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

Sports

Friday, January 23, 1998

Coaching job draws few applicants

By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Jan. 23 -- With less than a week remaining to submit
applications, the vacant head coaching position at Pecos
High School has drawn about half as many applicants as it
did the last time it came open two years ago.

Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD personnel director Gome Olibas said
three applications have been returned and three others were
given out for the position, which became open earlier this
month when new P-B-T superintendent Don Love reassigned head
coach and athletic director Mike Belew to principal at
Zavala Middle School.

Both Love and Belew cited "philosophical differences" for
the change, and Love named longtime Eagles' baseball coach
Bubba Williams as interim athletic director.

Belew assistant Dan Swaim, former Eagles' assistant coach
Steele Ewing and Ronnie White, currently coaching in the El
Paso ISD, are the three applicants, Olibas said, while
ex-Eagles sub varsity coach Fernando Hernandez, now an
assistant coach in Fabens, Manuel Valles, coaching in the
Laredo ISD, and Pecos High School teacher John Barfield have
been given applications, but have not returned them so far,
he added.

Applications will be taken through next Wednesday, Jan. 28,
after which they will be reviewed by Love and Williams
before making a recommendation to P-B-T school board members.

The applications deadline is less than a week before the
scheduled bi-annual district realignment by the University
Interscholastic League. The most likely changes for Pecos
will be either replacing Sweetwater with Monahans in
District 4-4A or moving Pecos, Monahans and Fort Stockton
into a district with three or four El Paso-area schools.

No official word on the change will be made by the UIL
before 9 a.m. on Feb. 2, but the league did say there will
be between 15 and 20 fewer Class 5A schools in the new
realignment, meaning there will probably be an increase in
the number of Class 4A schools for the next two years.

Eagles seek to extend, break streaks

PECOS, Jan. 23 -- The Pecos Eagle girls will be seeking
their fourth win of the season over the Fort Stockton
Prowlers tonight, while Pecos' boys will be trying to avoid
their fourth straight loss in District 4-4A play, when they
take on the Panthers at the Pecos High School gym.

The girls will play at 6 p.m., followed by the boys at 7:30
p.m., and both will be trying to snap losing streaks. Pecos'
girls have dropped four straight games since their 52-31
victory at Fort Stockton on Jan. 6, while the boys will try
to recover from their heartbreaking 64-62 loss at home to
Big Spring on Tuesday.

The girls' last win over Fort Stockton, following two
earlier victories in tournament play, was almost the exact
opposite of the Eagles' recent losses. The Prowlers stayed
close through the first half, only to see Pecos break things
open in the third and fourth quarters. Lorie Marquez scored
18 points and Penny Armstronmg had 15, most while Marquez
was in first half foul trouble.

"This is the fourth time we've had to play them, and we need
to go out there and keep up our intensity, because we let
them come up and beat us the second time around last year,"
said Eagles' coach Brian Williams. But so far in district,
the 0-5 Prowlers haven't come within 20 points of any team,
and were beaten in Andrews on Tuesday by a 74-17 final
score. Only three players scored for the Prowlers, who fell
to 2-18 on the season.

Pecos was only three points down at the half to Big Spring
on Tuesday, then fell behind by as many has 16 in the third
period, cut the margin back to three with three minutes to
play, but wound up losing by at 74-60 score after Marquez
and Armstrong fouled out. Marquez led all scorers with 22
while Annette Marquez had 16 in the loss, which left Pecos
with a 1-4 district mark and an 11-11 season record.

The boys saw a 12-point lead in the third period vanish, and
lost on Chanucey Ford's uncontested lay-up at the buzzer.
Missed lay-ups and foul shots down the stretch plagued
Pecos, but a win tonight would leave the Eagles only a game
out of the third and final 4-4A playoff spot.

The Panthers are one of three teams tied for third at 1-2, a
game up on Pecos in the standings. They're 11-10 overall
while Pecos stands at 13-10 so far.

Fort Stockton dropped an 81-63 decision Tuesday night in
Andrews. Saul Leyva and Armon Cabello had 15 points and Eloy
Fabela 13 in the loss. Last season in Pecos, Cabello had 10
points, but Omar Hinojos put in 21 and Pecos came away with
a 53-50 victory.

