Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
We will continually update the database throughout the regular season.
Snyder 42, San Angelo Lake View 7 — The Tigers dominated the Chiefs, scoring 35 unanswered points after Lake View had tied the game at 7 with a touchdown late in the first quarter.
Snyder, which outgained the Chiefs 404-208, led 21-7 by halftime and added three more touchdowns after the break to improve to 4-0 on the year.
The Tigers were led in the win by Jorge Martinez, who rushed for 174 yards and three touchdowns on just 17 carries, while quarterback Hunter Stewart completed 11 of 15 passes for 144 yards and added 41 yards and one TD rushing.
LAST WEEK: 36-16, .692
OVERALL: 163-46, .779
After four straight weeks of picking 80 percent or better, the USS Ren ran aground last Friday, bottoming out with a season-low .692 percentage and dropping my season tally to .779.
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
We will continually update the database throughout the regular season.
Portrait by Brandi Dent Photography in Sweetwater. Action photo by Will McClure
There’s no denying the impact of versatile senior Jazzane Potts on the Sweetwater volleyball team. The Lady Mustangs opened this season 1-12 while Potts was undergoing treatment on both her knees, but Sweetwater is 6-5 since her return.
Sweetwater (7-17) had won five consecutive matches entering Tuesday’s nondistrict match at Wall.
“We were sending her to three different doctors,” third-year Sweetwater coach Mitzi Bell said Monday. “We kept asking Jazzane, ‘Are you cleared yet? Are you cleared yet?’”
Clyde junior Payton Phillips first hit the area radar screen last spring when she took double gold at the Region I-3A track meet in the both the long jump and 100 hurdles.
But our Capital Farm Credit/Big Country Preps Player of the Week is also one of the area’s top volleyball setters as well, as last week’s effort in a three-set win over Graham and four-set loss to Stephenville illustrated.
Sweetwater 47, San Angelo Lake View 20 — The Mustangs claimed their 700th win in program history, piling up 493 yards of total offense in a dominating effort.
Senior quarterback Leo Holsey led the winning effort, passing for two touchdowns and rushing for another to help SHS improve to 1-2 on the season.
Lake View, which was limited to 347 yards and had a pair of turnovers, was paced by quarterback Cade Henry, who passed for 173 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
LAST WEEK: 42-9, .823
SEASON TOTAL: 85-21, .801
I was very much looking forward to our Big Country Preps Game of the Week – Coleman (2-0) at Brady (2-0). Unfortunately, COVID intervened by midweek, forcing a cancellation of the contest.
On a positive note, there are several other quality games throughout the area for us to focus on, and (taking a bow) the column is already hitting over 80 percent on picks and we’re only in Week 3.
Numbers of that sort are generally reserved for Weeks 7-10, so I’m feeling pressure to keep the early momentum going.
In the absence of our Game of the Week, I’ll be heading to Cross Plains on Friday, where Haskell will be paying a visit to the Buffaloes (COVID allowing, of course).
Let’s dive in to this week’s picks:
Snyder 45, Levelland 7 — The Tigers improved to 2-0 with an impressive win over the Lobos, racing out to a 31-7 halftime lead and cruising from there to a 38-point victory.
Hunter Stewart hit all 10 of his passes for 127 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for 58 yards and two scores to lead the SHS offense. Jorge Martinez also had a nice day running the ball, finishing with 78 yards and a TD on seven carries, while Tim Henderson (5-79, 1 TD) was the Tigers’ top receiver.
Snyder outgained Levelland 364-240, rushing for 237 yards in the victory.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Sweetwater at Stephenville (40 images)”
Snyder 28, Slaton 9 — A big third quarter was all Snyder needed to pull away from Stanton for a three-score win in its season opener.
Trailing 8-7 at halftime, coach Wes Wood’s Tigers scored 22 unanswered points in the third quarter to cruise to the victory.
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.
SWEETWATER — The biggest coaching change in the Big Country over the offseason is unlikely to fade away quietly.
When long-time Hamlin coach Russell Lucas resigned in March to take the open job at Sweetwater, jumping two classifications (four divisions) from Class 2A DII to 4A DII, the heightened interest was automatically set into motion.
Are you kidding me? This is a great story.
SWEETWATER — As first-year coach Russell Lucas begins his journey as the head of the Sweetwater football program, he can take comfort in knowing that he has inherited a cupboard that is anything but bare.
No fewer than 21 lettermen are expected to return from last year’s 8-2 squad, with five offensive and eight defensive starters among them. This includes standout quarterback Leo Holsey, who begins his fourth season behind center for the Mustangs after throwing for 2,261 yards and 31 scores a year ago.
More good news for the Mustangs: The new system Lucas is installing is quite similar to what they’ve been running at SHS for years, meaning the transition period should be relatively short.
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 II with the Sweetwater Mustangs. On Tuesday, we will take a look at the Big Spring Steers, followed by the Brownwood Lions on Wednesday.
Here are our superlative award winners for the 2021 All-Big Country Preps softball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
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.
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.