El Paso Ysleta 30, Big Spring 22 — Colin Mikels ran for 157 yards and a touchdown, and Javon Jackson passed for 96 yards and ran for 69 more and two scores, but it wasn’t enough to lift the Steers to a win in coach Stacey Martin’s Big Spring debut.
Ysleta raced out to a 14-7 halftime lead and stretched that to 22-7 by the start of the fourth quarter, when BSHS tried to rally came up a touchdown short.
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.
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.
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.
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!
SNYDER — Anthony Gonzales had already built a struggling program at Lovington N.M. into a three-time state champion. He had things rolling in the Land of Enchantment and as far as many were concerned, he had no reason to leave.
Several calls came in, inviting him to more lucrative settings. But the answer was always “no thank you.”
That is, until Snyder called. The Tigers were struggling, but had demonstrated in the past that they were capable of a high level of success. And to the surprise of many, Gonzales took the gig, accepting the challenges of low numbers, a lack of culture and the Texas pressure cooker all in one fell swoop.
We now converse with Gonzales about his experience thus far in Snyder (1-19 through two seasons) and what he’s hoping to build in this Big Country Preps Q&A.
SNYDER — Two years into the rebuilding project at Snyder, coach Anthony Gonzales and the Tigers are showing signs of setting a firm, lasting foundation.
While the Tigers are 1-19 under Gonzales including a 0-10 mark last year, Snyder was 6-4 at the JV level and its freshman team was 7-3. As those players begin rising through the ranks, they bring with them a culture of winning that the program will need to begin taking a significant step forward.
“They’re starting to figure things out,” Gonzales said. “We’ve got a good group of young kids with a few sophomores who can help us right now and we’ve got some good JV kids who can fill some holes for us.”
But it gets even better than that. Snyder is now welcoming a group of freshmen on campus that lost only two games in two seasons of middle school football. In other words, the Tigers are on the cusp of a talent upswing the likes of which has been unseen in several years at SHS.
If that youthful talent is to have an impact however, the Tigers must quickly develop a new quarterback and running back while playing an extremely difficult non-district schedule. This, with a team featuring only about seven impact seniors, with standout WR/DB Ethan Rios having graduated.
Here are our second-team selections for the 2026 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 2026 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 2026 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 2026 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 2026 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 2026 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.
If you’re going to top someone who throws a perfect game in our in our Big Country Preps Player of the Week column, you had better do something very special.
This rare occurrence took place last week when Brock sophomore shortstop Kayden Blue helped the Lady Eagles to a three-game bi-district series win over Levelland with a truly memorable performance. In the process, she edged Abilene High ace George Ferguson, who delivered a perfect game win over Cooper.
With Brock sandwiching wins in Games 1 and 3 (5-1 and 5-2) around a 5-4 loss in Game 2, Blue was quite literally unstoppable, going 10-for-10 in the series with five runs scored (accounting for more than a third of BHS’ run tally. Yet it doesn’t stop there. She also posted a pair of walks (one intentional), making her a perfect 12 for 12 in reaching base throughout a difficult series against excellent competition.
“Kayden showed all the characteristics of a great leader in all three games and was phenomenal in the leadoff spot for us”
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: Snyder-Hawley softball (19 images)”
EULA — The Snyder softball team left nothing to chance in its Region I-4A Division II bi-district series with Glen Rose, following a 7-0 win in Game 1 on Thursday with a 10-0 victory Saturday to clinch the best-of-three affair at the Eula softball field.
After using a four-run first to take control of the opener, coach Regina Cummings’ squad scored five in the second inning of Game 2, which was more than enough offense for starter Sydnee Gomez, who tossed six shutout innings for the second consecutive game.
Gomez allowed just one hit and two walks while striking out 13 to earn her second win of the young postseason, while Hannah Rangel closed out the game with a scoreless inning, just as she did in Game 1.
EULA — The Snyder Lady Tigers opened their postseason with a shutout win Thursday night, using a four-run first inning to set the tone for a 7-0 victory over Glen Rose in the opener of a best-of-three Region I-4A Division II bi-district series at the Eula softball field.
Coming off an undefeated run to the District 5-4A championship, SHS controlled the game from start to finish, thanks to the early offensive explosion and a strong start in the circle by Sydnee Gomez.
Coach Regina Cummings’ Lady Tigers, who reached the state semifinals a year ago, will now have a chance to close out the series when it resumes at 10 a.m. Saturday back in Eula.
Scoring and rebounding is only part of the story when it comes to basketball. Behind the scenes and beyond the view of the public, is where character is often measured. And it is with our Big Country Preps Gym Rat Team that we salute the individuals who exude the most of it.
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 effort, discipline, toughness, coachability and selflessness — traits that coaches love above all else and that championship foundations are built upon.
It is for that reason that our Gym Rat team is selected entirely by area coaches, described in their own words. And Big Country Preps is absolutely honored to present these individuals to you — the best “team players” (boys and girls) that the area had to offer during the 2025-26 season.
Players are listed in no particular order.
Enjoy.
As one would expect, the Jim Ned Relays had a quality field of competition last week, opening the door for one of its athletes to snag Big Country Preps Player of the Week honors.
So it’s not surprising that its top performer sits atop of our weekly list of highlighted competitors from around the area.
Wall senior Bryson McFarden takes our weekly accolade after medaling five times in Tuscola with four golds and a silver.
In the pitcher’s circle, there are varying degrees of perfection. And in the case of our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, that statement was fully illustrated on Friday in a 6-0 Clyde win over Merkel.
Yes, CHS freshman Brynli Reynolds threw a perfect game. But this wasn’t your standard, every day, run-of-the-mill, garden variety perfecto.
In fact, it may have been the most dominating performance by a baseball or softball pitcher the Big Country has seen in the last two decades.
