Thursday, October 2, 1997

Eagles, Jackets look to end pre-district with wins

Pecos is 3-1 on the season after their 25-7 win last week at Fabens.
It's the Eagles' best start since going 5-0 to open 1993, and a win
Friday would allow them to equal their victory total for all of last
season.

Kermit, meanwhile, has already surpassed their two-win total of a year
ago, after a 34-13 victory last Friday over McCamey. Seagraves and
Seminole were the Yellowjackets other two victims, and second-year head
coach Todd Pearson said a more experienced starting lineup has played a
role in the resurgence.

"It's just going to be expected you're going to do better running the
same offense and defense for a second year," Pearson said. "We've had
good consistency in our games the last four weeks."

Junior fullback Louie Bossett ran for 148 yards and a trio of scores
last week against McCamey, and gained 68 yards a year ago against Pecos,
in the Eagles' 21-13 win. Overall, he ran for 850 yards as a sophomore.

"That Bossett kid is a tough runner. He ran well against us last year,"
said Eagles' coach Mike Belew, who added that halfback Robert Henderson
is also a threat. He had a 71-yard TD run a week ago.

"We try to spread it out as much as possible, but he (Bossett) does get
the most carries," Pearson said. "That's to be expected, with the way he
performed last year."

Quarterback Todd Allen got hot late in last year's game, after tossing a
third quarter interception Jose Contreras returned for a touchdown to
give Pecos a 21-0 lead. Allen was 10-for-20 for 155 yards, though
Pearson said with an improved running game this season, "He's not
throwing as much as he did before."

"Allen get the job done passing. They like to run `flood right,' and get
three receivers out there," Belew said. Wide receiver Jack Keen and
tight end Jared Mills are his main targets.

Mills is also the Jackets' top defensive player, at inside linebacker in
an `80' defense. "It's fairly similar to what we saw last week from
Fabens. It puts a lot of pressure on your running game," Belew said.
"Hopefully, we'll be able to pass effectively and take some of the
pressure off."

"Jared's doing very well for us, and we've had several other kids help
out the cause," Pearson said.

Pecos will hope for another strong game from quarterback Jason Abila. He
was 7-for-10 passing for 116 yards and a touchdown in the first half
last week, hooking up with Oscar Luna on the 41-yard TD pass just before
halftime that broke a 7-7 tie. Pecos also ran for 276 yards, 109 of that
by Lucio Florez, in his first start at fullback in place of Richard
Gutierrez.

"Lucio will start at fullback and Mark (Abila) at tailback, and
hopefully Hector (Garcia) and Jason Aguilar will also get some playing
time in the backfield," Belew said. Garcia scored twice last week and
Aguilar had a 58-yard run to set up the Eagles' final touchdown.

Kermit held McCamey to 93 yards rushing last week, and contained
returning 1,000-yard rushers from both Seminole and Seagraves the
previous two weeks, in avenging losses from a year ago. "I'd like to
think that they are that much improved, but you never know until you get
up against a quality opponent like Pecos," Pearson said.

Both coaches said their teams are fairly healthy heading into their
final non-district game. Pearson said Kermit had, "some bumps and
bruises, but nothing major as far as holding anybody out," while Belew
said the Eagles came out of last week's game against Kermit fairly well.

Jason Abila was banged up slightly in the win, while Jason Payne
replaced Moses Martinez at strong safety a week ago, and Joseph Torres
and Rudy Nunez saw action at the corners. "Moses was injured a little
bit, so we were trying to hold him out. Jason (Payne) played good, and
hopefully he and Orlando Matta can come ad do the same this week," Belew
said.

Friday's game is the first of four at home for the Eagles over the next
five weeks. They'll stay in Pecos for their District 4-4A opener next week, against Big Spring.

Junior high, sub-varsities face Kermit

Zavala and Crockett will both play at 5 p.m. at the eighth grade and
high school practice fields, while the freshmen and JV will start at 5
and 7 p.m. in Kermit.

The eighth, ninth and JV squads will be trying to get their first wins
of the season, while the seventh grade will be looking to remain
unbeaten in their game. Zavala has wins over Alpine and Monahans so far,
while Crockett's eighth graders lost to Monahans and tied Alpine a week
ago.

The freshmen will be trying to avenge their 32-0 loss from last week
against Kermit, in a last-minute game that came about after Kermit's
regularly-scheduled JV game was canceled. Last week was an open date for the Eagles' JV.

Flock of Birds disables Big Unit

Manager Davey Johnson stacked his lineup with righties, benching Rafael
Palmeiro, Roberto Alomar and B.J. Surhoff, then watched the Orioles
rough up Randy Johnson and the Seattle Mariners 9-3 Wednesday night in
Game 1 of their AL division series.

Overpowering against most everyone else, Randy Johnson is merely mortal
against the Orioles. He lasted just five innings this time and left down
5-1.

The 20-game winner has faced Baltimore four times this year and is 0-3,
with the Mariners also dropping his no-decision. Overall, he's 3-8
lifetime, his only losing record to an opponent.

``I don't know, maybe I've got a phobia or something about the
Orioles,'' Johnson said. ``Tell all the Baltimore Orioles to go and put
on another jersey.''

Even though Johnson struck out two in the first inning, his command
seemed to be off and his fastball appeared inconsistent.

A crowd of 59,579, the largest ever to watch baseball at the Kingdome,
saw Johnson give up five runs on seven hits and four walks, with only
three strikeouts.

``His control was off today,'' Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. ``He
was behind on the count to quite a few hitters. Randy wasn't sharp. It
was just one of those days.''

Mike Mussina, however, was in complete control. The Orioles ace pitched
seven innings and allowed five hits, including home runs by Edgar
Martinez and Jay Buhner. Mussina walked none, struck out nine and
improved to 9-1 lifetime against the Mariners.

Marlins 7, Giants 6
Florida got a lucky bounce to win in its last at-bat for the 26th time,
most in the majors. The Marlins won their playoff opener 2-1 a day
earlier on Edgar Renteria's two-out single in the ninth.

Gary Sheffield, who homered earlier, started the ninth with a single
off Roberto Hernandez and stole second without a throw. After Bobby
Bonilla walked, Alou singled up the middle to break an 0-for-8
postseason slump.

Center fielder Dante Powell appeared to have a play at the plate, but
his throw home hit the back of the mound and popped high in the air,
allowing Sheffield to score easily.

Braves 13, Astros 3
After playing close games against Houston all season, Atlanta enjoyed a
blowout.

The Braves took advantage of eight walks by Mike Hampton, including
four straight with two outs in the fifth inning to force home the
go-ahead run.

Tom Glavine, like Greg Maddux a day earlier, shut down the Astros'
``Killer Bs.'' Craig Biggio, Derek Bell and Jeff Bagwell, the top three
hitters in the Houston order, are a combined 1-for-25 with no RBIs in
the series.

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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