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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Monday, January 24, 2000
Eagle teams lose shooting touch
PECOS, Jan. 24, 2000 -- The Pecos Eagles basketball teams traveled from
Central Time to Mountain Time on Friday night, but their shooting touch
apparently was on Pacific Time, since it arrived about an hour after the
games began.
Pecos traveled to San Elizario, where the girls could manage just three
points in the first half of their game and the boys scored just eight in
the first half of their game, as the host Eagle squads beat the visiting
girls and boys by 51-24 and 63-26 final scores.
San Elizario's offense wasn't that great either in the first half --
their girls managed only 17 points and the boys scored just 23 -- but when
Pecos was finally able to up their point production a little bit in the
third quarter, so did San Eli, as they outscored the Eagle boys 21-13 in
the period, while their girls outscored Pecos by a 16-10 margin to start
the second half.
"What hurt us was our inability to score," said boys' coach Tino Acosta.
"We showed our youth, and we showed our frustration. It's a sign of not
being very experienced. On the road you have to be very patient, and we
started to rush things. We did not play the way we have the last couple
of weeks."
Hector Rodriguez, who had his lowest-scoring game in a while last Tuesday
in a 52-48 loss to Clint, came back to put in 15 points, but this time
it was the other Eagle players who couldn't find the basket. Adrian Rayos
was next high-scoring for Pecos with seven, but went 1-for-6 from the line,
as part of a 2-for-11 free throw night for Pecos.
San Elizario was led by Albert Jacobo's 15 points, but had three other
players score in double-digits. "They spread it around, and hurt us towards
the end with their rebounding," Acosta said. "The frustrating thing is
we only let them score 23 points in the first half and got nine turnovers
in the game. If we could have just his 10 shots in the first half we would
have been within a few points."
The girls got only a basket from Philonicus Fobbs in the first quarter
of their game, and only a Fobbs free throw in the second period. "We only
took 13 shots in the first half, and in the first quarter we took eight
shots," said coach Brian Williams. "They didn't take that many either.
They scored most of their points off transition."
Marisela Arenivas, who had scored 63 points in Pecos' last two games,
was shut out in the first half, but did mange 12 points in the final two
periods, while Fobbs finished with 11, with her other eight points coming
in the fourth quarter.
"We never could get a clean shot at the basket," said Williams. "They
played good defense, and we never got into a rhythm on offense. We were
never able to run our offensive sets."
San Elizario, which ends the first half of District 2-4A play in first
place, was led by Rachel Diaz' 14 points and Fran Martinez' 10.
The Eagles also managed to have problems with the heat in their buses
on the way over to San Elizario. Despite being mid-January, Williams said
the bus was hot enough to make three of Pecos' junior varsity players sick
on the court during their game, which was played before the varsity contest.
"I don't know if it played a factor (in the varsity game), but in the
first half we didn't look like we could put the ball up," he said.
The JV ended up losing their game to San Eli by a 47-33 score. Jessica
Martinez led Pecos with 17 points.
The Eagles, who both are now 0-17 on the season, get to avoid any hot
bus trips this Tuesday, as they host El Paso Mountain View. It's the second
half opener for the girls, 0-5 in district play, and the final home game
of the first half for the boys, who are 0-3.
Titans bum out Jags, get first AFC title
By EDDIE PELLS
AP Sports Writer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Jan. 24, 2000 - Bum Phillips made the promise.
Twenty seasons later, Jeff Fisher and Steve McNair finally fulfilled it.
It took three cities, two decades, one name change and enough failures
to make even the most hardy fans cringe, but the Tennessee Titans finally
"kicked the door in" to the Super Bowl.
Losers no more, the Titans defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 33-14 in
the AFC championship game Sunday to help owner Bud Adams become the last
of the original eight AFL owners to make it to the NFL title game.
The Titans (16-3) will play the NFC champion St. Louis Rams next Sunday
in a rematch of Tennessee's 24-21 victory on Oct. 31. The Rams are early
7-point favorites.
"I've prepared for a lot of things over the years - I didn't prepare
for this," Fisher said. "For 40 years, Mr. Adams has been trying to get
there. Forty years. This is what it's all about."
