Daily Newspaper and Tourism Guide for Reeves County Trans Pecos, Big Bend of West Texas

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SPORTS

Oct. 23, 1997

Loboes win second district tilt

It has been said Americans embrace the game of football because Americans love a game where a score could come at any minute in dramatic fashion. If true then Friday night's game was not just a football game but a tribute to America.
Scoring was hot and heavy but when all was said and done, defending champion Monahans improved its record to 2-0 in district play (4-2 for the season) with a 69-32 win over the Clint Lions Friday, Oct. 17. Clint dropped to 1-1 in the conference, 3-4 for the season.
The Loboes and the Lions combined for 101 points and 974 yards of total offense. The Loboes lead the way on the ground with 52 carries for 510 yards. Clint lit up the skies with 362 yards passing on the arm of sophomore D.J. Check who went 30-70 with five interceptions.
"They (Clint) wore out our secondary," said senior Lobo running back Mark Thompson, "We stepped it up though. The fourth quarter is our quarter and that is where we beat people."
"We need to get in our drops and get on our receivers," said senior Micah Wilson. "I missed some of my coverage, but we prevailed in the end."
Although the Lions passing attack was good, it was not invincible. Sophomore Brandon Lee made one of the many outstanding plays on defense for the Loboes with an interception returned for a touchdown.
"The first one bounced out of my hands," said Lee. "I watched the second one all the way in. I saw the end zone and just told my legs to pump faster."
Clint used about every gadget in the book to try to get by the defending district champions but were unable to win.
"We didn't see many trick plays in film," said senior running back Robin Hanna, "They (Clint) disguise them good, hats off to them. We started to pick up the trick plays and shut them down."
The Mean Green running game was too much for the Clint defense to handle due in no small part to the outstanding play of the offensive line.
"There were big holes to run through all night long," said senior running back Chris Allen, "I have to give credit to our offensive line. They (Clint) had some poor tackling, but coach always tells us to be our own blocker."
In the end the Loboes were simply pounding the ball down the field against a tired Lion defensive front.
"All that conditioning helps out," said sophomore Roy Porras," In practice we are like 'Uh-h-h'. But in the fourth quarter we can really tell the difference."
Hanna lead off the Lobo scoring attack with a two yard touchdown run with 8:20 remaining in the first quarter. The missed extra point attempt left the score at 6-0.
Clint responded with a drive of their own that ended with Check's pass finding senior Patrick Guerra in the end zone for a 12 yard touchdown. Clint's extra point try missed to keep the game tied at 6-6 with 4:51 remaining in the first quarter.
Monahans went to the ground attack again, scoring on a 10 yard run by Thompson with 2:15 left in the period. Quarterback Brandon Stephens found Mark Weaver in the end zone for a two point conversion to put the Loboes back on top 14-6.
Clint went on the attack quickly with a 25 yard touchdown pass to junior running back Alonso De Leon with 1:48 remaining in the game quarter. The point after attempt was no good to leave Monahans with a slim 14-12 lead.
Later in the quarter, Allen found a 39 yard hole in the Clint defense for another Lobo touchdown. Gerald Lopez's kick found its mark to increase the Green lead to 21-12 to end the scoring for the first quarter.
The second quarter began the same pattern as the first with Clint scoring on a five yard touchdown pass to Lurea to close the gap to 21-18. However, the rest of the second quarter belonged to the Loboes.
On the ensuing kickoff Thompson broke loose for an 80 touchdown run to give the Lobo six points and move the score up to 27-18; Hanna fell into the end zone on a one yard run with 3:37 in the half to increase the Lobo lead, after the Lopez kick, to 34-18 and sophomore Lee ran in an interception 29 yards for another Lobo touchdown with 1:24 on the clock. Lopez's kick pushed the score up to 41-18 and sent the game into half time.
Monahans continued their domination through the beginning of the third quarter.
Thompson pounded down field with a 49 yard touchdown run followed by Lopez's kick to bump the score up to 48-18 with 10:23 left in the third quarter.
In the same minute Stephens found his way into the end zone with a 70 yard touchdown run with 10:03 left on the clock. Lopez's kick was good, Green on top 55-18.
Clint answered with a pair of quick back-to-back scores of their own. Check found Arnold for a seven yard touchdown pass with 2:33 remaining in the third. The Arnold kick made the score 55-25.
Check found Arnold again for a 20 yard touchdown pass with 2:13 left to play in the third quarter. The Arnold kick made the score 55-32 at the end of the third.
All season long the Loboes have said: "The fourth quarter is our quarter."
This was never more apparent than last Friday.
The Loboes scored on a five yard run by Hanna with 10:10 left to play to increase the led to 62-32 after the Lopez kick.
After the touchdown Monahans ate up the entire fourth quarter with a long drive that finished with a Benny Rodriguez one yard touchdown with 1:13 remaining in the game. The Lopez kick pushed up the Lobo score and brought the game to an end at 69-32. Friday, Oct. 24, the Loboes will be on the road in Fabens at 7:30 p.m.

