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 2022.
We hope you enjoy our list.
After taking a look at the Big Country’s top defensive linemen on Saturday, it’s now time to examine those who will backing them in 2022.
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 2022.
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.
With limited size on its lines and a diminutive skill player nucleus, the Winters football team will be smaller than most of the teams it plays this year. But coach Matt McCarty is banking on his squad’s speed and quickness to make for its lack size.
Averaging around 200 pounds on the lines and featuring a fair number of playmakers in the 5-foot-4 to 5-7 range, the Blizzards know they won’t be able to line up and run through or over people. But they like their chances of running by and around them.
Coming off a disappointing 2-7 campaign in which it missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016, WHS has every intention of making a postseason return this fall. And it plans to do so by ignoring what it doesn’t have and embracing what it does.
Coming off four consecutive playoff seasons, the Winters football team struggled to find its stride in 2021, resulting in a disappointing 2-7 campaign.
With 14 lettermen returning from that team, including seven starters on each side of the ball, the Blizzards are hoping for a more successful run in 2022.
Sharing District 4-2A Division I with state powers Hawley and Cisco, as well as playoff regulars Anson and Stamford, WHS will have its work cut out for it this fall. But coach Matt McCarty and his squad are excited about the challenge in front of them — even if they’ll be tackling it with a young squad that features only three seniors.
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: Hamlin, Santo and Winters football scrimmage (75 images)”
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 Wednesday, Aug. 17. 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. 1, we’ll be spotlighting each 11-man team in the area and posing some of the key questions they’ll face in 2022 as part of our annual “Countdown to Two-a-Days” series.
We stay in Class 2A Division I with the Winters Blizzards. On Wednesday we will take a look at the Bangs Dragons, followed by the Coleman Bluecats on Thursday.
Continue reading “COUNTDOWN TO TWO-A-DAYS: Winters Blizzards”
OTHER 2022 ALL-BIG COUNTRY PREPS TEAMS
Character, grit and work ethic aren’t seen in a box score. And it is with our Big Country Preps All-Hustle Team that we wish to honor those players (male and female) who exemplify those qualities.
The All-Hustle team isn’t about who the best baseball and softball players were. It honors the best teammates.
It is here where effort, discipline and coachability — traits that coaches wish they had in every player and upon which championships are built — are honored.
It is for that reason that this team is largely selected by area coaches and described in their own words.
Big Country Preps is now honored to present these individuals to you — the best team players (boys and girls) that the Big Country had to offer during the 2022 baseball and softball seasons.
The players below are listed in no particular order.
Here are our superlative award winners for the 2022 All-Big Country Preps softball team. For the rest of this year’s 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: Albany-Winters playoff (80 images)”
Behind a gem of a start by Cole Read and a late explosion at the plate, the Albany baseball team rolled to a 12-0 win over Winters in Game 2 of its Region I-2A bi-district series, sweeping the best-of-three affair to advance to the area round next week.
Leading the Blizzards 3-0 after four innings Saturday at the Abilene Cooper baseball field, the Lions put up three runs in the fifth and six in the sixth to turn a tight game into a run-rule victory.
Read pitched into the sixth, before handing the ball to reliever Cooper Fairchild, who recorded the final outs to complete the combined shutout. The Lions starter allowed just five hits and three walks while striking out five to earn the win.
Junior ace Cole Chapman gave Albany a strong start on the mound and his offense did the rest as the Lions opened their Region I-2A bi-district series against Winters with a 11-4 win at Abilene Cooper.
AHS scored two in the first and four in the third to take an early 6-0 lead, before extinguishing a potential Winters rally with a four-run sixth inning to put the game away.
The victory improved the Lions to 14-4 on the year and put coach David Fairchild’s team one win away from a series victory and a trip to the area round.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking on the “Buy on SmugMug” link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Coleman-Winters softball (54 images)”
WINTERS — For four innings Friday, the Coleman softball team had trouble solving Winters pitcher Kacie Lindley.
The Bluekatts had at least one base runner in each of those frames, leading off the first inning with a double by Brylei Gilbreath and the second with a triple by Alana Young, but they had no runs to show for their efforts as Lindley made the pitch she needed to escape trouble each time she found herself in it.
That changed in the fifth inning, though, when Coleman finally broke through against the Lady Blizzards starter, pushing across three runs to erase a 1-0 deficit and open the offensive flood gates in a 7-2 win at the Winters softball field.
When Winters senior Saleen Jalomo steps into the batter’s box, everyone holds their breath.
One dugout prepares for Jalomo to either rip the ball into the gap or over the fence, while the other dugout braces for potential damage.
Lady Blizzards coach Kendra Bryant knows something special could happen on the next pitch. Meanwhile, Jalomo simply focuses on waiting for a good pitch.
Back-to-back shutouts.
Under normal circumstances, that’s enough to capture the Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week award.
But when one of the shutouts is a no-hitter, that’s a rock-solid insurance policy.
Even in high school baseball, perfect games are rare. Two perfect games in one week in the same league are extremely uncommon.
Two perfect games in one week, thrown by a pair of teammates are about as elusive as a Lochness Monster sighting.
