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Archive 2001

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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Sports

Monday, October 29, 2001

Sand trap at Mountain View slows cross country runners

By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
Next to the Monahans Sandhills, no place in West Texas is probably sandier than the area around Mountain View High School on the northeast side of El Paso.

Combine that with some high overnight winds, and the course at Mountain View for the District 2-4A cross country meet on Saturday was just about like a run through the Sandhills for the Pecos Eagles and the other 2-4A squads.

That meant some slower times for everyone, with the Eagles having some of the worst problems of all, both with the course's sandpaths during the first 1½ miles and with the course lay-out near midpoint.

Jason Sanchez was the highest finisher for Pecos, running the three-mile course in 23:05, while the remaining Eagles _ Joshua Cobos, Alex Orosco, Raul Garcia and Jeremiah Mora, were 34th through 37th, with times of 26:32, 26:33, 28:43 and 29:06.

"The last three cut the wrong way at the one-mile marker," said coach Rudy Jurado. "But they went back and reversed and went the right way when the lady (course director) told them to."

The problem came at the area where the extra mile was added onto the boys' course from the two-mile girls' course, and coaches held a meeting after the race to discuss claims that a few runners towards the back of the pack did cut the course. Jurado said today that because none of those would have affected the Top 10 qualifiers or the team championships there were no disqualifications made by officials following the meeting.

Fabens, which won the Class 4A state title two years ago, won a tiebreaker over El Paso Mountain View for first place, as both teams finished with 39 points. San Elizario was third with 58 points, while San Eli's Irving Alvidrez edged Mountain View's Alexander Ramos for first place, with a 19:08.06 time, well off his time while finishing third a week earlier at the El Paso Burges Invitational.

The sand played the major role in that, and Pecos' runners also complained it was hard to run on the first part of the course without sinking into the loose sand to the east of the Lobos' football stadium, where the race began and ended.

"They all said they weren't used to running in something like this, and it showed because all the times were at least two minutes off. On the girls side you could still knock two minutes off and it would have been 14:20, which is a slow time," said Jurado.

Mountain View's Angela Reyes won the girls' title with a 16:22 time, which was also well off her pace of a week ago, but 51 seconds ahead of her teammate and runner-up Diana Cano. Mountain View won the meet with 17 points to 45 for Clint and 66 for third place Canutillo.

Jurado said the Eagles' lone girl running cross country, April Rodriguez, was unable to compete because of a sprained ankle.

The Eagles' coach said he is hoping to have at least a few girls running cross country next season, and hopes to have all of his boys back in 2002, when realignment may put Pecos back into a Permian Basin area district, which would probably not be as strong in distance running as District 2-4A.

"I don't have any seniors. All I've got is two juniors, two sophomores and two freshmen. I could have entered them in the JV division, but I entered them in the varsity because you can't advance at the lower (JV) level, and I wanted them to at least have a shot at that," Jurado said.

Pecos girls first, boys second at Big Spring

A lack of numbers at the `home pool advantage' hurt the Pecos Eagle boys team in their first invitational meet of the season on Saturday, while Pecos' girls had an easy time cruising to victory in their division of the Big Spring Invitational.

The girls scored 384 points, more than double that of runner-up Abilene Wylie High School, which edged Odessa Permian for third place, 184 points to 176. Meanwhile, Big Spring's boys won their own meet with 297 points, while the Eagles edged Permian for third, with 262 points to the Panthers' 257.

"They had a few more numbers than we did, and after their coach got the entries he could look and see where his swimmers would do the best and put them there," said Eagles' coach Terri Morse. "I don't necessarily think that will be the case all year. Once I get all my boys out from the other sports and the ones who are ineligible back I think we'll be all right. We have every bit as good talent as they do, we just don't have the numbers."

On the girls' side, Morse said, "We had a pretty good meet. With the girls we have a lot of depth this year and some pretty good quality. You can look at the relays and see we had enough to fill a couple of `B' relays and still get fifth or sixth there, which is tough in that big a meet."

