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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Sports

Monday, December 7, 1998

Coyotes' air attack ends Bears' season


By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
KERMIT, Nov. 7 -- When you only have seven yards in
penalties on the night and your lone turnover comes when
you're trying to end the game under the 45-point rule,
you're not doing much to hurt yourself.

The Borden County Coyotes did little to help the Balmorhea
Bears on Friday night in Kermit, while the Bears, who needed
to play mistake-free ball to have a chance against Borden
County, did enough wrong inside the Coyotes' 25-yard-line to
thwart their chances at an upset. Together, they allowed the
defending state champs to advance to the six-man football
title game for the second year in a row with a 70-24 win
over the Bears.

"If they play like they did tonight, I think they'll win
it," said Bears' coach Ennis Erickson, who added his team,
"played in spots, but we didn't play all the way through.

"We fumbled it a couple of times and had a couple of
penalties, and a good team is going to take advantage of the
breaks," Erickson said.

Three key penalties and a fumble took the Bears out of
scoring chances in Borden County territory, while an illegal
forward pass in the third period nullified a Balmorhea
touchdown and allowed the Coyotes to end the game moments
later with their ninth touchdown of the night.

Coyotes' quarterback Colt McCook was under little pressure
most of the night and threw for 267 yards and five touchdown
passes. Even when the Bears did get some pressure on late in
the first half, McCook still managed to compete one to while
falling down to Fernando Baeza, although the Bears were able
to hold the Coyotes on downs on that series.

"They were just sending one man on us, so we were able to do
a good job (blocking)," said Borden County coach Bobby
Avery. "Our kids really kept their pass rush in check and
Colt turn down a lot of chances to run with the ball. "He's
so unselfish, he could have run with the ball more, but with
the area he's got it hard to turn it (passing) down."

Extra points hurt Balmorhea as well. The were 0-for-4 while
McCook went 8-for-9 on the night

Borden County stayed on the ground to get their first
touchdown, a one-yard dive by Baeza after couple of first
down runs out of the spread formation. The Bears then
marched to the Coyotes' 21 on their first possession, but
were pushed back by a holding call and lost the ball on
downs at the Coyotes' 23.

McCook got his first TD pass on the next series, a short
two-yarder to Ryan Grant with 2:06 left in the period. The
Bears then dodged a bullet, when McCook overthrew two
receivers after Arturo Miranda fumbled on the Balmorhea's
28, and after getting the ball back at their own 17, Josue
Mendoza went through the middle of the line two plays later
and raced 51 yards for the Bears' first touchdown.

Balmorhea's Kriss Natividad then stopped Ed Rodriguez for a
two-yard loss as the quarter ended, but facing a 3rd-and-12
Borden County broke Baeza free for 34 yards, and he would
score on a pitch out from the 19 yard line on the next play.

Borden County then stopped Balmorhea at the 23 after a Chris
Cook run deep into Coyote territory, and were then able to
overcome a procedure call to get their next score, a 37-yard
pass from McCook to Baeza. Balmorhea then drove down to the
Coyotes' 22 again, only to be hit with another holding call,
and lost the ball on downs at the 27. This time, it took
McCook just one play to find Colt Miller for a 53-yard TD
pass and a 40-6 lead.

Balmorhea still had a chance to get back into it. Roger
Lopez got between a trio of Borden County defenders after
catching a pass over the middle from Matthew Sanchez and
raced 50 yards for a touchdown just before the half, and
Balmorhea took the second half kickoff and scored in just
over a minute, off a 23-yard run by Chris Cook.

That cut the lead to 40-18, but Borden County would answer
when McCook scrambled free and found Grant for a 47-yard
touchdown. The Bears answered 34 seconds later on a 30-yard
run by Lopez, but the Coyotes got that back, plus the
two-point conversion, 23 seconds later, on a 61 yard run by
Baeza.

Balmorhea appeared ready to score again, moving the ball
down to the Coyotes' 18 on two plays before getting hit with
a double-whammy -- a procedure call, followed by a fumble by
Miranda that Sanchez saw slip out of his grasp and into the
hands of Baeza. On the next play McCook found Robert Stamper
for a 54 yard touchdown pass, which effectively put the game
out of reach for Balmorhea.

"We didn't take advantage of the chances we had," Erickson
said. "We had a good shot to fall on it, but we didn't get
to it."

