|
Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Monday, September 25, 2000
Eagles' offense revives in win over Presidio
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Sept. 23, 2000 -- The Pecos Eagles got their offense back on track
on the first series of the night against the Presidio Blue Devils, and
while they're still not running on all cylinders, they had more than enough
the rest of the way to score a 37-8 win over Presidio on Friday at Eagle
Stadium. After being blanked at home the previous week by Alpine, the
Eagles came out and went on a 15-play, 64-yard drive covering nearly
seven minutes to open up the game. Daniel Terrazas capped the drive with a
5-yard touchdown run, while fullback Matthew Levario picked up 34 of
his 40 yards on the night in the drive, most of them off quick hitters up
the middle.
Levario was starting in place of Jason Carrillo, who would come on
in the second period and have a couple of big runs of his own, including
a 23-yarder for a touchdown on the way to a 104-yard rushing night,
the first 100-yard effort of the season by an Eagles' back.
Aside from the trap plays, the Eagles continued to have their
best success running to the left behind linemen Joel Matta and Tony
Trujillo, which is where Terrazas went on his opening score and where Omar
Luna went to finish things off, with a 13-yard TD run with 3.5 seconds to play.
"We don't just run that way on purpose, but that's the better side
of our offensive line," said coach Gary Grubbs, who was without
three linemen on Friday, in Chris Deishler, Sebero Jaquez and Micah
Huffman. "We're playing a lot of kids on the right side because we've had
injuries, and we're trying to spell Trent Riley. A lot of kids had a chance to
play and on those traps the right side had a lot to do with that."
Pecos' other offensive touchdown was a 10-yard pass early in the
final period from Richard Rodriguez to Jason Gonzales, while Rodriguez
got his own touchdown in the first period, picking off a Ricky Carrasco pass
and dashing 16-yards down the right sideline three plays after
Terrazas' touchdown.
"The defense was solid tonight. I thought the kids did a good job,"
said Grubbs. Pecos held Presidio to 29 yards total offense in the first
half, though the Blue Devils did miss some chances to move the ball on
short passes, as Carrasco threw low a couple of times to open receivers
and had three passes dropped as part of a 9-for-26 night through the air.
"We knew they liked to throw the lob a lot so we played off them,
and got a pick (Rodriguez' second interception, in the second
quarter) when they tried for a touchdown," Grubbs said. Presidio finally did get
a receiver behind the Eagles defense in the closing minutes of the
game, as a scrambling Carrasco hit Oscar Covos for a 38-yard touchdown
to spoil Pecos' chances at a shutout.
"We blew some coverages. We had some kids who didn't get the
right drops, but we also had a lot of subs in there at the end of the
game," Grubbs said.
Offensively, the Eagles picked up 350 yards on the night, 199 of that
in the first half, though the turnover problems from the past two
week's 26-20 and 6-0 overtime losses to Fort Stockton and Alpine remained.
Pecos had five fumbles on the night, losing four, with the last, a Terrazas
fumble returned 30-yards by David Neri, setting up the Blue Devils' only
score of the night.
"We've got to cut down on turnovers. When we get into
district, we've got to turn that stuff into points," said Grubbs, who saw
his team turn the ball over inside the opposing team's 20 yard line for
the third time in the past two games.
Aside from his 34 yards rushing on the opening series of the
night, Levario also had a good night kicking the ball, going 4-for-5 on extra
points and booting a 35-yard field goal as time expired in the first half,
following a strange play in which lineman Gilbert Rodriguez caught a
Richard Rodriguez pass for an 8-yard loss.
Although it was a completed pass, the officials stopped the clock
with 1.8 seconds left, then had the time moved back to four seconds and
did not wind the clock, giving Levario the chance to boot his second field
goal of the year.
"I don't remember what the official said, but he said it was the
correct call,' said Grubbs. The field goal was set up by a 38-yard pass
from Rodriguez to Peter Juarez, one of seven different Eagles to catch a
pass in Friday's game.
The win lifted the Eagles back to the .500 mark, at 2-2 on the
season, while Presidio lost their first game in three tries, after going winless
during the 1999 season. Pecos will now go to Monahans for their final
pre-district game next Friday against the Loboes, who were idle this week.
It will be the first regular season meeting between the longtime rivals
since 1997, with Monahans coming in looking to even its record at 2-2,
after a win over Seminole and losses to Snyder and Greenwood.
"We've still got a long ways to go. We've got a big rivalry
against Monahans, and we're going to have to improve when we play them
next week," Grubbs said.