The girls won all three of their relays, taking the 200 medley with a 2:07.16 time, the 200 freestyle in 1:51.40 and the 400 free in 4:13.77, while the `B' relay picked up a medal by finishing third in the 200 free and were fifth in the 400 free and sixth in the 200 medley. Individually, Teddie Salcido won the 200 freestyle with a 2:17.50 time, Catherine Minjarez won the 100 yard butterfly in 1:11.84, Jessica Minjarez took the 500 free with a 6:08.36 time and Rachelle Eisenberg won the 100 yard breaststroke with a 1:15.54 time.

Jessica Minjarez placed second to Salcido in the 200 free by just under one-half second, with Rebecca Reynolds seventh. Catherine Minjarez was third, Eisenberg fifth, Ashley Carrasco eighth and Cassady Bradley 12th in the 200 individual medley; Kelsey Holt was fifth, Ashely Horsburgh 11th, Chyloe Martin 20th and Amie Reynolds 21st in the 50 free; Susan Moore was fourth and Camilla Alvarado 15th in the 100 fly; Holt was third, Betsy Lujan fifth, Horsburgh seventh and Laruen Wein 11th in the 100 free; Sara Wein was 11th, Tina Grice 14th and Bradley 15th in the 500 free; Salcido was second, Moore fifth, Lauren Wein seventh, Martin 13th, Grice 19th and Alvarado 25th in the 100 backstroke, and Rebecca Reynolds was fifth, Carrasco seventh and Amie Reynolds eighth in the 100 yard breastrstroke.

Pecos had more first place finishes overall than any other team in the boys' division, five, though they were beaten out for first in two of the three relays. The Eagles won the 200 medley in 1:48.72, but were edged by Monahans by two-tenths of a second in the 200 freestyle relay, and placed second to Big Spring in the 400 free.

Matthew Oglesby won both the 100 butterfly, in 56.80, and the 100 backstroke, with a 59.64 time, while K.W. Winkles took the 100 breststroke in 1:08.62 and Max Key won the 100 freestyle, with a 52.97 time. Other results for the boys included Daniel Quintana and Michael Juarez, second and eighth in the 200 free; Winkles and Gary Garcia, third and fifth in the 200 medley; Key and Trey Edwards, second and ninth in the 50 freestyle; Patrick McChesney, third in the 100 fly; Edwards sixth and Juarez 11th in the 100 free; McChensey second and Quintana sixth in the 500 free and Garcia third in the 100 backstroke.

"We just had seven boys there, so I don't think I can be too disappointed about getting second as big as the meet was. Permian had 25 kids there," said Morse, whose team will host their own invitational meet on Nov. 9-10.

Before then, the Eagles will be at home on Thursday night for a dual meet against Fort Stockton.

Pecos netters lose matches at tournament

The Pecos Eagles' tennis team found the level of competition was a little too much to handle on Friday, at the Region I-4A Tennis Tournament at Wichita Falls. But coach Mike Ortiz was still happy his team made the trip, despite a couple of losses to the Grapevine Mustangs and Cleburne Yellowjackets.

The Eagles were beaten in the opening round of the 16-team tournament by Grapevine, 10-2, then lost a pro-set consolation round match to Cleburne, 18-2.

"We drew 15th (seed), which put us up against Grapevine, the No. 2 team," Ortiz said. Pecos had won the District 2-4A title, defeating Clint to win the regular season crown and then taking Fabens in the tournament, but the Eagles' coach said the level of play in the eastern half of Region I-4A was hard for his team to adjust to on Friday.

"I think the teams over there are more match-toughened, because their districts are so competitive," he said. "Here, you have one or two teams that are top teams, but over there they've got five or six teams in each district that are real good, so all the matches are close."

Still, he said, "I was just happy we even made it to the regionals. "I think for the kids it was a good experience, and they gave it their best. I'm happy for all of them, but it's just a different brand of team over there."

Of the Eagles' four wins at regional, six different players were involved. Elzabeth Carreon and Jennifer Rayos and Amanda Fleming and Chantel Orona won their matches against Grapevine, at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, while Brenda Fuentes and Kristina Dominguez earned Pecos' victories at No. 2 and No. 2 singles against the Yellowjackets.