An interception by Woodruff in the end zone held off the end
of the game for a while, but when he went past the line of
scrimmage on a touchdown pass to Miranda moments later, the
Coyotes got the ball deep in Bears territory. They ended the
game with 28 seconds left in the third period on Kevin
Pinkerton's three-yard TD run and McCook's kick.

Balmorhea ended its season with an 8-4 record while Borden
County, 13-1, goes for its second straight title at 3 p.m.
Saturday against Trinidad, 14-0, at Gordon Wood Stadium in
Brownwood. The Bears and Coyotes already are assured of
meeting again next season, in late September at Balmorhea.

"When you look at the whole year we were picked to finish
fourth in district, and now there's no way anybody can say
we're worse than fourth in the state," Erickson said. "We've
come a long way and the kids had some fun, and that's got to
be part of it. If not, you're in the wrong thing in the
first place."

at Kermit
Balmorhea 6 6 12 -24
Borden County 16 24 30 -70

First Quarter
BC -- Baeza 1 run (McCook kick), 3:22.
BC -- Grant 2 pass from McCook (McCook kick), 7:54.
Bal. -- J. Mendoza 51 run (kick failed), 9:37.
Second Quarter
BC -- Baeza 11 run (McCook kick), 1:26.
BC -- Baeza 37 pass from McCook (McCook kick), 6:31.
BC -- Miller 53 pass from McCook (McCook kick), 8:35.
Bal. -- R. Lopez 50 pass from Sanchez (kick failed), 9:10.
Third Quarter
Bal. -- Cook 29 run (kick failed), 1:02.
BC -- Grant 47 pass from McCook (McCook kick), 2:09.
Bal. -- R. Lopez 30 run (kick blocked), 2:43.
BC -- Baeza 61 run (McCook kick), 3:09.
BC -- Rodriguez 54
pass from McCook (kick failed), 4:06.
BC -- Pinkerton 3 run (McCook kick), 9:32.

Bal BC
First Downs 9 14
Rushes-Yds. 31-293 25-250
Passing Yds 72 267
Passes 3-7-0 12-19-1
Punts-Avg 0-0 0-0
Fumbles-lost 3-2 0-0
Penalties-Yds. 5-40 2-7

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Balmorhea, J. Mendoza 5-65, Lopez 5-63, Cook 4-61,
Woodruff 9-52, Miranda 7-49, Lozano 1-4. Borden County,
Baeza 15-180, McCook 5-59, Rodriguez 2-5, Pinkerton 1-3,
Rodriguez 3-6, Grant 1-2.

PASSING - Balmorhea, Sanchez 1-2-0-50, Miranda 2-3-0-22,
Woodruff 0-2-0-0. Borden County, McCook 12-19-1-267.

RECEIVING - Balmorhea, Lopez 1-50, Woodruff 2-22. Borden
County, Miller 4-113, Baeza 4-42, Grant 2-49, Stamper 1-54,
Rodriguez 1-7.

MISSED FIELD GOALS - None.

Swimmers get 2nd, 8th at Odessa


PECOS, Nov. 7 -- Pecos Eagle swimmers came off the
Thanksgiving break by placing second in the boys division
and eighth among the girls on Saturday at the Ector County
Invitational.

Pecos had 229 points to finish second to San Angelo Central,
with 354. Carlsbad was next with 176 points followed by Big
Spring with 117. The girls ended up with 95 points in their
division, won by a 212½-144½ margin by San Angelo Central
over Midland High. Abilene High was next with 131 points and
Monahans had the best finish among District 4 teams, scoring
119½ points to beat out Carlsbad for fourth by one-half
point.

"I wasn't as pleased with the drop in times as I would have
liked to have seen. We placed all right, I just would like
to see more drops in times coming off the break," said
Eagles' coach Terri Morse. "We had a few individuals cut
their times some, but overall as a team I'd like to see us
lower our times some this close to Christmas."

Junior Kevin Bates took first in both the 50 and 100
freestyles, and the boys also won the 200 medley relay by
nearly five seconds over San Angelo Central. Pecos had a
1:48.84 time to the Bobcats' 1:53.63, while Bates took the
50 free in 22.32 seconds and the 100 in 50.01.

Morse said the Eagles' depth helped the boys, while a lack
of depth this season continued to hurt the girls, which was
most evident in the 50 free. Aside from Bates' win, Pecos
also placed Matt Ivy and Cortney Freeman seventh and eighth,
Scott Pounds 12th and Luis Nieto 16th. Pecos' other swimmer,
Luis Rodriguez finished 43rd, while on the girls' side,
Victoria Gomez was 43rd, Leslie Olibas 60th and Natalie
Nazaroff 80th.

