Category: Santo Wildcats

by Brandon McAuliffe

STATE TRACK ROUNDUP: Stamford girls claim share of Class 2A team title

AUSTIN — After a slow start in the field events on Friday saw the Big Country net just four medals, things heated up in the evening session when the track events got rolling.

Big Country athletes picked up 10 medals under the lights at Mike A. Meyers Stadium at the University of Texas, giving the area 14 for the day.

On top of that, the Stamford girls team finished in a three-way tie with Refugio and Panhandle with 32 points to claim a share of the state championship. Goldthwaite’s girls finished three points back in fourth.

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by Daniel Youngblood

REGION II-2A TRACK RECAP: Albany, Cisco go 1-2 in boys race; Stamford shares girls title

SPRINGTOWN — Big Country athletes made a big showing at the Region II-2A track meet, collecting a combined 37 medals and clinching 28 state berths over the two-day event at Porcupine Stadium.

 Along the way, Albany and Cisco went 1-2 in the boys team race, while Stamford shared the girls team title with Era and Hamilton.

The Albany Lions had the highest point total of any program, boys or girls, collecting five medals on the way to 70 points, while the Cisco boys followed closely behind with 67 points. Stamford finished third in the boys team race with 64 points,  while the girls earned 56 points to finish in a three-way tie atop the team standings.

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by Daniel Youngblood

GAME STORY: Wink pulls away in fourth quarter to hold off shorthanded Santo squad

COLORADO CITY — Playing without standout quarterback Hut Thornton, who injured his shoulder in last week’s bi-district win over Seymour, the Santo football team battled unbeaten Wink for four quarters Thursday in its Region II-2A Division II area-round matchup at Wolf Stadium. But ultimately the black and orange Wildcats were just a little too much for the green ones in a 35-19 win.

SHS, which was down to its third signal caller by game’s end due to a third-quarter targeting call on backup Billy Sandoval, found itself down just 21-19 in the opening minute of the final period. But Wink scored two touchdowns in the final nine minutes to put away coach Devon Mann’s squad.

The loss ended Santo’s season at 10-2, capping the best two-year run in program history at 21-4. 

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by Evan Ren

CLASS 2A BI-DISTRICT REPORT: Cisco, Forsan, Hawley, Bangs, Coleman, Albany, Santo all advance to area round

REGION I-2A DIV. I 

Cisco 55, Reagan County 0 — The Loboes dominated Reagan County, rolling up 555 yards in total offense, of which 378 were on the round. 

Hunter Long and Trent Huston combined for 263 yards rushing and four touchdowns to lead Cisco (9-2), which led 42-0 at the break.

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by Brandon McAuliffe

GAME STORY: Santo holds off feisty Seymour in bi-district thriller

CLYDE — Santo coach Devon Mann challenged his squad to bully Seymour in its playoff opener Friday night at Clyde’s Bulldog Stadium, and the Wildcats answered him resoundingly.

Santo never trailed but needed an onside kick recovery with 15 seconds left to escape the Region II-2A Division II bi-district matchup with a 28-20 win in frigid conditions.

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by Daniel Youngblood

Big Country Preps Boys Basketball Position Rankings: Posts

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.

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by Daniel Youngblood

Big Country Preps Boys Basketball Position Rankings: Guards

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.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 8-2A DIV. II WEEK 11 REPORT: Santo closes out regular season with blowout win over Era

rioSanto 42, Era 0 — The Wildcats closed out the regular season with a shutout win over the Hornets, piling up 345 rushing yards in the victory.

Five players had at least one rushing touchdown for Santo (9-1, 5-1), which led 35-0 by halftime. Billy Sandoval (4-70 rushing) ran for a pair of TDs, while Hut Thornton (18-107), Hunter Branham (2-64), Kash Johnson (3-61) and Jake Bryan (1-5) each had one score.

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by Daniel Youngblood

Big Country Preps Girls Basketball Position Rankings: Posts

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.

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by Daniel Youngblood

Big Country Preps Girls Basketball Position Rankings: Forwards

After kicking off our girls basketball position rankings series with the guards on Tuesday, we now turn 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 with some others to watch for in 2022-23.

We hope you enjoy our list.

