It’s always nice to see numbers that match a nickname. And in the case of our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, there’s no worries in that department.
Roscoe junior running back Ivan “The Terrible” McCann takes the accolade for the week ending Nov. 18 after helping the Plowboys to a stunning 50-22 win over Windthorst in the 2A DI area round.
Big numbers are always great to have when we decide the winner of our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award. Solid numbers across multiple tasks are even better.
That was the case with this week’s spotlight player, Buck Powell, of Hico, who helped the Tigers to a 47-14 rout of Maud in the Class 2A DII bi-district round on Friday.
With a new season of boys high school basketball poised to begin, it’s time to take a look at what the Big Country will produce on the court.
Below you will find our top teams in each classification in the Big Country Preps coverage area, from Big Spring in the West, to Brock in the east and from Brady in the south to Munday in the north.
Our rankings of the top teams in each class are given, along with a season outlook, cataloguing our expectations for each club.
Here’s our preview. We’ll see you on the road.
Windthorst 44, Electra 14 — Brock Belcher shredded Electra with 326 yards passing and five TDs as the Trojans won easily and completed a district sweep.
Windthorst (8-2, 6-0) now moves on to face Lindsay (5-5) in the bi-district round.
LAST WEEK: 47-5, .903
SEASON TOTAL: 438-91, .827
With the column hitting at more than 90 percent accuracy last week, we now close the regular season on the upswing and with something uncommon: A local Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
While our weekly picks column generally highlights the top area game outside of the Abilene city limits, this week seems to call for us to stay at home with rivals Wylie (6-3, 3-1) and Cooper (4-5, 3-1) fighting for sole possession of the No. 2 seed in District 2-5A Division II.
NOTE: This will be our final installment of Big Country Volleyball Statistical Leaders for the 2023 season
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m. roughout the regular season.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Windthorst 54, Seymour 22 — The Trojans (7-2, 5-0) clinched the district title with a lopsided win over second-place Seymour.
Brock Belcher threw for 137 yards, rushed for 127 and accounted for four TDs to lift Windthorst, which blew the game open with a 32-14 second half.
LAST WEEK: 44-7, .862
SEASON TOTAL: 391-86, .820
It really didn’t take long for people to start talking about the Hawley – Stamford matchup in 2023. In fact, this one was on our calendar as a possible Game of the Week before the season even started.
Who will win? That depends on who you speak with. Our Twitter poll is split virtually down the middle and even the computers see this one as a near tossup.
Stamford (7-0, 4-0 District 4-2A DII) enters this game scarcely challenged, rolling over the opposition by an average tally of 45-8. Hawley (6-2, 4-0), on the other hand, comes in with some battle scars after a brutal schedule featuring Jim Ned, Lubbock Roosevelt and Albany.
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m. roughout the regular season.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Windthorst 28, Archer City 27 — The Trojans (6-2, 4-0) escaped a major upset behind quarterback Brock Belcher, who threw for 201 yards, rushed for 156 and accounted for all four WHS TDs.
Archer City produced a surprising 386 yards against their heavily favored opponent, including 195 yards rushing.
LAST WEEK: 40-8, .833
SEASON TOTAL: 347-79, .814
As Week 9 of the 2023Texas High School football season gets underway, there are multiple high-profile games that would qualify as our Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
But we’re settling for a rare Thursday night matchup at Tarleton State University where seventh-ranked 4A DI Stephenville (5-2, 1-0) will play host to fourth-ranked China Spring (6-2, 2-0) in a game will give the victor sole possession of first place in District 5.
Picking who wins it may come down to throwing darts, but I do believe China Spring has one key advantage.
Haskell 34, Archer City 33 — In a wild game featuring four lead changes, the Indians (3-4, 3-1) scored an important win over Archer City to remain in contention for a high playoff seed.
Haegan Pinkerton rushed for 104 yards and two scores and Trevor Henry added 100 yards rushing and another score to lift Haskell.
LAST WEEK: 41-7, .854
SEASON TOTAL: 307-71, .812
Big Country Preps makes a point of sharing the love and we look for opportunities to take our Game of the Week to as many different places that make sense each year.
Yet since our inaugural season in 2018, a rebuilding Hico football team missed our spotlight game for five straight seasons.
That drought ends this week when BCP visits Hico for the first time as the Tigers (5-2, 2-1 District 10-2A DII) host Dawson (5-1, 2-0) in a crucial matchup with high seed implications.
Haskell 39, Munday 0 — Haegen Pinkerton rushed for 169 yards and two scores and threw for 79 yards and another score to help Haskell (2-4, 2-1) to a win over Munday.
The Indians remained in the playoff hunt with the victory and will host Archer City (3-2, 1-1) in a crucial district game next week.
Haskell 27, Petrolia 7 — Former Petrolia coach Mitch McLemore earned a win against his former team behind 141 passing yards from Haegen Pinkerton.
The Indians (1-4, 1-1) built a 20-0 first-half lead then held off Petrolia for their first win of the season.
Petrolia (2-4, 1-1) was limited to 172 yards in total offense.
LAST WEEK: 46-12, .793
SEASON TOTAL: 229-61, .789
More often than not, Big Country Preps makes an appearance at the annual Stephenville-Brownwood matchup. Because more often than not, it produces a game worthy of one of Texas’ top rivalries.
This year is no exception as Stephenville travels to famous Gordon Wood Stadium for the Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
Windthorst 47, Haskell 7 — Brock Belcher threw for 230 yards and four scores to lead the Trojans to a big win over the Indians in the district opener for both clubs.
Kasen Wiles was the top target of Belcher’s, hauling in eight passes for 148 yards as Windthorst improved to 3-1.