The boys were swept in both their matches, with the closest against Grapevine a 7-5, 6-4 loss by No. 2 singles player Bobby Sotelo. In the lost to Cleburne, Michael Orona came closest to a win, falling in his pro-set match by a 9-8 (4-7) score.

Final results for the tournament matches are listed below (Grapevine and Cleburne player names not available):

Pecos (2) vs. Grapevine (10)

Boys Singles

Trent Graham lost 6-2, 6-3; Bobby Sotelo lost 7-5, 6-4; Stephen Lamb lost 6-0, 6-0; Jay Dannelley lost (no score available).

Girls Singles

Brenda Fuentes lost, 6-3, 6-4.

Boys Doubles

Graham and Dannelley lost, 6-0, 6-2; B. Sotelo and Lamb lost, 6-0, 6-3; Michael Orona and Joel Sotelo lost, 6-0, 6-2.

Girls Doubles

Natalia Ornelas and Fuentes lost, 6-3, 6-2; Elizabeth Carreon and Jennifer Rayos won, 6-2, 6-4; Amanda Fleming and Chantel Orona won, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Mixed Doubles

Orlando Mendoza and Kristina Dominguez lost, 6-1, 6-1.

Pecos (2) vs. Cleburne (19)

Boys Singles

Graham lost 8-3; B. Sotelo lost 8-3; Lamb lost 8-2; Dannelley lost 8-0; Orona lost 9-8 (4-7); Mendoza lost 8-5.

JV _ J. Sotelo lost, 8-5

Girls Singles

Ornleas lost 8-0; Fuentes won, 8-5; Dominguez won, 9-7; Carreon lost 8-1; Rayos lost 8-3; Fleming lost 8-1.

JV _ Orona lost, 8-0.

Boys Doubles

Graham and Dannelley lost, 8-4; B. Sotelo and Lamb lost, 8-1; Orona and J. Sotelo lost, 9-7.

Girls Doubles

Ornelas and Fuentes lost, 8-3; Carreon and Rayos lost, 8-1; Fleming and Orona lost, 8-2.

Mixed Doubles

Mendoza and Dominguez lost, 8-2.

Home court no advantage for Eagles in playoff

The home court advantage didn't do the Pecos Eagles volleyball team much good Saturday afternoon, as they saw their 2001 season come to an end at the hands of the El Paso High Tigers.

El Paso High raced out to a big lead in the opening game and won, 15-5, then saw a late lead in Game 2 disappear, and were beaten 15-12 in the bi-district round of the Class 4A playoffs.

Coach Becky Granado said both games were similar to the Eagles' opening game loss the previous Monday to the Clint Lions in a second place playoff match. Pecos was slow moving to the ball in their opening loss there, but were able to hold off the Lions in the second game and then pull out the third game to earn their home match against El Paso High. However, this time, the Eagles were unable to survive the Tigers' second game rally, as Laura Marquez got free at the end for a couple of kills, including one on match point.

"Actually, the only time she (Marquez) hit the ball was right at the end. During the whole match before then she was tapping the ball. She maybe hit the ball hard one time," said Granado. "We were just letting the ball drop between players.

"They really didn't have to do much. They just hit the ball back over and did enough to allow us to make the mistakes," she added. "We just didn't play. We just made too many mental mistakes, passing the ball into the net and hitting the ball out."

"We had them 11-8 in the second game and Kathy missed a serve and they got side out, and we just started passing the ball into the net and not giving ourselves any chances," Granado said. El Paso High would go up 13-11, and while the Eagles did come back and cut the margin to one, the Tigers were able to break serve on another bad pass by Pecos, and won on a dink by Marquez, following by her game-ending kill.

The Eagles did switch their line-up a bit for Saturday's playoff match, adding freshman Jennie Canon to the rotation in order to get a second setter into the game, a free up senior Jessica Rodriguez for more hitting chances. "Jennie did a good job. I was really proud of her. For the first (varsity) game she kept her poise and was really composed. Usually you see freshmen kids lose control, but she handled herself very well."

