Tuesday, October 14, 1997

Eagles battle Prowlers for third place tonight

The Eagles can take a major step towards their second straight trip to
the playoffs with a win in tonight's 7:30 p.m. match. Pecos is in third
place in the District 4-4A standings, a half-game up on Fort Stockton,
after their 15-12, 15-0 win at home over Sweetwater on Saturday and the
Prowlers' 15-11, 9-15, 15-13 loss on their home court against Big
Spring. The Eagles are 4-3 and 15-10 overall, while the Prowlers are
3-3, 14-9.

Fort Stockton already had won over the Steers in Big Spring, and also
handed Andrews its only loss so far this season in District 4-4A play.
But along with Saturday's home defeat, the Prowlers have lost at home to
both San Angelo Lake View and to Pecos, the latter by a 15-9, 10-15,
15-5 final score three weeks ago.

Neither team looked sharp until the third game, when Pecos took control,
scoring 11 straight points to break open a 2-2 game. That's pretty much
what happened on Saturday, when the Eagles struggled at the start, and
were tied with Sweetwater at 12-all before scoring the final three
points of Game 1, then shutting out the Mustangs in Game 2.

"We just have to take things one day at a time, but I feel confident
they will respond," said Eagles' coach Becky Granado.

Big Spring's win Saturday kept the Steers in the playoff chase, 1½ games
behind Pecos, going into their match tonight against Andrews.

Play opens this afternoon with the freshman matches at 5 p.m., followed
by the junior varsity at 6 p.m. Tonight's match is the Eagles' final
home match of the season, as they'll close out with trips this Saturday
to Big Spring and next Saturday to Lake View, which is a game up on Pecos in the 4-4A standings.

Redskins find Cowboys inoffensive guests

For the Dallas Cowboys, it's the dead zone.

The Cowboys' 21-16 loss to the Washington Redskins on Monday night might
have been sealed in the first six minutes when Dallas did again what
it's done so often -- failed to get into the end zone from inside the
20.

After Dallas settled for Richie Cunningham's 19-yard field goal, the
Redskins scored the next 21 points and then held of a late Dallas rally.

The telling stat?

In their first game, a 37-7 win in Pittsburgh, the Cowboys scored
touchdowns on three of their five trips inside the 20, the so-called
``red zone.'' In their last 20 red zone trips, they've scored only four
TDs and are the only team in the NFL without a rushing touchdown.

That first drive Monday night was a killer.

They started like the Cowboys of old -- Emmitt Smith ripping off runs of
16 and 11 yards. Then Troy Aikman hit Michael Irvin for 52 yards.

Three plays later, it was first-and-goal at the 2, and it looked like a
handoff to Smith would do it.

Then, as has so often happened this season, there was a mistake --
rookie tight end David LaFleur jumped early. Five-yard penalty.

``That pretty much decided the game right there,'' LaFleur said. ``They
moved their defensive front. I was looking in, they just caught me off
guard.''

But don't make LaFleur the goat -- in the past, first-and-goal at the 7
would have been no problem. Not this year.

``We just bog down and don't make the plays,'' coach Barry Switzer said.

``If you've got any answers, come help us,'' he told reporters. ``It's
just frustrating.''

It got more frustrating as the game went on. After those 27 yards on two
carries, Smith got just 34 yards on 15 carries the rest of the game. He
has just one 100-yard rushing game this season and hasn't scored in
eight games after geting 108 TDs in the first 108 games of his career.

It got even more frustrating at the end.

The Cowboys, now 3-3 and third behind the Redskins and New York Giants
in the NFC East, got one score on rookie Dexter Coakley's 18-yard return
of a fumble and another on Aikman's 14-yard TD pass to Irvin with 9:40
left in the game.

But that came at the end of the only other sustained drive of the night.

Their defense gave the offense chances -- on four straight drives in the
third and fourth quarters, the Redskins got minus-5, minus-2, minus-4
and minus-2 yards.

The old Cowboys would have jumped on that.

The new Cowboys?

``We have to keep pushing the envelope hard and maybe we'll crack it
open,'' Smith said. ``We need some prayers as well because it could
easily be a very ugly season for us if we're not careful.''

