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.
Stephenville 63, Waxahachie Life 20 — Ryan Gafford threw for 207 yards and four scores and Ryder Lambert returned from an injury to thew for 120 yards and two more TDs to lead Stephenville (7-0, 1-0) in its league opener.
The Yellow Jackets quickly built a 42-14 halftime lead before coasting to the finish.
Tate Maruska is well on his way to rewriting Stephenville’s rushing records.
With 16 touchdowns in six games, the junior is on pace to break the Yellow Jackets’ mark of 29 scores set by Kason Phillips in 2020.
Coach Sterling Doty wasn’t sure what Stephenville’s single-season rushing record was off the top of his head, but with Maruska already having 1,290 yards, it’s not a stretch to say that total is in danger of falling too.
China Spring 59, Alvarado 17 — Cash McCollum threw for 201 yards and three scores as China Spring (6-1, 1-0) grabbed an early piece of the district lead.
Leading 14-10 at the end of the first quarter, the Cougars blew the game open with a 42-0 run through the second.
Kyle Barton led all rushers with 120 yards and three scores.
China Spring 49, San Antonio Cornerstone 16 — The Cougars had an easy time with Cornerstone, racing out to a 42-0 halftime lead before coasting home.
Kyle Barton rushed for 205 yards and three scores to lift China Spring (5-1), which rebounded from a 24-16 loss to Dallas Parish Episcopal on Sept. 23.
STEPHENVILLE — Brownwood hung with archrival Stephenville for a half Friday, but ultimately the Yellow Jackets were just too much for the visiting Lions in a 42-21 win at Memorial Stadium.
After the teams went to halftime tied at 14, SHS outscored Brownwood 21-0 in the third quarter before scoring on the first play of the fourth to turn what had been a tightly contested game into a four-touchdown lead and a lopsided victory.
BHS was only outgained 417-384, rushing for 155 yards to the Yellow Jackets’ 149. But the Lions were hurt by three turnovers — two during Stephenville’s big third quarter.
Some people in the Big Country may not even know where tiny Three Way High School is.
For the record it’s on the outskirts of Stephenville, it plays in District 11-1A DI (six-man) and if our Big Country Preps Player of the Week has any say about it, you’ll be hearing a lot more about the Braves in the near future.
Colt Berry, a senior spreadback, had an eye-popping performance last week in a 73-54 win over Aquilla, amassing 561 all-purpose yards to help the Braves (1-3) to their first win of the year.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Wichita Falls Rider-Stephenville football (91 photos)”
STEPHENVILLE — Entering Friday night’s homecoming game at Memorial Stadium against Wichita Falls Rider, Stephenville was unbeaten at 4-0 but allowing 46.5 points per game.
Against Everman in Week 2, the Yellow Jackets found themselves down by 21 points on multiple occasions before winning on a walk-off Hail Mary.
That experience paid off Friday, as Stephenville found itself in a 21-0 hole to the Raiders after just eight minutes. But the Yellow Jackets used a second-half rally to take a 43-42 heart-stopping win — their fourth one-score victory in five weeks.
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-Wylie football (98 images)”
For the second straight week, the Wylie football team went toe to toe with an outstanding opponent at Hugh Sandifer Stadium. But for the second straight week, the Bulldogs came up one touchdown short of a signature win.
Hosting Class 4A Division I No. 1 Stephenville a week after falling 33-28 to Lubbock Cooper, coach Clay Martin’s team topped the 500-yard mark for the second time in as many weeks. But it couldn’t contain Tate Maruska and the Yellow Jackets offense in a 56-49 loss.
Maruska, who came into Friday’s game with a Big Country-leading 773 yards and nine touchdowns rushing, ran for 270 yards and five scores against the Bulldogs to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark in just four games and fuel the unbeaten Jackets to a thrilling win.
LAST WEEK: 51-10, .836
SEASON TOTAL: 131-42, .757
Football picks are something I take pride in and it irritates me to no end when I stink it up. So let’s just say, I burned some midnight oil to get that situation corrected last week.
As a result, the column recovered with a solid .836 percentage in Week 3, salvaging my bruised ego after a disastrous Week 2 tally. In all, 51 of 61 area picks hit the mark last week, elevating my season’s record above 75 percent.
That’s more like it.
Week 4 in the meantime, presents a lineup of some of the most difficult area picks we’ve had this season — including an explosive Glen Rose team facing Brownwood in our BCP Game of the Week. Let’s dive in, shall we?
Here’s this week’s forecast:
When word came of last week’s epic 62-61 win by Stephenville at Everman, one could only expect there to be some epic performances involved.
There were.
And at the top of that list is our Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week, Tate Maruska, a junior running back who went absolutely bananas in that game.
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 2022.
We hope you enjoy this list and that you’ve enjoyed our position rankings as we get set to kick off a new season.