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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Monday, November 1, 1999
Eagles' defense, special teams light up scoreboard
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Oct 30, 1999 — You really didn't need a scoreboard in the first
half of Friday's game between the Pecos Eagles and Canutillo Golden Eagles,
which was good, because the one at Eagle Stadium blew out 15 minutes before
game time.
The two Eagle squads missed a combined four scoring chances in the first
half, and raced through a 0-0 tie in under 45 minutes. But the scoreboard
would have come in handy in the final two quarters of play, when Pecos'
defense and special teams scored or set up five touchdowns, in 32-0 shutout
of Canutillo, to help clinch their second straight trip to the playoffs.
Pecos managed just 167 yards total offense on the night, but as head
coach Gary Grubbs pointed out, "We never had the ball in the second half,"
when Pecos scored two touchdowns off interceptions, one off a blocked punt
and set up two more following a fumbled punt and a third interception,
while posting their third shutout of the year.
"We had our opportunities. We should have had at least two touchdowns,"
Grubbs said of the first half failures. Pecos drove the ball from their
own 33 on their first series to a 1st-and-10 at the Canutillo 11 after
a 25-yard run by Donnie Winfrey. But he was stuffed at the line on the
next play, and on 4th-and-2 Jacob Esparza was stopped for no gain, giving
the ball back to the Golden Eagles.
Pecos then stopped Canutillo and Mark Dominguez shanked an 11-yard punt
to the Canutillo14. But once again, Pecos' line couldn't open the holes,
and a fourth down pass by Alex Garcia to Esparza came up two yards short.
That seemed to inspire Canutillo, as they proceeded to drive the ball 78
yards, mostly on runs by Gilbert Gonzales and Pete Terrazas.
"They did some things we weren't ready for." said Grubbs. "We had our
tackles in a little too tight, and they ran it off tackle."
Pecos finally ended the drive by stopped Terrazas twice after Canutillo
had gotten a 3rd-and-2 at the Eagle 18. Then it was Pecos' turn to miss
a scoring chance, as Ricky Plummer dropped a throw from Derek Zubledia
off a double reverse option pass, with under two minutes to play in the
half.
"They had a nice little drive going, but we were able to step up on
defense," Grubbs said. "They play a style of football we really defend
well."
The cold front that blew in about 9 p.m. was a factor in the third period,
both for what it did and for when it showed up — moments after Daniel Terrazas
got off a 45-yard punt towards the north end of the field that Eloy Gonzales
had to go back on and then fumbled, with Jason Payne recovering the ball
at the Canutillo 11.
After being stopped inside the Canutillo 10 twice in the opening period,
but this time a two-yard run by Len Carson on 3rd-and-2 got the Eagles
a first down at the one, and quarterback Alex Garcia snuck into the end
zone on the next play for his first touchdown of the season.
Jacob Weidner's extra point made it 7-0 with about nine minutes left
in the period (the only time clock was the unofficial LED display on the
scoreboard clock in the press box, while the referees maintained the official
time on the field), and it stayed that way until late in the third quarter,
where Canutillo had a chance to tie the game.
That came after Gonzales returned a punt — now into the wind — by Terrazas
to the Pecos 38. Dominguez, making his first start at quarterback in place
of the injured Jesus Navarette, got loose for a 12 yard first down run
then just missed an open Richard Kastl behind the defense on first down
from the Pecos 26.
But two plays later he was hit by Daniel Terrazas coming in from his
linebacker position, and the ball popped into the air and was picked off
by Trent Riley, who was able to take it 77 yards the other way for a touchdown
and a 13-0 Eagles' lead.
Weidner's extra point was blocked and almost run back for two points
by Angel Vega, but after that, it would be Weidner doing the blocking.
He knocked down and then recovered a Dominguez punt at the Canutillo 23.
