Wall 35, Sweetwater 0 — Wall (5-0) remained unbeaten with a workmanlike effort against Sweetwater.
Landon York threw for 171 yards and three TDs to lift Wall, which limited the Mustangs to 183 total yards.
Sweetwater (1-4) was led by Caiden Ortiz, who threw for 108 yards and Mason Blueford, who rushed three times for 45 yards.
Wylie junior Haddie Mock was at her very best against difficult competition last week, helping the Lady Bulldogs to wins over seventh-ranked 3A Bushland (25-8) and 21st-ranked 4A Stephenville last week.
Mock finished a whopping combined total of 19 blocks in the two matches to help the Lady Bulldogs improve to 24-7. She also had 16 combined kills.
Coahoma 15, Albany 12 — The Bulldogs earned an always-tough win at Albany (3-1) by limiting the Lions to only 131 yards in total offense.
CHS in the meantime, finished with 268 total yards, led by Austin Joslin, who threw for 167 yards and two TDs.
Coahoma improved to 4-0 with the win.
Merkel 29, Bangs 26 — The Badgers are off to a 2-0 start following their narrow win over Bangs on Friday.
Easton Malone threw for 157 yards and four scores to lead Merkel, which earned the win with only 235 yards in total offense.
Bangs (0-2) was led by Jason Tidwell, who rushed for 183 yards and two scores.
Photo provided by Randy Day
Milestones catch our eye when selecting our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, as do great weekly performances. But when both occur at the same time, you can rest assured that player will be in the running for the top spot.
This week the spotlight goes to Comanche senior outside hitter J’Lee Salinas, who not only helped the Maidens to the Heart of Texas Tournament Championship in Brownwood, but she also hit the 500-kill milestone in process.
Surprises are an important part of football, and the intrigue they provide is the biggest source of interest the game has. Admit it, if you picked 100 percent every week and never got to use the word “upset,” how fun would it all be?
Well, true to form, the Big Country Preps coverage area supplied us with our share of head-turners in Week 1 — several, in fact, that point to an even more interesting season than some of us anticipated.
There were upsets, dazzling comebacks, stunning blowouts and an assortment of other unexpecteds.
Let’s take a quick look at the five Week 1 games that surprised me the most.
Continue reading “BIG COUNTRY PREPS NOTEBOOK: My five biggest surprises in Week 1”
Merkel 38, Ballinger 26 — Sophomore standout Easton Malone threw for 319 yards and four scores as Merkel stunned Ballinger on the road to snap a 10-game losing streak.
Malone, who also rushed for 26 yards and another score, hit six different receivers, including six passes to Kaden Blubaugh for 190 yards and four scores.
Merkel’s last win came on Nov. 3 of 2023 in a season finale at home against Millsap (41-20).
Got the truck started yet?
Ready to jump on one of those farm-to-market roads to watch high school football into the late hours on a Friday night?
You’re not alone.
And, as tradition would have it, I tip my cap to those of you who will be hitting the trails each week in search of pigskin. My method: a preseason menu of sorts.
Each week for the next 11 weeks, Big Country Preps will be searching for its Game of the Week, and we’re already looking ahead. We now present our preliminary list of Big Country Games worth traveling for, but keep in mind: the following list is subject to change as surprises and disappointments emerge.
And as we all know … surprises and disappointments always emerge.
So, without further delay, here is our list of Big Country games worth traveling for in 2025.
I’ll see you on the road.
MERKEL — When initially asked to talk about his sophomore quarterback Easton Malone, Merkel coach Wes Wood asked in return: “Do you want me to speak for three hours? The kid’s a stud.”
And in all likelihood, the 16-year old will be a key element in whatever success the Badgers taste over the next three seasons. So Wood was tempted to speak at great length about the MHS standout.
“I think the quarterback position is one of the hardest things to play in all of sports across the board,” Wood said. “But (Malone) carries it so well. Being thrown to the wolves last year as a freshman. We questioned even pulling freshmen up (to varsity) but we looked at the numbers and we had to.
“He played pretty much every snap as a linebacker and he became our best (quarterback) option and got baptized by Lubbock Trinity Christian and by Wall.”
MERKEL — Second-year coach Wes Wood led his Badgers through an 0-10 season a year ago after inheriting a schedule that was so difficult, it bordered on ridiculous.
