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SWEETWATER — Both the Sweetwater and Big Spring girls basketball teams went into Tuesday night’s game tied for fourth place in District 3-4A and looking to get a leg up on the other one to close out the first half of district play.
Jazzy Villa made a pair of free throws coming off a technical foul between the third and fourth quarters to put the Lady Mustangs ahead and Sweetwater used a dominant defensive effort in the closing minutes to pick up a 51-47 win at Mustang Gym.
Sisters Kenzi and Kya Mitchell had 13 and 12 points, respectively, while Villa added 10 as the Lady Mustangs improved to 9-12 this year and 2-3 in District 3-4A action.
Most of us know a football player who lives in the weight room, who’s always dependable and who always does what his coaches ask him. He always puts the team first. He’s early to arrive and late to leave. And he seldom needs direction because he always pays attention.
You know the type. But you seldom hear about them, since there is no specific category to put them in and the media doesn’t recognize these qualities.
This is the guy who always sets a good example. He doesn’t complain and above all else, is tough mentally and physically. He’s not necessarily the best player on his team (though some are). But he’s definitely the guy who gets the most out of whatever talent he was born with.
Welcome to the 2020 “True Grit” team — the one place in the Big Country where guys who fall into this category are recognized for it.
Here are our superlative award winners for the 2020 All-Big Country Preps football team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Here are our first-team selections for the 2020 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 2020 All-Big Country Preps football team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Here are our third-team selections for the 2020 All-Big Country Preps football team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
The Wylie boys basketball team rolled into the Christmas break with some positive momentum thanks to a 77-46 win over Sweetwater on Monday at Bulldog Gym.
After watching the Mustangs pull within 10 with just under four minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Bulldogs closed that period on a 14-2 run and outscored the visitors 20-11 in the fourth to pull away for a comfortable win.
The victory was a welcome sight for the Wylie, which improved 3-6 through a difficult early-season schedule.
VIDEO PODCAST NO. 11: Cisco coach Kevin Stennett joins the show and to talk about his experience at CHS and this week’s regional semifinal clash with Hawley. Evan Ren and Daniel Youngblood examine this week’s regional semifinal pairings.
Top games of this week discussed: All playoff pairings involving Big Country teams from Class 1A-4A this week are mentioned.
Top games of last week discussed: Sweetwater vs. Celina, Hawley vs. Sundown, Albany vs. Ralls, Wall vs. Bushland, Brock vs. Denver City, Jim Ned vs. Dalhart, San Saba vs. Panhandle.
STEPHENVILLE — The Sweetwater Mustangs had seven false starts in the first quarter and fell in an early 9-0 hole to Celina in a Region I-4A Division II area round matchup at Tarleton State University’s Memorial Stadium on Friday night.
Despite getting a 93-yard touchdown pass from Leo Holsey to Darian Carr on the first play of the second quarter, the early deficit was too much to overcome in a 37-22 loss.
Sweetwater finishes its season at 8-2.
REGION I-4A DIV. I
Springtown 56, Big Spring 0 — The Porcupines were too much for the Steers on Friday, using a 483-237 yardage gap and 6-1 advantage in the turnover margin to score a shutout victory.
Big Spring quarterback Gabriel Baeza passed for 182 yards and rushed for a team-high 46 yards, but he was hurt by four interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown.
Springtown, which led 35-0 by halftime, was paced by quarterback Camden Chesney, who threw four touchdown passes, and Dakota Strahan, who rushed for two scores and added a pick-six on defense.
After kicking off our boys basketball position rankings series on Monday 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 with others to watch in 2020-21.
We hope you enjoy our list.
With boys basketball season upon us, it’s time to shine a spotlight on some of the players we’ll be writing and you’ll be reading about throughout the 2020-21 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 fall.
We hope you enjoy reading through our list.
LAST WEEK: 26-4, .866
SEASON TOTAL: 377-81, .823
Week 12 of the football season is here. And you know what that means.
The horses are at the starting gate with a finish line set up in Arlington for the state championship games.
More than 97 percent of the teams won’t make it. And by the time Thanksgiving arrives, 75 percent of them will already be finished. Such is the magnitude of our postseason.
In the meantime, hundreds of teams from Class 1A through 4A have their dreams of reaching Jerry World still intact. Classes 5A and 6A will start their postseason journeys in mid December, after having their seasons delayed by COVID-19.
That said, it’s time to choose which of our Big Country entries have the best shot of conquering their regions. Who are the favorites? Who are the dark horses? An perhaps most importantly, where are the elephants in the room — the teams from outside of our area with the most potential to spoil the Big Country’s chances?
Let’s get started, shall we?
Here are the updated Big Country football playoff pairings, results:
Continue reading “Big Country football playoff pairings, results” →
Gatesville 46, Pecos 37 — Picking up a nondistrict game before their playoff opener next week, the Eagles dropped a competitive game to close the regular season at 3-5 overall and 1-3 in district play.
Pecos, which earned the No. 4 playoff seed out of this league with a win over Snyder last week, led 13-8 after a quarter and was within two scores heading into the fourth (32-21) but was unable to rally over the final 12 minutes.
The Eagles will open the playoffs next week against District 2 champion Lubbock Estacado (4-6, 3-1).