Brownwood 13, Wylie 7 — Four empty red zone trips, including three inside the BHS 10-yard line, proved too much for the Bulldogs to overcome in a tough home loss to the Lions.
A pair of unsuccessful field goals, a fumble and a turnover on downs kept Wylie from capitalizing on a 301-250 yardage advantage, as the Bulldogs only points came on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Jadin Karleskint to Dylan Regala with a 1:40 remaining in the game.
San Angelo Central 28, Abilene High 23 — A slow start proved too much to overcome as the Eagles’ attempt to rally out of a 21-3 third-quarter hole came up just short in a hard-fought loss to the Bobcats.
AHS, which got two touchdown passes and a scoring run from quarterback Tristan Beal, outscored Central 20-14 in the second half, but a 14-3 halftime deficit, which grew to 18 points after a blocked punt was returned for a touchdown, was too big a gap to close.
AZLE — Cooper never trailed until the final minute of its season opener at Azle on Friday, but Auston Morgan’s fourth touchdown pass of the evening — a 38-yard strike to Kaden Haas with 57 seconds remaining — left the Cougars on the wrong side of a 28-24 heartbreaker in Scott Stewart’s first game as head coach.
The Cougars outgained the Hornets 270-159, limiting Azle to minus-19 yards on the ground, but the home team found a way to rally from a 21-7 second-quarter deficit to pull even in the third period.
And after kicker Felipe Herrera gave Cooper a 24-21 lead with 9:56 to play in the fourth, the Hornets completed the comeback with less than a minute to play when Morgan found Haas for the winning score.
SAN ANGELO — A slow start and potentially back-breaking special teams play out of halftime left the Abilene High football team in need of a substantial fourth-quarter comeback Friday, and the Eagles almost pulled one off in their season opener at San Angelo Central.
AHS rallied from a 21-3 third-quarter deficit to pull within one score midway through the final period, and the Eagles got the ball back in the final minute with a chance to complete the comeback. But a Hail Mary attempt from their own side of the field was batted away on the final play, allowing the Bobcats to celebrate a 28-23 victory in the 100th all-time meeting between the teams.
Friday’s outcome snapped Abilene High’s three-game winning streak against Central, giving the Bobcats a narrow 48-47-5 lead in a series that dates back to 1910.
The Brownwood football team scored on three of its four trips to the red zone and turned Wylie away without points four times inside its own 20-yard line Friday at Hugh Sandifer Stadium.
At the end of a physical, hard-fought season opener between the teams, that discrepancy was the difference and deciding factor in what would prove in the final minutes to be a thrilling 13-7 Lions victory.
Wylie outgained Brownwood 301-250 and limited the Lions to a single touchdown, but three fruitless trips inside the BHS 10 left the Bulldogs down 13-0 with 2:13 to play in the game. The home team finally got on the board after that with a quick-strike score and recovered an onside kick with just under 1:40 to play, but the Lions came up with one final red-zone stop in the final minute to seal the win.
After a week of highlighting area playmakers, we wrap up our eight-part preseason position rankings series with the Big Country’s best signal callers.
To complete our look at the area’s top players, we’ve ranked our top 15 quarterbacks with a list of others to watch in 2026.
We hope you enjoy this list and that you’ve enjoyed our position rankings as we get set to kick off a new season.
7 p.m. Friday, San Angelo Stadium
7 p.m. Friday, Hornet Field, Azle
7 p.m. Friday, Hugh Sandifer Stadium, Abilene
As we wind down our eight-part preseason position rankings series, we arrive finally at the Big Country’s top ball-carriers.
After breaking down this year’s crop of receivers and tight ends earlier today, we move now to the area’s top backs, ranking our top 15 with a list of others to watch in 2026. Don’t forget to check in tomorrow when we conclude our series with the top 10 area quarterbacks.
We hope you enjoy this list and encourage you to check out the other position groups, which are linked below.
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we’ll post our picks for all of that week’s 11-man games and select six-man games, in addition to the results of our weekly fan polls for each matchup.
Disagree with our picks or the fan poll consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
We’re approaching the final stretch of our eight-part preseason position rankings series, and it’s time to look at the Big Country’s top receivers.
After starting the offensive portion of our series with the linemen, we now shift our attention to the playmakers on the perimeter, ranking our top 15 wideouts/tight ends with a list of others to watch in 2026.
We hope you enjoy our list and encourage you to check out the other position groups, which are linked below.