Pecos wasn't able to turn into points, as holding calls wiped out touchdown
runs, by Esparza on a sweep and Zubeldia off an option reverse to close
the third period and start the fourth, and Canutillo then got a hand on
a Terrazas punt, but not enough to keep it from bouncing down to the Golden
Eagles' 4-yard line.
Three plays and a botched pitch-out netted the Golden Eagles minus-1
yard, and this time, Dominguez' punt was blocked by Omar Luna coming through
the middle of the line, with Weidner recovering the ball in the end zone
for the touchdown.
"On the first one we didn't call for a block, but we always have pressure
up the middle," Grubbs said. "On the second, when they had to punt the
ball into the wind, we were going after it."
Things would get worse for Canutillo. Gilbert Gonzales, who ran for
55 yards on the night and returned the game's opening kickoff 49 yards
to the Pecos 38, tried another return off a handoff, but was tackled by
Joey Garcia at the 31. He then took a punch at Garcia and both players
were flagged and ejected from the game.
The main beneficiary of this was Peter Juarez, Garcia's replacement
at cornerback. He was in the right spot to pick off a Dominguez slant pass
that floated behind receiver Rene Ochoa in the strong wind and return it
36 yards for the Eagles' second return score in eight minutes.
Sophomore Julian Lopez relieved Dominguez after that. He would have
one run for a first down, but his second pass of the night was also a floater
into the wins and was picked off by Payne at the Pecos 32.
He returned it to midfield and Pecos then began a penalty-filled drive
to their final score. A pair of run by Esparza netted 36 of his 84 yards
on the night, and the Eagles were then helped by a trio of Canutillo personal
foul penalties after a holding call of their own. One was for a facemask
sack of Alex Garcia, a second for a late hit on Carson, and the third and
interference call on Kastl off a pass to Zubledia in the end zone.
The last one set up a one-yard TD run by Carson to cap the scoring with
30 seconds to play.
Canutillo wound up with 156 yards in offense in the game, just 11 less
than Pecos, but were hurt far more by their turnovers. "They were forced
to throw it into the wind and we picked it off a couple of times," said
Grubbs.
Canutillo saw their record fall to 1-8 on the season, 1-3 in district,
ending their post-season hopes. Pecos improved their season record to 5-4
and their district record to 3-1, and clinched a playoff spot about an
hour after their game ended, when San Elizario clinch their own playoff
berth by defeating Clint 35-14.
Mountain View kept its playoff hopes alive and handed Fabens its fourth
heartbreaking district loss in as many games, by a 36-33 final score in
Friday's other 2-4A contest. They can make the playoffs with a win over
Clint next Friday, and how that goes will determine who Pecos meets in
the bi-district round of the playoffs.
The Eagles will now go to San Elizario and will seek to earn a share
of the district title by beating the district's third group of Eagles,
who've won six in a row after a 1-2 start.
at Pecos
Canutillo 0 0
0 0 - 0
Pecos 0
0 13 19 -32
Third Quarter
Pec. - A. Garcia 1 run (Weidner kick), 4:00.
Pec. - Riley 77 interception return (kick blocked), 9:10.
Fourth Quarter
Pec. - Weidner recovery of blocked punt in end zone (Weidner
kick), 2:12.
Pec. - Juarez 36 interception return (kick failed), 3:22.
Pec. - Carson 2 run (kick failed), 11:30.
Can Pec
First Downs
8 13
Rushes-Yds
34-126 45-159
Passing Yds
28 8
Passes
3-14-3 1-6-0
Punts-Yds
3-19.7 4-34.3
Fumbles-lost
2-1 2-1
Penalties-Yds
9-69 5-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing - Canutillo, G. Gonzales 14-55, Terrazas
11-31, Dominguez 5-20, Lopez 1-12, Rios 2-7, D. Gonzales 1-1. Pecos, Esparza
14-84, Winfrey 8-31, Carrillo 10-31, Carson 9-16, A. Garcia 4-(-8).
Passing - Canutillo, Dominguez 3-12-2-38, Lopez
0-2-1-0. Pecos, Garcia 1-5-0-8, Zubledia 0-1-0-0.
