Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking on the “Buy on SmugMug” link below a selected photo. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Sweetwater at Stephenville (40 images)”
Brownwood 58, Lampasas 55 — The Lions outscored the Badgers 20-7 in the fourth quarter, getting a 21-yard field goal from Junior Martinez as time expired to break a 55-all tie and earn a thrilling win in their season opener.
In a game that went back and forth throughout, Lampasas took the first two-score lead late in the third quarter, but Brownwood (1-0) rallied from that 48-38 deficit to pull ahead 55-48 with about four minutes remaining in the game. The Badgers countered with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Dylan Sanchez to Ethan Moreno to tie things up about two minutes later, but the Lions put together the final drive for the game-winning field goal.
STEPHENVILLE — One club met its preseason expectations. The other left with something to build on.
Bolstered by a 30-0 second-half run, the Stephenville Yellow Jackets put away Sweetwater, 51-13 in Friday’s Big Country Preps Game of the Week — spoiling the debut of new Mustang coach Russell Lucas,
Ryder Lambert threw for 214 yards and three scores and rushed for two others to lead Stephenville (1-0), which took control of the game with three unanswered touchdowns and a safety in the third quarter.
At last, here we are.
The 2021 football season has arrived, giving us a much-needed diversion every Friday night, in isolated spots all over Central Texas. As always, I will endeavor to pick the winner of all our area games, from Class 1A through Class 6A, with the top matchup serving as our Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
Our first spotlight game should come as no surprise, with long-time Hamlin coach Russell Lucas debuting as the head coach of the Sweetwater Mustangs — one of the most -storied programs in the Big Country.
Their opposition?
The Stephenville Yellow Jackets at Tarleton State’s Memorial Stadium.
With that, let’s dive into the picks, shall we?
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 10 quarterbacks with a list of others to watch in 2021.
We hope you enjoy this list and that you’ve enjoyed our position rankings as we get set to kickoff 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 Monday, we move now to the area’s top backs, ranking our top 10 with a list of others to watch in 2021. Don’t forget to check in Wednesday night when we conclude our series with the top 10 area quarterbacks.
We hope you enjoy tonight’s 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 pass-catchers.
After starting the offensive portion of our series Sunday with the linemen, we now shift our attention to the playmakers on the perimeter, ranking our top 10 wide receivers/tight ends with a list of others to watch in 2021.
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 10 offensive linemen with a list of others to watch in 2021.
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 2021 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-10 defensive backs and others to look out for in 2021.
We hope you enjoy our list.
After taking a look at the Big Country’s top defensive linemen on Wednesday, it’s now time to examine those who will backing them in 2021.
Continuing with Big Country Preps’ eight-part preseason position rankings series, here’s our top 10 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 2021.
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 10 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.
Without further ado it is time for us to make our Big Country predictions, district-by-district.
This is the culmination of several weeks of research and two solid months of summertime labor, so we’re more than ready to post it.
Every year, one of the things I look forward to most, is mapping out the upcoming football season — charting the games I believe will have the greatest impact.
First and foremost, it’s a preseason menu for area fans who enjoy driving to some of the Big Country’s best football games on a weekly basis. Call it a football roadmap of sorts.
STEPHENVILLE — With much of their experience at the skill positions having graduated, the 2021 Stephenville Yellow Jackets still have a big card to play — as in, very big.
Sporting one of the largest offensive lines in the Big Country, the ‘Jackets will have the option getting physical as their varsity newcomers find a rhythm. Beyond that, the SHS offensive front it is expected to provide a consistent running threat and excellent pass protection as Stephenville heads into District 5-4A DI play.
STEPHENVILLE — Plenty of depth, plenty of size and plenty of optimism can be found at the Stephenville fieldhouse in 2021, where the Yellow Jackets have one of their biggest groups of returnees in some time.
With eight offensive and five defensive starters back among 26 returning lettermen, coach Sterling Doty’s crew expects to suit up 44 players each Friday night. This includes promotees from a solid 8-2 JV squad to add extra depth.
“We bring back the big boys up front and anytime you do that, you feel really good about experience leading the way,” Doty said. “We feel good about both sides of the line.”
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 Saturday, Aug. 14. 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 Aug. 2, we’ll be spotlighting each 11-man team in the area and posing some of the key questions they’ll face in 2021 as part of our annual “Countdown to Two-a-Days” series.
Today, we stay in Class 4A Division I with the Stephenville Yellow Jackets. On Friday, we will take a look at the Wylie Bulldogs, followed by the Cooper Cougars on Saturday.
