COLORADO CITY — It wasn’t fancy, nor did it furnish items for the highlight reel.
But Colorado City did prove one thing in a 21-7 win over a physical Idalou team in the Big Country Preps Game of the Week: The Wolves can play smash-mouth football when they need to, and win at it.
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 Evan Ren’s Twitter polls for each matchup.
For those interested in voting, polls go up on Monday night each week and close Thursday morning.
Disagree with our picks or the Twitter consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps’ Pick ‘Em Panel (Week 8)”
The Baird-Cross Plains matchup is not only the biggest rivalry for both programs, it’s among the longest and most hotly contested in the entire Big Country. The two Callahan County schools have met 85 times in a series that has spanned 94 years and has, in its history, decided playoff spots, district championships and county bragging rights.
This year’s bout between the two rivals, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at Buffalo Stadium, could be for a playoff berth in a tough district that also features Albany, Hamlin, Haskell and Roscoe. The Bears will be looking to avenge the 52-0 loss they suffered last year — Cross Plains’ largest victory margin in the rivalry’s history.
But to discover how the rivalry became so fierce and heated, one must travel back to the 1920s.
Ingram Moore 48, Brady 44 — Sophomore quarterback Timmothy Leatherman was too much for the Bulldogs on Friday, rushing for 173 yards and five touchdowns and passing for 110 yards and another score to lift the Warriors to thrilling win over Brady.
Coach Shay Easterwood’s squad led 20-18 at halftime of this hyper-competitive matchup, but Moore (5-1, 1-0) took the lead with a 16-8 third quarter and held off the Bulldogs in the fourth.
Now 1-5 overall and 0-1 in 13-3A DII play, Brady will look to snap a four-game losing streak and bull its way into the playoff picture when it hosts Johnson City (1-5, 0-1) on Friday.
Wheeler 56, Munday 0 — Logan Harris caught three TD passes in the first quarter to lift Wheeler (4-2, 1-0) to a lopsided win over Munday.
Harris was on the receiving end of Gustavo Andrade touchdown passes of 23, 87 and 63 yards to quickly give WHS a 22-0 lead.
Brock (5-1, 2-0) — Coach Chad Worrell’s squad had the week off, which could come in handy with a good Whitesboro team coming to town next.
The Eagles have played to the level of their competition some this year, but they’ve been at their best against the best teams on their schedule. If they can continue that trend through Week 8, they’ll likley cruise to an undefeated district title with Pilot Point in their rear view and games against Ponder, Boyd and Paradise coming up.
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 Evan Ren’s Twitter polls for each matchup.
For those interested in voting, polls go up on Monday night each week and close Thursday morning.
Disagree with our picks or the Twitter consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps’ Pick ‘Em Panel (Week 7)”
Since taking over a moribund program at Cross Plains eight years ago, coach Daniel Purvis has turned the Buffaloes into a perennial playoff team. And this year, he has his squad off to the best start of his tenure at 4-1.
This week, Purvis took some time to talk to Big Country Preps’ Evan Ren and Daniel Youngblood about the program he’s built, the state of his current team and the District 7-2A Division II race in the Capital Farm Credit Wednesday Night Podcast.
Also in this episode, Evan and Daniel discuss the biggest developments of Week 6, which featured a shortened schedule for the Big Country.
CLYDE — After seeing Stamford quarterback Peyton Bevel dissect the De Leon defense with state records of 789 passing yards and 12 passing touchdowns last week, Clyde knew it was going to need a nearly perfect game to slow him down.
Consider that done.
Clyde ran just 50 plays to Stamford’s 68, but CHS kept the ball on the ground and dominated the time of possession in taking a 21-13 win at Bulldog Stadium in both teams nondistrict finale.
7:30 p.m. Friday at Shotwell Stadium, Abilene
What it means: These are widely considered the two most talented teams in District 2-5A Division I, and this matchup could well decide the district title. Cooper’s overall record may not be as good as Coronado’s, but the Cougars enter this one off blowout wins over Wylie (48-0) and Lubbock Monterey (58-20) and are playing their best football of the year. Having the game on their home field doesn’t hurt either. This is the 16th meeting between these schools and seventh since 2010. Cooper holds an 11-4 advantage in the all-time series, but the Mustangs have won the last two — 40-27 in 2016 and 34-31 last season.
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 Evan Ren’s Twitter polls for each matchup.
