September 18, 1997

Grandfalls rolls to third straight victory

The score was 55-16. The victim was Faith Christian in El Paso in a Saturday afternoon, Sept. 13, game. Faith Christian never was in the game. Friday the 13th came on Saturday for the hapless Faith Christian squad.

Marquez (263 all purpose yards) and Vasquez (rushed for 155 yards) went wild behind the Cowboy interference. Santiago caught three of four passes and racked up 153 yards in his three touchdown explosion.

The massacre in El Paso looked like this:

Grandfalls - 221 yards rushing, 173 yards passing for a total of 394 yards and 18 first downs.

Faith Christian - 115 yards rushing, 85 passing for 200 yards and seven first downs.

Marquez's yards included an 80-yard interception return for one of his touchdowns. He also intercepted another pass, caught one 58-yard touchdown pass, ran for two scores and had 12 tackles.

Vasquez's production included one 70-yard kick off return in which he did not score. He caught one 20-yard touchdown pass and scored on a 65-yard run. Vasquez had 16 tackles.

Cowboy kicker Jeff Corean has got to be getting tired. He nailed six of seven conversions, which in six-man football counts two if the conversion is kicked. Successful run and pass conversions count for only one in six-man football.

So far this season, the Cowboys have blown out Lake Arthur, N.M., 52-0 in a game called by six-man football's 45-point mercy rule; whipped Sands, 66-38 and battered Faith Christian.

This week, Grandfalls faces Buckholts in an 8 p.m. Friday night, Sept. 19, game at Paint Rock Southeast of San Angelo.

Originally Grandfalls football had an open date this week. Superintendent Charles Carter said the game with Buckholts was not finalized until Monday.

That game is considered a marquee match-up of Texas six-man football.

Buckholts, like Grandfalls, is undefeated.

The game is at Paint Rock because the field there is about equidistant between the two high schools.

Coach's calling 'Hawgs' in 1997

"You spell that h-a-w-g," says the Lobo Coach, who likes big, quick fast lines that control games.

"Against Lubbock, we were getting sharp blocking at the point of attack and we were getting blocks downfield," says Hanna. "We were getting blocks from receivers. We are approaching where we want to be."

One way Hanna has chosen to see that his offensive lineman get the credit they earn is the compilation of a knockdown chart, where the Lobo coaches keep track of the number of times a Lobo blocker puts an opponent on the ground per block.

Blocking makes the touchdown makers and putting an opponent down is satisfying for the "Hawgs." It's all about desire and competition.

"We want to get them a little notoriety," says Hanna. "They are the ones making the offense work."

Score a touchdown and you get your name in the paper. Throw the block that breaks the play at the line and throw the block downfield that makes the touchdown and it doesn't get noticed.

Now it does.

Looking at the Big Green Lobo Hawg knock down chart finds the Green with at least five all-district and maybe a couple of all-state offensive line candidates.

Knock downs are close.

After two games, Randy Salazar, a six-feet 240 pound senior tackle, leads the Hawgs with 25 knock downs in 41 blocks but he isn't that far ahead. Guard T.J. Bustos, a 5-9, 210-pound senior and Bustos' counterpart, Micah Wilson, a 5-5, 155 pound senior, have 23 knock downs each. Wilson's height and weight are not a misprint, even if Wilson plays like he's 255.

Knock down,
Drag 'em out
The Lobo Race
for Boss Hawg
(First number is knock downs; second, blocks.)

PlayerLast Week Season

Salazar 9/25 25/41

Bustos 10/23 23/46

Wilson 8/23 23/38

Dendy 9/21 21/33

Melius 10/21 21/32

B.S'nch'z 3/3 3/3

R.S'nch'z 2/4 4/6

Acosta 2/2 2/2

Lacky 2/2 2/2

Oyerbides 1/1 1/1Passmore 1/1 1/1

Green meets Eagle in season's home opener

Hanna expects a crowd, a big crowd, a yelling crowd. In addition to the home opener for his football team, it's also Hanna's home opener as the Monahans High Football Coach.

Hanna says he likes the decibel level of a home crowd and it's time the Lobo came home after opening the season with two games on the road.

"I expect a good crowd," says Hanna. "We have a good rivalry with Pecos."
Friday's game starts at 7:30 p.m.

Pecos, a 4A school picked in the preseason to finish last in its district, rides a two-game victory streak for the season with victories over Lamesa (27-6) and Alpine (20-6) who is expected to challenge 3A Monahans for the Desert Six District 4-3A crown.

Monahans, a 3A power, is 1-1, including last Friday's victory over 5A Lubbock High School in Lubbock (27-10) and an opening game loss to 4A Big Spring in Big Spring (24-2).

Although Monahans lost to Big Spring, it still received a couple of votes in the Associated Press poll of Texas 3A schools. In the San Angelo Standard-Times rankings of West Texas 3A football programs, Monahans is listed third behind Crane and Llano. The Standard-Times notes the Lobo stays ranked because it's pre-district schedule includes higher classification schools, one of whom it beat and the other with whom it was competitive.

Hanna saw many things he liked in the Lubbock Westerner victory for Monahans. One was the fourth quarter staying power.

"Our running is starting to pay off," observes the head coach. "At Lubbock, I thought we were fresher than our opponents"

He also liked the way the blocking came together.

Lobo running continues..

"And our blocking will get better," Hanna promises.

In that Lubbock fourth quarter, the Loboes put two touchdowns on the board and their defensive pressure resulted in a safety when the Westerner quarterback lateraled the ball out of his own endzone.

