Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to release our 2025 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.
National Signing Day is typically a busy one in the Big Country Preps’ coverage area and 2025 was no exception with several players inking and/or confirming their commitments to play at the next level.
At various signing ceremonies held throughout the area, athletes celebrated their final choices to pursue a degree while competing collegiately.
Our All-Big Country Preps Volleyball team, released today, is in place to honor those who achieved the most on-court success in 2024. It is off the court, however, where character, grit
and work ethic are often measured. And it is with our Big Country Preps Max Effort Team that we wish to honor those players who were the hardest-working, best teammates in the
area this fall.
This team isn’t about who the best volleyball players were.
The Max Effort team honors hustle, discipline, toughness, coachability and selflessness — traits that coaches wish every player had.
Here are our superlative award winners for the 2024 All-Big Country Preps volleyball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Here are our first-team selections for the 2024 All-Big Country Preps volleyball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Here are our second-team selections for the 2024 All-Big Country Preps volleyball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Here are our third-team selections for the 2024 All-Big Country Preps volleyball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Here is our 2024 All-Big Country Preps volleyball Rising Stars Team, comprised of the top freshmen and sophomores in the area. For the rest of this year’s volleyball selections, click the links below.
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: Bangs-Hawley volleyball (54 images)”
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-Big Spring volleyball (34 images)”
TUSCOLA — It wasn’t easy or pretty for the Hawley volleyball team on Tuesday night at Bill Thornton Arena in the Lady Bearcats’ Region I-2A Division I matchup with Bangs in the bi-district round of the postseason.
The Lady Cats took the first two sets (25-17, 25-15) before Bangs stormed back, taking the next two (25-21, 25-23) to set up a winner-take-all race to 15.
Hawley jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the final set before closing out the match with a 15-8 win to advance to the area round to face the winner of the Nocona-Seymour match.
TUSCOLA — The Stephenville Honeybees rolled to a 25-7, 25-6, 25-15 win over Big Spring to open the Region I-4A Division I volleyball playoffs on Tuesday night at Bill Thornton Arena.
Stephenville barely broke a sweat in a match that lasted less than an hour while setting the stage for an area-round matchup on Thursday night with Springtown.
Honeybee coach Shay Douglas was excited about how her team played on Tuesday.
It’s not a requirement for one to be on the winning team to become eligible for our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award.
It helps, but it’s not set in stone, by any means.
Case in point: San Saba quarterback Luke Tharp, who produced big-time numbers in a 44-41 loss to Holland last week.
Here are the final Big Country volleyball playoff pairings and results:
Continue reading “Big Country volleyball playoff pairings, results (Final)”
Hosting Wichita Falls Memorial with a chance to clinch the District 4-5A championship outright, the Wylie volleyball team couldn’t complete a perfect run through league play Tuesday, falling to the Mavericks 25-22, 25-14, 26-24 on Senior Night.
The season split with Memorial dropped the Lady Bulldogs (22-18 overall) to 7-1 in league play, leaving them in a tie with the Mavericks (25-12, 7-1) atop the district standings.
A decision hadn’t been made after the match how that tie would be broken for playoff seeding purposes, but in diagnosing the factors behind Tuesday’s loss — and the potential need for a rubber match — Wylie coach Shay Cox said it came down to a simple lack of consistency.
Photos provided by Melissa Carroll and Kelly Moody
There’s a great deal of excitement brewing around the Tolar volleyball team heading into postseason play and with good reason. If the Lady Rattlers (28-9, 12-1 District 8-3A) manage to knock off Comanche on Tuesday, they will set a school record for wins in a season.
Secondly, senior setter Abbie Soileau is dishing assists like they were going out of style — including the 47 she tallied last week in wins over No. 25 Peaster and Early. That lifted her season total to a Tolar school record 1,032 assists on the year and more 1,700 for her career.
