Wylie 29, Abilene Cooper 22 — After allowing 22 points and 232 yards rushing in the first half, the Bulldogs shut the Cougars out in the second to score a hard-fought win over their crosstown rivals in our Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
Jadin Karleskint passed for 246 yards and three touchdowns and ran for a team-high 76 yards to lead Wylie (4-2, 2-0), which also got productive efforts from Blaze Ruffin (3-119, 1 TD receiving) and Julius Laine (17-71, 1 TD rushing; 2-36, 1TD receiving).
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Abilene High-Amarillo High football (91 images)”
All of District 8-2A Division II was idle on Friday, with district play opening next week.
Here’s a quick look at the approaching matchups:
Goldthwaite 65, Hubbard 0 — The Eagles rolled up 424 yards in total offense, whle holding Hubbard to 40 in an easy district win.
Blake Howard threw for 213 yards and four scores and added one rushing TD to lead Goldthwaite (3-2).
Hubbard fell to 2-3.
Wall 35, Idalou 21 — Landon York threw for 307 yards and two scores and Wall rushed for 95 yards via committee in a tough win at Idalou.
The Hawks improved to 6-0 in their final non-district game of the season. Idalou fell to 3-3.
Haskell 56, Seymour 42— Haegen Pinkerton passed for 221 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 182 yards and three more scores to lead the Indians to a three-touchdown win over the Panthers.
Brazos Bendle added 60 yards and two TDs on the ground and 37 yards and another score receiving for Haskell (1-1, 3-3), which also got receiving touchdowns from Zakeem Billington (2-62), Colton Gober (1-48).
Brownwwood 62, Ingleside 0
The Lions (3-3) rolled up 548 yards in total offense to reach the .500 mark for the first time this year.
Trent Buffington rushed for 111 yards and two TDs while Carson Noe and Grant Gray threw two touchdown passes each to lead Brownwood, which had built a 55-0 lead by halftime.
Limited to only 36 total yards, Ingleside fell to 2-4.
Glen Rose (0-5), idle — The Tigers were open yesterday but will see action again next Friday when they play host to Godley.
Glen Rose’s record could be deceiving. The combined record of the Tigers’ opposition thus far is 20-5 and four of those losses were by a combined 26 points (four scores).
Levelland 41, Snyder 14 — The Tigers trailed just 14-7 at halftime, but the Lobos came out the break with 20 unanswered points in the third quarter to pull away for a lopsided win.
Aedyn Claxton passed for 244 yards and a pair of touchdowns and had a team-high 67 rushing yards for Snyder, which got receiving touchdowns from Kason Rinehart (5-85 receiving) and Andres Martinez.
San Angelo Grape Creek 49, San Angelo TLCA 12 — TLCA was the lone district team to see action on Friday, falling to its archrival Grape Creek in league play.
TLCA fell to 0-5 with the loss and will open district play at home against Sweetwater next Friday.
Fort Stockton 42, Big Spring 21 — Gerry Diaz threw for 273 yards and four touchdowns, hitting Nikki Sotelo seven times for 146 yards, to help the Panthers pull away for a three-touchdown win over the Steers.
Nick Almendarez added 151 yards on the ground for Fort Stockton, which outgained Big Spring 515-428 and won the turnover battle 2-0.
Olney 33, Crosbyton 0 — The Cubs (2-3) were the lone districts member to hit the field on Friday and came away with a win over struggling Crosbyton.
Tucker Cortinez threw for 343 yards and four scores to lead the Cubs.
The victory was the second in succession for Olney, which travels to Abilene TLCA next Friday.
Albany (3-2), Idle — The Lions were open yesterday, but will see action again next Friday when they travel to Miles (1-4).
Albany will enter that game on a two-game losing skid, having fallen to Coahoma (5-1) and Anson (5-0) in succession.
A back-and-forth shootout in the first half gave way to a defensive struggle in the second, but at the end of four quarters, the Wylie Bulldogs were one touchdown better than Cooper in a thrilling 29-22 victory at Hugh Sandifer Stadium.
After allowing 232 yards rushing in the first half of Friday’s Big Country Preps Game of the Week, coach Clay Martin’s defense tightened things up to pitch a shutout in the second. That allowed Julius Laine’s second touchdown of the night to serve as the go-ahead and, eventually, game-winning points midway through the third quarter as Wylie took the Southtown Showdown for the fourth consecutive year.
The victory puts Wylie (4-2 overall) alone atop the District 2-5A Division II standings at 2-0, while dropping Cooper to 3-3 on the year and 1-1 in league play.
Through the first half of the 2025 season, the race for the District 2-5A Division I championship has appeared to be a three-team battle between Abilene High, Amarillo High and Amarillo Tascosa — all of which opened district play with wins last week.
