|
Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Thursday, October 30, 2003
Eagles, Panthers seek to keep playoff hopes alive
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The Pecos Eagles need a little help, and they need to help themselves
on Friday in order to stay in the District 4-3A playoff race.
The Fort Stockton Panthers just need to get two wins in order to
reach the playoffs. But one team will see their post-season chances
come to an end on Friday, when the Eagles travel to Fort Stockton for a
7:30 p.m. Halloween night game against the Panthers.
Pecos and Fort Stockton both are 0-2 in district play after losses
last week, Pecos by a 37-0 score at home to Monahans and Fort Stockton,
43-13 at home against Greenwood. The Eagles are 3-5 and the Panthers
are 2-6 on the season, but aside from having home field advantage on
Friday, Fort Stockton also has a slightly better chance of advancing to
post-season play.
The Panthers need only to win their last two games, against Pecos
and Kermit, to reach the playoffs for the second time in three years.
Pecos' road is a little harder - they need a win by Monahans over
Kermit on Friday night or Fort Stockton next week, and then they have
to win their last two games, against the Panthers and Greenwood next
week. If Kermit splits their last two games, then the Eagles would have
to defeat the Rangers by five or more points to advance to post-season
play for the fifth time in the past six years.
"It's going to be a tough game. They're in the same situation as we
are, so we'll just have to see who wants it the most," said Eagles'
coach Patrick Willis.
A year ago, Fort Stockton kept their playoff hopes alive in Pecos by
downing the Eagles, 33-24, but then lost to Kermit the following week
to miss the playoffs. Fort Stockton gained all 258 of their yards
offensively on the ground a year ago, while the Eagles had 227 yards
rushing, including 97 by Rashad Terry.
Pecos hasn't allowed many yards on the ground this season, but they
also haven't gained many, either. The Eagles only picked up 68 yards
rushing in last week's loss to Monahans, and only allowed the Loboes 68
yards on the ground, as Monahans used a series of Pecos mistakes in the
third period to score 24 points after leading by only a 7-0 score at
halftime. The Loboes also had three touchdown passes, the first three
allowed by the Eagles this season.
Willis said Pecos would probably be without one of their running
backs, junior Booker Fobbs, for Friday's game, while the status of
quarterback Oscar Parada remains questionable.
"Booker won't play a whole lot. He missed Monday and Tuesday
(practice) with a bad cough, so we've moved a freshman (Luis Ortega) up
from the JV, and he may run the ball a lot," Williams said.
Parada was injured trying to make a tackle on Monahans' Richard
Covington in the third period of last week's game, one play after being
hit hard and fumbling while at quarterback near midfield. "Oscar's a
little questionable. He's still sore and hasn't worked out in pads."
Saul Pina, who started Pecos' first six games and took Parada's
place last week, has been working out with the first team at
quarterback this week. However, the Eagles' coach added, "If Oscar's
ready to play he's going to play."
While the Eagles have been strongest on defense this season, Fort
Stockton's strength has been on offense, with junior quarterback Wayne
Jefferson. He's second in the district in rushing this season with 733
yards and five touchdowns, including one in last week's loss to
Greenwood.
"Stockton worries me with their running game. They ran the ball real
well against Greenwood," Willis said. Jefferson gained 125 yards last
week on the ground, though in the air he was only 3-for-20 passing, for
40 yards.
"Passing is not one of his stronger points," Willis said, while
adding that Jefferson's back up, Jeremy Velasquez, is a deep threat at
wide receiver.
Dustin Jones and Vic Lujan have been the top overall receivers for
Fort Stockton this season. Jones caught four touchdown passes early in
the season, while Lujan's 12 receptions is tops for Fort Stockton this
season. Both receivers do have over 200 yards so far.
Defensively, the Panthers allowed Greenwood over 350 yards last
week, but were in the game until early in the third period, when the
Rangers scored twice in the span of one minute to break the game open.
"Defensively, they're very aggressive. They like to send their
linebackers on every play," Willis said. The Panthers have been open to
the run, allowing 1,731 yards so far this season, which will be an
opening for Pecos, which has yet to rush for 500 yards in their first
eight games, and has gotten most of their offense this season through
the air.
"They're going to send their (line)backers almost every play. My
main hope is we can get somebody wide open and get them confused,"
Willis said.
The Eagles' coach is also hoping his team can turn things around
from the second half last week against Monahans, where aside from their
turnover problems in the third period, the Eagles also committed a
series of bad penalties, including a couple of unsportsmanlike conduct
calls, one of which led to an ejection.
