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.
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.
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: Jim Ned-Sweetwater baseball (57 images)”
SWEETWATER — While baseball superstition says that you don’t talk about perfect games or no-hitters in progress, it also says that you should celebrate lengthy winning streaks.
There’s plenty of reason to celebrate around the No. 4-ranked Jim Ned baseball team, which knocked off Sweetwater 13-4 on Tuesday evening at Sportsman Park to run its season-opening winning streak to 18 games while improving to 4-0 in District 6-3A play.
The Indians won nine of their first 17 games by at least 10 runs with only three games decided by three runs or less.
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.
MERKEL — Sweetwater boys basketball coach Dillon Gainey said he and his staff were sitting in the coaches office on Friday morning trying to draw up a way to steal points off the opening tip for their District 6-3A road game at Merkel.
It’s safe to say that the play they came up with worked better than anyone could have imagined.
Sweetwater’s Amare Arevalo didn’t even make an attempt to win the opening tip, letting Rayson Houston go uncontested for it, but Houston’s tap went directly to a Mustang and turned into a layup just three seconds into the game as the Mustangs led wire-to-wire in a 57-34 decision over the Badgers.
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.
The boys basketball regular season is nearing its end, and district championship and playoff pictures across the area are coming into view.
Most leagues now have clear favorites in both their title and playoff races, but several remain unresolved with just two or three games left to play.
With just a couple of weeks of games remaining, let’s dive in and take a look at this week’s biggest games and last week’s most significant developments.
With weather postponements forcing Tolar to play three games last week, there was positive in an otherwise hectic week: It gave one of THS’ athletes the opportunity to showcase a remarkable run of consistency.
Tolar sophomore Atley Kolb takes our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award for the Week ending Jan. 31, after posting three straight double-doubles in as many days to help the Lady Rattlers in wins over Millsap (57-25), Eastland (59-25) and Breckenridge (74-19).
Kolb posted 10 points and 13 rebounds against Millsap; 21 points and 11 boards against Eastland and 12 points and 10 boards in the Breckenridge win.
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.
Last week’s winter storm made for a wild week of action, condensing a week’s worth of games into three day’s time. And the results were as unpredictable as you might expect given the circumstances.
We saw several district championship and playoff races shaken up by upsets and others take shape as the cream continued its rise to the top.
As we do here weekly, it’s time to take survey of the Big Country boys basketball landscape. We hope you enjoy this look at the biggest developments from last week and the biggest games this week’s slate has to offer.
With January’s schedule-jumbling weather behind us, we now look forward to multiple games with playoff implications around the Big Country Preps coverage area.
There were no shortage of big matchups last week and as usual, there are several more in the days ahead.
So let’s take a quick look at the menu for Feb. 2-6.
It should be fun, I’ll see you on the road.
The winter storm that blew across most of the state over the weekend wreaked havoc on the area basketball schedule, forcing most of last Friday’s games to be pushed up a day and the bulk of this week’s early games to postponed all the way to Thursday.
But icy weather — and the bevy of schedule changes that came with it — have done little to cool the area’s rapidly heating district races.
We still had a number of thrilling and significant results last week and have a bunch of intriguing games to look forward to over the next few days. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the biggest of those in our weekly look at the Big Country girls basketball scene.
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.
Ysée Le Borgne may feel like a fish out of water living in Ballinger, Texas. After all, the 16-year-old foreign exchange student and native of Lille, France is more than 5,000 miles and (needless to say), a major cultural shift away from her hometown.
On the basketball court, however, the 6-foot sophomore guard is right at home — so much so that she earned our Big Country Preps Player of Week for the week ending Jan. 17 with a rare quadruple double.
Le Borgne, who opened the week with a 24-point, 14-rebound double-double in a loss to Colorado City, showed the potential for a “quad” that night with seven steals, six pass deflections and four blocks.