Friday night at Shotwell Stadium, the Eagles and Sandies squared off to see which AHS would be in control of its own destiny ahead of its respective showdown against Tascosa.
In the end, it was the Eagles who knocked off the Golden Sandstorm, 24-21, in thrilling matchup between two teams that had both spent time ranked in the Class 5A Division I top 10 at different points this year.
Photos provided by Rosie Slate
BIG SPRING — For most of his football career, Big Spring senior Marcus Rios has patiently played the role of backup quarterback. This dates back to his middle school days which saw him play as the seventh grade “B” team QB, the eighth grade “B” team QB, the freshman team backup QB, the JV backup QB and the backup varsity QB last year.
Five full seasons as an understudy.
Now, at the age of 17, Rios has at long last, been given the reins of the Big Spring varsity offense and he’s making the most of the opportunity. At present, he stands as one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the Big Country.
We’ve hit Week 6, and district play is just around the corner for most teams in the Big Country Preps coverage area. But before we hit that milestone this season, we’ve got an excellent slate of nondistrict matchups to get through first.
Headlining this week’s schedule of games is a battle of unbeatens in Cherokee in Benjamin, which earns our Game of the Week designation, but that’s just one of several big-time six-man matchups throughout the area.
It’s time now to take a deeper look at all of those in this week’s Six-Man Lookahead column. We hope you enjoy this preview of Week 6 and encourage you to check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for more information on your favorite team(s).
Continue reading “SIX-MAN LOOKAHEAD: Cherokee-Benjamin headlines strong week of matchups in Week 6”
In Abilene High’s 3-4 defense, no player has a more important job than the nose guard.
Manning the interior of the defensive line, that player is responsible for occupying multiple blocks most snaps to route ball-carriers into gaps where waiting linebackers can make plays — ideally at or near the line of scrimmage.
More often than not, the fruit of that player’s (sometimes thankless) labor will show up more in others’ stats than his own. But without those efforts, the integrity of the entire defense falls apart.
This year, those monumental responsibilities have fallen once again on the sizeable shoulders of Jayden Starks. And if you’re searching for a reason to explain why the Eagles defense has been as successful — and disruptive — as it has, the 6-foot-1, 270-pound senior would be a pretty good place to start.
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we’ll post our picks for all of that week’s 11-man games, in addition to the results of our weekly fan polls for each matchup.
For those interested in voting, polls go up on Sunday night each week and close Thursday evening.
Disagree with our picks or the fan poll consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
LAST WEEK: 52-10, .838
SEASON TOTAL: 251-66, .791
COOPER (3-2) AT WYLIE (3-2)
Our Big Country Preps Game of the Week is a tough call. Cooper comes in playing its best football of the year with back-to-back routs of Lubbock Coronado (59-0) and Wichita Falls Memorial.
Though Ladainian Smith routinely displays his skills on Friday nights in Comanche, he unofficially began making his run to a spot among the elite Big Country running backs some five months ago and about 140 miles south of his hometown.
And it didn’t take place on a football field.
Late last April, running the first leg on the Indian’s 400-meter relay team, Smith helped Comanche earn a trip to Austin for the state track meet. The Indians finished seventh — a noteworthy feat, considering there are 231 Class 3A sprint teams who field sprint relay teams.
But what Smith accomplished as he concluded his stay in the state capital was even more significant: He decided that he had a chance to be special in multiple sports.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Hawley-Albany volleyball (55 images)”
Big Country Preps is publishing area volleyball statistical leaders each Wednesday 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.
ALBANY — Even after losing in straight sets, Albany volleyball coach MJ Reneau was encouraged by how her team performed against No. 7 Hawley at home on Tuesday night.
Hawley claimed a 25-17, 25-23, 25-19 win in the District 6-2A matchup to move to 2-0 in district play while the Lady Lions fell to 1-1.
After the match, Reneau said the final score didn’t indicate how close the two squads are, especially the opening set, which saw Hawley go on a 12-3 run.
When Courtney Freeman was named the new volleyball coach at Clyde shortly before the beginning of the 2024 season, she immediately was met with an array of formidable challenges.
Surprisingly, the biggest one wasn’t the fact that she was succeeding the highly successful Laura Carr in that position.
Carr led Clyde to the playoffs routinely throughout her nine-year stay there, and her 2023 team made it to the Region I-3A semifinals.
Meanwhile, as Carr moved on after that season (to become an assistant principal in Wichita Falls ISD), so, too, did some of the better senior volleyball players in Clyde High School history. The cupboard Freeman inherited was far from bare, given the type of program Carr established, but it wasn’t filled with experienced, heirloom-quality athletes, the likes of which helped Carr make Clyde a perennial volleyball contender.
