The Monahans News

Area Newspapers

ARCHIVES
Pecos Country History
Archives 98


Links to News Photos


|

Weekly Newspaper and Tourism Guide for Ward County Trans Pecos, Big Bend of West Texas

Sports

September 10, 1998

Passing game aids Grandfalls-Royalty


By a sports correspondent of the News
ACKERLY - Grandfalls-Royalty found a new dimension - the
passing game.

Grandfalls-Royalty exploded for 26 points in the third
quarter.

Lightning Roy Vasquez, who everyone knew could run, found
out he could throw.

Roy's little brother, Ronnie, also can throw and run.
Danny Santiago can throw and run.

Cowboy defenders had fun. Santiago had 13 tackles; Sean
Francisco had 12; and Eric Garcia added nine to lead a
defense that seems to have discovered what search and
destroy means.

And the Cowboys rolled to a 49-28 opening game six-man
football victory on Friday night, Sept. 4, on a neutral
field.

Grandfalls-Royalty notched its twenty-second consecutive
regular season victory. In 1997, the Cowboys were not turned
until deep in the playoffs where they lost by four points,
30-26, to eventual six man state champion Borden County.
Counting play off games, the Cowboys were 11-1 last season.
The Cowboys have won the district title two straight years
with other teams the preseason pick for district champions.
This year the Cowboys are the choice in District 7-A Six
Man. Coaches across the state figure they're one of three or
four teams with a chance to win the state championship,
barring injury and luck which always can be a factor.

Nineteen-ninety-eight began for the Cowboys in a
non-district game on Friday night against Sands, a good
football team.

That was when the Grandfalls Cowboys found the other
dimension for which Coach Dewaine Lee has been searching.

"Our passing game was there," says Lee. "We had been working
on our passing game to have a dimension that would stop them
from swarming our sweep. We found the passing game."

The Vasquez brothers threw for a touchdown each. Santiago
threw for a touchdown. Grandfalls gained 171 yards passing.

This was a team which in two previous championship years
had rushed for about 60 points a game and used the pass only
as a punctuation mark. The Cowboys still run but, as Lee
notes, they also pass.

"Previously if we took a step to the right on offense, all
the defense swarmed," says the Cowboy coach. "Now if they do
that, we've got people open down field."

Leading Sands 13-5, Lee took the Cowboys in at half time and
made some adjustments, working on the mental mistakes, a
missed blocking assignment here, a misstep there and talking
about timing essential to make it all work on both defense
and offense.

The Cowboys came out of the locker room and put 26 points
on the board in the third quarter.

Says Lee: "We played extremely well. The kids were pretty
excited about playing and hitting someone other than
themselves. We did things we needed to do in this one. We
added the passing dimension."

Loboes find their offense


By Mac McKinnon
A sports correspondent of the news
Future opponents of the Monahans Loboes should be forewarned!

The Loboes are beginning to find their offense. True, the
Loboes didn't score against the Seminoles Indians in a game
in which the Indians had to fight and scrap against a strong
Monahans defense to take a 20-0 win that was closer than the
score might indicate.

A large crowd was on hand for the Loboes home opener. The
Loboes continued to have trouble holding onto the ball as
they lost three possessions on six fumbles. They lost two
fumbles and an interception against Snyder the previous
week.

But, the bright light was that the Loboes posted 172 yards
rushing, plus 44 through the air, almost three times what
they did on offense the previous week against Snyder. The
Loboes are rebuilding on the offense which does not return
one starter on offense from last year's bi-district
champion. It was announced that one of those starters from
two years ago, Tyler Lee, has made the team at Angelo State.

Lobo Coach Larry Hanna has said his goal was to see his team
improve week to week against a series of very strong
pre-district opponents.

That's just what they did Friday against the Seminole team,
another squad that is returning from a playoff spot last
year. The win didn't come easy for Seminole as they had to
abandon their strong running attack because of the stiff
Monahans defense. It was via the passing game that the
Indians were able to post a strong second half and put it on
ice late in the contest.