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: Wall-Clyde volleyball (75 images)”
CLYDE — When Clyde and Wall first met on the volleyball court in District 6-3A play last month, the Lady Hawks won a five-set thriller at home. That afternoon, all five sets were decided by either two or three points.
The rivals met again Tuesday night as the Lady Bulldogs honored their five seniors and, with former coach Laura Carr watching from the stands, took down their nemesis 25-22, 25-21, 25-17 at Bulldog Gym.
While the sweep was shocking in its own right, it was the way that Clyde finished off the match that was even more impressive. Courtney Freeman’s squad went on a 14-2 run to close out the third set.
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m. roughout the regular season.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
With the Albany Lions winning last week’s district game with Winters by a score of 60-0, there were ample opportunities for the Lions to produce a Player of the Week-worthy performance.
They found one in senior Branson Beal, who rushed 11 times for 144 yards and five scores. He also caught a 46-yard TD pass to chart six touchdowns on the night.
“He might have the quickest feet of any (player) I have coached,” Albany coach Denney Faith said. “Combine that with great vision it makes him fun to watch.”
Coming into Tuesday’s crosstown volleyball match between Wylie and Cooper, both teams were riding the high of a big win to close out the first half of District 4-5A play.
The Lady Bulldogs went on the road Friday to outlast Wichita Falls Memorial in a five-set marathon and take sole possession of first place in the league’s standings, while the Lady Cougars downed Wichita Falls Legacy at home to get a leg up on the district’s fourth playoff spot.
That momentum carried over to Tuesday as both teams played and competed well at Cougar Gym. But in the end, Wylie was too tough in a hard-fought 25-23, 25-19, 25-19 win.
COLEMAN — The past 6½ weeks have been incredibly tough on the Coleman Bluekatt volleyball team since it beat Rotan in straight sets in tournament play.
The Bluekatts had won just six sets over the course of a 17 match losing streak — losing a dozen of them in straight sets, including a 25-11, 25-13, 25-14 match against Bangs in District 5-2A play on Sept. 28.
With their hopes of snagging a playoff berth dangling by a thread, Coleman found itself trailing the Lady Dragons 24-20 in the opening set of the rematch on Tuesday night.
What followed from there was nothing short of remarkable as the Bluekatts scored the final six points of the opening set and rallied again late for a thrilling 26-24, 16-25, 19-25, 25-19, 16-14 win to move into a tie with De Leon for the fourth and final playoff spot — setting up a crucial home match on Friday night.
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m. roughout the regular season.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
It isn’t often that a place-kicker nails down our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, but Comanche’s Alex Terrell has done exactly that with a pressure-packed performance in a 13-10 overtime win over Jim Ned in our Game of the Week last Friday.
Aside from hitting a game-tying 30-yard field goal to send the contest into overtime, Terrell connected on a 31-yard field goal in the extra period to give CHS the win.
The Wylie volleyball team improved to 3-0 in District 4-5A play Tuesday, smothering any upset hopes crosstown rival Abilene High had early in a 25-11, 25-12, 25-20 sweep at Bulldog Gym.
The Lady Bulldogs (16-14 overall) overwhelmed the Lady Eagles at the net, taking the visitors out of their rhythm with a towering block and an efficient attack.
That combination allowed coach Shay Cox’s squad to cruise to comfortable wins in each of the first two sets, before fending off a stiffer challenge in the third.
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Tuesday at 7 p.m. roughout the regular season.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
With the bulk of the area’s football teams taking the night off in a bye week prior to district, the question last Friday was if we could find an ample supply of top games and top performances to cover.
We actually found several — topped by a show-stopping effort by Coahoma’s Jaidyn Vineyard in an unforgettable 71-70 win over Littlefield in our Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
Entering Tuesday’s crosstown match in need of a win to avoid an 0-2 district start, the Abilene High volleyball team started fast and kept its foot on the gas on its way to a 25-20, 25-23, 19-25, 25-20 win at Cougar Gym.
