|
Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Thursday, September 27, 2001
Eagles hoping to halt win streak by Loboes
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The tone of last year's game between the Pecos Eagles and Monahans
Loboes was pretty much set on the first play from scrimmage, when quarterback
Scott Moore dropped back and hit a quick pass to split end Ruben Silvas,
who turned it into an 83-yard touchdown play on the way to a 34-8 victory
by the Loboes over the Eagles.
Moore and Silvas have both graduated, as have most of the other Monahans
running backs and receivers from a year ago. But the current group of Loboes
will try to extend their team's 17-game winning streak against Pecos, when
the teams meet Friday night at 8 p.m. in Eagle Stadium, in Pecos' 2001 homecoming
game.
"We'll be ready for that thing. I'll drill it into their heads," said
Eagles' coach Gary Grubbs of last season's opening play, which started the
Loboes on their way to a 386-yard night on offense, the most yardage Pecos
gave up in a game last season.
This season defense has been a problem in the early going for Pecos, though
the Eagles hope things turned around last week in their 62-8 win at Presidio.
Pecos allowed the Blue Devils only 88 yards in total offense and scored the
most points for any Eagle team in a single game since 1946, while bouncing
back from a pair of four-touchdown losses to Fort Stockton and Alpine.
Monahans, meanwhile, has lost twice in their first three games by 49-0
scores, to Snyder and Midland Greenwood, but in-between scored a 28-14 win
over Seminole.
"They're very fundamentally sound. They have some good skill people on
offense. Their running backs have good speed and they have a big wide receiver
in Mark Covington," Grubbs said.
Loboes' coach Larry Hanna said the 6-foot-3, 200 pound Covington, "has
got a little size to him, but he hasn't been out the last couple of years.
He didn't play since junior high." Derek Carter is Monahans' other receiver.
Noah Miles is the Loboes' quarterback, and one of the few returning players
from last season. He came in after Moore was hurt in the second half and
threw a four-yard touchdown pass midway through the third period for the
final score of the night.
Other than the game against Pecos, Hanna said Miles only played a few
other late season games at quarterback, though he saw time on defense in
the secondary, where he was hurt during a pre-season scrimmage against Andrews
and missed the team's season opener. "He's getting better, and we're gradually
opening up more throwing for him," the Loboes' coach said.
"He's about 6-2 and is a very good athlete," said Grubbs. "I haven't seen
him run the ball much, but he's a good passer with an accurate arm and throws
a really nice ball."
The Loboes have been operating on running back by committee so far in
2001. The group includes tailbacks Michael Roberson and fullback Grason Hiers,
though Hanna said the Loboes have used four other runners in the backfield
this season.
Tackles Doug Crumrime and Josh Powell are the only returning starters
on offense for the Loboes, who are expected to battle Fort Stockton, Alpine
and Crane for the three District 4-3A playoff berths.
In their last game, Monahans was able to move the ball on their first
series inside the Rangers' 5-yard-line, but came up empty. "Their quarterback
got sacked and then they missed a field goal. After that Greenwood pretty
much controlled play," Grubbs said.
"Greenwood's really tough. We moved the ball some, but we just didn't
get the ball in the end zone," said Hanna. "We know we've got a tough non-district
schedule, but we just don't want to get spanked."
"Our defense hasn't been able to stop the run this season," he added.
"It's a combination of inexperience and technique. We've been overpowered
at times, but mostly it's not being in our station, at the right place at
the right time."
"Ronnie Robledo at middle linebacker has been a solid player," Hanna said.
"And Leland Walker and (Andrew) Galvan in the secondary have played well."
"Defensively they're probably not as fast as they've been in the past,
but they're still very, very aggressive," said Grubbs.
Pecos' defense also had been weak against the run until last week, when
they allowed only 38 yards to Presidio. However, Grubbs said the Eagles would
still make a few more changes for Friday's game.
"We're going to start Jaime Herrera at middle linebacker and Hugo (Rodriguez)
will start at defensive tackle, where he played for us last year," Grubbs
said.
Offensively, he said Tomas Valdez is back after missing a couple of games
due to injury. "Jae Ewing will start at center, but Tomas looked good in
practice," the Eagles' coach said.
Pecos ran for 451 yards last week, with both quarterback Freddy Torres
and running back Oscar Parada going over 100 yards, while Matthew Levario
scored four touchdowns for the Eagles, who'll be trying to go into district
play with a winning record for the first time since 1997.
"As coaches we really haven't built it up this week that we're playing
Monahans, but the kids know it. We're just trying to get ready for our first
district game (on Oct. 12) against Clint," Grubbs said.
Eagles edged by Panthers before district opener
The Pecos Eagles' second meeting of the season against the Fort Stockton
Panthers tennis team was a lot closer than the first one was a month ago,
though the Panthers were still able to come away with a 9-7 win Tuesday afternoon
on the Pecos High School tennis courts.
Fort Stockton had beaten Pecos 15-6 in the teams' season opener last month
on the Panthers' home courts. This time, the Eagles took all but one of the
seven girls' matches, while Fort Stockton took all but one of the nine matches
on the boys' side.
"I didn't have two of my top six for the boys and girls," said coach Mike
Ortiz. "The boys couldn't get out of work, so I had to move people up, and
if I had had those other two girls we wouldn't have lost a match.
"We go back there (to Fort Stockton) on Tuesday, and I'll have a full
team, so this was good experience," Ortiz added.
Tuesday's singles matches were limited to single sets, and Ortiz said
the top two singles matches for the girls and the top singles match for the
boys were the best ones of the day. Natalia Ornelas won her match by a 9-7
score, as did Brenda Fuentes, over Casee McKenzie and Kirti Ghandi, while
Trent Graham was beaten in his match, 8-6 by Bjorn Subia.
The boys' win came from Jay Dannelly, who won at No. 3 singles against
Vishal Chopra, 8-1. Jennifer Rayos and Amanda Fleming were the other girls'
singles winners, while Fuentes and Ornelas and Rayos and Elizabeth Carreon
teams up for doubles victories.
In-between their matches with Fort Stockton, the Eagles will play the
first of their three District 2-4A dual meets, at home this Saturday against
Fabens. The Eagles defeated the Wildcats earlier this month by a 17-4 final
score in Monahans, which will be the site of this year's district tournament
in late October.
The District tournament is being held on the Loboes' home courts because
the Pecos High Schools courts are due to begin reconstruction. Saturday's
matches will be the last ones at home for the Eagles during the fall season.
Fort Stockton (9) at Pecos (7)
Boys Singles
Trent Graham lost to Bjorn Subia, 8-6; Stephen Lamb lost to Travis Sawyer,
8-5; Jay Dannelley defeated Vishal Chopra, 8-1; Michael Orona lost to Eric
Fierro, 8-4; Orlando Mendoza lost to Bryan Rainwater, 8-0; Frankie Hernandez
lost to Brian Fierro, 8-0.
Girls Singles
Natalia Ornelas defeated Casee McKenzie, 9-7; Brenda Fuentes defeated
Kirti Ghandi, 9-7; Elizabeth Carreon lost to Britt Bollier, 8-1; Jennifer
Rayos defeated Lujan, 8-2; Amanda Fleming defeated Hampton, 8-1.
Boys Doubles
Graham and Dannelley lost to Subia and Sawyer, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3); Lamb
and Mendoza lost to Fierro and Fierro, 6-1, 6-1; T.J. Hardwick and Hernandez
lost to Chopra and Rainwater, 6-2, 6-1.
Girls Doubles
Fuentes and Ornelas defeated McKenzie and Ghandi, 6-4, 6-2; Carreon and
Rayos defeated Bollier and Lujan, 6-1, 6-3.
Pecos sub-varsity squads take on Monahans today
For the first time in three weeks, all six of the Pecos Eagles' sub varsity
football teams are scheduled to be in action today, when they take on the
Monahans Loboes.
Pecos' seventh grade and ninth grade teams will be at home against Monahans,
while the eighth grade and junior varsity squads will be playing on the Loboes'
home fields. The junior high gold games for both grades begin at 4 p.m.,
followed by the purple teams games at 5:30 p.m. Starting time for the freshman
and JV games is 6 p.m.
The junior high purple teams were scheduled to host Presidio last week,
but avoided the thunderstorms that hit Pecos when the Blue Devils canceled,
and ended up going to Van Horn instead, where the seventh graders won, 28-6,
while the eighth graders scored a 24-121 win.
The seventh graders are 1-1-1 on the season, while the eighth graders
are 2-1. Pecos seventh grade gold team is 0-1 and the eighth grade team is
1-1 going into their games with Monahans.
The Eagles' freshmen defeated Presidio last Thursday, 20-0 are are 2-1-1
on the season, while the JV fell to 0-3-1 after losing to Odessa High's sophomores
by a 27-12 final score.
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
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 2001 by Pecos Enterprise
|