Receiving - Canutillo, Vega 1-10, Kastl 1-10,
Ochoa 1-8. Pecos, Esparza 1-8.
Missed Field Goals - None.
Pecos rallies for bi-district win over Tigers
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
EL PASO, Nov. 1, 1999 -- Three game matches have been the rule, not
the exception, for the Pecos Eagles volleyball team in 1999. So it wasn’t
a big surprise that Pecos would go three games Saturday in their bi-district
playoff match against the El Paso High Tigers.
But what was different was the way the Eagles played – getting stronger
as the game went along, which allowed them to rally from a 15-13 opening
loss to defeat the Tigers in Game 2, 15-11. Then in the deciding game,
the Eagles survived squandering an early 5-1 lead to score 10 of the match’s
final 12 points to beat El Paso, 15-8, and earn a trip to Seminole on Tuesday
to face No. 1-ranked Hereford in the area round of the Class 4A playoffs.
“I guess we just knew too much about them,” said Eagles’ coach Becky
Granado. “Our scouting report was excellent. Everything on it their girls
did. We knew when we blocked them they’d start dinking.”
One thing that didn’t work out as planned was the rotation. Granado
had switched her normal rotation around in Thursday’s practice game loss
to Fort Stockton, putting D’Andra Ortega on the front line with Philonicus
Fobbs coming off the bench. But after the opening loss the Eagles went
back to their regular rotation and trailed only once the rest of the way.
“After I made the switch I had her (Ortega) up there against their
bigger hitter and Philly against their strongest hitter. That didn’t work
so I switched it back in the second game," Granado said. "It seems like
she plays better against stronger hitters."
Pecos has normally started strong, then struggled to pull out wins
this season, or have won the first game and lost the final two, as was
the case Thursday against Fort Stockton. This time, the Eagles struggled
at the start, as the Tigers' Lorena Chavez opened the game with a spike
off Ortega, and Erika Herrera would later add a kill and dink to give El
Paso High a 12-7 lead.
Fobbs would come up with a kill and Chavez would spike two shots out
of bounds, allowing Pecos to tie the score, before El Paso High won it,
off a kill be Herrera and an ace serve by Christine Fineron.
The second game was the reverse of the first, even down to the winning
point coming off an ace serve, this time by Monica Meza. Ortega and Fobbs
would both block Chavez for points and Fobbs would also score off a pair
of kills, as the Eagles built a 10-3 lead, only to see El Paso rally to
within 10-9.
Pecos then got a break, when Liz Chavarria was called for touching the
net on a missed shot by Ashley Salcido, and Pecos then scored three straight
points, off an Ortega spike of an overset, and two bad hits by Krystal
Nagrete and Chavez. El Paso High would get to within 13-11 before a dink
by Fobbs and Meza's ace finished things off.
El Paso's lone lead in Game 3 came at 6-5, when Fobbs blocked a Nagrete
kill out of bounds, but the Eagles then tied it on a Salcido kill, jumped
ahead 9-6 on a trio of unforced errors and then stopped a Tiger rally when
Leslie Brown was able to dig out a spike by Nagrete and sent it back over
the net, where it fell in-between a pair of El Paso players.
"At the end, when they hit the ball and Leslie picked it up and went
back over the next and caught their defense off guard, that helped us win
the third game," Granado said. "It was a hard hit and she picked it up,
and that gave us a big lift."
Pecos was up 9-7 at that point, and then reeled off five straight points
to take a 14-7 lead. Fobbs just missed ending the game when her spike went
past the back line, and Herrera did answer with a spike of her own, but
Ortega was able to put a spike down moments later to end the match.
The victory improved Pecos' season record to 20-11 going into Tuesday's
match against Hereford, which beat out defending state champion Dumas for
the District 1-4A title this season. Dumas, which eliminated Pecos last
season, will face Clint on Tuesday. Both Hereford and Clint earned byes
for winning their district titles.