Tennessee got there by forcing six turnovers from the Jaguars (15-3),
who finished with the league's best regular-season record but also with
one fatal flaw - their inability to beat the Titans in three meetings.
McNair was the centerpiece of the historic victory. Playing with a toe
so sore it hurt to touch, he became a Super Bowl quarterback by scrambling,
breaking tackles and running his way to 91 yards and two touchdowns.
He threw for another 112 yards and enters the Super Bowl feeling like
the travails - the toe injury, offseason back surgery and nonstop criticism
by those who didn't like his style - were worth it.
"Looking back, there are a lot of difficult things I've been through
to make this moment special," McNair said.
The same could be said for the franchise as a whole.
It was after the 1979 season that Phillips promised fans in Houston
that next year, the Oilers would "kick the damn door in" after a pair of
heartbreaking losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers in consecutive AFC title
games.
Instead, there were 20 seasons of mediocrity and indifference. As attendance
slipped in the aging Astrodome, Adams started looking for a new home.
He found it in 1997, but even that wasn't much of a move. Still playing
as the Oilers, Adams' team suffered through a year in front of lukewarm
fans in Memphis, then another in creaky Vanderbilt Stadium.
This season, the team got its own stadium, a new name and a new attitude
to go with it. The Titans finished second in the AFC Central to Jacksonville,
but won three straight playoff games - each victory a little more convincing
- to become the sixth wild-card team to make the Super Bowl.
"It's about time," said Adams, 76. "I'm getting pretty old. I didn't
want to go to the Super Bowl in a wheelchair."
Rams use late TD to bag Bucs, 11-6
By BARRY WILNER
AP Football Writer
ST. LOUIS, Jan. 24, 2000 - Maybe nobody can shut down the St. Louis
Rams for a full game.
The NFL's most dynamic offense was dead in the water Sunday against
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' dominating defense. No big plays were to be had
for 55 minutes.
But this is a team of unshakeable faith and unbending resolution. And
they found a way: Kurt Warner's 30-yard strike to a leaping Ricky Proehl
down the left sideline for an 11-6 victory in the NFC championship game.
"He is the long-lost receiver," NFL MVP Warner said of the man whose
catch lifted St. Louis (15-3) into the Super Bowl against Tennessee. "We've
got so much talent that he becomes a situation guy. But we know we can
count on him when the chips are down."
Rarely were the chips down like this in the Rams' magical season. Their
Midwest Express offense, which led the league with 526 points (third most
in league history), had sputtered, particularly when near the end zone.
Warner, whose 41 touchdown passes placed him with Dan Marino as the only
quarterbacks to surpass 40 in a season, was picked off three times. He
was hurried, harried and hunting for just the right connection.
"We just didn't finish drives," Warner said.
They finished this one, started when Bucs rookie Shaun King was picked
off by another rookie, Dre' Bly, at midfield. Proehl sped down the sideline
and made the biggest catch of his 10-year career.
"I'm the guy they're always trying to get rid of," said Proehl, who
made six receptions for 100 yards and his first TD of the season. "I'm
the guy they are always trying to replace. You know, `There's 100 Ricky
Proehls out there.' I beg to differ."
The Bucs (12-6) probably do, as well. While they were putting the clamps
on stars Warner, Marshall Faulk - the Offensive Player of the Year with
a record 2,429 total yards who gained only 44 yards rushing and 5 yards
receiving - and Isaac Bruce with their quick, physical defense, they couldn't
stop Proehl or rookie Torry Holt (seven receptions, 68 yards).
And they couldn't get into the end zone, managing only Martin Gramatica's
field goals of 25 and 23 yards.
Still, it appeared to be enough, thanks to the monstrous defensive effort.
"We brought them into our zone, we brought them into our misery," said
Warren Sapp, the Defensive Player of the Year, "and we had them down 6-5
and just kept battling ... and it came down to one play."
That one play got the Rams into their second Super Bowl; they beat Tampa
Bay 9-0 20 years ago for the NFC crown, then fell to Pittsburgh for the
NFL title. The Bucs have never reached the Super Bowl.
"We always felt like we had the capability to shut this offense down,"
Sapp added. "We had plenty of opportunities to put this ballclub away."
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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Copyright 2000 by Pecos Enterprise
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