"Our girls are very young this year. What hurts us is depth.
We just don't have the depth to get the secondary points,
which is the opposite situation of where the boys were last
year," Morse said. "We also have a young boys team. I've got
only three seniors, but the ones I have have been swimming
in the younger grades USSA meets and know what to expect."

Ivy was also fourth in the 100 butterfly, Freeman was 10th,
Pounds 15th and Lopez 43rd in the 100 free and Nieto was
15th in the 100 backstroke. Tye Edwards was fourth there and
sixth in the 100 fly, while the other medal for Pecos came
from Grant Holland, who was third in the 200 freestyle and
fourth in the 100 breaststroke.

Jason Lopez was seventh, Randall Reynolds 11th and Craig
Wein 12th in that race, Reynolds was 21st and Lopez 29th in
the 100 free, Patrick McChensey was eighth, Timothy Harrison
was 10th and Matthew Montanez 16th in the 500 free;
McChesney was 10th, Harrison 11th and Wein 14th in the 200
medley, and Montanez was 23rd in the 200 free.

In the other relays, Pecos' 200 freestyle was second to
Central and the 400 relay team placed third, while the `B'
200 and 400 free relays took 11th and 10th places
respectively.

The girls got a fifth place finish in the 400 free relay and
were seventh in the 200 free and eighth in the 200 medley,
while the only `B' relay, the 400 free, was 22nd. The best
individual finishes were from Liz Parent, who was fourth in
the 500 freestyle and fifth in the 100 butterfly.

Sarah Flores was eighth in both the 200 medley and the 100
breaststroke; Briar Prewit was sixth in the 200 freestyle
and seventh in the 500 free; Jo Ann Wein was 10th in the 200
medley and 13th in the 100 backstroke; Megan Joplin was 17th
in the 200 medley and 18th in the 100 fly; Gomez was 17th in
the 100 fly; Jennifer Martinez was 17th in the 100 free and
the 100 backstroke; and Rebecca McChesney was 22nd in the
500 free and 32nd in the 100 breaststroke.

"I had to scratch a couple of girls so they could swim the
relays," Morse said. "A few of them had been sick last week
and I wasn't sure if they could swim the regular races and
the relays and finish."

The Eagles' final pre-Christmas swim meet will be this
coming Saturday, at the Seminole Invitational. Pecos is off
after that, until the Coker Invitational at Fort Stockton on
Jan. 9.

Eagles take third place at Shootout


PECOS, Nov. 7 -- Home court advantage helped the Crane
Golden Cranes a little Friday afternoon against the Pecos
Eagles, but not enough to keep the Eagles from winning their
second game in four days over the Cranes.

Pecos, 72-41 winners at home over Crane last Tuesday, got
back to .500 on the season Friday with a 63-47 victory in
the third place game of the West Texas Shootout in Crane.
Fernando Navarette, who had 31 in the first game against the
Cranes, put in 15 to earn all-tournament honors, while Frank
Perea and Oscar Luna also were in double figures with 14 and
13 points.

"In the first half we got a big lead. Our press got to them
pretty well, and we had four treys (3-pointers) that gave us
the big lead," Eagles' coach Mike Sadler said. Pecos jumped
out to a 17-6 lead after one period and were up 30-13 at the
half before the Cranes got closer in the final two periods.

Perea ended up with a trio of 3s, while Luna, Navarette and
Hector Garcia also added 3-pointers in the win, the Eagles
third in their past four games. Crane's Justin Carrasco lead
all scorers with 18 points.

The Eagles' only tournament loss came in Thursday's
semifinals, when they dropped a four-point decision to Fort
Stockton, which went on to win the title by a 52-36 score
over Ozona on Friday.

The 4-4 Eagles will try to go over the .500 mark for the
first time since their season-opening victory against
Monahans, when they host the Loboes Tuesday night at the
Pecos High School gym. The Eagles then go to Monahans for
the Sandhills Tournament, opening up against El Paso
Americas Thursday morning.

