Anson 21, Haskell 20 — It all boiled down to turnovers in this tough Anson road win, with the Tiger defense charting five takeaways to key the victory.
Corey Layne rushed for 49 scores and two TDs to lead the Anson offense.
Haskell (0-3) was led by Haegen Pinkerton’s 70 yards passing and 107 yards rushing. He added two rushing TDs.
Stamford 27, Ballinger 0 — Christian Duran threw for 205 yards and two TDs and rushed for 71 yards and another score as Stamford improved to 3-0.
Ballinger (0-3) got most of its yardage through the air, with Cade Stube and Kyson Weathers combining on a 14 of 27 effort for 198 yards.
Stamford 47, Haskell 13 — The Bulldogs (2-0) remained unbeaten with a balanced offensive effort that produced 160 yards through the air and 189 yards rushing.
Christian Duran hit 10 of 11 throws, two of which resulted in TDs to lead Stamford.
Stamford 48, Hamlin 6 — Kaston Vega rushed for 120 yards and three scores and Cle Whitfield rushed for 100 yards and another score to lead Stamford to a big win in the return of coach Wayne Hutchinson.
Stamford outgained Hamlin 417-110 while forcing the Pied Pipers into a pair of turnovers.
Continue reading “DISTRICT 4-2A DIV. I WEEK 1 REPORT: Stamford the lone district winner in Week 1”
Those who remember Wayne Hutchinson’s first stint at Stamford no doubt remember the high-flying spread offenses he put on the field.
And if you’re a fan of the Bulldogs, that’s likely a cause for great excitement as the two-time state championship coach returns.
Not only does Hutchinson bring with him back to Stamford an elite offensive pedigree, he does so while inheriting a stable of skill players who have already established themselves as playmakers on Friday nights. And while it’s too early to call it match made in heaven, Hutchinson is certainly excited by the possibilities that exist on that side of the football.
With 18 of 27 lettermen back from last year’s 8-3 squad, including the bulk of their skill production on both sides of the ball, the Stamford Bulldogs were going to be an intriguing team in 2023 regardless of who was leading them.
Add in the return of coach Wayne Hutchinson, who guided SHS to back-to-back state championships in 2012 and 2013, and the excitement surrounding that program may be as high as anywhere in the Big Country.
Sharing District 4-2A Division I with defending state champion Hawley, the Bulldogs will have their share of obstacles to clear this fall. But the optimism in Stamford is very real and would appear to be well justified.
Day 4 of Big Country Preps’ 2023 Photo Tour is now in the books, with three more days of shooting yet to come from practice fields throughout the area.
Here are but a few of the images collected Thursday:
Continue reading “Scenes from Big Country Preps Photo Tour Day 4”
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. 16. 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 July 31, we’ll be spotlighting each 11-man team in the area and posing some of the key questions they’ll face in 2023 as part of our annual “Countdown to Two-a-Days” series.
We continue in Class 2A Division I with the Stamford Bulldogs. On Tuesday we will take a look at the Winters Blizzards, followed by the Bangs Dragons on Wednesday.
Continue reading “COUNTDOWN TO TWO-A-DAYS: The Stamford Bulldogs … 28 days to two-a-days”
Cover photo courtesy Lannie Templeton
Wayne Hutchinson started the trend. Blake Sandford was the second one in line. Now Lannie Templeton has joined it.
Having been out of coaching for the past nine years and working for the Farmers Coop Society of Stamford, Templeton announced on Friday that he was heading back into coaching with the Bulldogs.
Templeton will serve as an assistant coach with the Stamford football and baseball teams starting with the 2023-24 school year.
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: 2023 State LineMAN Championships (133 photos)”
Sometimes to move forward, you have to look back on history.
For Stamford ISD, that meant pulling the curtain back one decade.
On Friday morning, SISD named Wayne Hutchinson the new head football coach and athletic director, luring the 2012-13 state champion out of retirement and back to the sidelines of Bill Anderson Stadium.
Como-Pickton struck for three runs against Stamford in the first inning Tuesday night in their Class 2A state semifinal.
With ace Mattison Buster hitting her spots, that was more than enough run support for the Lady Eagles, who picked up a 7-1 victory at McCombs Field in Austin.
Como-Pickton (38-2) advances to face Weimar in the 2A championship set for 7 p.m. Wednesday, while the Lady Bulldogs (27-7-1) had their successful season end in the semifinals for the second straight year.
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: Stamford-Forsan softball regional championship playoff (92 images)”
The Stamford softball team is headed back to the Class 2A state tournament for the third consecutive year after routing Forsan 15-1 in Game 2 of the Region I-2A championship series Saturday at Abilene Christian University’s Poly Wells Field.
