We’ve reached the midway point of the district schedule in most area boys basketball leagues, and district championship and playoff races are heating up.
As one might expect with February approaching, the Big Country slate is full of meaningful games.
With that in mind, it’s time to renew our winter custom of taking a look at the most important games on the horizon and a peak back at last week’s most important results.
We hope you enjoy.
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: Wylie-Abilene High basketball doubleheader (108 images)”
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.
Welcome to Big Country Preps’ “True Grit” team — a collection of area players nominated by their head coaches and Big Country Preps staff, who exemplify the character traits football mentors want throughout their roster.
Entering Tuesday night alone atop the District 4-5A standings at a perfect 4-0, the Abilene High boys basketball team took Wylie’s best shot early in its first of two crosstown matchups this week. But trailing 16-12 after one quarter, the Eagles outscored the Bulldogs 39-18 over the middle two periods to build some separation for a key 68-58 victory at Eagle Gym.
Abilene High, which will head across town to take on Cooper on Friday, stretched its lead to 18 points on two occasions in the second half — at 49-31 late in the third quarter and 52-34 late in the fourth — before holding off a late Wylie run that saw the Bulldogs pull within nine in the final minute.
The Eagles’ victory, which came in front of a packed crowd at Eagle Gym, capped a doubleheader split, as Wylie took down the AHS girls 52-34 in Tuesday’s early game.
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: Lubbock Cooper-Wylie basketball doubleheader (110 images)”
The Wylie boys basketball team climbed out of an early 19-2 hole to lead Lubbock Cooper by two at halftime. But in a wild game of runs that saw both teams land and absorb haymakers, the Bulldogs came up one bucket short in a 51-50 loss Friday at Bulldog Gym.
Wylie, which trimmed a 37-29 third-quarter deficit to 42-39 by the start of the fourth, found itself down seven with just under four minutes remaining in the game. But the Bulldogs rallied to pull within one on Derrick Evans’ layup with 41 seconds remaining and threatened to regain the lead on the exact same play on their final possession.
Unfortunately for coach Gregg Ruffin’s squad, Evans couldn’t get a tough inside look to go down a second time, allowing the Pirates to celebrate a narrow road win and cap a doubleheader sweep for Lubbock Cooper, which rallied for a 60-49 win in the girls game.
Below are the current season statistical leaders for Big Country boys basketball through Jan. 11.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the regular season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
Below are the current season statistical leaders for Big Country girls basketball through Jan. 11.
This database will be continually updated for our subscribers throughout the regular season, using only those statistics submitted by area coaches.
While our Big Country Preps Player of the Week returns from its annual holiday break, there is nothing new about our first winner of the 2024 calendar year.
Benjamin junior Grayson Rigdon, generally considered one of the top six-man level athletes in Texas high school history, has claimed our accolade with back-to- back monster performances.
For starters, the Mustangs opened the week with an 82-47 rout of Crowell, during which Rigdon tallied 43 points, 13 boards, seven steals and four assists.
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: Lubbock Monterey-Wylie basketball doubleheader (96 images)”
After opening District 4-5A play with an overtime loss to crosstown rival Cooper on Dec. 19, the Wylie boys basketball team needed a home win over Lubbock Monterey on Tuesday to avoid falling in an 0-2 hole.
Fueled by a balanced offensive effort and stingy defensive performance, the Bulldogs got exactly that, leading the Plainsmen from a 5:35 mark of the first quarter on in a comfortable 60-41 victory at Bulldog Gym.
The win, which followed a 58-43 victory by the Monterey girls in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader, pulled Wylie back to .500 overall at 11-11 and, more importantly, evened the Bulldogs’ district record at 1-1 heading into Friday’s road game against Lubbock High.
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: Wylie-Cooper boys basketball (70 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: Wylie-Cooper girls basketball (62 images)”
The Cooper-Wylie boys basketball rivalry is alive and well.