After Pecos and El Paso finished off their game Saturday, San Elizario
lost in three games to El Paso Burges, 15-4, 12-15, 15-12, in the other
bi-district playoff match.
Sanderson ends Balmorhea's playoff hopes
PECOS, Nov. 1, 1999 -- The Balmorhea Bears didn't fall behind the Sanderson
Eagles early on Friday night, they way they had in several other games
this season. But after grabbing a 14-0 first period lead, the Bears were
buried under a quartet of touchdown passes in the second period and saw
their playoff hopes ended by the host Eagles, 68-36.
The Bears took a 14-0 lead with just over 90 seconds gone in the game,
on a 65-yard run by Josue Mendoza after the opening kickoff and a 35 yard
fumble return by Arturo Rodriguez on the Eagles' first possession. Balmorhea
then held that lead through the next 12 minutes of play, before Sanderson
broke out for four scores in 6½ minutes of the second period.
The first three of those went to Alex Escamilla from Roland Rodriguez
and covered just 20 total yards, as turnover problems began to cost the
Bears. The first two scores came just 56 second apart, as Sanderson grabbed
a 16-14 lead. Escamilla's third TD reception came from eight yards out
with 2:08 left in the half, and the Eagles then got the big play of the
night with 18 seconds left in the half, when Rodriguez hit Tyler Cantu
on a 51-yard scoring play to put Sanderson up by 18.
The Bears cut that to 12 early in the third period on Mendoza's second
TD of the night, off a 12-yard pass from Isaiah Rodriguez, but once again,
Sanderson responded with four straight touchdowns, beginning with a 44-yard
return by Rodriguez on the ensuing kickoff. Touchdown runs by Cantu, Josh
Benavidez and Escamilla followed, widening the lead to 60-18.
Balmorhea was able to keep the game going until the finish by posting
two more scores, on an 11-yard TD pass from Isaiah Rodriguez to Ryan Clark,
and Mendoza's third score of the game. But the Bears were held to under
100 yards rushing on the night and under 250 in total offense, while committing
seven turnovers.
Sanderson, which stayed atop the District 7-A six man standings, had
four turnovers of their own, but more than made up for it with 531 yards
total offense.
The loss dropped Balmorhea to 1-3 in district play and 3-4 on the season.
The Bears return home for what could be their final game of the season,
this Friday against Marathon. Balmorhea is scheduled to close out the season
at Sierra Blanca, but the Vaqueros have been forced to forfeit their last
two games due to a lack of players.
Steer roper Goodwin dies in finals accident
OKLAHOMA CITY, Nov. 1, 1999 (AP) — Steer roper Colby Goodwin has died after
he was injured when his horse fell on him during the National Finals Steer
Roping competition.
Nita West, a spokeswoman for Mercy Health Center, said the 32-year-old
Goodwin, of Canyon, died at 9:07 a.m. Sunday from massive head injuries
sustained Saturday night at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie.
Authorities said Goodwin was injured when his horse tripped on the slack
portion of his rope after he had roped a steer in the ninth round of the
competition. The horse reared, then fell backward and landed on Goodwin's
head.
Goodwin's wife, Amy, and his parents were at the arena when the accident
occurred. Goodwin and his wife are the parents of a 10-day-old child, Gunner.
"We are all incredibly saddened by this event," said Steve Hatchell,
commissioner of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. "It's something
that shouldn't happen and just doesn't make any sense. All of rodeo is
truly sad and is thinking of Colby's family."
Goodwin's death was the first in NFSR competition and only the second
in National Finals history. Bull rider Brent Thurman was killed at the
1994 National Finals Rodeo.
Goodwin entered the steer roping finals ranked eighth in the Crown Royal
World Standings with $27,821. He also qualified for the NFSR in 1995 and
1998, finishing 14th in the world standings in 1995 and 15th last year.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, 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
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 1999 by Pecos Enterprise
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