Softball tournaments can distort the significance of pitching accomplishments due to inning caps or time limits, rendering perfect games or no-hitters into half-versions of their true selves.
However, there is no denying that tournaments are work, especially for pitchers, and our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, Hamlin southpaw Zoe Moore, earned the accolade with a 4-0 record in the Wichita Falls Sunrise Optimist Tournament last week.
LUBBOCK — With only two seniors and two juniors surrounded by a host of sophomores and freshmen, few were expecting to see the Stephenville Honey Bees in this year’s Region I-4A semifinals.
Nonetheless, Stephenville was at Lubbock Christian University on Friday taking on No. 4 Canyon. But as fate would have it, the ‘Bees were finally toppled, 49-31 to close a remarkable 32-5 campain.
Sydnee Winfrey and Jaylee Moss dropped in 11 points apiece and Shaylin Schulte added eight more to lead Canyon (32-3), which advances to face top-ranked Glen Rose for the regional title.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Not much separated the Snyder and Stephenville boys basketball teams in their Region I-4A bi-district matchup Tuesday at McMurry’s Kimbrell Arena.
Three points, to be exact.
In a evenly-matched game that close throughout, the Tigers escaped with a 41-38 win that wasn’t decided until the final buzzer, shortly before which Payton Poston’s game-tying 3-point attempt bounced off the rim and out, finally allowing the Snyder coaches and players to exhale and eventually celebrate.
CLYDE — Outgunned athletically, both in terms of size and quickness by Lubbock Estacado, the Stephenville Honey Bees had to fall back on an old standby to win Tuesday’s Region I-4A quarterfinal: team defense.
Though it took the better part of four quarters to achieve it, 10th-ranked Stephenville finally put the Lady Matadors in their rearview mirror, topping Estacado 55-43 at the Clyde High School gym.
Mya Wilson scored 21 points and Lillie Skiles added 11 more to lead Stephenville (32-4), which now advances to the Region I-4A semifinals at Lubbock Christian University where they will face fourth-ranked Canyon (31-3) on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
TUSCOLA — The 10th-ranked Stephenville girls basketball team got its postseason started with a dominating performance Monday, using its patented pressure defense to fluster Snyder in a 66-30 bi-district win at Jim Ned’s Bill Thornton Arena.
The Honeybees shut the Lady Tigers out in the first quarter and built a 25-4 lead by halftime, ending the competitive phase of the game before the start of the third period.
The victory earned coach Jason Hodges’ team a highly anticipated area-round date with No. 11 Sanger (28-5), which routed Springtown 81-17 in its bi-district game on Monday. That matchup is slated for 6 p.m. Thursday in Weatherford.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Glen Rose-Stephenville basketball doubleheader (79 images)”
STEPHENVILLE — You know you’re having a good season, when half of your losses to date are to the top-ranked team in the state. As unusual as that may seem, it is presently the case for the Stephenville girls (29-4, 6-2 District 6-4A), who fell for the second straight time this year to Glen Rose, losing 45-23 on Tuesday at SHS.
The game opened a varsity doubleheader, which saw the Glen Rose boys complete a two-game sweep in the nightcap, dropping the Yellow Jackets 56-31.
Despite the loss, the ninth-ranked Stephenville girls retain the No. 2 seed heading into postseason play. The SHS boys (12-17, 2-4) can still lock up a playoff seed with a win over Mineral Wells on Friday.
Photos courtesy of Moises Espinosa
STEPHENVILLE — Coming off a 25-win season with 60 percent of its roster having graduated, this year’s Stephenville girls basketball team was expected to be a good, but not great Class 4A team by those paying attention in the Big Country.
No miracles were projected by the media and even fourth-year coach Jason Hodges was guardedly optimistic about his club due to a roster that included six sophomores and two freshmen.
Flash forward to today: The Honeybees are 27-3 overall, 4-1 in District 6-4A, ranked 13th in the state and (if Hodges’ ongoing research is correct), on the verge of tying a school record for wins in a season, set in 2012. Add the fact that the ‘Bees are fielding only two seniors and two juniors against a deliberately difficult schedule, and you have a story which is catching the eye of the entire area.
NOTE: This will be our final Player of the Week column for 2022. It will return on Monday, Jan. 9.
It’s always a significant accomplishment to chart a double-double. But when one averages a double-double over the course of five straight games, you begin to put a blip on the area radar screen.
Munday senior Jaxon Bowman did precisely that last week, helping the Moguls to a 5-0 record and the tournament championship at Blackwell. Aside from averaging 11.2 points per game, the senior grabbed a whopping 13 boards per contest to along with a combined 12 steals as Munday improved to 12-2.
With the Wylie football team’s season on the line, facing a 40-30 deficit with less than six minutes remaining, the Bulldogs needed an epic comeback to rally past Colleyville Heritage on Friday at Grapevine’s Mustang-Panther Stadium.