With the defensive and special teams rankings behind us, it’s time to look at the area’s top offensive players. And we’ll start with the foundation of any productive offense: the offensive line.
For the fifth installment of our eight-part preseason position rankings series, we turn our attention to the trenches, ranking the Big Country’s top 15 offensive linemen with a list of others to watch in 2026.
We hope you enjoy reading through our rankings.
After recognizing the top defensive players throughout the Big Country over the past three days, it’s time to honor the specialists.
We continue our eight-part preseason position rankings series by naming our top 10 kickers and top three punters to watch this fall.
We hope you enjoy this list and that you have enjoyed our position rankings as we get set to kickoff the 2026 season.
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we offer fans the chance to pick the winners of all games involving our local and area football teams. The results of these weekly polls, which will close at 5 p.m. each Thursday, will be included in our weekly Pick ‘Em Panel.
Here are the games for Week 1:
Continue reading “WEEK 1 FAN POLLS … Pick this week’s 11-man winners!”
After starting with the linemen and linebackers, we turn to the defensive backfield to complete our look at the top defenders in the Big Country.
For the third installment in our eight-part preseason position rankings series, we shift our focus to the secondary, giving our list of the area’s top 15 defensive backs and others to look out for in 2026.
We hope you enjoy our list.
After taking a look at the Big Country’s top defensive linemen last night, it’s now time to examine those who will backing them in 2026.
Continuing with Big Country Preps’ eight-part preseason position rankings series, here’s our top 15 linebackers to watch this fall, as well as a list of the others we’re expecting big things from.
We hope you enjoy our list.
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 2026.
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 15 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.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps Preseason Football Position Rankings: Defensive Linemen”
The time has arrived for us to make our Big Country predictions, district-by-district.
Several weeks of research and two solid months of summertime labor have gone into this, so we’re more than ready to post it.
With that please dive in and study our take on the upcoming season, along with the more than 80 preseason stories we posted earlier today. Enjoy! We’ll see you on the road!
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.
But be advised: This roadmap almost always begins taking some detours by Week 4 or 5 when some of the area’s surprise teams emerge. And make no mistake, there are always surprises.
That’s half the fun.
The past two years, Tristan Beal represented half of one of the more unique quarterback situations in the state of Texas, sharing the trigger-man position with dynamic athlete Brayden Henry in a true QB tandem.
Used primarily as a pocket passer to complement Henry’s explosiveness in the quarterback run game, Beal shined, playing a prominent role in back-to-back district championships for the Eagles.
With Henry graduating and moving to the college ranks at Division II Colorado State University Pueblo last spring, Beal will take over the quarterback position in a more traditional way this fall. And the experience he gained while passing for 3,068 yards with a 36-to-8 touchdown-to-interception ratio as a sophomore and junior has the now-veteran signal caller — and his coach — feeling really good about the situation.
After going undefeated through league play last year to extend their district championship streak to three years, the Abilene High Eagles could look a little different in 2026.
In addition to replacing offensive coordinator Colby Hartfield, who left in the spring to take the same position at Dallas-Fort Worth area power Denton Guyer, AHS will likely be playing more young players than fans have grown accustomed to seeing during the Eagles’ program-reestablishing run.
Charged with replacing 30 lettermen, including six starters on both sides of the football, Fullen will be leaning on a talented group of sophomores to fill holes around his 29 returners. And while inexperience could lead to some growing pains early, the veteran coach is confident this team will rise to meet the program’s lofty expectations.
With 42 returning lettermen on this year’s roster, the Wylie football team will have experience back at virtually every position. But the Bulldogs’ linebacking corps, in particular, could be an embarrassment of riches.
In Bo Kates, Cooper Hill, Landry Pate and converted safety Carter Nelson, WHS will have four seniors starting at the position this fall — all with at least one season of varsity starting experience under their belt.
And with a combined 384 tackles, 34 tackles for loss, nine sacks and one interception collected among that group a year ago, coach Clay Martin is expecting that quartet to help lead a defensive resurgence in 2026.
Last year, the Wylie football team found itself on the wrong end of a three-way tie for third place in District 2-5A Division II, resulting in the Bulldogs left on the outside of the playoff picture for the first time since 2021 and just the fourth time since 1993.
With a remarkable 42 lettermen returning from that 5-5 squad, including seven offensive and eight defensive starters, coach Clay Martin’s squad has every intention of capping that drought at a single season.
With experience at virtually every position group and chip on their shoulder, the Bulldogs will be looking to return to district title contention this fall — an even-year tradition for WHS since 2022.