That much was clear Tuesday night, when the Cougars and Bulldogs added an all-time classic to the series in the District 4-5A opener for both teams at Cougar Gym.
In a game that featured wild momentum swings, clutch buckets, physical defense and, at times, an overflow of emotion, Cooper outlasted Wylie in overtime for a dramatic and thrilling 56-52 win.
The Wylie girls basketball team rebounded from a disastrous start Tuesday to rally past crosstown rival Cooper, outscoring the Lady Cougars 36-17 over the final three quarters of a 52-38 win at Cougar Gym.
The Lady Bulldogs found themselves down 13-0 less than two minutes into the game and were held scoreless for the first three minutes of the contest. But coach Duane Hopper’s team was able to narrow the deficit to 21-16 by the end of the first quarter, before using a 17-1 run through the second to take a double-digit lead into halftime that it would protect the rest of the way.
Joyah Maroney led Wylie with 18 points, while Kyla Kelley added 11 and Londyn Franklin pitched in eight to help the Lady Bulldogs improve to 12-6 on the year and 2-0 in District 4-5A play.
NOTE: This will be the final BCP Player of the Week for 2023. It will return on Monday, Jan. 8.
Very seldom will we go with co-players of the week here at Big Country Preps, but every now and then, the situation warrants it.
So, our final BCP Player of the Week award for 2023 will be split between Albany teammates Adam Hill and Zane Waggoner, who were both instrumental in AHS winning its second straight Class 2A DII state football title last week in a 28-10 win over Mart in Arlington.
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: Wichita Falls Hirschi-Wylie boys basketball (20 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: Abilene High-Wylie girls basketball (54 images)”
Coming off a rough week that ended with an 0-4 run through their own tournament, the Wylie Bulldogs picked up a much-needed win Tuesday at Bulldog Gym, leading wire to wire in a 52-38 victory over Class 4A No. 21 Wichita Falls Hirschi.
Fueled by Martin Marshall, who hit three of his seven 3-pointers in the first quarter, the Bulldogs took a 16-5 lead after eight minutes and spent each of the next two quarters extending their advantage.
After a taking a game-high 20-point lead late in the third quarter, Wylie saw Hirschi pull within eight with 2:22 to play. But Isaiah Carrillo put the Bulldogs on his back in the waning minutes, scoring seven of his 12 points and adding a key assist during the fourth quarter to keep the Huskies at bay.
The Wylie girls basketball team opened District 4-5A play with a solid home win over crosstown foe Abilene High on Tuesday, closing the game on a 28-14 run to stretch a two-point third-quarter lead to 59-43 by the time the final buzzer sounded.
The Lady Bulldogs, who led by as many as 15 points in the second quarter, found themselves in a dogfight early in the second half. But coach Duane Hopper’s squad answered every Lady Eagles run with one of its own to pull away in the fourth quarter for a comfortable win.
The victory improved Wylie to 10-6 on the season and got the Lady Bulldogs off to a strong start in what is sure to be a grueling district race.
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: Cane’s Key City Classic Day 3 (80 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: Cane’s Key City Classic Day 2 (52 images)”
Both Abilene High and Wylie left the Raising Cane’s Key City Classic with some hardware Saturday, as the Eagles defeated Canutillo 48-40 in the championship bracket third-place game and Wylie routed El Paso Coronado 65-33 for the consolation title.
That completed 3-1 runs through the tournament for both teams, while Cooper saw its tournament end at 1-3 with a 53-46 loss to Aledo in the consolation third-place game.
North Crowley took the championship, defeating Midland Christian 64-36 to complete a perfect run through the Classic.
Abilene High was the lone local team to survive the first day of the Raising Cane’s Key City Classic unscathed Thursday, opening the annual tournament with a dominant 76-17 victory over El Paso Austin.