And coincidentally, that’s about how often Big Country Preps names two players for the Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week.
Here are the updated Big Country boys basketball playoff pairings, results through March 5:
Continue reading “Big Country boys basketball playoff pairings, results (March 5)”
Below are the final regular season statistical leaders for Big Country boys basketball in 2022.
This database has been continually updated for our subscribers throughout the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking on the “Buy on SmugMug” link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Winters-Forsan boys basketball (81 images)”
Here are the updated Big Country girls basketball playoff pairings, results through March 5
Continue reading “Big Country girls basketball playoff pairings, results (March 5)”
FORSAN — A early dose of defense and a knack for answering every challenge brought the Winters Blizzards one step closer to a possible District 8-2A championship on Friday night with a 53-36 win at Forsan.
Chaney Bahlman scored 19 points and Aiden Leamon added 11 more to lift Winters (20-12, 7-2) which can win the district title if it defeats second-place Coleman on the road on Tuesday night.
Holding Forsan to just two field goals in the first seven minutes, the Blizzards raced out to a 19-5 lead and never led by fewer than five points for the rest of the evening.
When Cross Plains’ Cadence Wedeking has the range zeroed in, the scorer’s table may want to have a spare pencil handy just in case.
Our Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week had one of “those nights” last week in a 69-20 win over Moran, connecting with five 3-pointers and finishing with 33 points. It was the third time this season the sophomore guard had connected from beyond the arc five times in one game.
Each Thursday night, Big Country Preps will publish area boys and girls basketball statistical leaders.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Teams that do not submit their statistics in a given week will not be listed when our stats are posted, but will be added to the lists below as they are received in the coming days.
While icy road conditions may have changed the UIL’s method of delivering the news, the results of its biennial realignment still offered the usual mix of surprises on Thursday.
Held via live feed over the internet, area coaches learned their fate on the web.
Topping the list of stunners for area teams would be the shift of Brownwood from its centralized home in District 5-4A DI to the far west in District 2. There, the Lions will join Big Spring, Lubbock Estacado, San Angelo Lake View and Andrews — the last of which will produce a 480-mile round trip.
What appeared to be a slow year for the Big Country on the signing front quickly blossomed into something memorable in 2022.
With National Signing Day taking place on Wednesday, the Big Country Preps coverage area finished with multiple Division I signees, including several on the gridiron.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking on the “Buy on SmugMug” link below a selected photo. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Forsan-Winters basketball doubleheader (102 images)”
WINTERS — Playing for sole possession of second place in a hyper-competitive District 8-2A race, the Winters boys basketball team protected its home court against Forsan on Tuesday, outscoring the Buffaloes 15-10 in the fourth quarter to preserve a 46-38 victory at Blizzard Gym.
Winters, now 16-11 overall and 3-1 in league play, never trailed after after the 7:25 mark of the first quarter. But the victory was anything but easy.
After racing out to an early 9-2 lead and pushing that to 17-10 after a quarter, the Blizzards had their advantage cut to a single point in the second and fourth quarters and erased completely for a brief stint in the third. But coach Colton Holmes’ squad answered each Forsan run with one of its own to stay within a game of district leader Colorado City, which defeated Miles on Tuesday to stay perfect in 8-2A play at 4-0.
Each Thursday night, Big Country Preps will publish area boys and girls basketball statistical leaders.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Teams that do not submit their statistics in a given week will not be listed when our stats are posted, but will be added to the lists below as they are received in the coming days.
Each Thursday night, Big Country Preps will publish area boys and girls basketball statistical leaders.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the remainder of the season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Teams that do not submit their statistics in a given week will not be listed when our stats are posted, but will be added to the lists below as they are received in the coming days.
Evan and Dan go over the 2021 All-Big Country Preps Football Team, plus Player of the Year, Offensive and Defensive MVPs, Coach of the Year and more!
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, takes pride in being coachable but seldom needs direction.
He always sets the right example for younger players. He doesn’t gripe and, above all else, he’s tough enough to make all the aforementioned traits possible.
Know someone like that? Here is where they are honored.
Welcome to Big Country Preps’ “True Grit” team — a collection of area players nominated by their head coaches, who exemplify the character traits football mentors want throughout their roster.
Not all of them are great players. In fact, many of them will never play a down of college football. But every single one of them is making the most of their high school football experience and has helped those around them do the same.
We are absolutely honored to present these young men to you — the toughest, hardest-working football players the Big Country had to offer in 2021.
Big numbers will generally get one strong consideration for our Capital Farm Credit/Big Country Preps Player of the Week award. But when those numbers come against a team from a much larger classification, it quickly makes us take notice.
Class 2A Hico’s Grace Booth did exactly that last week in a 61-57 win over Class 4A Mineral Wells, dominating both ends of the floor to lead the Lady Tigers in their season opener.
Aside from the 40 points she poured in, Booth snagged 10 rebounds to chart a double-double. She also forced multiple turnovers (viewable on the video above), including three steals.
After kicking off our boys basketball position rankings series on Tuesday 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 for 2021-22.
We hope you enjoy our list.