Leading 4-0 after five innings, the Lady Bulldogs exploded for five runs in the sixth and six more in the seventh to turn a competitive ballgame into a blowout and make an easy winner out of freshman ace Emma Follis, who held a potent Lady Buffalo lineup to just one run on four hits in the victory.
The win, which came after thunderstorms delayed the game’s start by about an hour and a half, improved coach Sean Slavin’s squad to 27-6-1 on the season, while Forsan saw its campaign end at 28-10.
ABILENE — A six-run first inning, backed by solid pitching from freshman Emma Follis was enough to give the Stamford Lady Bulldogs a 6-1 win in Game 1 of their Region I-2A championship series with Forsan at Abilene Christian University on Thursday.
Madi Woolf was 2-for-3 with a grand slam homer and Laylonna Applin was 1 for 2 with a two-run homer to lead Stamford (26-6-1), which can clinch its third straight trip to the state tournament with a win in Game 2 slated for noon on Saturday at ACU. Game 3, if needed, will follow 30 minutes after Game 2.
Forsan (28-9) was led by Madi Roach, who was 2-for-3 with an RBI and K’Leigh Williams, who was 2-for-3 with a double.
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: Stamford-Hawley baseball regional quarterfinal playoff (86 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.
A five-run first inning sent all the momentum to the Stamford dugout, and the Lady Bulldogs never let it go, cruising to a 13-2 win over Colorado City on Saturday at the Abilene High softball field to clinch a sweep of their Region I-2A semifinal series with the Lady Wolves.
After Thursday’s Game 1 saw SHS grind out a 2-0 win that was competitive throughout, coach Sean Slavin’s team jumped on C-City early in Game 2, building a 9-0 lead before the Lady Wolves finally got on the board.
The Lady Bulldogs scored in four of their seven trips to the plate, plating at least two runs on each occasion to give starter Emma Follis far more run support than she would need. The victory earned Stamford (25-6-1) a trip to next week’s Region I-5A championship round, where it will face off with Forsan at a time, date and place to be determined.
ABILENE — For the second time in as many games, the Hawley Bearcats used an overwhelming offensive effort to defeat Stamford and sweep their Region I-2A quarterfinal series.
Pounding out 13 hits at McMurry University on Saturday, the Bearcats eliminated Stamford with a 11-7 win in Game 2. Kason O’Shields was 3 for 5 with three RBIs and Will Scott was 3 for 4 with a double to lead Hawley (22-8) which had opened the series with a 14-4 win on Thursday.
With the win, the Bearcats advance to their fourth regional semifinal under 12th-year coach Jamie Seago. There, they will face Ropesville Ropes at a site and time to be determined.
For the second time this week, Laylonna Applin’s bat in the sixth inning delivered a backbreaking home run.
After doing it in Stamford’s Game 3 win over Cisco on Monday, the senior hammered one out in Game 1 of the Region I-2A semifinal series against Colorado City on Thursday night at Abilene High.
Applin’s blast on Thursday was an insurance run that Emma Follis wound up not needing, but it was the key blow in a 2-0 win by the Lady Bulldogs, who will look to close out the series at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
After the first two games of ther Region I-2A quarterfinal series between Stamford and Cisco were decided by identical 3-2 scores, Lady Bulldogs coach Sean Slavin was looking for any kind of spark to set his team on fire in Monday’s series finale.
Slavin had plenty of choices as to what started the fire at Abilene Christian University’s Poly Wells Field, where the Lady Bulldogs hammered the Lady Loboes 17-3, setting up a region semifinals series with Colorado City that will start Thursday night.
The last time the two teams met in the playoffs, Stamford swept the Lady Wolves in the same round on its way to the 2021 state championship.
Our final Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the 2022-23 school year could have gone any number of directions.
We finally settled on Goldthwaite junior Lainey Jernigan, who swept both the girls 2A hurdles titles at the state meet last week.
Jernigan won the 100 hurdles in 14.62 and the 300 hurdles in 44.12. And the good news for GHS fans is, she’s coming back to defend both crowns next year.
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: Stamford-Ozona baseball area round playoff (90 images)”
ABILENE — Two days removed from suffering a walk-off 3-2 loss to Cisco in Game 1 of a Region I-2A quarterfinal in Brownwood, the Stamford Lady Bulldogs turned the tables on CHS by following a very similar script.
Overcoming an early 2-0 deficit just has Cisco had on Thursday, Stamford (22-6) rallied for a 3-2 victory at Abilene High School, winning in walk-off fashion with a bases-loaded walk by Emma Follis to knot the series at a game apiece.
Follis also went the distance in the circle, tossing a three-hitter at the Lady Loboes (19-9) with one walk and four strikeouts.