At 5-foot-8 and 180 pounds, Jamarion Dunson won’t be the biggest linebacker on any field he takes, but there’s high likelihood that the Cooper senior will be one of, if not the best prepared.
And as a direct result, there’s also a good chance he’ll be one of the most productive.
A true student of the game who loves practice and lives in the film room, Dunson reads and reacts with an efficiency that allows him to play even faster than he is. And due in large part to the preparation he puts in to be ready for Friday nights, he’s grown into a natural leader for the Cougars through his play, words and example.
The Scott Stewart era is set to begin at Cooper, and the longtime Cougars assistant feels this year’s team is both ready and equipped to continue a run of success that has seen the program produce 19 consecutive playoff seasons.
With 26 lettermen returning, including five offensive and six defensive starters, and call-ups from a 9-1 junior varsity team filling any gaps created by graduated losses, the CHS staff feels good about the nucleus it’s building from this fall.
That, combined with a smooth transition from former coach Aaron Roan, who resigned in May to become the associate athletic director for Abilene ISD, to Stewart — Roan’s longtime defensive coordinator — has both the coaches and players excited about their chances of contending in District 2-5A Division II and beyond in 2026.
When he was in high school, Webb Murphy was part of the offensive line at Cooper that paved the way for Dominic Rhodes to run roughshod over opponents.
Leading a program for the second time, following a one-year stint in Munday in 2022, Murphy is excited about being a head coach again, and a key point of emphasis is making sure that the big bodies up front are taken care of in practice and games.
Murphy was not hired by Abilene TLCA until April, and he immediately went to work trying to get some depth in the program.
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: 2026 Texas State LineMAN Challenge (221 photos)”
Abilene ISD has named Cooper football coach Aaron Roan as the district’s new assistant athletic director as he will replace the retiring Lou Mora as Jim Garfield’s right-hand man.
Roan has spent the past eight seasons leading the Cougars program, compiling a 52-40 record in making the playoffs each season. His deepest playoff run came in 2019, when he led the Cougars to the third round of the playoffs. Cooper won six playoff games under Roan.
Roan said he’s excited about the challenge that lays ahead and that a move to athletics administration has been something that he’s considered for some time.
A busy week across the Big Country that began Monday with the University Interscholastic League’s biennial realignment continued Wednesday with National Signing Day ceremonies at all three local high schools.
Abilene High and Cooper each had three football players put pen to paper, joining a fourth at each school who had already made his commitment official. And Wylie, meanwhile, had a pair of athletes sign to compete collegiately — one in football and another in soccer.
In all, eight local boys signed at their respective Signing Day ceremonies, earning celebration from family, friends and their high school coaches.
Of all the Big Country area collegiate signees in the 2025-26 school year, what would the odds be for two of them to be from a tiny school from the six-man ranks? And what would the odds be that both would sign to participate in two sports?
What are the odds that they would have the same last name yet be of no relation? And what would the odds be that both would play in the prestigeous Military Appreciation Bowl in Frisco on Dec. 21 (featuring several of the top players in the country)?
Would the planets have to be aligned for both of them to be among the top academic athletes in the Big Country? Or for them both to sign with separate military academies to participate as two-sport athletes at the DI level?
While area coaches and athletic directors were left scrambling to adjust to the unexpected new districts they were placed in on Monday during the University Interscholastic League’s biennial realignment, the leaders of Abilene’s three largest football programs shared a stress-free day in the Metroplex at the Birdville ISD Fine Arts/Athletic Complex.
Abilene High, Cooper and Wylie saw minimal changes to their football district alignments when those were made public at 9 a.m., as the Eagles remained in District 2-5A Division I with Amarillo High, Amarillo Caprock, Amarillo Tascosa, Frenship Memorial, Lubbock High, Lubbock Monterey and Wolfforth Frenship and the Cougars and Bulldogs stayed in District 2-5A DII with Amarillo Palo Duro, Lubbock Cooper, Lubbock Coronado, Wichita Falls Legacy and Wichita Falls Memorial.
Adding to the largely mundane nature of Monday’s proceedings, the three schools also remained in a five-team District 4-5A for their other sports, staying with the two Wichita Falls schools in an unchanged league.
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.
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 Rising Stars Team — an honor reserved for the area’s top freshman and sophomore football players. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
For the second year in a row, the University of Texas-El Paso football coach Scotty Walden found a member of his recruiting class in Abilene as the Miners signed Cooper defensive lineman Dycin Davis to a Letter of Intent on Wednesday morning.
