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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Friday, January 25, 2002
Powerlifting team opens season at Greenwood
The Pecos Eagles' powerlifting team will have a delayed opening to their
2002 season on Saturday, when they travel to Midland for their first competition
of the season, at the Greenwood Invitational.
Saturday's 9 a.m. meet was to have been both the second meet of the season
for Pecos and a meet for boys only, but coach Steve Cross said both those
things have changed.
"Monahans had to cancel their meet (on Jan. 12) due to an unexpected death,"
Cross said. The Loboes' meet has been rescheduled for Feb. 9. As for the
girls, he said, "This is the first time Greenwood has had girls' lifting
in their meet, and I'm expecting to have a good meet."
None of the current Eagles got to regionals last season, with Adam Salgado
coming the closest, in the 181-pound weight class, placing fifth in his division
a year ago, though Chris Lara did capture a first early last season in the
132-pound weight class, while competing in Fort Stockton. This season, Cross
said he'll compete in the 142-pound class, while Salgado will be in the 198-pound
division.
On the girls' side, Mindy Harrison had the highest finish among the returning
girls while competing in the 115-pound division. She and Alessandra Vasquez
will be the only girls competing at the Greenwood meet. "A lot of the girls
are still in basketball right now," Cross said.
Aside from Salgado, 13 other boys are scheduled to compete for Pecos.
They include Eric Matta in the 114-pound weight class, Bobby Valenzuela and
Fernando Lerma at 165 pounds, Hector Garcia and Roderick Villanueva at 181
pounds, Hector Rodriguez at 198 pounds, Jesus Aremendariz at 220 pounds,
David Muniz at 242 pounds and Tony Trujillo and Hector Contreras in the super-heavyweight
division.
"I expect us to do quite well," Cross said. "There's been a great deal
of improvement from last year's opening lifts, and some are more than anybody
did last year."
The Eagles' season will include their first-ever home meet this season,
on Feb. 16. With the change in dates for the Monahans meet, Pecos will have
meets every weekend through regional competition, scheduled for the girls
on March 1 at Plainview and for the boys on March 2 in Lubbock.
Their other February meets are next weekend at Fort Stockton and Feb.
23 in Kermit. Starting times for all meets this season is 9 a.m.
Eagles travel to Fabens seeking first 2-4A wins
The last time the Pecos Eagles played the Fabens Wildcat girls, they were
done in by the pick and roll. The last time the Eagle boys faced Fabens,
the Wildcats just rolled, period.
The girls will try to solve their defensive problems while the boys will
try to contain Fabens' offense tonight, when the Eagles travel west to face
the Wildcats in varsity girls and boys games at 7 and 8:30 p.m.
It's the final road game of the season for Pecos' girls and the fourth
road game in five District 2-4A contest for the boys, both of whom are looking
for their first wins of the season.
Pecos' girls fell behind Clint at home on Tuesday by 14 points in the
second period, cut that to five by the end of the third quarter but were
the shut out on offense in the final period, as the Lions scored a 43-28
win to remain tied for the District 2-4A lead.
Clint's boys used a big third quarter advantage to pull away from Pecos
after taking a one-point lead into the locker room at halftime. The Lions
outscored the Eagles in the third quarter, 19-8 and ended up winning by a
52-43 final score.
Clint is in a three-way tie for first with San Elizario and Fabens, which
improved to 3-1 with their 70-63 overtime win against San Elizario on Tuesday
night. Last year, the Wildcats closed out regular season play with a 105-58
victory over the Eagles, and coach Tino Acosta said his team will have to
play smarter on offense to avoid similar problems tonight.
"Bino (Barreno, the Eagles' sophomore point guard) has got to come through
for us. If we try to dribble through traps they're going to put 100 points
on the scoreboard again," Acosta said.
Fabens would have been the clear favorite to win the 2-4A title, but lost
6-foot-5 post Alonzo Favela, who moved to Oklahoma. On Tuesday, the Wildcats
got four players into double figures in scoring, led by Samir Ihmud with
16 points and Rigo Estrada with 15.
Fabens' girls have lost five straight games since their 55-31 win in Pecos
back on Jan. 8, a win that snapped the Wildcats' 18-game district losing
streak. In that game, Rebecca Alarcon scored early off the pick-and-roll
and ended up with 16 points, while Paula Portillo hit a trio of 3-point baskets
after the Eagles switched to a zone defense, and finished with a game-high
17.
Eagles' coach Veronica Valenzuela has been going more with the zone defense
lately, including in most of Tuesday's loss to Clint. "It seems to be working
better, except that sometimes the girls up top are not communicating with
the girls down low. But I'd rather get beat from the outside than from the
inside."
Alarcon had 16 points and Portillo 13 in Tuesday's 53-47 loss to Canutillo.
Evans selected to TWSA's 4A football squad
Pecos Eagles' senior defensive end Justin Evans was selected to the third
team Class 4A state squad by the Texas Sports Writers Association, the TWSA
announced on Thursday.
Evans, who moved back to Pecos for his senior year in high school and
moved from linebacker to defensive end this year, earlier had received Class
4A honors in voting for the Associated Press All-State Football Team, after
collecting 132 tackles, 12 sacks, 35 QB pressures and 3 fumble recoveries
during the 2001 season.
Evans was both the only Pecos player named to the TWSA squad and the only
District 2-4A player selected. The only other area player chosen to the team
was Andrews' defensive lineman Jeff Lebby, who was a second team selection
in voting by sports writers across the state.
Another player out of Andrews' District 4-4A, Frenship tight end David
Thomas, was a first-team selection, while Michael Jefferson from El Paso
Parkland, the team that eliminated Pecos from the Class 4A playoffs, was
a second team Class 4A selection as a kick returner.
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 2002 by Pecos Enterprise
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