AUSTIN — Not all dream seasons end on a high note. In the case of the Stephenville Yellow Jackets, what is arguably the best season its baseball program’s history ended with a 13-0 loss to Texarkana Pleasant Grove in a Class 4A state semifinal Wednesday at Disch Falk Field.
Blake Jennings tossed a two-hit shutout and JM Long was 2 for 3 with two triples and four RBIs to lead Pleasant Grove (34-8), which will take on either Sinton or Rusk in the 4A state title game at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Disch Falk Field.
For Stephenville, a 28-9-1 campaign ended with a frustrating day that saw multiple hard-hit balls directly at opposing fielders, while the Hawks were able to pile up 13 runs on seven hits, eight walks, three hit batsmen and two SHS errors.
Continue reading “GAME STORY: Stephenville’s dream season ends with 13-0 loss”
THIS WEEK: Brock baseball coach Hart Herring joins the show to discuss his team’s road to the Class 3A state tournament and what he expects to see from the Eagles in Round Rock.
In the final game of the 2020 football season, Stephenville junior Reece Elston suffered a broken ankle in a playoff game on Nov. 19 with Argyle that eventually required surgery.
Nearly seven months later, the 18-year-old was celebrating a trip to state after delivering a complete-game three-hitter in a 6-1 win against … you guessed it … Argyle. As in, defending Class 4A state champion Argyle.
Thursday’s win capped a 2-0 sweep of AHS by the Yellow Jackets and continued one of the more remarkable postseason performances — and comebacks — by any Big Country athlete in the 2020-21 school year.
Photos may be purchased for $7 each by clicking on the small shopping cart emblem below the lower right corner of the gallery. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
LINK … GAME STORY: Elston pitches Stephenville past defending champs, into first state tournament
“We wanted to see the best. (Argyle) was the champions. We wanted to take the champs down.”
Those words from Stephenville baseball coach Justin Swenson were ultimately prophetic after the Yellow Jackets took down two-time defending state champion Argyle 6-1 at Abilene Christian University’s Crutcher Scott Field on Thursday night.
The win completed a two-game sweep of the Eagles, who have won four titles since 2014, and propelled Stephenville to the first state tournament in school history.
CELINA — Bryson Dill pitched a six-inning gem and Trace Morrison provided him all the support he needed with a two-run triple in the third to fuel the Stephenville baseball team to a 2-0 victory over Argyle on Wednesday in Game 1 of a best-of-three series for the Region I-4A championship.
Dill was brilliant all night, limiting the Eagles to three hits and three walks while striking out seven. And his lineup did just enough to make him a winner, scraping across two runs off Argyle starter Trevor Duck.
The victory puts the Yellow Jackets (27-8-1) in position to close out the series and claim Region I’s state tournament berth with a win in Game 2, which is slated for 7 p.m. Thursday at Abilene Christian University’s Crutcher Scott Field. Game 3, if necessary, would be played at 7 p.m. Friday back in Celina.
Photos may be purchased for $7 each by clicking on the small shopping cart emblem below the lower right corner of the gallery. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
LINK … GAME STORY: Stephenville takes Game 1 from Riverside, 11-6
LINK … GAME STORY: Stephenville sweeps series with Riverside
MIDLAND — As the drama surrounding the Stephenville Yellowjackets regional semifinal win over El Paso Riverside began to build on Saturday, there was a subtext throughout much of their 6-0 Game 2 victory.
SHS starting pitcher Reece Elston was carrying a no-hitter throughout much of the game, finally losing it on a close call at first base when Riverside’s Dereck Nevarez beat out a ground ball for an infield single with two out in the fifth.
MIDLAND — Building a big lead, losing it and recapturing the momentum has long been pointed to as one of the most difficult things to do in any sport.
Yet the Stephenville Yellowjackets did exactly that under late postseason pressure on Friday — handing El Paso Riverside an 11-6 loss in Game 1 of their Region I-4A semifinal series at Max Christensen Stadium.
Photos may be purchased for $7 each by clicking on the small shopping cart emblem below the lower right corner of the gallery. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
LINK … GAME STORY: Elston’s gem, hot bats fuel Stephenville to bi-district sweep
GRAHAM — Stephenville baseball coach Justin Swenson was hoping to get his bullpen some work during his team’s Region I-4A bi-district series against Vernon. The Yellow Jackets wouldn’t let him.