Two of Pecos' four other District 2-4A rivals also won their games
on Friday in big fashion. San Elizario rolled over Deming, N.M. by a
49-6 final score, while El Paso Mountain View routed Santa Teresa, N.M.,
56-6. Clint and Fabens lost, but played close games against El Paso
Cathedral and El Paso Parkland, both of whom already owned two wins over
District 2-4A schools. Cathedral edged the Lions, 30-27, while the Wildcats
were beaten by Parkland, 24-19.
at Pecos
Pecos 14 10 0 13 - 37
Presidio 0 0 0 8 - 6
First Quarter
Pec. - Terrazas 5 run (Levario kick), 6:51.
Pec. - R. Rodriguez 16 interception return (Levario kick), 8:28.
Second Quarter
Pec. - Carrillo 23 run (Levario kick), 9:30.
Pec. - FG Levario 35, 12:00.
Fourth Quarter
Pec. - J. Gonzales 10 pass from R. Rodriguez (Levario kick), 2:29.
Pre. - Covos 38 pass from Carrasco (Garza pass from Carrasco), 9:50.
Pec. - Luna 13 run (kick failed), 11:57.
Pre Pec
First Downs 6 19
Rushes-Yds 22-54 54-266
Passing Yds 90 78
Passes 9-26-2 8-17-0
Punts-Yds 6-23.7 2-17.5
Fumbles-lost 3-2 5-4
Penalties-Yds 4-35 3-25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING- Presidio, Carrasco
6-42, Hernandez 8-16, V. Medrano 3-5, Covos 1-2, Neri 4-(-13. Pecos, Carrillo
15-104, Luna 11-47, Terrazas 11-40, Levario 7-40, Rodriguez 7-29, Sparkman
1-5, Torres 2-1.
PASSING - Presidio, Carrasco 9-26-2-90. Pecos, Rodriguez 8-16-0-84, Torres 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING - Presidio, Neri 3-14, Garza 2-17, M. Medrano 2-16, Covos
1-38, V. Medrano 1-4, Hernandez 1-1. Pecos, Juarez 2-44, Edwards 1-20,
J. Gonzales 1-10, Luna 1-9, Plummer 1-9, Montoya 1-5, Navarrette 1-5,
G. Rodriguez 1-(-8).
MISSED FIELD GOALS - None.
Bears use turnovers to beat Cougars
By SMOKEY BRIGGS
Staff Writer
PECOS, Sept. 25, 2000 -- With about 2:30 left to play in the first
half the Balmorhea Bears were tied at zero with the visiting Dell City
Cougars. When the whistle blew to sound the end of the half the Bears were
up 20-0 and never looked back.
When the game was over the final score was 46-6 and the Bears'
record improved to 2-2 on the season.
For two quarters, however, the Cougars gave the Bears a run for
the money in a game that saw nine turnovers. But Balmorhea's
defense came out strong and shut Dell City's offense down for four quarters.
The Cougars took the opening kickoff, lost yards on the first
three plays of the game, and were forced to punt.
Billy Lozano had a good return and brought the ball back to the Cougar
36 but the Bears were called for an illegal block downfield and that seemed to
set the tone for the first half.
The Bears then fumbled on their first offensive play from
scrimmage, but held the Cougars again and took the ball back on downs.
Although the Bears had trouble finding the end zone for a while,
the offense did manage to move the ball against the Cougar defense. At
the end of the night the Bears had racked up 359 yards of total offense,
with 258 yards of that on the ground.
Balmorhea's Arturo Rodriguez killed a second quarter Cougar
threat when he intercepted a pass in the end zone. The interception was ruled
a touchback and the Bears took over on their own 20.
That seemed to be the spark they needed although three plays
later when the Bears faced 4th-and-6
from their own 29, Rodriguez had to come through a second time, hauling in
a pass rambling to the Cougar 35 for first down yardage.
Kevin Baeza then took what looked like a busted play and
turned it into big yardage when he ran around the right end, picked up two
good down field blocks and wound up 4 yards short of the end zone.
From there, Billy Lozano got the call on first and goal and bulled his way down
to the one, and then Jesus Flores took another inside handoff into the
end zone for the games first touchdown.
The points after kick failed and the score remained 6-0, but on
the ensuing kickoff Dell City fumbled, with Arturo Rodriguez recovering
the ball on the Cougar 27.
On second down Baeza broke a tackle and ran 14 yards into the
end zone. The points after attempt failed again and the Bears were 12-0
with 1:11 left in the half.
