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Van Horn Advocate
That is, lots of running. And lots of success.
Up 7-6 at the half, Pecos didn't attempt a pass in the final two
periods, running the ball instead 21 times for 232 yards and a trio of
touchdowns, as the Eagles ended their three year losing streak against
Lamesa with a 27-6 victory.
"It feels good to win. It always feels good, but we need to build on
this game's momentum," said Eagles' coach Mike Belew. "We'll enjoy it
tonight, then go back to work tomorrow."
Richard Gutierrez had his second straight 100-yard game against Lamesa,
going for 108 on 18 carries, including an 18-yard touchdown run in the
first period that put Pecos ahead for good. Mark Abila gained 64 yards
on just seven carries, and got his first TD of the year on a three-yard
run in the third period.
Belew said Abila actually saw little bit more action than planned on
offense Friday. "He was running so well, I hated to take him out," Belew
said. "I certainly want to look at Hector (Garcia) and Lucio (Florez),
and we will, but Mark did a great job, and Richard did a great job."
Jason Abila and Jason Aguilar only ran the ball six times between then,
but Abila clinched the victory with a 38-yard TD run early in the fourth
quarter, and Aguilar, who had a touchdown called back in the final
period, got that back in the closing moments, taking a pitch from Abila
and going 82 yards one play after the Tors turned the ball over on
downs. It capped a 313 yard night on the ground for Pecos.
The run also upped Aguilar's average a bit, after being stopped at the
line on his first three carries. "Bird (Aguilar) just needs to get in
shape. He showed up late because he had some personal problems to take
care of, but you could see on that play what he can do for us."
Pecos held Lamesa to just 186 yards offense, but needed a pair of
defensive series to keep the Tors from taking the lead or tying the
score in the second and third quarters.
Lamesa cut Pecos' lead to 7-6 on a three-yard run by Rene Hernandez, off
a quick pitch by quarterback Randy Trevino, but the extra point try was
blocked by John Gutierrez. Then, after a short punt by Richard Gutierrez
set Lamesa up on the Eagles' 38, they drove the ball inside the Eagles'
10-yard line as the first period ended.
Facing a 3rd-and-goal from the 5, Trevino faked another pitch to
Hernandez, then spun right, but was met by a trio of Pecos defenders at
the 3. On fourth down Lamesa opted to go for the touchdown instead of
the go-ahead field goal, and Hernandez was stacked up at the 2, giving
the ball back to the Eagles.
Lamesa's problems on special teams play hurt them three times, while the
Eagles' trouble after their opening touchdown set up the Tors' lone
score.
Gutierrez' 18-yard run through the left side of the Lamesa line came
just two plays after Mark Abila returned a Frank Kapler punt 33 yards to
the Tors' 26. Then on the ensuing kickoff, James Morales would bobble
the ball at the 12, then break through the Eagles' defense for a 50-yard
return to Pecos' 32. From there, Hernandez got loose for 25 yards on the
next play, and would go in three plays later off the quick pitch from
Trevino.
It was still 7-6 in the third period when coach Tim James, faced with a
4th-and-11 from midfield, tried a fake punt, only to see upback Juan
Barrizo stopped after only a two-yard gain. The Eagles then got the
running game in gear, with Mark Abila gaining 16 yards on a pair of
runs, and Gutierrez adding 20 more on a sweep to the left side. Four
plays later Abila got his TD, and Gutierrez' kick made it 14-6.
Lamesa's last real shot at getting back into the game came on their next
series, when they drove inside the Eagles' 40. A four-yard run by
Morales got the ball to within inches of a first down at the 35, but on
the next play he was hit behind the line by Jose Contreras and T.J.
Huffman, and the ball again went back to the Eagles.
Pecos would miss scoring on their next series, when an illegal motion
call wiped out Aguilar's 15-yard TD run. But the Tors got get only two
yards on their next three plays and punted, and on 3rd-and-5 from the
38, Jason Abila rolled to his left, found no one open, then took off
back across the field and just made it into the right corner of the end
zone.
A pair of passes by Trevino to Morales in the closing minutes got Lamesa
down to the Eagles' 10 one last time, but Trevino was sacked by
Contreras on consecutive plays, and the Tors again lost the ball on
downs, setting up Aguilar's 82-yard run.
"We're coming together as a unit. We don't have the speed some of the
other teams have, but we've got a lot of good running backs, and if the
offensive line blocks like that all season, we're going to move the
ball," Belew said.
The Eagles never lost a game to Lamesa when the two were district rivals
back in the 1980s, but Friday's win gave Pecos a season-opening victory
for the first time since 1993, when they won their first five games of
the year. The Eagles will try for win No. 2 of 1997 this Friday in
Alpine against the Bucks, who dropped their opener at Crane by a 47-21
final score.