PECOS (63)

Weidner 0 0-0 0; Herrera 0 2-4 2; Marta 3 0-0 6; Perea 5 1-2
14; Luna 5 2-4 13; A. Garcia 0 0-0 0; Navarette 7 0-0 15; H.
Garcia 3 0-0 7; Rodriguez 0 0-0 0; Marquez 2 2-2 4; Orona 0
0-0 0. Totals 25 7-12 63.

CRANE (47)

Carrasco 7 3-4 18; Falcon 0 0-0 0; Hubbard 2 0-0 6; Garcia 2
0-0 4; Rodriguez 4 2-4 10; Blackwood 1 1-2 34; Aranda 2 0-0
4; Mathis 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 6-10 47.

Pecos 17 13 15 18 -63
Crane 6 7 19 15 -47
Three-point goals: Pecos 6 (Perea 3, Luna, Navarette, H.
Garcia), Crane 3 (Hubbard 2, Carrasco). Fouled out: None.
Total fouls: Pecos 12, Crane 12.

Pecos girls lose consolation to Indians


PECOS, Nov. 7 -- The Pecos Eagle girls were unable to get
their second win in a row after five season-opening losses,
as they dropped to 1-6 on the season Friday with a 60-26
loss to the El Paso Ysleta Indians in the consolation finals
of the West Texas Shootout in Crane.

Pecos won its first game of the season the previous day in
Crane, 56-43 over Fort Davis. But coach Brian Williams said
the Eagles made too many mistakes against Ysleta, which
outscored Pecos 30-6 in the middle periods.

"They killed us inside. They weren't as big as we were,
they just had good position and knew how to use it."

Stephanie Rayos had 17 points and Cindy Diaz added 14 for
the Indians, who put in 15 points in each of the four
periods. The Eagles didn't get into double digits in any
quarter until the final period, and had no player in double
figures.

Maricela Arenivas led Pecos with nine points.

Shaye Lara, who had 16 in Thursday's win, was shut out on
Friday. "She was rushing her shot," said Williams. "She was
shooting too quick and forcing her shots."

"I think we had 30 turnovers for the game, and a lot came
off the fast break, when we would either walk with it or
throw it out of bounds."

The Eagles will try to get their second win again on
Tuesday, when they host Fort Stockton in a 6 p.m. start.
Pecos lost at Fort Stockton two weeks ago by four points,
while the Prowlers lost to Presidio and Monahans in their
two games at the West Texas Shootout.

Pecos' junior varsity and freshman teams host their own
tournaments this past weekend, with both squads ended up in
the consolation finals. The JV lost to Alpine, 21-20, while
the ninth graders beat Fort Stockton, 47-42. Jessica
Rodriguez' 16 points led the freshmen and Brandi Harrison's
six was tops for the JV.

Odessa Permian won the JV division, 40-38 over Midland
High, while Odessa High beat Fort Stockton for third, 79-38.
Andrews won the freshman title, 69-35 over Permian's
sophomores, with Midland taking third, 50-23 over Wink's JV.

PECOS (24)

Barreno 0 0-0 0; Lara 0 0-0 0; Marquez 2 1-2 6; Garcia 0 0-0
0; Payne 0 0-0 0; Molinar 0 0-0 0; Quiroz 0 0-0 0; Salcido 0
0-0 0; Arenivas 4 0-0 9; Levario 0 4-4 4; Hathorn 0 0-0 0;
Fobbs 2 3-4 7. Totals 8 8-10 26.

EP YSLETA (60)

Gamboa 2 0-0 4; Mendez 2 0-0 5; Meza 1 2-4 4; Para 2 0-0 4;
Rayos 7 3-4 17; Dias 5 4-8 14; Torrez 0 0-0 0; Pechada 1 0-2
2; Rodriguez 1 0-0 3; Dorporta 1 0-0 2; Molinar 1 1-2 3.
Totals 24 10-20 60.

Pecos 8 3 3 12 -24
EP Ysleta 15 15 15 15 -60
Three-point goals: Pecos 2 (Marquez, Arenivas), EP Ysleta 2
(Mendez, Rodriguez). Fouled out: None.

Final flag football registration Tuesday


PECOS, Dec. 7 -- The final sign-up for the winter youth flag
football league will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the
Texas-New Mexico Power Co. Reddy Room on Stafford Boulevard.

A coaches meeting and the draft of league players will be
held following the registration, at 7 p.m. also in the T-NMP
Reddy Room, according to Tony Aguilar of the league. The
youth league is open to both boys and girls currently in
grades 1 through 6.



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Pecos Enterprise
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324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net

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