Around the Eagles’ win, which earned coach Justin Reese’s squad a 1:30 p.m. Friday matchup against Richardson Pearce, Wylie fell 72-48 to Lewisville The Colony and Cooper saw a furious second-half rally come up just short in a 51-48 loss to Canutillo.
Play in the 16-team tournament will continue through Saturday, culminating with the championship game at 1:30 p.m. at Abilene High and the consolation final at 1:30 p.m. at Cooper. See full first-day results and the complete tournament schedule here.
We freely admit that more offensive players take our Big Country Preps Player of the Week than do defenders.
But a great defensive performance can, indeed, take the top spot and that is the case with this week’s award winner: Stephenville sophomore linebacker, Hudson Butchee.
With the Yellow Jackets squaring off with perennial power Celina in the Region II-4A DI semifinals, Butchee played like a man possessed in a 7-3 Stephenville win.
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: Wylie-Argyle football playoff (52 images)”
STEPHENVILLE — The Argyle Eagles ended Wylie’s football season for the second year in a row, controlling all phases of the game in a 49-14 area-round victory Friday at Tarleton Memorial Stadium.
AHS, which defeated Wylie 35-28 in the fourth round last year, held the Bulldogs without a first down until the 7:36 mark of the second quarter in Friday’s rematch. And by the time the Wylie offense finally found some rhythm in its quick passing game, it was in too deep a hole to dig out of.
The Eagles outgained the Bulldogs 482-256 for the game, taking a 28-7 lead into halftime and holding WHS at arm’s length the rest of the way.
As a quarterback and safety growing up, Wylie senior Collin Bruning has always had a knack for making plays. When he was moved to inside linebacker last year by former Bulldogs defensive coordinator and now Midland Greenwood head coach Bryan Hill, he took that same quality with him to his new position.
After breaking out last year in Hill’s 4-3 scheme, racking up 128 total tackles, 12 tackles for loss, two sacks, three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one interception, Bruning is in the midst of an even better season this fall as a senior.
And that playmaking ability that he developed in the offensive and defensive backfield as a young player has served him quite well as he’s helped lead a successful transition to current DC Matt Kates’ 3-4 alignment.
The 2023 edition of the Pug Parris Classic kicked off with a full slate of games on Thursday at McMurry University’s Kimbrell Arena and featured Big Country teams from Class 2A to Class 5A nearly all day long.
In addition to the six teams from the Big Country, this year’s three-day tournament features teams from as far away as Clint and El Paso.
Area teams posted a total of five wins as the Jim Ned Lady Indians swept their pool with a pair of wins, while Wylie, Cooper and Cisco added to the total.
LAST WEEK: 36-5, .878
SEASON TOTAL: 513-103, .832
As we enter Week 13, the Big Country Preps coverage area still has 33 teams from 1A through 5A with a playoff pulse, including a handful with decent shot at a state championship.
However, as we all know, things begin to get much tougher when you get to the area round and unless I miss my guess, we’ll see around 15-17 of our area teams eliminated by Saturday.
The good news is, we should have 16-18 clubs playing over the Thanksgiving holiday, which is a pretty solid number for what will be the 14th week of the season.
So without further ado, let’s dive in.
Here’s this week’s playoff forecast:
Big numbers are always great to have when we decide the winner of our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award. Solid numbers across multiple tasks are even better.
That was the case with this week’s spotlight player, Buck Powell, of Hico, who helped the Tigers to a 47-14 rout of Maud in the Class 2A DII bi-district round on Friday.
With a new season of boys high school basketball poised to begin, it’s time to take a look at what the Big Country will produce on the court.
Below you will find our top teams in each classification in the Big Country Preps coverage area, from Big Spring in the West, to Brock in the east and from Brady in the south to Munday in the north.
Our rankings of the top teams in each class are given, along with a season outlook, cataloguing our expectations for each club.
Here’s our preview. We’ll see you on the road.