After watching Bryson Dill deliver a complete-game gem in an 8-2 win in the series opener on Friday, junior left-hander Reece Elston followed suit in Game 2 on Saturday, pitching a five-inning two-hitter in a 12-2 run-rule victory at the Graham baseball field.
Taking a perfect game into the fourth inning, Elston ran into a little hiccup in that frame, losing his shutout on a walk and a pair of extra-base hits. But his lineup countered with eight runs in the bottom of the inning to stake him to a 10-run lead, and he put up his fourth zero in the fifth inning to end the game there by run rule.
Not since way back in 1982 had any girl wearing a Stephenville uniform clocked a 100-meter dash any faster than Victoria Cameron did on Thursday.
She picked the right time to do it — ripping through the girls 4A 100 meters in a blazing 11.48 seconds to capture gold at the UIL State Track and Field Championships at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
Cameron’s effort not only obliterated her previous personal best of 11.85, but it also smashed a 39-year-old school record of 11.70 and left race favorite Kaylee Lewis of Melissa with a distant second-place finish of 11.78.
Lewis did come back for a measure of revenge, edging Cameron for gold in the 200. But Cameron’s gold-silver combination still stood as one of the top highlights for athletes in the Big Country Preps coverage area on Day 1, which also saw the Brock boys capture a 3A team championship.
CHECK FOR LIVE UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY AT BIGCOUNTRYPREPS.COM
Continue reading “LIVE: State Track and Field Meet medalists and Big Country Placings (DAY 1)”
Having already released our picks for the girls state track meet earlier this evening, we now present the boys event, using the same approach.
We’ll comb through each event involving a Big Country athlete (or athletes) and assess if they are favorites, dark horses or long shots to get on the medal stand.
Let’s not waste any time. Let’s dive in.
I don’t care who you are — even if you’re a non-fan when it comes to track and field.
The excitement of the state meet in Austin will capture your attention if you catch sight or sound of it. It’s inescapable.
And once per year, it is my pleasure to examine the multitude of Big Country athletes heading to Austin for the event and pick who we can expect to see on the medal stand from our area.
Let’s begin with the girls side, looking at each event in which a Big Country athlete has qualified for state.
Victoria Cameron hasn’t been beaten to the finish line this year in the 100 and 200.
That the Stephenville sophomore is undefeated in the sprints heading into Thursday’s Class 4A state meet isn’t a surprise to Cameron’s coach.
Jeremiah Butchee has worked with plenty of prolific track athletes during his career. What makes Cameron special is that she has one of the best starts out of the blocks Butchee has ever seen.
Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through April 29:
Statistics are from throughout the Big Country Preps circulation area as submitted by coaches. These lists will be continually updated as we receive more submissions.
Photos may be purchased for $7 each by clicking on the small shopping cart emblem below the lower right corner of the gallery. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
LINK … GAME STORY: Patient Stephenville offense rolls Brownwood
BROWNWOOD — Knowing that storms could potentially hit the area, Stephenville baseball coach Justin Swenson gave Tuesday night starter Bryson Dill a simple directive.
“Pound the zone and throw strikes.”
That’s exactly what Dill did and the Yellow Jackets took a 12-0 win over Brownwood in District 6-4A play Tuesday night at Morris Southall Field. Continue reading “GAME STORY: Patient Stephenville offense rolls Brownwood”
In a week filled with unforgettable moments, several of our nominees handed in by area coaches could justifiably be called our Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week.
We finally settled on Clyde sophomore Payton Phillips, who stunned attendees at the Region I-3A meet by taking gold in both the long jump (18 feet, 6 inches) and the 100 hurdles (15.12) — breaking school records that were 25 and 15 years old, respectively.
LUBBOCK — Big Country athletes accounted for 16 medals and clinched eight berths to the state track meet over the weekend at the Region I-4A meet Lowrey Field.
Area athletes claimed four gold medals, four silvers and eight bronzes during a strong all-around showing by the Big Country’s representatives Friday and Saturday.
Headlining the effort on the girls side was Stephenville sprinter Victoria Cameron, who swept the girls 100 and 200 meters, running the former in 12.12 seconds and the latter in a personal-best time of 24.81 to win the event by almost a second over Argyle’s Ja’Liyah Patterson (25.70).
On the boys side, the area’s gold medals came from Big Spring discus thrower Braxton Pearson (personal-best 160 feet, 1 inch) and Big Spring high jumper Kyler Seymore (personal-best 6-6).