"I'm proud of the way we played tonight," Coach Larry Hanna
told his team after the game. "We still have a way to come
but we can get there."

Hanna later echoed the same sentiments:

"Seminole is a good football team. Our goal for the entire
pre-district season is improvement, and it's obvious we
improved greatly here this week. We played good enough to
win, we just didn't get the ball to bounce our way."

The first half was played on Monahans end of the field due
to a strong breeze in their faces to start the game and they
couldn't overcome field position even in the second quarter.
Seminole won the toss and opted to wait until the second
half to make their choice so Monahans took the ball and
moved to one first down before having to punt.

Both teams had trouble moving the ball and exchanged punts
although Seminole got down to the Loboes' 12 before turning
the ball over on downs. However, on the next Seminole
possession, they moved from the Monahans 34 to score on a
one-yard run by by Bobby Dale. Eddie Cavazos added the kick
for point after to give the Indians a 7-0 lead with eight
seconds left in the first quarter. Monahans got the ball
after the kick-off on their own 29 and Raul Hinojos clipped
off the best run of the night for the Loboes as he ran for
18 yards but then came the first of six fumbles for the
Loboes but this one was scooped up by Monahans. The Loboes
then moved into Seminole territory on one of their three
serious threats of the night but were stopped and had to
punt. The teams exchange punts several times without moving
the ball any substantial distance before the first half
ended.

At halftime, there was a touch of class as the Seminole band
congratulated the Monahans "Big Green" Band for being chosen
Honor Band of Texas. The Big Green Band gave their usual
outstanding performance before a large home crowd. Seminole
couldn't move on their first possession of the second half
but the punt return by Monahans was fumbled and Seminole was
in business on the Loboes' 43. But, Monahans didn't give and
took the ball over on their own 12. Again the Loboes could
only pick up one first down and had to punt. On their next
possession, Seminole began to gamble as they had fourth and
one inside their own 45 and made it.

Then they gave up on trying to run against the stubborn
Monahans defense and started passing. The Indians moved on
in to score on a three yard pass to Kaleb Clay from Juan
Alvarado. Try for PAT was no good, leaving the score with
Seminole on top 13-0 and 27 seconds left in the third
quarter.

Monahans fumbled the kick-off but got it back and Roy Porras
and Benny Rodriguez went to work to move the ball down to
the Seminole 26, the second most serious Lobo threat of the
night. Again, Seminole gambled and went for first on a
fourth and one at their own 37. They made it but couldn't
get another first down.

Monahans fumbled deep in their own territory on their next
possession but Seminole couldn't capitalize on it. Seminole
later got the ball on their own 49 and moved down field to
score with Mitch Guerra going 34 yards to score and Cavazos
adding the PAT, making the score 20-0 with 2:28 left in the
game. Again, Monahans mounted a serious drive, moving from
their own 30 to the Seminole 20 before running out of downs
and only seconds left in the contest. Part of this was due
to passing, on plays from Jared Thomas to Chris Adams and
DePhil Phillips.

All American golfer considers tour


Jason Garduno, a junior college All America golfer when he
led Midland College to the national championship in 1995, is
thinking golf again.

The former Monahans High School Lobo has been playing but
now he's getting serious.

This salesman for Garland Pumping and Roustabout Service in
Pyote is considering The Hooters Tour, if Garduno can find
sponsors, if he thinks he can regain some of the old magic
on the links, if he puts it all together at the Hooters
Tour qualifying school in March.

"I've been told I have the potential to be a professional
golfer," says Garduno. "I don't want to get older and wonder
if I could of made it. At Midland College, we won second at
nationals my freshman year and won the national championship
my sophomore year. I made All American that year."

A friend and former Midland College teammate of Garduno's,
Jack Campbell, has encouraged Garduno to take the
professional golfing plunge. Campbell is leading the Hooters
Tour this season.

