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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Monday, September 17, 2001
Defense, penalty problems send Eagles to 25-7 defeat
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
When the Pecos Eagles stopped the run, the Alpine Bucks passed. When
the Eagles stopped the pass, the Alpine Bucks ran.
When the Eagles tried to run or pass … they usually got hit with
a penalty within the first one or two plays, and the combination of the three
things produced a 35-7 homecoming victory by the Bucks in Alpine Friday night.
"I'll tell you the same thing I told you last week. We're not a very good
football team on offense right now, and we're not a very good defensive team,"
said a dejected coach Gary Grubbs, who was hoping to see some improvement
after Pecos' 32-8 loss the week before to Fort Stockton.
Unlike that game, the Eagles were still in Friday night's contest through
the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, after Peter Juarez broke up a
D.T. Dominguez pass to Anthony Ramon, leading to an interception by Sammy
Gonzalez at the Bucks' 37-yard line. A facemask call on the tackle moved
the ball to the Bucks' 22, giving the Eagles their best shot of the second
half at scoring and cutting into Alpine's 21-7 lead.
But quarterback Freddy Torres then tried to force the ball into Ricky
Plummer on the next play, and Ramon intercepted it at the 3-yard-line. The
Bucks then went on a 97-yard scoring drive _ their second of the game _ which
ended with a Ian Leblanc one-yard TD run with 4:58 to play.
"That's the kind of thing we talked about. We've got to be able to capitalize
on those things and take advantage of turnovers when we get them, and not
give the ball right back," said Grubbs.
While Torres was only 2-for-10 with three interceptions on the night,
his running in the first half kept Pecos in the game, gaining 78 yards on
10 carries, including a 33-yard scramble in the second period that set up
Matthew Levario's two-yard touchdown run, after Alpine had taken a 14-0 lead
earlier in the period.
Dominguez was 12-for-18 in the first half for 156 yards; most of those
passes to the sideline, including one 37-yard scoring pass to Brent Mata
with 5:48 left in the period. It came after Ramon's first interception of
the night on Torres, picking him off on a throw meant for Joey Ortega at
midfield, which in turn came after Dominguez found Mata in the back of the
end zone for a 21-yard TD pass with 9:20 left in the second period, which
capped Alpine's first 97-yard scoring drive.
Torres' interception came after a holding call against the Eagles, one
of 15 penalties for 147 yards on the night for Pecos. However, in the first
half the penalties for the Bucks were just as bad, as they were flagged seven
times for 80 yards, including two that took away first period touchdowns
_ a clip on an 83 yard punt return by Robert Rodriguez and a hold that wiped
out a 44-yard TD pass from Dominguez to Roman moments later.
The Eagles were able to stop the Bucks on downs after that, and held Alpine
to only 71 yards rushing in the first half, as they were able to shut down
the runs up the middle that hurt them the previous week against Fort Stockton.
In the third quarter, the Eagles did a better job covering the outside
receivers, and Dominguez was just 2-for-8 for 14 yards and two interceptions
in the final periods, the other by Richard Rodriguez after a Juarez pick-off
had been wiped out by a roughing-the-passer flag midway through the third
period. But when the passing was cut off, Alpine just went to the run _ George
Keller broke through the right side of Pecos' line for a 63-yard touchdown
run on the fourth play of the second half, and finished with 114 yards rushing,
100 of that in the second half. Henry Lara, who had one carry for nine yards
in the first half, added 60 more in the final two quarters, most of that
on the second 97-yard TD march.
Alpine's last score came on a fumbled snap off the shotgun to Rodriguez,
who replaced Torres at quarterback for the final two series. The Eagles were
forced into the shotgun after getting a clipping penalty on their first play
after the kickoff. Terry Muench recovered at the ½-yard-line and Dominguez
scored on a quarterback sneak two plays later.
"I thought in the second half we adjusted well against the pass. Defensively
the big problem tonight was poor tackling," said Grubbs. Pecos ended up allowing
Alpine 439 yards in total offense while collected only 122 yards, 25 fewer
than their penalty yardage total.
"We've got to improve in the next two weeks before district starts. That's
what non-district games are all about," said Grubbs, whose team will go to
Presidio this Friday and then host Monahans on Sept. 28. "We'll come around."
Eagles end pre-district with wins
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The first month of the 2001 volleyball season ended on an up note for
the Pecos Eagles on Saturday, and coach Becky Granado hopes it will
carry over to this week, with District 2-4A play beginning on Tuesday
night in Clint.
The Eagles won their second and third straight matches of the season on
Saturday, beating the Kermit Yellowjackets, 15-9, 15-6, and the Presidio
Blue Devils, 15-1, 15-11 at the Pecos High School gym. The wins came after
a two-game victory on Tuesday over Fort Stockton and mark a turnaround from
a week earlier, when Pecos fell to 4-15 on the season with a two game loss
to the Class A Wink Wildcats.
"I asked them how it felt, and they said it felt good," Granado said.
"Now we have a three-game winning streak going into district play. We're
playing much better as a team and are communicating more."
That's not to say everything was perfect for Pecos on Saturday. The Eagles
had problems serving the ball in both matches, and ran into trouble handling
Presidio's serves in the second game of their match, falling behind at one
point 8-1 before scoring 12 straight points against the Blue Devils.
"Rebecca (Wein) got 11 straight points (against Kermit) and in the second
game Leslie (Rodriguez) was the one that got us back. She served 12 straight
points for us to take the lead."
Wein's streak in Game 2 of the Eagles' match with Kermit closed out a
12-0 run for the Eagles, after the Jackets had taken a 6-3 lead. Pecos also
fell behind in the opener, 4-0, before coming back, scoring eight straight
points to go from a 6-5 deficit to a 13-6 lead.
A couple of dink shots by Jessica Rodriguez and Wein began the streak,
and were followed by a block by Mindi Harrison on a spike by Cassandra Garcia,
and spikes by Christina Arenivas and Tiana Terry
Terry also had a kill to open the Eagles' match against Presidio, while
Wein had a couple of kills and a block during an 11-0 run to start the game
and Arenivas had a pair of kills for two of the Eagles' final three points.
In the next games, serves by Monica Arias and Maria Chavez that Pecos couldn't
handle got the Blue Devils their 8-1 lead, while the Eagles couldn't get
their own serves in play for a while, until finally breaking serve and scoring
on a kill by Terry and her block on Veronica Pena.
Then after going up 13-8, the Eagles had problems with Pena's serves.
She scored three straight points off aces around a couple of bad relays by
Wein, allowing the Blue Devils to tie the score. But Pena's next serve was
out, and the Eagles were able to win the game on a net violation by Karla
Garcia and a bad relay by Jessica Valdez.
"Our serves are just going to have to improve. I have some pretty good
servers, it's just that some times we lose our focus," Granado said.
The Eagles will take a 7-15 record to Clint on Tuesday to face the Lions,
who have not played since Sept. 8 due to last week's terrorist attacks in
New York and Washington, but who are favored to battle El Paso Mountain View
for the District 2-4A title this season after losing a first place playoff
to the Eagles last year. Granado also said this Saturday's game against Fabens,
originally scheduled as a road contest, has been switched to the Pecos High
School gym.
Pecos' junior varsity volleyball team split their games on Saturday, beating
Presidio, 15-4, 15-5, while losing to Kermit, 4-15, 15-10, 15-12. The freshmen
Eagles played Presidio and defeated the Blue Devils, 15-4, 15-12.
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 newsdesk@nwol.net
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Copyright 2001 by Pecos Enterprise
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