We’re approaching the midpoint of the regular season and teams are preparing for the imminent start of district play. And while Week 5 didn’t yield many competitive games throughout the Big Country Preps coverage area, the teams atop our power rankings continued to separate themselves from the pack.
Whether it was Strawn routing Zephyr in the “Six-Man Lookahead” Game of the Week, Robert Lee taking care of Sands or Gordon and Jayton cruising to wins over quality opponents, the area’s cream continued its rise to the top.
As we have in the past on Mondays, it’s time to recap the week that was in our “Six-Man Rewind” column. We hope you enjoy this review, and encourage you to check out our check out our Six-Man/Class 1A Central page for standings, results and upcoming matchups.
As it turned out, the best game in the Big Country last week was Clyde’s dramatic 54-49 win over Muleshoe in the top shootout the area has seen thus far in 2025.
At the heart of all that mayhem was our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, CHS junior quarterback Devan Wright.
Each week here at Big Country Preps, we offer fans the chance to pick the winners of all games involving our local and area football teams. The results of these weekly polls, which will close at 5 p.m. each Thursday, will be included in our weekly Pick ‘Em Panel.
Here are the games for Week 6:
Continue reading “WEEK 6 FAN POLLS … Pick this week’s 11-man winners!”
A year ago, the Ruston, La., Bearcats brought 11 DI players to the Lone Star State and beat three quality programs in Longview (21-10), Midland Legacy (38-6) and Stephenville (63-17). Yet they finished 11-3 with three losses to Louisiana teams and failed to win their state title.
What does that say about the quality of Louisiana football?
Regardless, the Bearcats are again dipping their paws into Texas’ talent pool this year, with two more wins over Longview (38-35) and Legacy (49-21). Stephenville is up next in a neutral site game in Longview this Friday and Ruston (4-0) is again loaded, with at least six DI players, including 6-foot-6, 235-pound blue chip tight end Deejay Drain.
Continue reading “BIG COUNTRY PREPS NOTEBOOK: Stephenville, Ruston, La., rematch should be closer”
Photo by Tori Bunch, PressPassSports.com
Abilene High 42, Amarillo Caprock 7 — Brayden Henry and Tristan Beal each threw for a pair of touchdowns, and John Rangel caught a TD pass from both to help the Eagles to a convincing win over the Longhorns in the district opener for both squads.
The Abilene High defense, meanwhile, pitched a shutout until late in the third quarter, allowing the Eagles () to stretch a 28-0 halftime lead to 42-0 before Caprock finally got on the board.
Abilene Cooper 42, Wichita Falls Memorial 27 — The Cougars pounded out 357 yards on the ground, getting 144 yards and a touchdown from Peyton Ewing and 127 yards and four scores from quarterback Jaden Carrillo, to score an upset win over the Mavericks in the district opener for both teams.
Markquel Sims also had 71 yards and a TD on the ground for Cooper (3-2, 1-0), which outscored Memorial 21-6 in the second half to break a 21-all tie at halftime.
Millsap 49, Santo 27 — Braun Johnson ran for 205 yards and Madden Gilbert passed for 254 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs to a three-touchdown win over the Wildcats.
Gabriel Jones added 128 yards receiving for Millsap, which built a 42-7 halftime lead and remained in control from there in handing Santo (4-1) its first loss of the season.
Petrolia 30, Haskell 28 — The Pirates and Indians went to halftime tied at 14, but PHS finally created some separation in the second half, taking a 30-20 fourth-quarter lead and holding on from there for a thrilling win.
Haskell rallied back to pull within two late in the game, but that was as close as the Indians could get in falling to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in league play.
Ropesville Ropes 59, Forsan 0 — Ryland Keith ran for 274 yards and a touchdown while receiving for 59 more yards to help the Eagles rout the Buffaloes.
Ropes finished with 592 yards of total offense, getting 142 yards and two TDs passing from Kade Franklin, 86 yards and a TD rushing from Jaivyth Cruz and a pair of receiving scores from Kolter Dockery to increase a 22 halftime lead to 45-0 by the start of the fourth quarter.
Ballinger 21, Stanton 17 — Coleman King passed for 196 yards and a touchdown, and Pierson Nord had 73 yards rushing and 76 yards receiving to help the Bearcats to a hard-fought win over the Buffaloes.
Ballinger (3-2), which also got 71 yards and a TD receiving from Hunter Kresta, outgained Stanton 413-337 for the game, taking a 13-10 lead into halftime before extending that advantage to 19-10 early in the fourth quarter.
San Saba 17, Hamilton 14 — Jason Everett and Luke Tharp combined for 205 yards rushing and one score to help lead the Armadillos to a huge upset over Hamilton.
San Saba (3-2) will enjoy an open date next Friday before opening district play with Johnson City (3-2) on Oct. 10.