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: El Paso Andress-Wylie football playoff (48 images)”
The Wylie football team kicked off the playoffs in dominating fashion Friday at Hugh Sandifer Stadium, scoring on its first eight possessions while taking a shutout into the final minute of a 55-7 win over El Paso Andress.
The Bulldogs piled up almost 500 yards of total offense while holding the Eagles under 200, putting the game away early to earn an area-round matchup with Argyle next week in Stephenville.
WHS (8-3) led 21-0 less than five minutes into the game and stretched its advantage to 48-0 by halftime, before coasting in the second half to lopsided victory.
Korda Moore has been playing well all year for the Sweetwater Mustangs. But he picked the right moment for one of his best games last Friday, helping the Mustangs clinch a playoff spot with a 51-38 win over Snyder.
To begin with, Moore rushed 11 times for 106 yards and five scores. Along the way he added a pair of two-point conversion runs for a total of 34 points on the night.
Defensively he charted 12 tackles, three of which were behind the Snyder line of scrimmage and had a quarterback hurry as well.
Wylie 17, Cooper 7 — The Bulldogs outlasted their crosstown rival Cougars for a hard-fought, defensive win, using a pick-six by Collin Bruning to seal the victory with less than two minutes remaining in the game.
Bruning forced and recovered a fumble inside the red zone earlier in the fourth quarter to lead a Wylie defense that limited Cooper 240 total yards and shut the Cougars out over the final three quarters. Offensively, the Bulldogs (7-3, 4-1) had just 141 total yards, led by Julius Laine with 65 yards and a touchdown rushing.
Neither the Wylie or Cooper offense could get much going Friday at Shotwell Stadium, leaving the outcome of the Big Country Preps Game of the Week in doubt deep into the fourth quarter.
But WHS linebacker Collin Bruning took things into his own hands in the closing minutes, following a key red zone fumble recovery early in the final period with a 69-yard pick-six at the 1:25 mark to lock up a 17-7 win for the Bulldogs in the sixth Southtown Showdown.
Bruning’s defensive TD, which accounted for the only points of the second half, helped Wylie (7-3 overall, 4-1 in district) earn the No. 2 playoff seed out of District 2-5A Division II and a home playoff game in next week’s bi-district round while forcing third-seeded Cooper (4-6, 3-2) to make a long trip west to El Paso for its playoff opener.
LAST WEEK: 47-5, .903
SEASON TOTAL: 438-91, .827
With the column hitting at more than 90 percent accuracy last week, we now close the regular season on the upswing and with something uncommon: A local Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
While our weekly picks column generally highlights the top area game outside of the Abilene city limits, this week seems to call for us to stay at home with rivals Wylie (6-3, 3-1) and Cooper (4-5, 3-1) fighting for sole possession of the No. 2 seed in District 2-5A Division II.
NOTE: This will be our final installment of Big Country Volleyball Statistical Leaders for the 2023 season
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.
Wylie 33, Amarillo Palo Duro 16 — The Bulldogs raced out to a 21-3 first-quarter lead and were never threatened after, locking up a playoff spot with a comfortable win over the Dons.
Bear Meng passed for 198 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 79 yards and another score to lead Wylie (6-3, 3-1), which also got 57 yards rushing from Malachi Daniels. Braden Regala (4-75) and Derrick Evans (3-66) both had receiving touchdowns, but Evans was knocked out of the game and taken to the hospital in the first quarter.
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: Amarillo Palo Duro-Wylie football (50 images)”
The Wylie football team overcame a scary first quarter injury to senior wide receiver Derrick Evans to take a 33-16 District 2-5A Division II win over Amarillo Palo Duro on Friday, clinching a playoff berth at Hugh Sandifer Stadium.
After the game, Wylie coach Clay Martin said that Evans, who took a shoulder to the side of his head and was taken via ambulance to Hendrick Medical Center, had a CT scan that came back negative.
Several Bulldogs said that Evans’ health was on their mind as the game resumed.