In other District 4-4A games Friday, Andrews ended its three-year losing
streak to Snyder in a big way, routing the Tigers 42-0 behind Shaud
Williams' 211 yards rushing and four touchdowns. Jacob Vasquez rushed
for 183 yards and five TDs, as Fort Stockton routed Santa Teresa, N.M.,
50-7, while Big Spring shut down Monahans, 24-2, Sweetwater edged
Brownwood, 21-17, and San Angelo Lake View dropped their opener to Kerrville Tivy, 44-14.
The first possession of the game went to Tatum and the Bears knew right
away they were going to be tested. Balmorhea, however, finally got their
bearings and went on to win the non-district six-man clash, 61-14, with
action halted by the 45-point rule with 1:55 left in the third quarter.
The Bears were full of confidence under first year coach Ennis Erickson,
formerly assistant under Coach Michael Barrandey. They are state ranked.
Balmorhea won the toss and choose to defer their choice to the second
half. Tatum chose to receive, and the Bears tried an on-side kick which
was unsuccessful.
Two plays later, the Coyotes' Jason Stephens, one of the co-captains,
scampered 35 yards to score and Eric Garcia drop-kicked the ball for two
points, giving the visitors an 8-0 lead with only 30 seconds elapsed in
the game.
Balmorhea came back and starting on their own 28 drove in quickly to
score with Roger Lopez going the final 15 steps with 8:27 left in the
first quarter. Zane Rhyne added the kick for two, tying the score at 8.
Tatum came roaring back when Stephens ran from his own 30 to the Bear 5
on the first play and then passed to Garcia for a TD. The kick this time
failed but Tatum owned a 14-8 lead with 8:03 left in the first.
Again the Bears countered, moving from their own 24 with Arturo Miranda
going the final 35 yards to score. Rhyne kicked the PAT to put the Bears
ahead for good 16-14 with 6:59 to go in the first stanza.
It was on the next Coyote possession that the visitors lost their
momentum when one of their main players and co-captain, Pete Garcia, was
injured. He left the field with the help of ambulance attendants and was
taken to Reeves County Hospital for examination of bruised ribs.
The Coyotes never seemed to recover.
The Bears scored on their next possession, moving from their own 19 with
Miranda going the final two yards to score on the last play of the first
quarter. The PAT was no good but the Bears upped their lead to 22-14 as
the quarter ended.
Billy Lozano was next to score for the Bears, as he took a Tatum punt
from his own 25 and ran 55 yards to score. The PAT again failed, but the
Bears had a 28-14 lead.
Rhyne ended the next Coyote possession with an interception at the Bear
goal line and returned it to the Balmorhea 23. It didn't take long for
the Bears to score with Miranda again getting the honors, this time on a
21 yard scamper. Rhyne added the PAT, upping the lead to 36-12 with 22
seconds left in the half.
In the second half, the Bears scored quickly, first on a run of 56 yards
by Miranda, upping the score to 42-14 with 9:29 left in the third
quarter. The PAT failed, but Travis Woodruff intercepted a Tatum pass
and ran 79 yards to score. This PAT was blocked, but picked up and ran
in by Melchor Avalos, increasing the Bears' lead to 49-14 with 8:05 left
in the third.
Lozano was next up to do the honors, as he took the Tatum punt 77 yards
to score. The PAT was no good, but now the Balmorhea lead was up to
55-14 with 5:55 to go in the quarter.
As Erickson made liberal substitutions, the Bears didn't seem like they
could do anything wrong as the next Tatum possession ended when they
were stopped at their own 28. However, the Bears made one of their few
mistakes on the night when a fumble was recovered by the Coyotes.
But Lozano picked off a Coyote pass and the Bears quickly ended the game
with Lopez going 22 yards to score and make the final 61-14.
Erickson said the Bears started off kind of sluggish but finally got it
together.
Next week, the Bears travel to Grady to take on another unknown opponent, Westbrook.
The Greenwood Rangerettes and Midland High Bulldogs were the ones
collecting, after both teams suffered narrow three game losses the
previous weekend to the Eagles at the Cantaloupe Classic in Pecos.
Greenwood, which blew a 14-10 final game lead and lost the championship
to Pecos, 17-15, got a measure of revenge on Friday, downing Pecos,
15-8, 15-14, in pool round competition. The Eagles were still able to
advance to the championship quarterfinals, thanks to wins over Colorado
City and Vernon, but on Saturday they lost to the host Maidens, 15-13,
8-15, 15-5, then were beaten in the fifth place semifinals by Midland
High, 15-6, 15-17, 15-12.
"We were not into it against Vernon (a 15-5, 15-10 win) or Greenwood,"
said Eagles' coach Becky Granado. "We got through Vernon without having
to put in too much effort, then we woke up when we played Colorado City.
We played together and looked much better," in the 15-8, 15-9 victory.
On Saturday, Granado said "We started out with a lot of fire. We had
them down (in Game 1) 13-7, and the just started messing around.
"We'd make one mistake, and it would lead to three or four, and before
you know it, it's ballgame again."
Granado said the Eagles followed the same pattern in their loss to
Midland High, which dropped Pecos to 8-6 on the season. "We make
mistakes and put too much pressure on ourselves. Mental toughness is
what we're lacking right now."
