Abilene High 59, Lubbock Coronado 40 — Ryland Bradford received for 158 yards, rushed for 92 and scored five total touchdowns to lead the Eagles to a comfortable win over the Mustangs on a night when standout quarterback Brayden Henry was knocked out in the first half due to a lower-leg injury.
Sophomore Tristan Beal exceled in Henry’s absence, passing for 210 yards and two TDs, while running back Ethan Joyner also had a big game, rushing for 140 yards and two scores.
Wylie 70, Amarillo Palo Duro 28 — The Bulldogs dominated the Dons from start to finish, scoring at will on offense while forcing seven turnovers (six interceptions, one fumble) in a blowout win.
Wylie (5-1, 3-0) finished with 452 yards of total offense, scoring on each of its first nine possessions while adding a defensive score as well to take a 70-12 lead early in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Bear Meng passed for 186 yards and four touchdowns and added two more scores on the ground, while Julius Laine ran 94 yards and a score — all in the first half.
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 8:
Continue reading “WEEK 8 FAN POLLS … Pick this week’s 11-man winners!”
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: Amarillo Palo Duro-Wylie football (72 images)”
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: Lubbock Coronado-Abilene High football (93 images)”
LUBBOCK — Michael Dever returned the opening kickoff for a score and added two touchdown catches and a TD run after that to stake Lubbock Cooper to a 42-3 halftime lead, and the Pirates cruised from there to a 49-17 win over Abilene Cooper at Pirate Stadium.
Dever, a Texas Tech commit, finished with 137 total yards (80 receiving, 57 rushing) in addition to his 98-yard kickoff return, helping Lubbock Cooper (6-1 overall) improve to 3-0 in District 2-5A Division II play on a night when the Pirates defense limited the Cougars to just 199 total yards.
Abilene Cooper, which passed for all but 25 of those yards, got a pair of touchdowns from quarterback Austin Cummins in the second half, but the Coogs never pulled closer than the final 32-point margin in falling to 1-6 on the year and 0-3 in league action.
The Wylie offense scored almost every time it had the football and the Bulldogs defense made sure it had the ball a lot, picking off Amarillo Palo Duro quarterback Julian Reese II six times in a 70-28 win Friday at Hugh Sandifer Stadium.
The Bulldogs, who scored on each of their first nine offensive possessions and added a defensive touchdown for good measure, amassed 452 yards of total offense in stretching a 35-12 halftime lead to 70-12 by the opening minute of the final period.
The victory, Wylie’s largest of the year by scoring margin, improved the Bulldogs (5-1 overall) to 3-0 in District 2-5A Division II play and provided a fitting backdrop for a halftime ceremony honoring the 20th anniversary of the program’s 2004 state championship team.
On a night when Lubbock Coronado’s offense had one of its best games of the season, the Abilene High defense that made enough big plays to help the Eagles to a 59-40 win in a District 2-5A Division I matchup Friday night at Shotwell Stadium.
Trae Shaw’s strip sack was followed by a M’Aujehl Aboso interception, leading to 10 points for the Eagles in the third quarter, giving AHS the breathing room it needed to put away a pesky Mustang offense that averaged 12.4 yards per play on Friday.
Despite the down-to-down struggles, Abilene High coach Mike Fullen was proud of how the defense came up big when it mattered most.
After six exciting weeks, we’ve finally reached the start of district play for most Big Country six-man leagues. And as you might expect, there are some key matchups right off the bat.
The Week 7 slate isn’t as star-studded as some of those down the road will be, but it’s not without its intrigue.
With that in mind, it’s time to take a look at some of the most important matchups this week has to offer. We hope you enjoy our Week 7 preview and encourage you to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for standings and results.
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 morning.
Disagree with our picks or the fan poll consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps’ Pick ‘Em Panel (Week 7)”
On paper, the Week 6 slate didn’t jump off the page as an overly intriguing one. But as I said in last week’s “Lookahead” column, you never really know what to expect when it comes to Big Country six-man football.
As it turned out, last week had more than its share of thrilling games and surprising outcomes.
With that said, let’s take a look back and the week that was. And make sure to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for standings, schedules and results.
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.
Here are the district standings for all 11-man football districts involving Big Country schools after Week 6 (with results and upcoming games):
Continue reading “Big Country 11-Man Football Standings (through Week 6)”
Photo by Carter Pirtle, PressPassSports.com
Abilene High 63, Amarillo High 42 — Brayden Henry ran for three touchdowns and passed for two more, and Ryland Bradford caught two touchdown passes around a scoring run to fuel the Eagles to a wild win over the Sandies.
Abilene High (4-2, 2-0), which also got 104 yards rushing from Ethan Joyner, finished with 619 yards of total offense, using a three unanswered touchdowns from the 1:13 mark of the second quarter to the 10:57 mark of the fourth to create some separation in a game it led just 28-27 late in the first half.
Wylie 29, Abilene Cooper 7 — The Bulldogs overcame an early pick-six to put up 29 unanswered points in a comfortable win over the Couagars in the Southtown Showdown.
Led by running back Julius Laine, who rushed for 163 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries, Wylie (4-1, 2-0) outgained 323-103, using seven sacks to limit Cooper to just seven yards on the ground.
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 7:
Continue reading “WEEK 7 FAN POLLS … Pick this week’s 11-man winners!”
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: Wylie-Cooper football (75 images)”
Photos by Carter Pirtle, PressPassSports.com
AMARILLO — Between his arm and his legs, Brayden Henry combined for 363 yards and five touchdowns Friday to lead Abilene High to a big 63-42 win over Amarillo High at Dick Bivins Stadium.