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by Daniel Youngblood

Big Country Preps Girls Basketball Position Rankings: Guards

With the girls basketball season upon us, it’s time to take a look at the local and area players who will be making the biggest impact for their teams during the 2022-23 season.

For the first installment in a three-part series that will cover all positions, we’ll be focusing on the Big Country’s top guards, ranking our top 10 with a list of others to watch this season.

As with any such list, these rankings are subjective. We hope you enjoy reading through our selections.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 8-2A DIV. II WEEK 10 REPORT: Santo rallies for big win over Celeste to lock up No. 2 seed

rioSanto 20, Celeste 17 — The Wildcats rallied for a huge win over Blue Devils, scoring in the fourth quarter to erase a 17-13 deficit and clinch the No. 2 playoff seed out of this league.

Santo (8-1, 4-1) outgained Celeste 275-261, but the Wildcats found themselves down 10-6 in the third quarter and 17-13 in the fourth. Kash Johnson’s second touchdown run — an eight-yarder — proved to be the game-winner thanks to a key defensive play late by Jacob Farquhar.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 8-2A DIV. II WEEK 9 REPORT: Santo upset by Collinsville; Muenster, Celeste roll

Collinsville 39, Santo 28 — The Wildcats suffered their first loss of the season, experiencing uncharacteristic struggles on the defensive end against the Pirates.

Collinsville, which scored more points in this game than Santo had allowed to its first seven opponents combined (37 points), passed for 271 yards and a pair of touchdowns and got single rushing scores from quarterback Logan Jenkins and Rylan Newman to knock off Santo. The Pirates (7-1, 4-0) also took advantage of three Santo turnovers, turning one into a defensive score and a 31-21 lead in the fourth quarter. 

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 8-2A DIV. II WEEK 8 REPORT: Santo stays perfect with a shutout win over Lindsay

rioSanto 28, Lindsay 0 — The Wildcats continued the pursuit of their first district championship since 1994, shutting out the Knights to improve to 7-0 on the year and 3-0 in league play.

Santo, which rushed for 274 of its 360 total yards, built a 21-0 lead by halftime and was never threatened after the break.

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 8-2A DIV. II WEEK 7 REPORT: Santo runs through, past Chico to stay unbeaten

rioSanto 40, Chico 6 — The Wildcats thumped the Dragons, rushing for more than 400 yards in a thorough win.

Behind big rushing efforts by Hut Thornton (14-158, 2 TDs) and Billy Sandoval (8-117), Santo (6-0, 2-0) extended a 14-0 halftime lead to 34-0 by the end of the third quarter. 

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Clyde volleyballer takes this week’s accolade

After an 0-1 start in district play with a loss at Wall, the Clyde Lady Bulldogs were facing some pressure last week in tough league matchups against Jim Ned and San Angelo TLCA. 

Clyde responded with a pair of wins and our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, junior setter Abby Carr was at the forefront of that effort. 

Charting 38 assists, 19 kills and four aces, Carr was not only setting up the offense, but when rotating to the front line, she also did a pretty fair job of finishing it. 

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by Daniel Youngblood

DISTRICT 8-2A DIV. II WEEK 6 REPORT: Celeste, Santo win to stay perfect in league play

Celeste 34, Lindsay 21 — The Blue Devils limited the Knights to just 188 yards of total offense and led from the 3:31 mark of the second quarter on in a two-score victory over LHS.

Celeste (5-1, 2-0) finished with 290 total yards, passing for 156 and rushing for 134. Anthony Powell (15-91, 2 TDs rushing) and Qua Stephens (6-39, 3 TDs) did all the scoring for the Blue Devils, who led 20-7 by halftime.

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by Evan Ren

BIG COUNTRY PREPS GAME OF THE WEEK: Santo rallies with two late scores to top Muenster

rioSANTO — The Santo Wildcats had every opportunity to fold the tent in their district opener on Friday night, trailing traditional power Muenster 17-7 with 11:19 to play. 

Santo however, used a couple of big plays, a big night from Hut Thornton and two fourth-quarter scores to rally with a 21-17 win in the Big Country Preps Game of the week.

Thornton rushed 20 times for 183 yards and a score and Jamie Sandoval scored the game-winner from 41 yards out to lead the Wildcats (5-0, 1-0 District 8-2A DII), who are now in the district driver’s seat after knocking off the league favorite. 

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