Big Spring and San Angelo, the other teams tied for third,
face each other tonight, so an Eagles' win will leave Pecos
in a three-way tie for fourth. Andrews and Sweetwater, tied
for first with 3-0 marks, face each other tonight in Andrews
in the other 4-4A game.

Sharp, Butler keep up Super trash talking

By BERNIE WILSON
AP Sports Writer

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 23 -- There's no truth to the rumor that
the Super Bowl has been pushed back a few days so Shannon
Sharpe and LeRoy Butler can keep yakking.

The matchup between Sharpe, Denver's tight end, and Butler,
Green Bay's strong safety, will be a key to Sunday's Super
Bowl. They are friends, they are Pro Bowl starters and they
are arguably the most animated players from either team.

The two kept talking Thursday right up to the end of the
final interview sessions before the Packers try to defend
their Super Bowl championship. The players don't have to
meet the media today or Saturday.

A big topic this week is how the Packers will cover Sharpe
when Butler blitzes. The Packers do, of course, have Eugene
Robinson playing free safety.

But give Sharpe an opening and he takes it.

``Put it like this, and I go on record as saying, if their
linebackers cover me one-on-one the entire night by
themselves, with no help from anybody else, can you say,
M-V-P?''

Sharpe wasn't finished on the subject. He was asked whether
Butler is the only guy who can cover him.

``Plain and simple, here it is -- one-on-one, my two
toughest people who have ever gone against to cover me, are
Mike Shanahan and John Elway. Because if Mike doesn't put
plays in, John won't throw me the ball.

``If they cover me one-on-one with a linebacker, me and
John will be the co-MVP, because if I have a big day, he's
throwing me the football.''

The subject then swung to Robinson, whose 49 career
interceptions make him the leading active player in that
category. He played against Elway for 13 years in Seattle
and returned an interception 58 yards against San Francisco
in the NFC championship game.

``Eugene must realize that he's not going against those
guys in the NFC Central,'' Sharpe said. ``He's not playing
against Brent Jones. He's playing against the best tight end
in the game. Period. You can say pass catching, you can say
receiving, you can say whatever. I am the best tight end in
the game of football today. Period.''

Sharpe led all NFL tight ends this year with 72 catches for
1,107 yards, with three touchdowns. Green Bay's defense
hasn't allowed a touchdown pass in 31 quarters.

Then it was Butler's turn.

He said Sharpe was ``just looking for self-motivation
because he knows what kind of player I am. And he maybe
thought I was going to give him something media-wise for him
to get motivated.''

Butler, the guy who predicted Green Bay would finish 19-0
this year, was asked if there's a better strong safety in
the NFL.

``Umm, I'm thinking now, give me a minute. Probably not.
Because I think every strong safety in the league, his team
doesn't rely on him to make a play and if he doesn't, it can
change the game.''

Butler had five interceptions, 103 tackles and three sacks
this season.

Jones believes Seifert `compatible' after talk

By KEN PETERS
AP Sports Writer
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 23 -- Jerry Jones' list of best traits for
a coach seems to match up well with George Seifert's resume.

Jones, however, insists he hasn't decided yet who he will
ask to replace Barry Switzer as the next coach of the Dallas
Cowboys.

The Cowboys owner met with Seifert, the former San
Francisco 49ers coach, for several hours Thursday.

``I feel comfortable that we could work together. ... I've
got to say we would be very compatible,'' said Jones, who
noted that he and Seifert served together on the NFL's
competition committee.

``We will meet again within the next two or three days,
informally,'' said Jones, who mentioned that he would prefer
to hire a man who has been a successful head coach, among
other qualifications.

He said that doesn't mean he would not rule out hiring
someone who's an assistant coach now.

Jones plans to interview Green Bay offensive coordinator
Sherman Lewis following the Super Bowl. NFL rules bar
interviews with assistant coaches on Super Bowl teams until
after the game.

Asked if he had already settled on Seifert, Jones replied,
``If I had, I wouldn't be talking to Sherman on Sunday.''

Jones spoke with reporters after he attended a press
conference announcing Dallas quarterback Troy Aikman as NFL
man of the year.

The Packers drubbed the Cowboys 45-17 in November,
beginning a winning streak that has led them to their second
straight Super Bowl. Dallas missed the playoffs this season
for the first time since 1990.

Jones said he planned to interview Lewis ``because he's
competing in the Super Bowl, and because of the way they
beat us.''



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