In a match where both teams struggled to find a rhythm on the attack, the Lady Eagles were just a little cleaner in all phases, taking advantage of 29 Cooper hitting errors and 11 service errors to grab the momentum early and maintain it throughout the contest.
Playing in front of a raucous crosstown crowd, the fast start was a point of emphasis coming in and, ultimately, a key to the leaving with a win, first-year AHS coach T-Keeyah Hall-Fanner said.
HAWLEY — For most of Tuesday’s match, the Hawley and Albany volleyball teams were locked in a slugfest that featured both teams’ service and receiving games executing exactly how they wanted to.
The District 6-2A rivals combined for just 15 aces in the match, which saw the Lady Bearcats sweep the Lady Lions 25-21, 25-21, 25-19 at Bearcat Gymnasium.
It was such a close match, Hawley coach Amy Eckoff and M.J. Reneau, her counterpart at Albany, both had nothing but praise for how their team handled the match between the two frontrunners for the district championship.
Overwhelming. If there were a one-word description for last week’s performance by six-foot Graham senior Lillian Noble, that would be it.
Noble, a four-year varsity player who has already committed to Oklahoma Baptist, was far and away the most dominant player in both a 3-1 win over Wichita Falls Memorial and a 3-1 loss to Glen Rose last week.
Her combined totals: 54 kills, 23 digs and 12 blocks — making her the most effective two-way player the area saw on both sides of the net last week.
“Lillian has become a true utility player for us this season,” coach Marci Faulk said. “It’s exciting to see her embrace this new role and have so much success doing so!”
TUSCOLA — After one game in Tuesday’s District 6-3A volleyball match between Clyde and Jim Ned, the visiting Lady Bulldogs looked poised to leave Bill Thornton Arena with their unbeaten district record intact.
Coach Courtney Freeman’s squad was almost flawless out of the gate, tallying 13 kills with just three hitting errors on its way to a breezy 25-14 win in the opening set.
But as it would turn out, Game 1 wasn’t the tone-setter that Clyde had hoped it would be. Instead, it lit a fire under the homestanding Lady Indians, who rallied to win the next three sets 25-17, 25-18 and 25-22 to take the match and pull even with the Lady Bulldogs in the 6-3A standings at 2-1.
Hawley’s Keagan Ables is no stranger to the Big Country Preps Player of the Week column — appearing among our top performers multiple times over the last three years.
However, his latest effort to help HHS defeat De Leon 54-21 on Friday, may rank as one of his best.
The Hawley senior connected on 16 of 32 passes for 441 yards and six touchdowns to help Hawley improve to 4-0 on the year.
LAST WEEK: 47-11, .810
SEASON TOTAL: 141-59, .705
After nosediving in Week 2 with one of the worst pick records I’ve ever had, the column rebounded in Week 3 with an .810 percentage to push my overall tally over .700 again.
As for this week’s Big Country Preps Game of the Week, Mr. Yale Youngblood will be on hand in Tolar to cover Comanche’s road game with the Rattlers in what should be a fun one.
I’ll be heading to Ballinger, where the Bearcats (3-0) will play host to Brady (2-1) in a battle of upstarts.
Let’s dive into this week’s picks:
Versatility is a definite advantage for nominees in our Big Country Preps Player of the Week column. And for Anson senior quarterback Corey Layne it was enough to put him in this week’s top spot.
Leading the Tigers (3-0) to a 49-28 over Dublin, Layne connected on 18 of 27 throws for 284 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed eight times for 65 more yards and two additional scores.
Layne was equally effective from his linebacker spot, collecting 10 tackles and one interception.
Facing game point in a back-and-forth first set against Mineral Wells on Tuesday, the Cooper volleyball team used a 4-1 run to rally for a 28-26 win. That shifted momentum to the Lady Cougars’ side, and it stayed there the rest of the way as coach Nora Campbell’s team won the next two games 25-14 and 25-18 to secure a nondistrict sweep at Cougar Gym.