The Tigers, who came into the game having finished in a three-way tie for first in the District 1-4A standings, but having lost a playoff to El Paso Riverside, also got some offense from Christina McDonald, mainly in the opening game.

The win improved El Paso High's season record to 14-11, and set them up with a Tuesday afternoon playoff match against No. 1 ranked Hereford at Odessa Ector Junior High, while the Eagles finished the season with a 14-20 record, following a 4-15 start to the season.

Granado will graduate about half of her players off this team, including Rodriguez, hitters Christina Arenivas and Rebecca Wein, and Maldonado and Victoria Gomez on the back line. Looking forwards to the 2002 season, when the Eagles may move down to Class 3A, she said, "I know we'll be a very young team again. But as long as the kids get out there and play and work hard, I think we'll be all right."

Big run to open 2nd half gets Eagles by Canutillo

By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
For two quarters of Friday's night's game in Canutillo, the host Golden Eagles appeared ready to do to Pecos Eagles what Pecos had done to Fabens the week before.

The Eagles had allowed the Wildcats to move up and down the field, but not into the end zone, most of that night, while using their own big plays to score a 45-14 victory. This time, Pecos was the team running into problems inside the Canutillo 20, while the Golden Eagles used a big play on the opening kickoff to score, and then held on for a 7-7 halftime tie.

But there were no big plays for Canutillo in the final two quarters on Friday, while Pecos' Peter Juarez came up with the biggest play of the night right after the second half kickoff, running 85-yards for a touchdown to put the Eagles ahead and send them on their way to a 23-7 victory, keeping Pecos tied for first in the District 2-4A standings.

Juarez finished with a season-high 153 yards rushing on 17 carries, most of those coming in the second half in place of Matthew Levario, who first had to change numbers when his uniform was ripped, and then was kept on the sideline for all but placekicking duties in the final two quarters.

"Matthew had a mild concussion, so we kept him out for precautionary reasons," said Eagles coach Gary Grubbs. "We had Peter ready and knew he could do the job, so by keeping Matthew out, this way we'll have him ready for next week."

Most of the first half was spent in Canutillo's end of the field, but the Golden Eagles were the only ones to get a lead, after Angel Cruz took a handoff on the `starburst' play and ran the opening kickoff back 97 yards up the right sideline for a touchdown.

Pecos' first half touchdown came on their second series, and the Eagles were able to get it off a run from outside the 20-yard line. Freddy Torres got the first of his two scores on the night off a quarterback keeper over the left side, two plays after Oscar Parada went up the middle 21 yards following a short punt by Canutillo to midfield.

The Eagles appeared ready to score on their next possession, when Torres hit Able Lopez with a 30-yard pass and Levario ran the ball 28 yards down to the Canutillo 5 as the first period ended. But the Golden Eagle defense and an illegal motion call stopped Pecos on their next three chances and on fourth down Torres was sacked by Alfredo Garcia while trying to pass, giving Canutillo the ball at their own 15.

"They did a good job when we got inside the red zone keeping us out," said Grubbs. "We really haven't had that trouble all year long, but they did a good job on us."

Pecos would drive the ball inside Canutillo's 20 again on their next series, only to see Juarez stopped by Eddie Garcia for a two-yard loss on 2nd-and-8, which was followed by a delay of game penalty on the Eagles. Juarez would run for 11 yards on third down, but Levario was then wide right on a 24-yard field goal attempt.

Meanwhile, the Eagles were doing a good job on defense shutting down both quarterback Julian Lopez and running back Hector Saldivar, the district's No. 2 rusher. Saldivar's only big gain came late in the first half, when he broke loose for a 47-yard gain down to the Pecos 23. But the Eagles then stopped the Golden Eagles at t he 15-yard-line and Adrian Alvarez' 32-yard field goal try was partially blocked.