Carter shines in Sierra Blanca win

SIERRA BLANCA - Grandfalls-Royalty has this potential all-state center named Jason Carter. Carter, whose skills on the offensive line are not questioned, caught a 53-yard touchdown pass from Alfonso Marquez to top off the scoring in the Cowboys 66-36 victory over Sierra Blanca on Friday night, Oct. 17.
In six-man football, offensive linemen are eligible for passes. If this gets around to offensive linemen at traditional 11-man football schools, there might be a rush of transfers to the smaller school districts where the six-man game is king.
Carter's touchdown was only one of the reasons the Cowboys won their seventeenth consecutive regular season game. They were 10-0 in the 1996 regular season, won two games in the playoffs and then lost a squeaker that would have put them in the Great Eight competition for the championship. In district play dating back to last season, the Cowboys have won nine straight.
So far this season, the defending 8-1A Six Man champion Grandfalls-Royalty Cowboys are 7-0. They're 3-0 in district and lead the championship race with Sanderson which is 4-0 in district and 5-1 for the season.
Grandfalls and Sanderson are scheduled to meet in Sanderson on Halloween Night. Coaches at both schools will have a problem focusing their players on this week's contest, which they must, because of the impending importance of that contest.
This week, the San Antonio-based Huntress Report on Texas Six Man Football ranks Grandfalls seventh, up a notch from last week. Huntress ranks Sanderson eighteenth; Balmorhea, 27; Buena Vista, 52; and Marathon, 79.
Sierra Blanca drops to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in district, still in third place and tied there with preseason favorite Balmorhea. Balmorhea has lost to Grandfalls and Sanderson and is no longer a factor in the race for the district championship and the playoffs - barring some unforeseen and unlikely development that might prevent one of the top two teams from advancing to the playoffs.
In the Sierra Blanca victory, Grandfalls did not punt, evidence the Cowboys dominated completely.
With all this, Grandfalls-Royalty is beginning to look as if might become a six-man, West Texas football dynasty.
In addition, Coach Dewaine Lee's legions generally are young and many will be back next year.
Friday night's heroes included a lot more than Jason Carter.
There were the Brothers Vasquez, Lightning Roy and brother, Ronnie. Roy Vasquez had three rushing touchdowns and Ronnie threw two touchdown passes - one for 19 yards to Andy Leyva; another, for seven to Danny Santiago.
Leyva tallied touchdowns twice, one on the pass from Ronnie Vasquez and another for 10 from Alfonso Marquez.
Marquez threw three touchdown passes, the 10-yarder to Leyva, 50 yards to Jimmy Ramirez and the 53-yard bomb to Jason Carter with 24 seconds left in the contest.
For those still wondering, the play on which Carter scored for the Cowboys was not a busted one in which a good lineman got a chance for a little touchdown glory like all the marquee backs.
Because of the all-eligible rule for six-man, it was a designed play in which the center was the designated receiver.
Reports indicate Carter likes scoring touchdowns but he loves the pit.

Fort Stockton takes Morrow Cup

FORT STOCKTON - Fort Stockton came away with a bare-knuckled 19.5 to 16.5 victory over Monahans in the inaugural Morrow Cup Challenge last weekend at the Pecos County Golf Course in Fort Stockton.
Monahans fell behind 3-1 early on Friday, Oct. 17, as Fort Stockton's golfers got off to a hot start in the morning's low-ball competition. The Monahans senior golfers split their matches 1.5 to 1.5 Friday afternoon in the alternate-shot format and the juniors slipped to a 2.5 to 1.5 deficit to lease the score at 7-4 after one day of competition.
Saturday's play went to Monahans as the juniors went 5.5 to Fort Stockton's 2.5, going 3-1 in the morning's alternate shot play and 2.5 to 1.5 in the low-ball matches that afternoon. Monahans seniors had a little rougher time in the low-ball portion as they went 2-1 with Fort Stockton having the edge.
It boiled down to the singles matches on Sunday and, for awhile, it appeared as though Monahans would tie and force a sudden death situation but Fort Stockton's golfers prevailed coming down the stretch.
Mike Claburn and Curtis Howard of Monahans were leading their matches with only a few holes to play but Claburn ended up halving his match with Fort Stockton's Jerry Galimore while Howard lost a two-up lead with four holes to play.
Howard lost the eighteenth hole to Fort Stockton's Barry McCallister when a three and one-half feet par putt slid by the hole. McCallister converted his three-footer for par.
"I choked it bad," says Howard. "I make no excuses.
"I just let it slip through my hands when it was right there for the taking.
" I've never been two-up with four to go and lost, and man, I really picked a lousy time to do it.
"I simply got outplayed down the stretch. I give all the credit to Barry. He made the putts and I didn't."
Says Monahans Captain Gene Brown:
"Fort Stockton played super and earned their win. We were treated great and the guys look forward to going back next year. I was very proud of our players and the way they performed.
"They never ever gave up and the seniors played super.
"We were really proud of our senior golfers since they had never played in this type of format before and didn't know what to expect and we know that when next year rolls around they'll be chomping at the bit to get out there."
Morrow Cup Records
Monahans Team
Juniors
Steve Burkholder, 3-2-0; Curt Howard, 2-1-2; Terry Stockman, 2-2-1; Mike Claburn, 1-1-3; Greg Watson, 1-2-2; Rusty Shaw, 2-1-0; Billy Neace, 2-1-0; Larry Fine, 0-2-3; Gary Wood, 0-1-3.
Seniors
Johnny Jordan, 2-1-0; Bill Neace, 1-2-0; Dan Blair, 1-0-2; Jack Hill, 0-3; Bo Mooring, 0-3; Jerry McDonald, 2-0-1.

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