Added guard Nate Newton:

``I was here when we were down in the dumps. I refuse to go back in the dumps.''

O's fight off Indians to avoid elimination

Take Game 5 as the latest example.

Baltimore was three outs away from a nice, tidy shutout that would send
the Orioles home and prolong their season. Then Cleveland began working
its Jacobs Field magic again.

Trailing 4-0, the Indians scored two runs and had runners at second and
third with two outs in the ninth when Omar Vizquel sent a grounder
through the middle that had game-tying single written all over it.

This time, though, Roberto Alomar made the play as the Orioles survived
with a 4-2 victory, leaving the Indians with a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7
series.

``Whatever chance we might still have, we still have a chance,'' said
Orioles starter Scott Kamieniecki, who combined with Jimmy Key to blank
the Indians for eight innings. ``Until you deep-six us, we're going to
come out playing.''

As will the Indians, although Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove isn't
sure what to expect in Game 6 on Wednesday at Camden Yards.

``The way this series has been, I don't see how anyone can feel
confident about anything. We've got out work cut out for us going back
into Baltimore. Certainly, we'd rather be in the position we're in, but
they have a very good ballclub. It's come down to the last two games.''

After an off-day, the best-of-7 series will resume with Cleveland's
Charles Nagy facing Mike Mussina, who struck out an ALCS record 15 in
Game 3 and will again pitch in the twilight.

For the first time in three games at Cleveland, the Orioles weren't
undone by the bizarre or unexplainable. There was no steal of home on a
botched squeeze play in the 12th inning or two runners scoring on a wild
pitch.

Meanwhile, the Indians let down their rowdy fans by not putting away
the Orioles.

``It's kind of disappointing because the fans have been doing a great
job for us this series,'' Vizquel said. ``They deserved to see us win.''

Leading 2-0, the Orioles added two crucial runs when Eric Davis, whose
comeback from colon cancer surgery has given the Orioles an emotional
lift, connected for a pinch-homer off Paul Assenmacher and Cal Ripken hit an RBI single.

Monahans' golf squad retains Pecos River Cup

Monahans used 6-2 advantages in alternate shot and low-ball play on both
Friday and Saturday, and a 5-3 advantage in head-to-head competition on
Sunday to retain the cup, and have now won seven of nine times since
tournament play began in 1990.

Jim Bob McNeil defeated Mike Claburn, Steve Valenzuela beat Bill Neace
and Tim Windham downed Rusty Shaw for Pecos' three wins on Sunday.
Monahans winners were Steve Burkholder over Kim Anderson, Curtis Howard
over Matt Burkholder, Greg Watson over Tweeter Wafer, Steve Fine over
Craig Davis and Larry Fine over Danny Hernandez.

In Alternate Shot play on Friday, Windham and Davis were Pecos' lone
winners, over Claburn and Larry Fine. Hernandez and Valenzuela lost to
Howard and Woods, Anderson and Wafer lost to Watson and Neace, and Steve
Burkholder and Larry Fine downed Matt Burkholder and McNeil.

On Saturday Monahans swept the alternate shot matches, as Howard and
Neace beat Anderson and Hernandez, Larry Fine and Burkholder beat
Windham and Davis, Watson and Shaw downed Valenzuela and Burkholder and
Steve Fine and Claburn beat McNeil and Wafer.

In the two-man low ball matches, Wafer and Valenzuela got Pecos' victory
on Friday, over Claburn and Gary Woods, while Howard and Larry Fine beat
Burkholder and Hernandez, Steve Fine and Neace downed Anderson and
Davis, and Burkholder and Watson beat McNeil and Windham. The two teams
did tie there on Saturday, with wins by Hernandez and Valenzuela over
Shaw and Neace and by McNeil and Wafer over Steve Fine and Claburn.
Burkholder and Howard beat Windham and Anderson and Watson and Larry Fine defeated Burkholder and Davis for Monahans' victories.

Eagles seeking hoop referees

Officials are needed both for boys and girls sub-varsity basketball
games, Williams said. Junior high teams are scheduled to begin their
1997-98 seasons on Nov. 17, with the freshman and varsity squads
starting on Nov. 18.

Anyone interested in officiating should call Williams, either at the
Pecos High School gym (447-7235) or at home (447-6494).

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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