LAST WEEK: 44-11, .800
SEASON TOTAL: 183-49, .788
Some weeks are just loaded with competitive area games and Week 5 of the 2023 season falls squarely into that category.
This week’s menu features six or seven games that under normal circumstances, would qualify for our Big Country Preps Game of the Week. This forces us to push some great matchups aside to select our spotlight game.
This week, we go with a battle of unbeatens — Class 3A Division I Clyde (4-0) at Class 4A Div. II Sweetwater (4-0) — at the famed Mustang Bowl at SHS.
Seymour 75, Quanah 18 — Coming off a lopsided loss to Albany, Seymour got back on the winning track with a blowout of Quanah.
Brayden Loyd threw for 317 yards and six touchdowns to lead Seymour (3-1), which rushed for 221 yards as a team using six ball carriers.
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: Munday-Abilene TLCA football (77 images)”
Heading into Saturday night’s game between Munday and Abilene TLCA at McMurry’s Wilford Moore Stadium, a first win was guaranteed in some form or fashion.
The Moguls entered the game looking to get head coach Brandon Langston his first career win, while the Eagles were looking to get their first-ever win as an 11-man squad.
Munday had an opportunity at the victory, but Hunter Urbanczyk couldn’t hang onto a fourth-down pass as he fell to the ground in the end zone with 41 seconds to play, allowing TLCA to escape with a 14-9 win.
Archer City 21, Anson 13 — Archer City held off a determined Anson team to improve to 2-0 behind 250 passing yards.
Tyler Wilburn thew for 66 yards and one score and rushed for 31 more to lead Anson (0-2).
After a summer-long effort to produce our football preview, it is good to be back in our school year routine — a big part of which is our Big Country Preps Player of the Week.
That said, we are proud to hand our first accolade for 2023-24 to Snyder senior quarterback Easton Stewart, who led the Tigers to a 42-0 season-opening win over Slaton last week.
Seymour 40, Anson 14 — Brayden Loyd hit 17 of 23 passes for 324 yards and five touchdowns to lead Seymour to a win at Anson.
The Panthers also rushed for 62 yards and an additional score.
Anson (0-1) got most of its production on the ground, rushing for 222 yards as a team behind six different ball carriers.
Continue reading “DISTRICT 7-2A DIV. II WEEK 1 REPORT: Seymour wins big at Anson”
Patrick Corcoran had a 15-year run leading the Munday football program that ended after the 2019 season, posting with 10 winning seasons and two state championships during his tenure.
Since he stepped down, though, the Moguls have had a revolving door of head coaches and that trend continues this year as Brandon Langston takes over following two years of Justin Josselet and one year with Webb Murphy.
Langston will have his work cut out for him as he works to bring a winning culture back to the school.
It’s not often that a Big Country baseball team charts two no-hitters in the same week. But when two pitchers with the same last name are charting the no-nos it’s about as common as the planets aligning.
That was the case last week with the Albany Lions, who in sweeping Haskell (15-0) and Stamford (11-1) saw Cole and Tyler Chapman (non-siblings) post back-to-back no-hitters.
Cole, a senior, blanked Haskell in four innings of work in a mercy rule win, fanning six. Three days later, Tyler got into the act in a five-inning run-rule win with 12 Ks.
They now share our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award — another rarity.
“We were very proud of our pitchers last week,” Albany coach David Fairchild said. “Both pitchers were in control and in command of their pitches.”
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
SNYDER — It was just one of those days for the Munday Moguls on Friday in their Region II-1A semifinal matchup with No. 7 Garden City.
Making its first region tournament appearances since 2013, MHS could do no right in the first half and the Bearkats could do no wrong.
After allowing the game’s first 15 points and falling behind 38-8 by halftime, the 20th-ranked Moguls looked much more like themselves in the second half. But the damage was long since done by that point in a 54-34 loss.
With our recent bad weather pushing an extra game into last week for the Coleman Bluecats, it gave senior guard Braxton Smith three chances to pile up big numbers.
And he did exactly that.
Our Big Country Preps Player of the Week opened with 19 points and nine steals in a win over Bangs last Monday. He followed that with 13 points, eight assists and 10 steals in a near-triple double in a win over Winters.
After highlighting the Big Country’s top guards and forwards the past two nights, we now take a look at the area’s best big men.
For the final installment in our three-part boys basketball position rankings series, we rank the Big Country’s top 10 post players.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading through our rankings, and make sure to check back for all our boys and girls basketball coverage this season.
After kicking off our boys basketball position rankings series on Tuesday with the guards, we now shift our attention to the forwards.
For the second installment in our three-part series, we rank the area’s top-10 players at that position for 2022-23.
We hope you enjoy our list.
With boys basketball season beginning this week, it’s time to shine a spotlight on some of the players you’ll be reading about throughout the 2022-23 season.
For the first installment in a three-part series that will cover all positions on the area boys basketball scene, we’ll be taking a look at the Big Country’s top guards, ranking our top 10 with a list of others to watch this winter.
We hope you enjoy reading through our list.
Archer City 41, Munday 27 — Joe Castles threw for 190 yards and one score and Elijah Jackson rushed for 143 yards and two more TDs as Archer City defeated Munday.
Munday was led by Chris Garcia who threw for 166 yards, rushed for 180 and accounted for three TDs.
After focusing on the top guards and forwards the Big Country has to offer the past two nights, it’s time to shift our attention to the paint.
For the final installment in our three-part position rankings series, we list our top-10 post players for the 2022-23 season.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading through these rankings, and make sure to come back next week when we’ll feature the top boys basketball players in the Big Country.