this episode, Evan and Daniel say goodbye to the team’s lost during last week’s area round of the football playoffs and look ahead to this week’s action.

by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Marshall closes great season with our weekly accolade

Aside from having what might be the single greatest hairdo in Big Country history (next to mine, of course), Hawley running back Colton Marshall closed a remarkable season on Friday, with yet another remarkable game. 

Rushing 36 times in a heartbreaking 37-36 loss to Sundown in the Region I-2A Division I area round, Marshall charted 213 yards and five touchdowns. 

With that performance, he finished the season with 282 carries for 1,935 yards and 27 scores, helping the Bearcats to a 10-2 record and earning our Big Country Preps Player of the Week. 

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Evan Ren

Class 2A Area-Round Report

Kevin Yeager

De Leon 31, Wolfe City 20 — The Bearcats (8-4) gained just 318 total yards in their Region II-2A Division I area-round matchup with Wolfe City, but it was enough when combined with a strong defensive performance to advance and earn a region semifinals date with Riesel (10-2).

Quarterback Kevin Yeager led De Leon, which extended a 21-7 to three touchdowns in the third quarter, rushing for 114 yards and two scores while passing for 124 yards and two more TDs

Jorge Gonzalez added 80 rushing yards, and Chris Cox and Emery Amick each caught TD passes.

The Bearcats will play Riesel at 7 p.m. Friday in Whitney for a chance to play in the region title game against the winner of San Saba (12-0) and Celeste (11-1).

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us
by Evan Ren

Evan Ren’s Area Round Forecast (released early for Thanksgiving)

LAST WEEK: 31-6, .837   

SEASON TOTAL: 415-91, .820 

Normally our playoff forecast is released on Thursdays. But, in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, we’re pushing it out a day early. 

I don’t mind saying, it has been a good year for the column, picking at nearly 84 percent in Week 12 and holding at 82 percent on the year.

You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please . Not a Member? Join Us