Seminole, which ended up in the consolation bracket in Pecos last
weekend, would go on to beat Alpine in three games, before falling to
Lubbock Coronado, 15-4, 15-10 in the championship. Both Greenwood and
Midland High would end up losing to Hereford, the Rangerettes, 15-0,
15-13 in the fifth place semifinals, and the Bulldogs, 15-5, 15-3, in
the fifth place match. Alpine downed Midland High and Greenwood lost to
Amarillo River Road in quarterfinal round play.
Pecos' freshman team was able to win their second straight tournament on
Saturday. The ninth grade purple squad, winners in Pecos a week ago, took the title at the Wink Tournament, downing Andrews in the finals.
Cranfill was playing with Robert Stephens when he made his shot, which
occurred on the 115-yard Par 3 No. 5 hole, and was done using a 9-iron,
with the ball landing short of the flag, then rolling into the cup.
The hole-in-one was Cranfill's first in 34 years of playing golf, and
came as part of a nine-hole round of 29 on the short course, which is a par 58 for 18 holes.
``Tears came to my eyes when I came out onto the field and heard the
fans,'' Tobin said after Arizona snapped the Cowboys' 13-game winning
streak in the series with a 25-22 overtime victory Sunday night. ``They
were in there battling tonight. They put it on the line and achieved
something, just like the players.''
Fans flooded the field and tore down a goalpost to celebrate the end of
the long drought against the Cowboys (1-1), who looked formidable on
opening weekend with a 37-7 rout of Pittsburgh.
The Cardinals (1-1) beat Dallas 20-14 on Oct. 14, 1990. They won their
first home opener since they moved to Arizona in 1988. The franchise's
last win in the first home game was in 1987, its last year in St. Louis.
``We won't have to keep hearing that history lesson,'' said Tobin, who
got his players to regroup after they blew a 21-3 lead last week and
lost, 24-21, to Cincinnati.
Fullback Larry Centers, whose fumble with 1:10 remaining let the Bengals
win, appropriately caught a 29-yard pass that set up Kevin Butler's
20-yard field goal to beat the Cowboys.
``I was trying for the touchdown,'' Centers said after battling to the
Dallas 3-yard line. ``But I realized what was important, and that was to
hold onto the football.''
Butler's kick glanced off the upright and went through with 6:30 left in
overtime, completing a comeback from 15 points down in the third
quarter.
``That's probably an apropos way to defeat the Cowboys after such a
long, uphill battle,'' Butler said.
The Cardinals led 7-6 after Leeland McElroy's 10-yard run in the second
quarter, but they fell beind 22-7 early in the third quarter after
Richie Cunningham's fifth field goal.
Kent Graham passed 7 yards to Frank Sanders to make it 22-14 with 1:44
left in the third quarter. Then he threw a 1-yard TD pass to Pat Carter
with 1:06 left in regulation and found Rob Moore for the 2-point
conversion to tie it.
Earlier in the eight-play, 70-yard drive, Graham hit Moore on a dump
pass over the middle, and the wideout gained 47 yards with Sanders
blocking ahead of him. A face-mask penalty -- one of 12 Cowboys
penalties for 115 yards -- left Arizona only 12 yards to cover to force
overtime.
In the extra period, Graham fumbled when the ball slipped out of his
hand as he tried to pass. But Arizona got it back when Terry Irving
recovered a fumble by Sherman Williams.
Given a break, Graham had completions of 19 yards to Moore and 29 yards
to Centers to finish 26-of-47 for 249 yards.
The Cowboys had to make do with Cunningham's field goals from 24, 47,
37, 34 and 28 yards and a 4-yard fumble return for a TD by defensive
tackle Chad Hennings, because the offense was punchless a week after
Troy Aikman threw four scoring passes against the Steelers.
This time, Aikman had one scoring throw nullified by a penalty and lost
another when Michael Irvin stepped out of the end zone on a catch.
``The big difference was that they made plays and we didn't,'' said
Aikman, who was 21-of-39 for 171 yards. ``When you don't make the plays
and you have the penalties we had, you are going to lose most games.''
The Cardinals lost four fumbles in the game, and each team sacked the
other quarterback three times. But Arizona was able to capitalize on its
lone fumble recovery.
Simeon Rice got his second sack of Aikman with about four minutes left.
On the same play, Dallas running back Emmitt Smith bruised his ribs and
had to leave the game after gaining 132 yards in 19 carries.
He did not return, and with 3:42 to go, Michael Bankston got a piece of
Cunningham's 40-yard field-goal attempt that would have clinched the
victory for Dallas.
``I think he did a few things,'' coach Barry Switzer said about Smith.
``But when you can't score a touchdown, what difference does it make? I
don't care how many yards you get. If you can't get the ball in the end
zone, you're not going to win.''
Pecos Enterprise
Mac McKinnon, 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
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Copyright 1997 by Pecos Enterprise
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