For those interested in voting, polls go up on Monday night each week and close Thursday morning.
Disagree with our picks or the Twitter consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps’ Pick ‘Em Panel (Week 6)”
With district play either here or approaching for the 16 11-man leagues involving Big Country football teams, every game has heightened importance from this point forward.
In this week’s Capital Farm Credit Wednesday Night Podcast, Big Country Preps’ Evan Ren and Daniel Youngblood forego a guest to discuss each district race and examine each of our 40 school’s chances of reaching the postseason.
SNYDER — When the name “Baugh” is brought up in West Texas football circles, Sweetwater High School is often at the forefront of the discussion, given that it’s the alma mater of late Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback “Slingin'” Sammy Baugh, who graduated from there in the early 1930s.
Believe it or not, the Baugh football tradition continues to this day, but on the campus of Sweetwater’s archrival — Snyder High School — where the great grandson of the NFL legend, Logan Greene, is currently the starting quarterback of the Tigers.
Motivational speaker Stephen Mackey made his second trip to the Big Country this year, stopping for a 45-minute speech at Hamlin High School on Monday night.
Mackey’s first trip to the Big Country came in April, when he spoke at the fifth annual PlayMaker event, which is organized by Hamlin coach Russell Lucas.
Big Country teams have not had many problems testing the lights on the scoreboard this season, and Week 5 was another example.
In a week that saw Stamford put up an astonishing 90 points in an 11-man game, several area six-man squads gave the Bulldogs a run for their money.
Aspermont knocked off Lubbock All Saints 76-28, Blanket was an 81-53 winner over Gordon and Knox City beat Bryson 84-38. It marked the second time this year that the Greyhounds eclipsed the 80-point plateau.
The closest any area six-man team came to matching Stamford’s output was Stephenville Faith, with an 86-8 win over Cherokee. Imagine if that game had gone the distance how many points Faith would have posted.
In all my years of covering Big Country athletics, I’ve never seen a more impressive group of Player of the Week-worthy candidates all negated by one performance.
Last week produced at least five or six performances that would normally claim the accolade, only to be pushed down the ladder by what can only be described as an insane night for Stamford quarterback Peyton Bevel.
In leading Stamford to a 90-62 win over De Leon, Bevel set state records for passing yardage (789) and touchdown passes (12) and even tacked on an additional 65 yards rushing in his spare time while claiming his third Player of the Week award in five games.
Miles 24, Munday 14 — The Bulldogs spoiled the Moguls’ homecoming festivities Saturday, scoring the final 10 points to break open a game that was tied 14-all at halftime.
Munday outgained Miles 256-212, but couldn’t get anything going offensively after the halftime break.
Cameron Thornton led the Moguls, rushing for 160 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries while hitting two of nine passes for 70 yards. Kameron Redder was on the receiving end of one of those passes for 57 yards.
Munday, now 0-5, will have this week off to prepare for its 5-2A DII opener Friday at Wheeler. Kickoff for that game is slated for 7 p.m.
Brock 49, Pilot Point 18 — The Eagles passed their first district test with flying colors, beating a solid Bearcat team by 11 more points than Class 3A No. 4 Gunter did in Week 4.
Brock, which outgained Pilot Point 445-211, took control of this one early, pushing out to a 14-3 first-quarter lead and expanding that to 17 points by halftime.
Quarterback Takota Taylor went 6-of-9 passing for 153 yards and two touchdowns, while Tommy Merrill and Toby Morrison led the rushing attack, finishing with 112 and 91 yards, respectively.
With the victory, Brock improves to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in league play heading into next week’s matchup with Bowie (1-3).
Jim Ned 49, Brady 0 — The Bulldogs’ final nondistrict game was a forgettable one as their trip to Tuscola resulted in being shutout for the first time since last year’s season finale against Clyde.
The Indians, who outgained Brady 376-222, scored two touchdowns in each of the first three quarters, taking a 29-0 lead into halftime and a 41-0 advantage into the fourth quarter.
Riley Perry rushed for 143 yards and four touchdowns to lead Jim Ned, while the Bulldogs (1-4) got 71 yards rushing from Ryan Decker and 70 from Walker Bauer.
BRECKENRIDGE — For the second straight year the Dublin Lions were the guests for the Breckenridge homecoming.
And, for the second straight year, they were completely indifferent to the occasion — edging the Buckaroos 22-21 in a thrilling Big Country Preps Game of the Week.