"I played against Jack in high school and then we went to
the same college," says Garduno. "Jack's from Andrews."

He was good. He was very, very good.

"I always hit my drives pretty solid," says Garduno. "I have
a pretty good putter. In the years since college, I took
some time off. I just never have taken the opportunity to
really fine tune the game like you have to do."

Now Garduno is fine-tuning. He played in a three man
scramble at the Ward County Golf Course in Monahans this
past weekend. The golfer's working hard.

"I've been practicing pretty hard the last few months and
plan to keep going through December," says Garduno. "Then I
start getting ready for qualifying school."

The Hooters Tour is comparable to the Nike Tour but the
money is a little less. Garduno's first step is finding
Hooters Tour sponsors.

Potential backers can call Garduno at his home in Pyote:
389-5535. Meanwhile Garduno practices - a lot.

Green fades in Seminole


By Nathan Rogers
A sports correspondent of the News
SEMINOLE - This town halfway between Monahans and Lubbock,
just doesn't seem to be receptive to anyone wearing green
lately.

The Lady Loboes traveled to Seminole Friday and Saturday,
Sept. 4 and 5, to compete in the annual firestorm called the
Seminole Volleyball Tournament.

Monahans entered pool play as an underdog with an attitude.

Says Coach Patty Hall, "The extremely difficult field at
this tournament can only help us to get better. I am
looking forward to playing teams of such a high caliber."

The teams in the Ladies' pool were Greenwood, last year's
state-finalists, and San Angelo Lake View, a team with two
out of three tournament championships this year.

In their first match, the Lady Loboes took on the Lake View
Maidens. Despite a tremendous effort, the team lost to the
Maidens, 13-15, 5-15.

Coach Hall says, "I was proud of the girls' effort, but Lake
View was just too powerful."

The next game in pool play was a match against new district
competitor Midland Greenwood. Early indications in the
match proved to be false, as the Ladies split the contest,
15-9, 14-15. The challenge, however, was still just ahead.

In the Championship Quarterfinals, the Lady Loboes faced
Hereford, the two-time defending 4A champions. Despite a
performance that would have felled a lesser team, the
Ladies succumbed in two games, 6-15, 2-15.

The team then played Amarillo River Road in the fifth place
semifinals. They lost a close match, 9-15, 15-5, 14-16.
The Lady Loboes are now looking toward this weekend, when
they play a dual match against district rival Alpine and
Water Valley. The team is gearing up for district play
which begins against Presidio on September 22.

Runners jump out to good start


Special to the News
ODESSA - Monahans cross country coach Mike Sweigert calls
his runners opening competition of the season "a good start."

He made the comment after the run in Odessa at the Ector
County meet on Saturday, Sept. 5.

Says Sweigert: "This is a very competitive meet and we fared
very well against the larger schools. Our times were greatly
improved from the same meet last year and they will only get
better."

Lobo Results

Varsity Women (10th overall)
Brea Ulrich, 52nd place, 15:57
Lori Enriquez, 56th, 16:07

Varsity Men (7th)
David Williams, 19, 18:48
David Morales, 26, 20:20

Junior Varsity Women (8th)
Heather Lario, 4th, 14:04
Naomi McKinney, 38th, 15:58

Junior Varsity Men (9th)
Josue Carrasco, 36th, 21:52
Jeremiah Martinez, 48th, 24:04

Medalists: Heather Lario JV Women, 4th place.

The next cross country meet is on Saturday, Sept. 12, at
Carlsbad, N.M. in the Concho Valley Cross Country Classic.



Search Entire Site:

Copyright 1998 by Ward Newspapers, Inc.
Joe Warren, Publisher
107 W. Second St., Monahans TX 79756
Phone 915-943-4313, FAX 915-943-4314
e-mail monnews@ultravision.net

Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.

Copyright 1998 by Ward Newspapers Inc.