Fortunately for coach Clay Martin’s squad, their senior quarterback has made a habit of leading those this year.
After throwing just his sixth interception on a fourth-down play midway through the final quarter, KJ Long was given new life when his defense forced and recovered a quick fumble. He made the most of it by leading a pair of quick scoring drives — the last to put the Bulldogs 43-40 with three seconds left on the clock — to fuel his team to a wild 50-40 area-round win and earn this week’s Big Country Preps Player of the Week award.
Anna 33, Stephenville 32 — The Yellow Jackets saw their season come to an end with a heartbreaking loss to the Coyotes in the area round, falling in a game that saw six lead changes, including four in the second half.
After falling behind 14-3 after the first quarter, Stephenville (9-3) rallied to pull within 20-17 at halftime before taking a 24-20 in the third quarter. Anna regained the lead at 26-24 by the end of the third quarter, and the teams traded touchdowns in the fourth, with the Coyotes erasing a 36-32 deficit with the final touchdown with about six minutes remaining in the game.
With standout running back Sawyer Wilkerson getting much of the media attention in 2022, the Comanche Indians have been receiving efficient, under-publicized play from the quarterback spot through much of a 10-1 record.
Last week was perhaps the best example of that, with junior signal caller Layden Welch torching Henrietta with an 11 of 16 passing performance for 248 yards and five TDs in a 69-27 win.
But that’s just the beginning.
Welch also rushed 11 times for 65 yards and two scores. He gathered five solo tackles, four assisted stops, forced a fumble and deflected a pass to help CHS advance to the area round.
Big Spring 38, El Paso Riverside 35 — The Steers pulled out and absolute thriller over the District 1-4A DI champion Rangers, scoring the winning points on a wild fourth-and-10 play with less than 30 seconds remaining in the game.
Quarterback Gavin Padron, who passed for 230 yards and three touchdowns, evaded multiple sack attempts with some creative scrambling in the backfield before heaving it up running Kavien Ford in the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown hookup. That ended a back-and-forth that saw three lead changes in the final 15 minutes.
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.
BEST OF BCP’S WEDNESDAY NIGHT PODCASTS: Stephenville coach Justin Swenson talks SHS baseball (Originally aired in May of 2022)
Cover photo courtesy of Kimberly McKinney
The Stephenville Yellow Jackets and Honeybees now know what the future holds for the program when they are no longer able to play at Tarleton State University’s Memorial Stadium.
Voters in Stephenville approved a $39,978,837 bond election for a new on-campus stadium by a slim margin of 147 votes on Tuesday — marking the first bond ever to be approved for Stephenville ISD athletics.
There were 3,878 votes cast in favor of the bond with 3,731 opposing it.
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.
If it’s true that big-time players make big-time plays in big moments, few had a stronger claim to that “big-time” title this past week than Wylie sophomore Hayden Wright.
The Bulldogs free safety not only came through with three interceptions in his team’s 20-10 District 2-5A Division I title-clinching win over crosstown rival Cooper, he recorded all three picks in the fourth quarter as Wylie was trying to hold off a late Cougar rally.
For that effort, which saw him snatch his fourth, fifth and sixth interceptions of the season, the young playmaker has been named the Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the week ending Nov. 5.
Stephenville 42, Waco La Vega 28 — Tate Maruska rushed for 231 yards and three scores on 26 carries to lift Stephenville to an important district win over La Vega.
Ryder Lambert led Stephenville through the air, hitting 12 of 19 throws for 158 yards and three touchdowns.
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.
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.
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: Stephenville-Lubbock Estacado volleyball (40 images)”
As one of the top teams in Region I-4A, the Stephenville Honeybees hoped that Tuesday’s bi-district playoff matchup with Lubbock Estacado would be over fairly quickly.
The District 6-4A champions ensured that with a 25-11, 25-6, 25-11 sweep of the Lady Matadors at Abilene Christian University’s Moody Coliseum, ending Estacado’s return to the postseason after a 25-year drought in an emphatic way.
Coach Shay Douglas was proud of the concentration her team showed in the win.
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.
Alvarado 50, Stephenville 49 — AHS amassed 566 yards in total offense to overcome a 21-point deficit and pull off one of the biggest upsets of the year.
Trailing 49-28 in the fourth quarter at Dublin ISD Stadium, the Indians rallied with 22 unanswered points to defeat the defending state champs.
China Spring 38, Stephenville 36 — Cash McCollumn threw for 284 yards and three scores and Kyle Barton rushed for 75 yards and another TD to lift China Spring to a win over Stephenville.
China Spring clinched the district title with the victory, since it owns head-to-head tiebreakers with Waco La Vega and Stephenville.