PECOS ENTERPRISE

Daily Newspaper for Reeves County, Trans Pecos, Big Bend, Far West Texas

SPORTS

August 22, 1996

Eagles host Cranes with eyes on Tors

By JON FULBRIGHT

Staff Writer

PECOS, Aug. 22 - They'll be looking at the Cranes this Friday evening,
but the Pecos Eagles' eyes have been focused mainly on the Tornadoes so
far in preseason practice.
The Eagles play the first of their two scrimmages Friday, at home
against the Crane Golden Cranes, beginning with the junior varsity and
freshman scrimmages about 5 p.m. But new head coach Mike Belew said
Pecos has been gearing their workouts more towards the Lamesa Golden
Tornadoes, their first regular season opponent, than towards their
opening scrimmage foe.
"We're mainly focused on Lamesa, because that's when things start to
count," Belew said Tuesday. "The good thing about Crane is the defense
they run is about the same as what Lamesa does. They run the 50, so
there's a lot of carryover.
"We'll start talking up Crane tomorrow (Wednesday) and Thursday, and
then next week, we'll do the same before we face Greenwood," he added.
While Friday's scrimmage will give Pecos fans their first look at the
Eagles' new offense and defense - modeled after the ones Belew worked
with while an assistant at Odessa Permian for 12 seasons - neither team
will be planning any major surprises.
"I talked with coach (Alan) Cherry on Sunday, and we talked about what
we'd both be going with," Belew said. He said Crane will be running
their offense out of the I-formation, to go along with the 50 defense
which will have eight men up and three deep in the secondary.
Defensively, the Eagles have switched from their longtime 5-2 formation
to a 4-3 defense, shifting their lone returning all-district player,
senior Joseph Strain, from defensive end to middle linebacker.
Along with those changes, Belew said Friday's scrimmage may be run a
little differently from in the past, as far as where the ball is set up
on each series.
"I'd like to get the ball at the 20 and drive it until you score or
stall, and then go back to the 30 and do the same thing, and go back to
the 40 on the next series. That way if they stop you, at least you get a
chance to look at your offense from different field positions."
He said as far as the total number of plays, "We'll probably run about
20 plays on the first series, and then 15 or 20 on the second and about
10 on the third." He also hopes to work on punt formations Friday,
though as is the case in most scrimmages, the teams won't return the
ball.
"I want to be flexible with coach Cherry. The main thing we want to do
is help each other out and get everybody ready for the season," Belew
said.
Crane's head coach will also be making his debut in his new position on
Friday, coming over from Hamiln after a Class 2A semifinal appearance in
1994 and a 10-2 mark and a trip to the area round of the playoffs last
season. He takes over a team that, like Pecos, is looking to improve on
their 3-7 mark from 1995.
Linebacker Tim Acosta and defensive end Casey Willis are both two-year
starters for the Cranes, and they should get some help filling in other
slots from their sub-varsity squads. Both went 8-1, including a 28-0 win
by Crane's freshman at home against Pecos, the only meeting of the
season between the Eagles and Cranes.
"It's always exciting to go against different people. It gives us a
chance to evaluate our players against different opposition and get us
ready for the first game," Belew said. "Some of it (starters) are still
up in the air, so we'll take a look at those, and we still have next
week after Greenwood to decide."

School designates company

to sell ads for grid calendar

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PECOS, Aug. 22 - The Pecos-Barstow-Toyah Independent School District has
authorized Steve Lawes, a representative of Great Texas Sports, Inc., to
sell advertising for the official 1996 Pecos High School football poster.
"Steve is the only person authorized be Pecos High School to solicit
advertising space for this project, P-B-T athletic director and head
football coach Mike Belew said.
"Funds for this project go back into the athletic department to help
the school," he added. Several unauthorized calendar companies have sold
advertising or posters in recent years, and the money has not gone back
into the school system.
Belew said anyone who has any questions, or anyone who would like to
purchase and ad can call the athletic department at 447-7220.

Irvin runs strange play in returning vehicle

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DALLAS, Aug. 22 (AP) - An attorney says he'll seek a contempt motion
against Michael Irvin after the Cowboys' receiver reneged on a promise
to return a $50,000 sport utility vehicle on time to car dealers who are
suing him.

A deadline for the return of a Toyota Land Cruiser, lent to Irvin as
part of an endorsement contract, passed at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday without
word from the football star, said attorney Larry Friedman, who
represents the dealers.

``It's more of Michael Irvin's petulance,'' Friedman said. ``It's his
defiance of authority.''

By evening, there was no sign of the vehicle and no word from Irvin.
Friedman said he would ask the judge today to hold Irvin in contempt. A
Land Cruiser reportedly turned up at Frederiksen's office late Wednesday
night, but it was not the one given to Irvin by the Toyota dealers.

Frederiksen did not return a telephone call Wednesday night.

The North Texas Toyota Dealers Association sued Irvin Tuesday for
damages, contending Irvin violated deceptive-trade laws when he signed
an endorsement contract misrepresenting himself as a moral person.

The dealers had to scrap their spring ad campaign featuring Irvin when
police found him, a former teammate and two topless dancers in an Irving
motel room on March 4, along with marijuana, cocaine and drug
paraphernalia.

The lawsuit seeks $1.2 million for lost sales and $200,000 in production
costs.

On Wednesday morning, state District Judge Candace Tyson gave Irvin and
the auto dealers one week to negotiate a settlement. Otherwise, the case
goes to trial March 10.

``We don't think he's entitled to any compensation because he didn't
disclose to us his immoral lifestyle,'' Friedman said.

``If we can't settle the case in the next week, we will be taking
depositions of some of the members of the Cowboys team in order to
develop the facts of the case.''

Friedman requested the return of the Land Cruiser the group lent Irvin
as part of the contract. Chris Frederiksen, Irvin's attorney, agreed to
return the vehicle by early afternoon.

Earlier, Irvin's attorney said the receiver didn't believe the contract
dispute would lead to litigation.

``He was not expecting that Toyota would rush him to the courthouse to
file a lawsuit,'' Frederiksen said.

Last month, