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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Thursday, October 11, 2001
Sub-varsity teams taking on Cavemen, Cranes, Panthers
With the beginning of District 2-4A for the Pecos Eagles varsity, finding
opponents for the Eagles' sub-varsity teams becomes a little tougher.
The varsity will be making the 180-mile trip to Clint on Friday for
their district opener, but the sub-varsity teams won't be making any long
drives on a mid-week night. Instead, two teams will be staying at home,
with the freshman and junior varsity squads taking on Crane and Carlsbad
in Pecos, while the seventh and eighth grade gold teams head south to Fort
Stockton to face the Panthers for the second week in a row.
The freshmen will host the Cranes and the JV will take on the Cavemen
at 5 and 7 p.m., while the seventh and eighth grade games are set for 4
and 5:30 p.m. starts.
The JV has gone to Carlsbad once this year, but did not face the Cavemen
in the Aug. 18 scrimmage, taking on Jal and Eunice, N.M. instead. The JV
was beaten in the final minutes of play last week at home against Fort
Stockton, 20-13, to fall to 0-5-1 on the season, while the freshman are
3-2-1 after their 26-15 win over Marfa's JV last week.
The junior high gold teams both lost at home by a touchdown to Fort
Stockton's white team a week ago, the seventh graders by an 8-0 margin
and the eighth graders by a 14-6 score. The seventh graders are 0-3 and
the eighth graders 1-2-1 on the season.
Pecos seventh grade purple teams are off tonight, as Fort Stockton's
junior high blue teams are facing Alpine this evening.
Swimmers host Loboes in dual meet at PHS pool
The Pecos Eagles swim team will get their first chance to face a District
3-4A rival tonight, when they host the Monahans Loboes in their second
dual meet of the 2001-2002 season.
The Eagles and Loboes will face each other beginning at 6 p.m. at the
Pecos High School swimming pool. It's the second of three home dual meets
for the Eagles this season and the second of four home meets overall for
Pecos. They'll host Fort Stockton and their own Pecos Invitational in November.
Pecos ended Monahans' two-year string of district girls swimming titles
this past January and also took the Region I-4A championship, after the
Loboes won the inaugural Region I-4A title in 2000. Going back to 1983-84
when Pecos' swimming program began, no other team besides the Eagles and
Loboes have won the girls district crown, with Monahans winning 10 times
since then, while Pecos has captured eight of the past 11 championships.
Things haven't been as close on the boys' side. Pecos will be seeking
their 11th district title in the past 13 years this coming January,
while Monahans has gone nearly 20 years without a district title. But graduation
has cut into the numbers on the boys' side this season, and coach Terri
Morse said she would only have eight swimmers available tonight.
"Chance (Evans), who is a freshman, will be playing football Thursday,
but at this point I'll have everybody else," Morse said following last
Saturday's season-opening swim meet.
Pecos' girls opened their 2001-2002 season with a 98-72 win over El
Paso Montwood, while the boys were defeated by Montwood, 94-76, though
overall, the boys did end up with more first place finishes on the afternoon.
Both teams won two of their three relays, while the boys got a pair of
first place finishes from sophomore Will Oglesby and from sophomores K.W.
Winkles in the 100 breaststroke and Max Key in the 50 yard freestyle.
Senior Rachelle Eisenberg and freshman Catherine Minjarez earned the
girls' other gold medals, in the 100 yard breaststroke and 100 yard butterfly
respectively.
For this evening's meet, Morse said, "I'm going to make a few changes
and try a few people around in a few places. The boys will pretty much
stay the same, but the girls I'll probably change up a couple of positions
in the 200 and 400 relays, and the `B' and `C' relays will change.
"I'm just changing things up to see what we can do and where we can
get better for when the invitationals come up," she added. Pecos' first
invitational meet is on Oct. 27-28 at Big Spring, and they'll host their
own invitational meet two weeks later.
Eagles open district against improved Lions
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
Last year when the Clint Lions took on the Pecos Eagles in the District
2-4A football opener for both schools, the Lions came into the game off
a 46-7 loss to El Paso Burges, and proceeded to lose by a 46-7 score to
Pecos.
This year, when the teams meet on Friday to open district play, the
Eagles would like to again match Burges' score against Clint, after the
Mustangs handed the Lions a 33-7 defeat a week ago.
But coming up with another easy win figures to be tougher for Pecos
this time around, as they have to travel to Clint to face the Lions, who
despite last week's lopsided loss are a much-improved team from the 1-9
squad of the 2000 season.
Clint won their opening game against Anthony a year ago, and then didn't
win again until they defeated the Wildcats to start the 2001 season. The
Lions then followed that up with victories over El Paso Cathedral and El
Paso High before suffering their first loss of 2001 at Burges last Friday.
The main change so far this season has been on defense. Clint allowed
over 400 yards per game a year ago, while so far this year they've given
up just over 250 yards, though Burges got to the Lions for 383 yards a
week ago, all but 67 of that on the ground.
"Defensively they've improved, but I think last week was their first
real test," said Eagles' coach Gary Grubbs, whose team comes into the game
off a bye week following their first win in 19 years over Monahans, by
a 13-12 score on Sept. 28 at Eagle Stadium.
"I think the week off really helped us. We got rid of some nicks and
bruises we suffered against Monahans," Grubbs said, though the Eagles will
be minus two starters, fullback Oscar Parada and defensive end Jose Loa,
on Friday.
Last season, Pecos ran for 491 yards against Clint, almost 400 of that
by starting backs Daniel Terrazas and Omar Luna, both of whom have graduated.
Clint also has several new players in their starting defensive lineup this
season, and assistant coach Elias Payan said, "They're playing a lot smarter
on defense this year."
"They're not playing as much man (defense) and running across the field.
They're utilizing their free safety in coverage and trying to stay a little
more balanced," Grubbs said. "I don't think they're any more aggressive,
but even so that's the beauty of our offense. It takes the aggressiveness
away and makes you play assignment football."
Quarterback Freddy Torres and Parada ran for over 100 yards three weeks
ago against Presidio, while Matthew Levario gained over 100 two weeks ago
against Monahans. With Parada out, Grubbs said Mason Abila would start
at both fullback and linebacker against Clint, and added that, "Peter Juarez
will see some time at tailback," against the Lions.
Clint's offensive personnel haven't changed that much from a year ago.
Tony Alvarado remains the quarterback and Jesus Grijalva and Manny Estrada
are the running backs.
Grijalva ran for 499 yards and Estrada for 296 a year ago. He's already
surpassed that mark in 2001 with 343 yards and two touchdowns, while Grijalva
has run for 296 yards and three scores in four games.
"Grijalva to me is a lot faster, shiftier back. Estrada is more of a
power runner," he said, while Alvarado "does a great job finding his receivers,
even when he's on the run."
The junior has thrown for 462 yards on 40-for-78 passing, with two touchdown
passes and only one interception, as Lions' coach Lloyd Smith has gone
a little bit away from the passing-dominated offense Clint has used for
the past several seasons. "They actually run the ball a little more than
they throw it," said Grubbs.
Alvarado lost Domingo Lozano, the No. 2 receiver in Class 4A last season
with 57 catches, to graduation. But his replacement, Royce Hickman, is
close to Lozano's pace. Hickman has caught 24 passes in four games after
catching just six a year ago, and leads all 2-4A receivers in yardage as
well, with 279, including both of the Lions' TD catches this year.
"They've got a lot of potential on offense," said Grubbs, while adding
the Lions' offensive line, "is about the same size as a year ago."
Friday's game is the first of a stretch of three out of four games in
the El Paso area for Pecos. They'll be at home next week to take on pre-district
favorite Fabens, then travel to face Canutillo and El Paso Mountain View
on Oct. 26 and Nov. 2.
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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