Originally scheduled for Early High School, Game 2 was bumped to Abilene High and its turf infield due to heavy thunderstorm activity in the area.
The Stamford baseball team wasted little time taking control against Ozona on Saturday, using a seven-run bottom of the first to set the tone for a 21-5 victory in Game 2 of its Region I-2A area round series at Abilene Christian High School.
Coming off a 7-0 win in Game 1 on Thursday, the Bulldogs scored at least three runs in each of their four trips to the plate, abusing Lions pitchers for 17 total hits — seven of which went for extra bases.
The thorough victory earned SHS a trip to the regional quarterfinals, where they’ll face off with District 8-2A rival Hawley next week.
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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BROWNWOOD — It took seven innings and a lot of patience, but the Cisco Lady Loboes managed to do what few would have predicted on Thursday at Brownwood High School.
Trailing 2-0 to Stamford early on, Cisco rallied to win Game 1 of a Region I-2A quarterfinal series, 3-2, defeating a team that is coming off back-to-back trips to the state tournament.
Hannah Rogers tossed a complete game five-hitter and Angie Espinoza was 3 for 4 with two RBIs to lead Cisco (19-8), which can close out the series if it defeats Stamford in Game 2, slated for 4 p.m. Saturday at Early High School.
Game 3, if needed, will follow 30 minutes after Game 2.
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.
Clyde’s Payton Phillips is no stranger to our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award. She’s no stranger to gold medals either.
And for the third time since last year, the CHS senior has captured our weekly accolade — this time with an armful of hardware.
In her latest performance, Phillips won four separate district championships and took silver in a fifth at the District 6-3A track meet.
Bangs southpaw Abby Wolf has thrown so many no-hitters this year, that the subject barely raises an eyebrow. But in consecutive district wins over Coleman and Christoval last week, the sophomore managed to create a stir.
Missing a perfect game by one hit batsman in a 7-0 win over Coleman, she followed that with three perfect innings in a 15-0 route of Christoval.
In other words, Wolf tossed nine complete hitless innings last week, along the way walking none and fanning 13.
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.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Stamford-Cisco girls basketball tiebreaker (64 images)”
CLYDE — Having split their two regular season meetings and ending in a first-place tie, it was time for the Cisco and Stamford girls basketball teams to settle the issue on Friday in a District 10-2A tiebreaker for the No. 1 seed.
By night’s end, it was Stamford leaving the Clyde gym with the league title, behind a 28-point effort from Laylonna Applin in a 58-52 win. Deavine Hoadley tossed in 11 points and Lainee Lefevere added 10 more to help the Lady Bulldogs improve to 29-4 overall.
Cisco (25-7) was led by Brooklyn Hurtado with 14 points and Brayley Brunson with 10. The Lady Loboes were hurt by 15 Stamford steals and more than 20 turnovers, yet still managed to give themselves a shot at winning the game in the fourth quarter.
Eula’s Clayton Gray, our Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the week ending Feb. 4, earned the accolade on two fronts. Not only did he post big numbers in consecutive wins over Moran and Rising Star, but he also reached an impressive milestone in the process.
To begin with, the junior guard chalked up 29 points, six boards and four blocks in a win over Moran. He also tallied 43 points, eight boards and four steals in a win over Rising Star.
If you haven’t heard of Cisco’s Gavin Landenberger yet, that’s understandable. He and his talented brother, Aiden, were move-ins from Mississippi late last year and weren’t eligible to play varsity ball at CHS.
Now freely able to play, the siblings are making up for lost time and Gavin is currently making enough noise to draw attention from the entire area.
Named as our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, the senior guard absolutely went off last week, beginning with a 28-point night in a win over Albany. He followed that three days later with 32 points in a come-from-behind win at Stamford. The latter saw him hit four straight-3-pointers in an 18-point third quarter.
Graduation hit Stamford’s girls basketball team pretty hard after a historical run to the Class 2A state championship game.
But coach Joe Crabb knew that with point guard Laylonna Applin still suiting up, the Lady Bulldogs would always have a chance.
Applin has continued being the heart and soul of Stamford’s team her senior season, averaging 19.7 points, four assists and 6.2 steals per game.
A limited number of minutes, if the numbers compute correctly, can figure strongly in our selection of Player of the Week.
That is the case with this week’s winner, Gavin Landenberger of Cisco, who opened the week with 29 points, five boards, three assists, and five steals in a win over Haskell last Tuesday.
However, what sealed the deal for the senior guard, was a 20-point, four-rebound, five-assist and five-steal game he charted in a win over Hamlin — numbers he posted in only 18 minutes of playing time.