A kickoff and two snaps later the Cougar quarterback mishandled
the snap and Balmorhea lineman Logan Humphries fell on the ball on
the Cougar 17 with 30 seconds left.
Jesus Flores got the cal on second down somersaulted into the end
zone from the four-yard line. This time the points after kick was good and after
a two-and-a-half minute flurry of scoring were up 20-0.
The Bears added another three touchdowns in the opening
eight minutes of the third quarter before Coach Ennis Erickson let off on
the throttle and got his second string some game time.
The loss was the first of the season for Dell City after two
opening wins, but the Cougars will get another shot at the Bears at home on Oct.
13, in the District 8-A six man opener for Balmorhea.
Before then, the Bears will host former district rival Grandfalls
this Friday at 7:30 p.m., in what could be a preview of the first round of the
six-man football playoffs. Grandfalls lost their first game of the season
on Friday, 44-42 to Floyd, N.M. on the game's final play.
Eagles zoom
past Wildcats
PECOS, Sept. 25, 2000 -- A little adversity appeared to work wonders for
the Pecos Eagles volleyball team Saturday afternoon in Fabens.
Coming off a district-opening home loss to Clint and with one
of their starters out and another hampered by injury, the Eagles
went into Fabens and played their best game in three weeks, blowing out
the Wildcats by a 15-4, 15-5 final score.
"It was nice to just go in there and take care of business and get
out," said Eagles' coach Becky Granado, who was without senior hitter
Ashley Salcido due to a back injury, while setter Dee Dee Molinar was
bothered by an elbow she injured in practice on Friday.
"Dee Dee played the first game, but after that she said she was hurting.
I sat her out, and we only had four rotations in the second game, so
she never had to set," Granado said.
Jessica Rodriguez did most of that on Saturday, and had 12 assists, while Philly
Fobbs had 11 kills.
"They (Fabens) really don't have any height. Philly was pounding
the ball on them and they were just running from the net," Granado
said. "I just hope she continues like that, because she was all our offense."
Granado said the back line did a good job handling Fabens' hits
and serves to set up the offense on Saturday. The Wildcats led only
twice, at 1-0 in the first game and 4-2 in the second. The Eagles would go up by
a 12-2 score in the opening, and ran off eight straight points in Game 2 to
wipe out the Wildcats' brief lead.
"I was proud of the way they adjusted to the 5-1 (offense)
with Jessica when Dee Dee couldn't come back in." Granado said. "It
seemed like they were more relaxed. They played with emotion and got excited."
The win lifted Pecos to 19-7 on the season, while Fabens fell to 4-10,
with both teams moving to 1-1 in district play. The Eagles remain a game behind
Clint and El Paso Mountain View, after they downed Canutillo and San Elizario
in their matches on Saturday.
The Eagles will be at home for both their games this week,
hosting Canutillo at about 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday and then facing
Mountain View on Saturday afternoon.
Bears drop home match to Mustangs
PECOS, Sept. 25, 2000 -- Too many events, too few girls may have been
the problem for the Balmorhea Bears volleyball team on Saturday, as they
dropped a three-game decision at home to the Marathon Mustangs.
The Bears beat the Mustangs in the first game, 15-10, but then fell
to Marathon in the final two games by 16-14 and 15-3 scores, after having
a shot at match point twice in Game 2.
"The main problem we had last week was homecoming. All 10 on
the team were involved in something," said Bears' coach Gary Gallego.
"I could tell halfway through the week they were more involved
in homecoming than volleyball."
"I'll take responsibility for the loss. I gave them two days off
for homecoming and it showed up in the way we played. We only had a
52 percent service percentage," he said.
Still, the Bears did win the opening game, and jumped out to an 8-0 lead
in Game 2 before things began to fall apart.
"We had match point at 14-13 after Celina (Rodriguez) scored
five straight service points, with two aces. But then she served one into the
net and after we got the ball back another of my girls served it into the
net," Gallego said. "Then Marathon put
in this girl, Jennie Gonzales. It was the only time she came in in the
entire match, but she had three service aces and they won."
"In the third game we were emotionally drained," he added.
"We had a busy week with homecoming, and with the post game dance
some of them stayed up late."
Rodriguez
had 10 kills for the Bears, but the next best after that was three by Delilah
Nunez, who had been elected homecoming queen the night before. Terri Hernandez
led the Bears with seven assists, while Julia Garlick had 14 digs for Balmorhea.
"The effort was there, although we didn't win, and we'll be ready
for district," said Gallego.
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
|