Friday night against Pecos, the line up will be comparable to the starters against Lubbock High, although there are some questions being evaluated on a day-to-day basis - Running Back Robin Hanna's ailing foot and tackle Randy Salazar, who hurt a knee early in practice this week.

"We'll be going right up to game time on evaluating whether Robin and Randy will start," says Hanna.

Even if Robin Hanna starts, his counterpart, Mark Thompson, will get a lot of snaps, just like last week when Thompson led the team in rushing and Hanna popped three touchdowns.

Pecos looks good this year and they have ignited interest among the Eagle fans from Barstow in Ward County, where the Brothers Abila live, to two linemen the Eagle coaches think are all-district material at least - Gage Aaron and John Wayne Bailey.

Probable Lobo Starters
Offense
QB 10 Brandon Stephens Sr.
FB 30 Lucas Jaquez Sr.
TB 20 Robin Hanna Sr.
WB 43 Chris Allen Sr.
SE 12 Nathan Swarb Sr.
TT 77 Randy Salazar Sr.
TG 55 T.J. Bustos Sr.
C 53 Robert Dendy Sr.
SG 61 Micah Wilson Sr.
ST 64 Quint Melius Sr.

Defense
DT 72 Gerald Lopez Sr.
DT 75 Luciano Hinojos Sr.
DE 40 Henry Bernard Sr.
DE 24 Roy Porras Soph.
LB 44 Joel Najar Jr.
LB 22 Jerry Toscano Sr.
LB 60 Gabriel Ontiveros Jr.
CB 13 Rocky Rivera Sr.
CB 7 Juan Moreno Sr.
S 10 Brandon Stephens Sr.R 12 Nathan Swarb Sr.

Big Lobo howls in Lubbock

Hanna has hat trick as offensive line corrals Westerners

In 1997, Lobo hopes took a serious turn for the best there.

Almost 10 months after losing a 27-6 decision to Friona, the Loboes avenged that loss as well as last week's loss to Big Spring by routing 5A Lubbock High 27-10. Thursday night's, Sept. 11, victory over Lubbock High brings thei Mean Green record to 1-1 on the young season, and definitely displayed the Lobo desire to win it all.

Coach Larry Hanna's running game came together in Lubbock when the Lobo offensive line took control . Guards Micah Wilson and T.J. Bustos, tackles Quint Melius and Randy Salazar plus center Robert Dendy fird out and knocked people down. When that happens, backs just need to hit the holes. Running backs Robin Hanna and Mark Thompson did. Thompson carried 11 times for 125 yards; Hanna, 16 for 101. Hanna put a ribbon on his performance with a three-touchdown hat trick.

But it wasn't all Lobo offense.

The first quarter was fought primarily from the opposite side of the ball, as the defense for both teams ruled over each other's offense. This battle lasted until the end of the first quarter, when the Loboes began their first true drive of the night. The Loboes had moved the ball to the 9 yard line when the quarter ended.

That would be the last time that Westerner defense had control.

On the first play of the second quarter, Robin Hanna ran the ball nine yards for his first touchdown in "Lobo Green." Joel Najar's kick was no good, and the Loboes had a 6-0 lead with 11:54 left in the 2nd quarter.
It was no secret among the crowd that 6-0 was the last lead the Loboes had enjoyed in the eventual losing Friona contest last year in Lowery Field.

Lubbock High mounted a drive of its own in the second quarter. After the Westerners drove to the Lobo 20, Victor Davis ran the last leg of the drive, a 20 yard run, to tie the game at 6. Nathan Kraus added the PAT to make it 7-6 with 6:54 remaining in the 2nd.

Again, it was no secret 7-6 was another benchmark from the Loboes' last trip to Lowery Field. This time, however, the Loboes were determined to take back the lead; and take back the lead they did.

It started after an apparent Benny Rodriguez touchdown was called back. The Lobo stripped the ball from Lubbock quarterback Kyle Chapman and ran the the field untouched before the referees ruled Rodriguez had stopped Chapman's forward momentum. But the Loboes then got the ball back. Robin Hanna crossed the goal line for the Loboes, this time on a 14 yard run. The pass on the two-point conversion was incomplete, and the Loboes took a 12-7 lead with them to the locker room.

The third quarter was almost as much a defensive struggle as the first. Lubbock High, however, put more points on the board in the third period. With 2:47 remianing in the period, Lubbock High kicker Adam Zuniga booted a 35 yard FG easily through the uprights and cut the Lobo lead to 12-10. That's as close as the Westerners would get.

The Loboes electrified the scoreboard and the Lobo faithful with a big showing in the fourth quarter.

With 8:07 remaining in the period, Robin Hanna added six more points for the Green with a 17 yard run. The kick again failed, and the Loboes held an 18-10 lead. Exactly one minute later, the Lobo defense stepped up and added 2 more points to the total, when they forced Lubbock QB Chapman to lateral the ball out of the end zone. With 7:07 remaining, the Loboes held a 20-10 lead. Lubbock High free kicked the ball to the Loboes, and after an 11 yard return by Hanna, the Loboes set up shop on the Lubbock 49 yard line. On the first play Mark Thompson, who led the Loboes with 125 yards rushing, broke loose on a 38 yard run. Shortly thereafter, Lucas Jaquez capped the Lobo drive off with a 2 yard touchdown run. Gerald Lopez popped the ball through the uprights to end the scoring for the evening at 27-10.