Cy Wing threw for 233 yards and three scores, including a go-ahead TD pass to Mark Ybarra with 0:19 to play to lift Dublin (5-0) which remains unbeaten with its best start since 1999.
BROWNWOOD — The Brownwood Lions weren’t perfect in the second half of their 53-21 win over Wylie on Friday night, but they were pretty darn close.
Trailing 14-13 at halftime, coach Sammy Burnett’s squad outscored the Bulldogs 40-7 over the final two quarters — including a 26-0 fourth period — to defeat Wylie for the first time since 2010.
The Lions intercepted Harrison Atwood four times in the second half and finished with 594 total yards in winning their third straight game to improve to 3-2 on the season.
STAMFORD — Three months ago, Stamford assistant football coach John Ward was a prisoner inside his own body.
Struck down by a rare autoimmune disorder known as Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Ward was almost completely paralyzed, with slight movement in his fingers and toes only.
It nearly cost him his life.
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 Evan Ren’s Twitter polls for each matchup.
For those interested in voting, polls go up on Monday night each week and close Thursday morning.
Disagree with our picks or the Twitter consensus? Let us know in the comments section below.
Continue reading “Big Country Preps’ Pick ‘Em Panel (Week 5)”
Coach Matt McCarty has led a nice turnaround at Winters, following back-to-back two-win seasons with a playoff berth last season, before leading the Blizzards to a 4-0 start to the 2018 campaign.
McCarty took some time to chat with Big Country Preps’ Evan Ren and Daniel Youngblood about that turnaound process, his coaching background and this year’s winters squad in this week’s Capital Farm Credit Wednesday Night Podcast.
Also in this episode, Evan and Daniel discuss the first Southtown Showdown and all of last week’s Big Country football action.
HAMLIN — Four games into the 2018 season, it’s already the subject of a lighthearted debate among those who follow the Hamlin football program.
Are the 2018 Pied Pipers as good or better than the 2014 model? Considered by many to be the best team ever produced by long-time coach Russell Lucas, the ’14 Pipers closed their season with a 49-35 loss to eventual state runner-up Albany in the Region II-2A Division II title game and a 12-1 record.
This year’s club, however, is off to a 4-0 start with dominating wins of over Anson ( 42-12), Munday (58-20), Hawley (32-6) and New Home (41-0). The Hawley win, in particular, was significant in an early schedule filled with three teams that are still winless.
The Bearcats (3-1) are generally viewed as a potential district title threat in 3-2A DI, and Hamlin’s victory over them gave the Big Country a glimpse potentially at how good this Pied Piper club really is.
Last week, which had a number of matchups featuring a pair of Big Country teams, saw the area finish with a record of just one game over .500.
The most exciting game was Zephyr-Gorman, which saw a combined 151 points scored.
Zephyr came out on top 81-70 in a game that put two explosive offenses on display.
Brock 20, Breckenridge 9 — The Eagles got touchdown runs from Toby Morrison and Zakk Young, and a TD pass from Takota Taylor to outlast a scrappy Buckaroo squad on a wet night.
Breckenridge scored first, and the game was tied at 7 after three quarters, but Taylor gave Brock its first lead early in the fourth with a nine-yard scoring strike to Jesse Hallmark.
After the Buckaroos pulled within 13-9 with a safety, the Eagles put the game away with Young’s TD run — a 59-yarder with 3:49 to play. Morrison led all rushers with 85 yards on 15 carries, followed by Young with 71 yards on five attempts.
Dublin 20, Brady 7 — The Bulldogs limited an explosive Lion offense to just 204 total yards and led 7-0 at halftime, but the Lions rallied in the second half to escape Brady with their fourth consecutive win.
Brady rushed for 172 yards in the loss, getting 100 yards from Walker Bauer and 62 yards and their only score from Ryan Decker.
The Bulldogs will look to get back on track next week when they travel to Tuscola for their final nondistrict game against Jim Ned.
Roscoe 12, Munday 0 — Wet field conditions kept both offenses at bay Friday, but the Plowboys took advantage three Munday turnovers and 10 Mogul penalties in securing their second straight win.
Munday held Roscoe to 192 yards of total offense and six points in each half, but the Moguls could muster just 145 yards of their own.
Cameron Thornton led the Munday offense, rushing for 109 yards on 22 carries, while Bobby Dockins Jr. contributed 39 yards rushing on nine attempts.