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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Tuesday, June 20, 2000
Texas Football picks Eagles to miss playoffs
PECOS, June 20, 2000 -- The Pecos Eagles' football team was given a little
pre-season motivation this week by Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine,
as the Eagles were picked to miss the Class 4A playoffs for the first time
in three seasons.
Texas Football picked El Paso Mountain View, San Elizario and Fabens
to earn the three playoff berths for District 2-4A this time around, with
Pecos, Clint and Canutillo rounding out the selections. Pecos and Clint
have made the playoffs each of the past two seasons, while Canutillo advanced
in 1998 as co-champions with the Eagles.
Mountain View was given the nod for the district title due in part to
having the most returning starters _ eight on offense and seven on defense.
Fabens returns district-leading rusher Vincente Macias and quarterback
Rigo Estrada, while San Elizario graduated co-offensive MVP Mike Perez,
but get back running back/cornerback Mike Tapia and tight end/defensive
end Albert Jacobo.
Pecos returns half of their starters from a year ago, including defensive
MVP Daniel Terrazas, when they finished 5-6 and 3-2 in district. The Eagles
will be looking to improve on their offensive effort from last season,
when they were blanked in their final regular season game by San Elizario
and were shut out by El Paso Ysleta in the bi-district round of the playoffs.
Meanwhile, the Balmorhea Bears were picked to get back into the playoffs
this season in six-man football, after missing post-season play in 1999.
The Bears are picked to finish second behind Sanderson in District 8-A
six man, after finishing 5-4 last season. Balmorhea loses four of their
six starters on both offense and defense, while Sanderson returns four
of their six starters both ways from a year ago.
Balmorhea is expected to benefit from the realignment for the 2000 season,
which shifted four-time defending district champion Grandfalls into District
7-A, where they are picked by Texas Football to win the title, and are
ranked sixth overall in the magazine's pre-season six-man football poll.
In the coaches' poll, Sanderson is ranked ninth and Grandfalls 10th,
while Panther Creek is picked first in both the magazine and coaches polls.
Pecos' old Class 4A district has been realigned with the move of Fort
Stockton from Class 4A to 3A. In the new District 4-4A, Wolford Frenship
is picked to take first, based on the transfer of Kendal Briles from defending
state champion Stephenville to play for the Tigers. Briles' father, coach
Art Briles, left his Stephenville job to become an assistant coach at Texas
Tech during the offseason.
Frenship if ranked third in the magazine's Class 4A preseason poll.
Plainview is picked second, while Big Spring is favored to beat out Andrews
for third in the eight-team district, though the magazine ranks the Steers
22nd in their poll while the Bulldogs are unranked.
Fort Stockton, meanwhile, is expected to end its 22-year playoff drought
with the move to Class 3A. The Panthers are picked third in District 4-3A,
while Monahans is expected to beat out Crane for the district title this
season, though both the Loboes and Cranes lost most of their starters from
a year ago.
Lamesa is ranked second in the Class 3A state poll by the magazine,
behind new 3A arrival Everman. Sweetwater, which also dropped from Class
4A to 3A this year, is ranked 22nd by the magazine.
Midland Lee's Cedric Benson is featured on the cover of this year's
Texas Football magazine, the first time a high school player has been used,
according to a press release sent out Monday. The Rebels are ranked seventh
in the Class 5A poll, while Austin Westlake is ranked first.
O'Neal, Bryant quiet doubters as Lakers take title
By CHRIS SHERIDAN
AP Basketball Writer
LOS ANGELES, June 20, 2000 - Like Magic, Wilt and Kareem before them,
Shaq and Kobe can now be described with just one word.
Champions.
After so many years of coming up short, after hearing so much about
their weaknesses and unfulfilled potential, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant
won their first NBA championship Monday night.
Taking charge in an exciting fourth quarter that ended Larry Bird's
coaching career, O'Neal and Bryant led the Los Angeles Lakers to a 116-111
victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 6 of the NBA Finals for the franchise's
first title since 1988.
"I've waited eight years of my life for this to happen, and it finally
happened," said O'Neal, who broke down and cried at center court after
achieving the goal that had eluded him for so long.
The victory gave Lakers coach Phil Jackson his seventh title - his first
without Michael Jordan - in just his first season coaching a team that
had been ousted from the playoffs in each of the first three seasons since
O'Neal and Bryant arrived.
O'Neal scored 41 points, marking the third time he scored 40 or more
in this series. "Ugliest 41 I ever had," he said.
Bryant had 26 including four free throws that clinched it in the final
13 seconds.
"I'm numb. I'm just numb right now," the 21-year-old Bryant said. "I
didn't know champagne burned this much when it gets in your eyes."
O'Neal, 28, was the unanimous choice for MVP of the series, adding to
his MVP awards from the regular season and All-Star game.
O'Neal and Bryant hugged on the court after the final buzzer, and O'Neal
was mobbed by his family as he tried to leave the court. With his exit
blocked, he turned around and headed to midcourt to receive the championship
trophy.
It was the 12th title in franchise history for the Lakers, the seventh
since they moved to Los Angeles in 1960. Magic Johnson, Kareem-Abdul Jabbar
and Wilt Chamberlain had earned Los Angeles' previous titles, and this
starstruck city had been anxiously awaiting the next one - especially since
the 7-foot-1, 330-pound unstoppable force arrived from Orlando in 1996.
Even though they trailed for most of the first three quarters against
a better shooting, more experienced opponent, the Lakers were the superior
team down the stretch.
Indiana tied the game at 103-103 on a 3-pointer by Jalen Rose with 5:04
left, but that was the beginning of the end.
Robert Horry, who won his third career title, hit a leaner from the
lane, and Ron Harper, who won his fourth, stole the ball on the Pacers'
next possession.
O'Neal hit a soft 10-footer from the baseline, Rose missed on a drive
and Bryant calmly sank a 20-footer, bobbing and weaving and whistling ever
so slightly as he sauntered back to the bench and Indiana called timeout
with 3:28 left.
The Pacers then went to the Hack-a-Shaq defensive strategy, sending
O'Neal to the line four times in a span of 21 seconds. He missed three
of them before Jackson took him out with 2:27 left.
When O'Neal returned with 1:56 left, the Lakers' lead was down to 110-107
and Indiana had the ball.
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
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 2000 by Pecos Enterprise
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