"I'm hoping they do step up. We're harping on it, so we'll see what
team shows up. The team that showed up in the third quarter last week,
or the team that showed up the rest of the year," Willis said.
Starting Lineups
Pecos Fort Stockton
Offense Defense
QB (10) - Saul Pina 165 DE (34) - Matt Girvin 165
RB (22) - Rashad Terry 160 DT (58) - Bobby Contreras 210
SE ( 9) - John Parent 175 DT (74) - Billy Graue 260
WB (12) - Ricky Barreno 175 DE (25) - Cade Ezell 160
LT (56) - Chad Evans 210 LB (28) - Vic Lujan 140
LG (62) - Travis Burkholder 225 LB (50) - Jacob Brians 175
C (57) - Adam Ybarra 185 LB (68) - Mar Harral 170
RG (66) - Victor Reyes 165 LB (22) - Julio Pacheco 155
RT (71) - Daniel Medina 160 CB (20) - Adam Heredia 150
TE ( 5) - Alex Orosco 165 S ( 2) - Wayne Jefferson 180
SE ( 6) - Simon Castillo 155 CB ( 4) - Jeremy Velasquez 170
Defense Offense
DE (56) - Chad Evans 210 QB ( 2) - Wayne Jefferson 180
DT (54) - Jacob Marquez 180 RB (24) - Daniel Martinez 150
DT (66) - Victor Reyes 165 SE ( 7) - J.J. Hickman 150
DE (52) - Jonathan Carrasco165 FL ( 4) - Jeremy Velasquez 170
LB ( 5) - Alex Orosco 165 WB (28) - Vic Lujan 140
LB (33) - Joe Marruffo 170 LT (68) - Mark Harral 170
LB (20) - Bino Barreno 155 LG (78) - John Gonzales 220
CB ( 3) - Jaime Muela 140 C (51) - Ross Turner 170
R ( 9) - John Parent 175 RG (74) - Billy Graue 260
S (16) - Jose Reyes 165 RT (58) - Bobby Contreras 210
CB ( 6) - Simon Castillo 155 WR (12) - Dustin Jones 150
P (32) - Eddie Vela 155
K ( 5) - Alex Oorsco 165 K/P (28) - Vic Lujan 140
Junior high teams in Stockton,
JV squad hosts Panthers tonight
The Pecos Eagles' seventh graders will try to extend their winning
streak today, while Pecos' eighth graders and junior varsity team will
try to get their first wins in a while, when all five Eagle sub-varsity
squads take on Fort Stockton.
The junior high squads will be in Fort Stockton for 4 and 5:30 p.m.,
while the junior varsity Eagles will host the Panthers, beginning at
6:30 p.m.
It's the second meeting of the season for all the junior high teams,
while the freshman Eagles who are on the combined JV team now also
faced the Panthers earlier this month.
The seventh grade purple team defeated Fort Stockton at that time by
a 22-6 score, and remained undefeated on the season last week with a
48-18 win over Monahans. The seventh grade gold team won their first
game with Fort Stockton, 22-0, and is 3-2 on the season after losing
last week to Monahans, 34-6.
The eighth grade purple team lost to Fort Stockton 30-0, and was
beaten by Monahans a week ago, 42-22, to fall to 1-4-1 on the year. The
eighth grade gold team lost to Monahans, 12-0, and is 3-2 on the
season, including an 8-6 win over Fort Stockton.
The freshman Eagles lost at Fort Stockton back on Oct. 2 by a 42-0
score. The JV, meanwhile, is 2-6 on the season after they lost to
Monahans a week ago, 52-20. The JV faced Marfa the week the other
sub-varsity teams faced Fort Stockton.
Pecos-Greenwood playoff in Monahans
The Pecos Eagles' volleyball playoff match for second place in District
4-3A against the Greenwood Rangerettes has been scheduled for Saturday
evening in Monahans.
The Eagles and Rangerettes will face each other at 6:30 p.m. at the
Larned Special Events Center in Monahans, with the winner earning the
second place playoff berth from District 4-3A and a bi-district round
playoff match against the Seminole Maidens next week. The loser will
take third place in the district standings and will face District 3-3A
runner-up Lamesa in the bi-district round next week.
The Eagles won a five-game victory over Greenwood at home earlier
this month, then lost a four-game match this past Tuesday on the
Rangerettes' home court, which left both teams with 7-3 district
records. Pecos is 15-16 on the season, while Greenwood is 18-20 this
year.
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 news@pecos.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 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
|
