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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Friday, February 1, 2002
Boxers starting Golden Gloves tourney tonight
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
A pair of local boxers will be competing in Midland tonight, when the
West Texas Golden Gloves Tournament opens a two night run at the old
Downtown Lions Club building in Midland, starting at 7:30 p.m.
Pecos-Barstow Warbirds boxers Aaron Mendoza and Antonio Montanez will
both compete in the Junior Olympic Division of the tournament, said Warbirds
manager Roy Juarez. "Both of them have fights, but who they will fight we
won't know until later," he said Thursday night.
"Aaron will be fighting at 75 pounds and Antonio will be fighting at 80
pounds in the Junior Olympic Division," Juarez said, adding that it will
be their first fights since mid-November.
"It's been slow, real slow this year," he said, though overall, it will
be Mendoza's 30th fight and the fourth in competition for Montanez.
Juarez said he's only got four boxers in training right now, with one
other fighter out due to injury and another not fighting because he had missed
too many workouts.
Mendoza and Montanez are scheduled to compete on a short card tonight,
though Juarez said there would be more bouts on Saturday. "I talked to Fred
(Martin) and he said there might be eight fights tonight, but there should
be plenty on Saturday," he said. "With these two boys, win our lose we're
trying to match them up again on Saturday."
Most of the fighters at the Golden Gloves Tournament will be in the Junior
Olympic Division. "I think Fred said there would be two Open Division fights,"
Juarez said. Winners in the Open Division advance to the State Golden Gloves
Tournament in Fort Worth.
The Golden Gloves was moved to Midland three years ago after spending
four years in Pecos. Prior to that the tournament had been held for years
at the Ector County Civic Center in Odessa. "It's not like it was back then
when I was fighting," said Juarez. "They used to have it four five nights
at the Coliseum."
As for Pecos, Juarez said, "We're trying to have a smoker in Pecos. I
can't tell you when, but we're looking at getting one set up." The Golden
Gloves tourney, and most recent boxing smokers, have been held at the Reeves
County Civic Center.
Eagles seek to start win streak against Lobos
Their long District 2-4A losing streak came to an end Tuesday night. Tonight,
the Pecos Eagles boys' basketball team will have a chance to end an even
longer streak of futility, when they play host to the El Paso Mountain View
Lobos, starting at 7:30 p.m.
Pecos' girls will also be facing Mountain View tonight, as they try again
to win their first 2-4A game of the season in their next-to-last contest
of the year, beginning at 6 p.m. at the Pecos High School gym.
The boys ended a 31-game losing streak in District 2-4A play on Tuesday
night, when they defeated Canutillo by a 58-53 final score. The win was the
first in district for coach Tino Acosta, who took over the team six games
into that loss streak.
But the Eagles' district problems go much further back than that, and
a victory tonight over Mountain View would give the Eagles' their first back-to-back
wins in district play in seven years, when the Eagles finished 6-5 in 1995,
losing a playoff for the final bi-district playoff berth to Big Spring.
Pecos rallied from a nine-point deficit in the first half on Tuesday to
win, despite problems at the foul line in the final minutes of play. "We
played a zone most of the game, but at the end when we needed a stop we went
to a man defense and made the plays, and I'm proud of the kids," said Acosta,
whose team is tied for fifth with Mountain View, both with 1-5 district marks.
The Lobos dropped a 56-42 decision on Tuesday to Clint, while they rallied
against Pecos at home last month for their only district victory, winning
by a 56-51 score. Zuri Espinoza led the Lobos that night with 20 points,
while Armando Bonilla had 15 in Tuesday's loss to Clint.
Mountain View's girls are trying to stay in the 2-4A playoff chase. After
an 0-3 start in district, the Lobos have won four of their last five games,
including a 57-31 victory over the Eagles on Jan. 15. Vanessa Ortiz had 20
points and Laura Torres 16 in that game, which saw Pecos fall behind 31-12
at the half.
That's still better than the Eagles' Tuesday loss to Canutillo. The first
place Golden Eagles jumped out in front 38-4 in their eventual 61-31 victory,
which left Pecos with an 0-8 mark in district play.
Christina Arenivas and Leslie Rodriguez both had eight points to lead
Pecos, while in last month's loss at El Paso Tiana Terry and Stephanie Herrera
led the Eagles with nine points apiece.
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 2002 by Pecos Enterprise
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