Henry’s big night fueled a 619-yard effort for the Eagles offense, which put up nine touchdowns to pull away from the Sandies in the second half after a back-and-forth first two quarters.
Leading just 28-27 late in the first half, Abilene High got a 24-yard touchdown run from Henry with 1:13 to play before halftime to take an eight-point lead into the break. And the Eagles rode that momentum into the second half, scoring the only touchdown of the third quarter and the first of the fourth to finally create the separation they needed to put away a game Amarillo High squad.
Coming into Friday’s Southtown Showdown, Cooper coach Aaron Roan said the key to a Cougars victory would be controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
Once the game kicked off, it became apparent pretty quickly that wouldn’t be the case.
Wylie outgained Cooper 323-103, outpacing the Cougars 190-7 on the ground to cruise to a thorough 29-7 win at Shotwell Stadium. The three-score victory improved the Bulldogs (4-1 overall) to 2-0 in District 2-5A Division II action, while dropping Cooper to 0-2.
We’re rapidly approaching the start of league play for most Big Country six-man districts, but we’ve still got one more week of nondistrict matchups in most cases.
The Week 6 slate is light on obvious headliners, but anyone who has followed the area Class 1A scene for any period of time has learned to expect the unexpected.
With that said, let’s take a look at what this week holds for Big Country six-man fans. We hope you enjoy our preview of the area slate and encourage you to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for standings and results.
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 morning.
Disagree with our picks or the fan poll consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps’ Pick ‘Em Panel (Week 6)”
LAST WEEK: 51-12, .809
SEASON TOTAL: 247-79, .757
Week 6 generally sees slim pickings for possible Games of the Week, with the bulk of the area enjoying an open week prior to district.
Nonetheless, we have some quality Week 6 matchups this year, topped by a 4-1 Littlefield team paying a visit to Coahoma (3-1) in our spotlight game. That’s where I’ll be, but keep a close eye on some others. It’s a surprisingly good week, despite the low amount of activity.
Here’s this week’s picks:
With Week 5 in the books, we’re at the midpoint of the regular season, and the area six-man picture continues to get clearer with each data point.
A fun slate of games yielded some thrilling results, and it’s time now talk about those.
We hope you enjoy our look back at last week’s games and encourage you to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for standings, schedules and results.
Abilene High 55, Amarillo Caprock 14 — Brayden Henry ran for 143 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 53 yards and two more scores to help the Eagles to a district-opening blowout of the Longhorns.
Ethan Joyner (12-106, 2 TDs rushing) and Ryland Bradford (2-66, 1 TD rushing; 6-24, 2 TDs receiving) also had productive days offensively for Abilene High (3-2, 1-0), which collected five interceptions on defense, led by John Rangel with two.
Wylie 49, Wichita Falls Legacy 19 — Julius Laine ran for 179 yards and two touchdowns on just 11 carries to fuel a 302-yard rushing effort for the Bulldogs in a district-opening rout of the Leopards.
Bear Meng added 182 yards and two touchdowns passing for Wylie (3-1, 1-0), which increased a 30-7 halftime lead to 49-7 before Legacy scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns against the Bulldogs backups.
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 6:
Continue reading “WEEK 6 FAN POLLS … Pick this week’s 11-man winners!”
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: Amarillo Caprock-Abilene High football (46 images)”
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: Wichita Falls Legacy-Wylie football (59 images)”
The Abilene High football team bounced back from consecutive losses to former Little Southwest Conference rivals with a dominant performance in its District 2-5A Division I opener against Amarillo Caprock on Friday, cruising to a 55-14 homecoming victory at Shotwell Stadium.
The Eagles, who had struggled defensively in losses to Odessa Permian (42-37) and Midland Legacy (62-42), controlled Friday’s game from the outset, racing out to a 21-0 first-quarter lead and maintaining a multi-score advantage the rest of the way.
AHS wasn’t perfect, turning the ball over three times on offense and allowing a handful of big plays on defense, but coach Mike Fullen’s squad outgained Caprock 515-273 in improving to 3-2 overall and, more importantly, 1-0 in district play.
As the clock ticked down during the fourth quarter of Wylie’s 49-19 win over Wichita Falls Legacy in a District 2-5A Division II football game, an unusual chant started to break out on the Bulldogs sideline.
“Bry-son! Bry-son! Bry-son!”
When junior Bryson Baker lined up at wide receiver, the chant turned into a full-blown pandemonium of cheers. Continue reading “GAME STORY: Wylie hammers Wichita Falls Legacy in district opener”
WICHITA FALLS — Aaron Roan’s message to his Cooper football team after Friday night’s 24-7 loss against Wichita Falls Memorial was straightforward.
It’s still early in the 2-5A Division II race. And Roan still believes his Cougars are a good football team, better than their 1-4 record indicates.
The story of Cooper’s district opener at Memorial Stadium started and ended with missed opportunities. The Cougars drove into the red zone five times against the Mavericks, but they came away with only one touchdown.
As strong as the Big Country is and has been at the Class 1A level, it’s rarely difficult to find games worth talking about on a weekly slate. But the past couple of weeks have frankly been an embarassment of riches in that regard.
Week 4, which was chock full of high-profile matchups, more than lived up to its billing. And this week’s schedule should serve as an excellent encore with a grouping of games that could help shape the statewide rankings next week.
Without further ado, let’s jump in for our weekly “Six-Man Lookahead.” And when you’re done, you catch up on last week with our “Six-Man Rewind” column or check standings and results on our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page.
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 morning.
Disagree with our picks or the fan poll consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps’ Pick ‘Em Panel (Week 5)”