Aside from retiring 21 straight hitters from a very good Merkel team (19-2), Reynolds fanned the first 17 batters she faced and finished with 20 strikeouts. She also helped herself at the plate, going 1-for-2 with an RBI.
It was the second time this season that the Clyde freshman has taken our weekly accolade.
Entering the week at 35-1 and ranked No. 1 in Class 2A, the Lipan Indians have won 33 straight games since suffering their only loss of the year to Class 4A Dallas Roosevelt in mid-November.
At the heart of that success has been standout point guard Court Gaylor, who performed at a high enough level in LHS’ first two playoff games to claim our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award.
Below are the current season statistical leaders for Big Country boys basketball through Feb. 19. With the end of the regular season, this will be the FINAL boys basketball leaders we post this year.
This database has been 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.
Below are the current season statistical leaders for Big Country girls basketball through Feb. 12. This will be our FINAL girls stat leaders for 2026.
This database has been 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.
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.
Most high school football teams have that one player acknowledged by the coaching staff as the prime example of what a teammate should be.
He’s the guy who seldom misses any practice time and is a regular in the weight room. He’s early to arrive. He’s late to leave and takes pride in being coachable, though he seldom needs direction.
He always sets the right example for younger players. He doesn’t complain and, above all else, he’s tough enough to make all the aforementioned traits consistently possible.
Know someone like that? Here is where they are honored.
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 Football Team (Third-Team roster). 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.
Midland Greenwood 67, Snyder 35 — Lincoln Madrid passed for 166 yards and four touchdowns, and Jackson Audus ran for 105 yards and two scores to help the Rangers complete a perfect regular season with a comfortable win over the Tigers.
Dylan Payton (3-130, 3 TDs receiving; 85 yard kickoff return touchdown) and Nathaniel Romero (6-94, 1 TD rushing) also had big games for Greenwood (10-0, 4-0), which led 38-7 by the end of the first quarter and 48-14 by halftime.
Midland Greenwood 10, Seminole 3 — After coming in averaging 46 and 50 points per game, respectively, the Rangers and Indians got defensive in a hard-fought matchup for the district championship.
The two teams went to halftime deadlocked after a scoreless first half, before Greenwood (9-0, 3-0) finally broke through in the third-quarter with a 22-yard field goal by Dylan Payton. The Rangers then scored the game’s only touchdown in the fourth quarter, when Nathaniel Romero (163 yards rushing) broke loose for a 48-yard touchdown run.
Seminole 81, Snyder 14 — The Indians passed for 456 yards, ran for 242 more and scored 12 total touchdowns in a lopsided win over the Tigers.
Dominick Higgins passed for 233 yards and three TDs, while Jacob Gonzales added 223 yards and three scores through the air for Seminole (6-2, 2-0), which also got a big rushing day from Caton Cramer (11-141, 5 TDs) and a standout receiving effort from Landen Guerra (6-229, 3 TDs).
Fort Stockton 49, Snyder 15 — Gerry Diaz passed for 284 yards and four touchdowns, hitting jaden Sotelo three times for 150 yards and three scores, to fuel the Panthers to a blowout win over the Tigers.
Diaz also ran for 98 yards and a pair of TDs in the win, which saw Fort Stockton (5-3, 1-1) take a 21-0 lead after a quarter and increase that to 35-0 by halftime.
Monahans 37, Snyder 33 — Trailing 27-23 at halftime, the Loboes outscored the Tigers 14-6 in the fourth quarter to rally for a thrilling win.
Majestic Williams accounted for four total touchdowns to lead Monahans (1-6, 1-0), including a 23-yard scoring run to put the Loboes ahead in the game’s final minute. That was the third TD run for the senior running back, who also caught a touchdown pass.
Levelland 41, Snyder 14 — The Tigers trailed just 14-7 at halftime, but the Lobos came out the break with 20 unanswered points in the third quarter to pull away for a lopsided win.
Aedyn Claxton passed for 244 yards and a pair of touchdowns and had a team-high 67 rushing yards for Snyder, which got receiving touchdowns from Kason Rinehart (5-85 receiving) and Andres Martinez.
Big Spring 51, Snyder 34 — Marcus Rios passed for 159 yards and three touchdowns and contributed a team-high 107 yards on the ground to lead the Steers to a comfortable win over the Tigers.
Xander Garza (16-70, 2 TDs rushing), Jacobi Lozano (3-84, 2 TDs receiving) and Kaine Valenzuela (4-75, 1 TD) also had productive games for Big Spring, which finished with 375 yards of total offense and won the turnover battle 3-2.
Clyde 49, Snyder 7 — The Bulldogs piled up 242 yards rushing while limiting the Tigers to 118 yards of total offense on their way for a comfortable win.
Clyde scored the first 19 points of the game and led 27-7 at halftime, before shutting out coach Anthony Gonzales’ squad in the second half.
Lubbock High 48, Snyder 21 — Zach Reyna passed for 236 yard and four touchdowns, hitting three different targets with scoring passes, to lead the Westerners to a comfortable win over the Tigers.
Easton Blakely (2-88, 1 TD receiving), Denzel Robins (5-59, 2 TDs) and Isaac Lagasse (1-7, 1 TD) all caught TD passes for Lubbock High, which also got rushing scores from Bo Davis (8-84 rushing) and Anthony Boyd (5-46).
San Angelo Lake View 49, Snyder 28 — Chris Alvizo hit 23 of 33 passes for 276 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Chiefs to a comfortable win over the Tigers.
Nick Leyva was the quarterback’s favorite target, hauling in seven passes for 100 yards, while Christian Esparza had 61 yards and a pair of touchdown catches to help Lake View race out to a 28-0 lead in the second quarter.