The victory, which snapped a four-match losing streak, improved Cooper to 10-13 with four matches to play before their Sept. 27 District 4-5A opener against crosstown rival Wylie.
Mineral Wells, meanwhile, dropped to 10-10 with the loss, which saw the Lady Rams lose outside hitter Liliana Rodriguez for the final two sets to a broken pinky.
Sometimes, the biggest stage creates the biggest performances.
And in the Big Country, the stage doesn’t get any bigger than the annual Abilene – Abilene Cooper matchup — one of the biggest rivalries in the state of Texas and arguably the biggest in our area (though you may get an argument from Brownwood-Stephenville).
Friday night with much of the city of Abilene paying attention, AHS quarterback Brayden Henry had a memorable night, hitting 15 of 19 throws for 216 yards passing and two TDs.
DE LEON — Entering this football it was expected that De Leon junior quarterback Heston Jobe would be among the top producers in the Big Country.
It took him all of one night to prove it in a 79-43 win over Dublin on Friday.
Jobe, who connected on 13 of 20 throws for 413 yards and four scores, also rushed for 176 yards and four more TDs.
By night’s end, the Bearcats were 1-0 and Jobe had accounted for 589 yards and five touchdowns.
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: FCA volleyball all-star match (55 images)”
Eschewing the traditional North vs. South format in favor of a team draft had the intended results of a more competitive Fellowship of Christian Athletes All-Star Classic volleyball match Saturday afternoon at Wylie’s Bulldog Gym.
Seven of the first 10 volleyball matches saw the event end with a 2-0 sweep for either the North or South.
The first all-star draft produced a competitive three-setter as the Red team rallied past the Blue for a 20-25, 25-12, 25-19 win, led by Clyde’s Aven Horn, who left as the Bev Ball MVP.
Four Abilene High athletes from three girls programs celebrated with family and friends Wednesday as they made their college decisions official during a signing day ceremony at Eagle Gym.
Volleyball players Yasmine DeLaGarza (Vernon College) and Amelia Carr (Arlington Baptist), track athlete Adriahna Peeples (Hardin-Simmons) and soccer player Laila Brown (McMurry) all announced where they’d be continuing their academic and athletic careers, adding to a successful athletic year for AHS girls programs that will continue this weekend when the Lady Eagles softball team meets Wylie in the Region I-5A quarterfinals.
Wednesday’s four signees bring the list of Abilene High seniors who will compete collegiately to 16 for the school year after nine signed on Feb. 7 and three more did so on April 30.
Continue reading “SIGNING DAY: Four Abilene High girls make college decisions official”
Here are the area’s baseball statistical leaders through April 25.
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.
While we normally try to share the love in our Big Country Preps Player of the Week column, five district titles in one week isn’t easy to sidestep.
And while Wall’s Briggs Jones has already pulled down our award once this year, he earned a second with his showing at the District 6-3A meet in Clyde last week by sweeping the long jump (23-2), the triple jump (44-10.75), the 200 meters (21.92), the 100 meters (10.72) and assisting the 800 relay team to gold with a 1:29.68 split.
If I were to ask one question of every high school coach in America – just one – it would be … why bother?
Yes … why bother?
While that may sound vague to some, it will quickly make sense to coaches and to those who have been paying attention.
Put simply, a once-thankless profession has sunk even lower than that (if that’s possible) – making me wonder if it’s worth the effort.
Our All-Big Country Preps Volleyball team, released today, honors those who produced the top on-court performances through the 2023 season. It is off the court, however, where character, grit and work ethic are often measured. And it is with our Big Country Preps Max Effort Team that we wish to honor those players who were the hardest-working, best teammates in the area this fall.
This team isn’t about who the best volleyball players were.
The Max Effort team honors hustle, discipline, toughness, coachability and selflessness — traits that coaches wish every player had.
Here are our superlative award winners for the 2023 All-Big Country Preps volleyball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.
Here are our first-team selections for the 2023 All-Big Country Preps volleyball team. For the rest of this year’s selections, click the links below.