"Really, our defense shut them out, because the only points we gave up were on special teams. Just like we have a big play offense, we have a big play defense," said Grubbs, whose team allowed Canutillo just 148 yards in offense on Friday, and only 11 yards rushing in the second half.

High winds blowing off the Franklin Mountains hit Canutillo during halftime, which made passing and punting a problem in the final two periods. One pass that should have been caught was a 25-yarder from Lopez that J.R. Sotelo dropped three plays after Juarez' score. It proved important because Lopez' punt into the wind then traveled only 15 yards, giving Pecos the ball at the Canutillo 40.

Pecos then picked up a first down on a 4th-and-1 run by Juarez from the 31, and he then took a wide pitch from Torres on the next play and went 23 yards around the right end to the 6. Canutillo's run defense once again came up with a defensive stop, but this time Levario, who had missed the extra point after Juarez' touchdown, connected on a 25-yard field goal to give Pecos a 16-7 lead.

Pecos would get to operate on the short field again late in the third period, after a penalty, a fumbled snap and a sack by Will Armstrong forced Lopez to punt out of his own end zone. Taking over at the Golden Eagles' 36, the Eagles drove down inside the Canutillo 5 yard line one more time as the period ended, but this time they were able to get into the end zone, as Torres ran a naked bootleg around right end and was able to beat Alfredo Garcia to the corner end zone pylon.

"They had stuffed us on first down (to end the third period), and we decided after that to use Freddy's speed to go to the wide side," Grubbs said.

Pecos didn't score again in the game, but they were able to run the ball out of trouble on their next series, after Lopez took advantage of punting with the wind to pin the Eagles' back on their own 1-yard-line. Canutillo did get one chance to score late in the game, after Lopez hit a couple of passes to get the ball inside the 15. But Armstrong would sack the senior quarterback again after that, and his fourth down pass to Cruz was intercepted by Jason Gonzales, who returned it to the Pecos 41-yard-line.

The win by the Eagles assured Pecos of a winning record this season, and kept them tied for first place with El Paso Mountain View, who host Pecos this Friday night. The Eagles are 6-2 on the season and 3-0 in district. Canutillo, meanwhile, fell to 0-3 in district and 2-5 overall after their fifth straight loss.

"I wouldn't have figured that at the beginning of the year, but Mountain View has obviously done some good things," said Grubbs, whose team lost the district title in overtime last year at home to the Lobos, 26-20. "We've just got to get ready, and I expect it to be a tough game, but if the kids respond like they did tonight, we'll be OK."

Pecos, Mountain View and third place Fabens all but clinched playoff spots on Friday with wins. Fabens bounced back from their loss to the Eagles by routing San Elizario, 75-0, while Mountain View jumped on Clint early and ended up winning by a 55-30 final score.

At Canutillo

Pecos 7 0 9 7 -23

Canutillo 7 0 0 0 - 7

First Quarter

Can. _ Cruz 97 kickoff return (Alvarez kick), 0:20.

Pec. _ Torres 22 run (Levario kick), 6:50

Third Quarter

Pec. _ Juarez 85 run (kick failed), 0:23.

Pec. _ FG Levario 25, 6:39.

Fourth Quarter

Pec. _ Torres 3 run (Levario kick), 0:09.

Pec. Can.

First Downs 13 7

Rushes-Yds. 52-301 29-99

Passing Yds. 34 49

Passes 2-5-0 4-11-1

Punts-Avg. 3-34 6-29.3

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 3-0

Penalties-Yds. 4-30 5-25

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing _ Pecos, Juarez 17-153, Torres 15-52, Levario 8-47, Parada 6-31, M. Abila 6-23. Canutillo, Saldivar 16-95, Cruz 6-39, Lopez 7-(-35).

Passing _ Pecos, Torres 2-5-0-34. Canutillo, Lopez 4-10-1-49, Cruz 0-1-0-0.

Receiving _ Pecos, Lopez 1-30, Parent 1-4. Canutillo, Cruz 2-13, Joosten 1-21, Barrios 1-15.

Missed Field Goals _ Pecos Levario 24 (WR). Canutillo, Alvidrez 32 (short).



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