Among Merkel’s six non-district opponents were perennial powers Hawley (10-2), Albany (9-3) and Cisco (8-5). Toss in a playoff team from Ballinger, a difficult game with a private school (Lubbock Trinity Christian) and a district opener against state semifinalist Wall (13-2) and it’s easy to see the Badgers’ dilemma.
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. 20. 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. 4, we’ll be spotlighting each 11-man team in the area and posing some of the key questions they’ll face in 2025 as part of our annual “Countdown to Two-a-Days” series.
Today, we take a look at the Merkel Badgers.
OTHER 2025 ALL-BIG COUNTRY PREPS TEAMS
Our All-Big Country Preps Softball and Baseball Teams, released Saturday and Sunday, respectively, are in place to honor those who achieved the most on-field success in 2025. It is off the field, however, where character, grit, and work ethic are often measured. And it is with our Big Country Preps All-Hustle Team that we wish to honor those players, male and female, who were (simply put) the hardest-working, best teammates in the area this spring.
This team isn’t about who the best baseball and softball players were.
The All-Hustle team honors effort, discipline, toughness, coachability and selflessness — traits that coaches wish they had in every player and upon which championships are built.
It is for that reason that this team is largely selected by area coaches and described in their own words.
Big Country Preps is now honored to present these individuals to you — the best team players (boys and girls) that the Big Country had to offer during the 2025 season.
The players below are listed in no particular order.
Here are our superlative award winners for the 2025 All-Big Country Preps baseball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Here are our first-team selections for the 2025 All-Big Country Preps baseball 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 baseball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to release our 2025 All-Big Country Preps baseball teams.
Here, you will find our Rising Stars Team honoring the top freshmen and sophomores in the Big Country.
For the rest of this year’s baseball selections, please click the links below.
Here are our first-team selections for the 2025 All-Big Country Preps softball 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 softball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to release our 2025 All-Big Country Preps Softball teams.
Here, you will find our Rising Stars Team honoring the top freshmen and sophomores in the Big Country.
For the rest of this year’s softball selections, please click the links below.
Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through May 1.
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.
If your favorite team is missing, please give your head coach a friendly reminder to check his email for our weekly stat request or send Evan Ren a note at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
If one is to play the role of hero, there’s not a better time to do it than in postseason play in your senior year.
Brock’s Mylee Cedillo lived that experience — not once, but twice in last week’s uber-intense bi-district series with fifth-ranked Levelland that saw the Lady Eagles edge the Loboettes 2-1 and 7-6 in 13 innings.
It all began Friday night in Game 1, with Levelland pitcher Aubrey Rivas carrying a no-hitter and a 1-0 lead into the seventh inning. Cedillo responded to the pressure with an RBI double to drive home both Lily Springstead (who walked) and courtesy runner Emily Faddis (running for Ali Coleman who reached on an error) to give Brock a 2-1 win.
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through April 24:
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.
If your favorite team is missing, please give your head coach a friendly reminder to check his or her email for our weekly stat request or send Evan Ren a note at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through April 24.
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.
If your favorite team is missing, please give your head coach a friendly reminder to check his email for our weekly stat request or send Evan Ren a note at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
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: Region II-1A and I-3A track meets Day 2 (70 images)”
ABILENE — Both teams had dominated the Big Country and surrounding area for the entire track season, so few were stunned on Saturday when both Wall and Gordon captured the Region I-3A and II-1A boys championships at Abilene Christian University’s Elmer Gray Stadium.
It completed a near clean sweep of the regional meets from teams in the Big Country Preps coverage area, with Eula taking the 1A girls title and Wall finishing second to Holliday in the 3A girls regional meet.
“That’s always awesome ,” Wall coach Craig Slaughter said of taking the regional team title. “You have to have talented kids who perform at the right time.
“We just had some monster performances all weekend long. Kid after kid PR’d and we just had an incredible couple of days.”
ABILENE — Area athletes got off to a successful start at the Region I-3A track meet, combining to collect 13 medals and earn nine automatic berths to the state track meet during the event’s first day Friday at Abilene Christian University’s Elmer Gray Stadium.
With expected overnight storms pushing all field events to Friday, male competitors from the Big Country Preps coverage area tallied seven total medals — four golds, a silver and two bronzes — while area girls athletes claimed six medals, earning two of each shade.