Three days later it happened in a 43-32 win over Coleman that saw Le Borne finish with 23 points, 12 boards, 10 steals and 10 pass deflections.
With district play either underway or starting this week for all area boys basketball teams, it’s time to start taking a closer look at how our Big Country hoops races are shaping up.
And as we’ve done in the past, we’ll break down our top upcoming matchups, the top results from the previous week and the area’s biggest surprise right here each Sunday, starting with this column.
We hope you enjoy a look at this week in area boys basketball.
With the arrival of the new year, Big Country Preps will again take a look at the area boys and girls basketball scenes each Sunday night until the end of the regular season.
Top games, top results and the week’s biggest surprise will be on the menu.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
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: Sweetwater-Jim Ned basketball doubleheader (39 images)”
TUSCOLA — While the two games took on a different character, both ends of Tuesday’s varsity doubleheader between Jim Ned and Sweetwater had one thing in common: both were frustrating for SHS.
In Game 1, the Jim Ned girls used a 14-0 start and a 38-point night by Lily Bryant to hand Sweetwater a 56-39 loss at Bill Thornton Arena. The nightcap saw the Indians down Sweetwater 49-47 in a physical, slow-tempo duel in which Jim Ned executed just well enough down the stretch to keep the Mustangs at bay.
Comanche 43, Clyde 42 — The Indians pulled off a stunning upset on Friday to finish at 5-5 overall and 2-3 in district play — narrowly missing the playoffs.
Comanche grabbed an early 21-7 lead, then fought off a huge Clyde rally to put an exclamation point on their season.
Jim Ned 41, Clyde 34 — Cash Gwinn threw for 157 yards and two TDs and rushed for an additional 40 yards and a third score to lift Jim Ned to an important win over Clyde.
Trailing 34-28 at the break, the Indians (8-1, 4-0) rallied with two unanswered scores in the second half to get the win.
Devan Wright led Clyde with 172 yards rushing; Miles Wilsher rushed for 72 yards and four TDs.
Jim Ned improved to 8-1 and 4-0 with the win and can clinch the district title with a win over Sweetwater next Friday. Clyde fell to 7-2 and 3-1.
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: Sweetwater-Clyde football (46 images)”
Breckenridge 26, Comanche 22 — Breckenridge used a solid defensive effort to get past Comanche in a vitally important game for both clubs.
Limiting Comanche to 239 yards, the Buckaroos snagged sole possession of fourth place and the potential No. 4 playoff seed with two games left.
Breckenridge improved to 3-5 and 1-2 in league play; Comanche fell to 3-5 and 0-3.
CLYDE — When the Clyde football team hosts Sweetwater, it’s almost guaranteed the game is going to be in doubt until the final whistle.
The Bulldogs took the 2022 meeting between the two programs 29-28 in overtime before hitting the road in each of the last two years.
Friday night at Bulldog Stadium, the hosts claimed a crucial 27-20 District 3-3A Division I win as they stopped a Caiden Ortiz scramble in the middle of the field on the final play of the game. It was a thrilling end to a game that saw a ho-hum first half played in a driving rain give way to a second half full of momentum swings and stunning turns of events.
Forsan senior Hayden Bowlin had a career night last Friday and picked up our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award in the process.
To begin with, the FHS QB rushed for 280 yards and five scores in last week’s 60-27 win over Colorado City. Aside from that, he threw for 59 yards, he returned a punt 75 yards for a sixth TD and had a 34-yard kickoff return to give him 389 all-purpose yards and 36 of FHS’ points.
Jim Ned 49, Breckenridge 7 — Cash Gwinn threw for 186 yards and three scores and Aiden Ellis rushed for 127 yards and another TD as Jim Ned earned its fourth straight win.
The Indians quickly built a 42-7 first-half lead before coasting to the finish.
Breckenridge fell to 2-5 and 0-2.
Jim Ned 56, Comanche 3 — Cash Gwinn threw for 283 yards and three scores and Aiden Ellis rushed for 90 yards and two more TDs as Jim Ned (5-1, 1-0) won the district opener for both schools.