Davis’ addition came one year after the Miners signed former Abilene High wide receiver Ryland Bradford.
Along with Davis, UTEP’s class on the first day that high school seniors could sign also included Brock’s Colt Matlock, who the program advertised as a defensive signee. UTEP signed a total of 25 players on Wednesday with 23 Texas high school players being joined by two additions from the transfer portal.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Abilene High-Denton Ryan area-round football playoff (115 images)”
GODLEY — Heading into its Region I-5A Division II area-round matchup with state-ranked Argyle, the Cooper football team knew its margin for error would be narrow if it hoped to advance past the Eagles and into the third round of the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
So when the Cougars found themselves down 14-0 just 32 seconds in, it became clear pretty quickly that they might be in for a long night.
That disastrous start set the course for a 77-35 loss at Wildcat Stadium, ending Cooper’s best season in five years at 7-5. And though neither the process nor the outcome matched that which he and his players were hoping for Friday night, coach Aaron Roan left the stadium proud of how his team continued to fight no matter how deep the hole got — a hallmark of a 2025 squad that handled adversity and itself well all season.
FORT WORTH — Friday night’s Region I-5A Division I area round showdown between No. 10 Abilene High and No. 4 Denton Ryan at Crowley ISD Multi-Purpose Stadium started badly for the Eagles and quickly went downhill from there as the Raiders rolled to a 59-0 win.
Quin Henigan threw for 319 yards and six touchdowns as Ryan put up 453 yards of offense, avenging a 31-21 loss in the same round of the 2023 playoffs.
Abilene High coach Mike Fullen fully shouldered the blame for the loss as AHS had just 246 yards of offense and turned the ball over four times.
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we’ll post our picks for all of that week’s 11-man games, in addition to the results of our weekly fan polls for each matchup.
For those interested in voting, polls go up on Sunday night each week and close Thursday evening.
Disagree with our picks or the fan poll consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
LAST WEEK: 28-3, .903
SEASON TOTAL: 500-104, .828
Before I get going this week, I’d like to thank those of you who have sent me all of the well-wishes over the past month, which has seen my wife and I suffering through two deaths in our families and me going through two separate stays in the hospital with a minor surgery thrown in for good measure.
It’s been a bear, but it’s good to be back again and we appreciate all of your kindness.
Here’s this week’s playoff forecast:
TOP MATCHUPS
CISCO (10-1) VS. PANHANDLE (9-2)
I seldom pick upsets when the spread is more than 20 points, but the 23-point number in this game comes with a unique intangible.
The Loboes are 4-0 in games decided by two scores or less while Panhandle, which has destroyed nearly everything in its path this year, is 0-2 in the only close games it has experienced (Dalhart and Stinnett West Texas).
The first week of the playoffs is in the books, and that’s a good thing for those who enjoy competitive games.
The area’s bi-district round was marked by excellent performances — both team and individual — but it largely rendered lopsided results, as all but three games involving Big Country Preps squads ended by mercy rule.
It’s time now to take a look at the teams that are still standing and the individual performances that have them in that position in this week’s “Big Country Rewind.” We hope you enjoy this look back at Week 12.
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.
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we offer fans the chance to pick the winners of all games involving our local and area football teams. The results of these weekly polls, which will close at 5 p.m. each Thursday, will be included in our weekly Pick ‘Em Panel.
Here are the games for Week 13:
Trailing 24-7 at halftime and struggling to contain El Paso Chapin quarterback Daveon Singleton, the Cooper football team found itself in a deep hole Friday in its Region I-5A Division II bi-district game at Shotwell Stadium.
But it wasn’t deep enough to bury a Cougars team that has stood tall in the face of adversity all season long.
Using a big special teams to play to turn the momentum on the opening kickoff of the second half, Cooper outscored the Huskies 35-11 over the final two quarters to rally for a dramatic 42-35 win, advancing to the area round of the playoffs to take on fifth-ranked Argyle next week.
We’ve reached Week 12 and with it comes the start of the high school football playoffs. While a handful of area teams kicked off their postseason runs on Thursday, most of the Big Country’s most competitive matchups are still to come.
As we did in the regular season, we’ll continue to preview each week’s top matchups through the playoffs here in our “Big Country Lookahead” column.
We’ve got plenty to talk about, so let’s go ahead and dive in. And be sure to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for results as these games go final.
Continue reading “SIX-MAN LOOKAHEAD: Playoffs open with strong slate of area matchups”