The big winner Friday was the Wall boys, who accounted for five of those medals on their way to an early lead in the team race. The Hawks, who earned 42 points take a 22-point lead on second-place Idalou, will try to close out the team championship when the meet continues at 2 p.m. Saturday with the running finals.
The best way to describe the area meet performance of our Big Country Preps Player of the Week (Wall’s Briggs Jones) is to simply let his coach, Craig Slaughter do the talking.
“He ran a blistering 10.41 to set a school record and win the 100 meters,” Slaughter said. “He broke his long jump record with a jump of 23-11.5. I only let him jump twice because he was running out of room in the pit and I need that dude cranked up this week.
“Then he destroyed his triple jump record with a jump of 48-7.25
While no-hitters are fairly common at the high school level, the bulk of them are of the five-inning variety — ending early while locking down a mercy rule win.
Going the full seven innings without allowing a hit, however, is much less common. And in the case of Cisco junior Case Williams, his seven-inning no-no in a 2-0 win over a good Coleman team last Tuesday secured our Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the Week ending April 5.
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 2024-25 season.
Players are listed in no particular order.
Enjoy.
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through March 27:
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.
If your favorite team is missing, please give your head coach a friendly reminder to check his or her email for our weekly stat request or send Evan Ren a note at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through March 27.
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.
If your favorite team is missing, please give your head coach a friendly reminder to check his email for our weekly stat request or send Evan Ren a note at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
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: Merkel-Clyde baseball (73 images)”
CLYDE — “Aiden might have only had one best friend, but there were 30 people that called him their best friend.”
On a night when Clyde honored junior Aiden Turner after he passed away early Saturday morning from injuries sustained in a car wreck, Turner’s mother Amber Courson had those words to say about her son.
Turner, a JV player for the Bulldogs, was a passenger in the wreck that occurred as Clyde’s 14-2 road win over Merkel was getting started on Friday night. The two District 6-3A foes made sure that Tuesday’s rematch honored Turner before the Bulldogs took a 6-0 win at the Hanner Sports Complex.
Clyde softball has been overdue for landing a Big Country Preps Player of the Week award and senior pitcher Kaycee Bingham has just ended the drought.
The Lady Bulldogs have been posting big numbers on a weekly basis, falling just short of the top spot. But Bingham has landed the spotlight with a 26-0 mercy rule perfect game win over San Angelo Grape Creek last week. She followed that with a three-hit 11-0 shutout of Merkel.
Continue reading “BIG COUNTRY PREPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Clyde hurler takes this week’s award”
20Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through March 20.
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.
If your favorite team is missing, please give your head coach a friendly reminder to check his email for our weekly stat request or send Evan Ren a note at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
Here are the area’s softball statistical leaders through March 20:
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.
If your favorite team is missing, please give your head coach a friendly reminder to check his or her email for our weekly stat request or send Evan Ren a note at Evan.Ren@BigCountryPreps.com.
At the Class 1A level, where it is common for athletes to participate in multiple sports at the same time due to a lack of numbers, individuals who excel in different disciplines are invaluable.
At Gordon, junior multi-sport star Stryker Reed falls into this category, and our Big Country Preps Player of the Week is now demonstrating it on the heels of an amazing effort.
For two years, Stamford’s Emma Follis has been one of our area’s elite softball players, both as a pitcher and a hitter.
Last week, Follis picked up right where she left off a year ago, notching a 3-1 record in the circle with 35 strikeouts at the Slaton Tournament.
She was even better at the plate, hitting .714 with a triple, four homers and nine RBIs.
At this rate her numbers could be staggering by season’s end. And keep in mind, many of these games were shortened to accommodate the tournament schedule.
In several shortened games Emma came out hot in the circle and at the plate,” coach Sean Slavis said. “We are pumped to finally be playing again!”
Below are the current season statistical leaders for Big Country girls basketball through Feb. 13.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the regular season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Is your favorite team missing? If so, please pass along a friendly reminder to your coach to check his or her email for our weekly stats request. We’ll be happy to add them to our database after they arrive.
Below are the current season statistical leaders for Big Country boys basketball through Feb. 13.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the regular season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Is your favorite team missing? If so, please pass along a friendly reminder to your coach to check his email for our weekly stats request. We’ll be happy to add them to our database after they arrive.