After building a 35-3 halftime lead, Jim Ned ended any hopes of a Comanche miracle with a 21-0 third quarter.
Comanche (3-3, 0-1) was led by Cooper Welch, who threw for 120 yards.
San Angelo Grape Creek 49, San Angelo TLCA 12 — TLCA was the lone district team to see action on Friday, falling to its archrival Grape Creek in league play.
TLCA fell to 0-5 with the loss and will open district play at home against Sweetwater next Friday.
Clyde 54, Muleshoe 49 — The Bulldogs topped Muleshoe in what turned out to be the area’s most entertaining game of the week.
Devan Wright rushed for 179 yards and four scores and threw for 246 yards and three more touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs, who improved to 4-1 with the win.
Muleshoe dropped to 2-3.
Wylie junior Haddie Mock was at her very best against difficult competition last week, helping the Lady Bulldogs to wins over seventh-ranked 3A Bushland (25-8) and 21st-ranked 4A Stephenville last week.
Mock finished a whopping combined total of 19 blocks in the two matches to help the Lady Bulldogs improve to 24-7. She also had 16 combined kills.
Comanche 36, Tolar 33 — Ladainian Smith rushed for 141 yards and three scores and Zaden Tello rushed for 103 yards and another TD to help Comanche even its record at 2-2.
Tolar (2-2) was led by Briton Rice, who threw or 259 yards and three scores.
Comanche will next see action when it travels to Early next Friday. Tolar will play host to Breckenridge on the same evening.
Comanche 42, Eastland 14 — Ladanian Smith rushed for 102 yards and two scores and Zaden Tello rushed or 72 yards and two more TDs as Comanche (1-2) earned its first win of the year.
The Mavericks dropped to 0-3 with the loss.
Eastland trailed 28-14 at the break before Comanche put things away with a pair of second-half touchdowns.
Clyde 52, Eastland 28 — The Bulldogs used a 20-0 first quarter to gain control of this contest and never looked back.
Clyde (2-0) rolled up 521 yards in total offense while limiting Eastland (0-2) to 279.
Harley Griffin rushed for 124 yards and two scores and Miles Wilsher rushed for 107 and another TD to lead the Bulldogs.
Surprises are an important part of football, and the intrigue they provide is the biggest source of interest the game has. Admit it, if you picked 100 percent every week and never got to use the word “upset,” how fun would it all be?
Well, true to form, the Big Country Preps coverage area supplied us with our share of head-turners in Week 1 — several, in fact, that point to an even more interesting season than some of us anticipated.
There were upsets, dazzling comebacks, stunning blowouts and an assortment of other unexpecteds.
Let’s take a quick look at the five Week 1 games that surprised me the most.
Continue reading “BIG COUNTRY PREPS NOTEBOOK: My five biggest surprises in Week 1”
Jim Ned 42, Lubbock Estacado 21 — Cash Gwinn was 8-of-15 through the air for 187 yards and three scores and Aiden Ellis rushed for 113 yards and another TD to lift Jim Ned to an impressive win over Lubbock Estacado.
With the score knotted at 21-21 at the break, the Indians took command with three unanswered scores in the second half.
Got the truck started yet?
Ready to jump on one of those farm-to-market roads to watch high school football into the late hours on a Friday night?
You’re not alone.
And, as tradition would have it, I tip my cap to those of you who will be hitting the trails each week in search of pigskin. My method: a preseason menu of sorts.
Each week for the next 11 weeks, Big Country Preps will be searching for its Game of the Week, and we’re already looking ahead. We now present our preliminary list of Big Country Games worth traveling for, but keep in mind: the following list is subject to change as surprises and disappointments emerge.
And as we all know … surprises and disappointments always emerge.
So, without further delay, here is our list of Big Country games worth traveling for in 2025.
I’ll see you on the road.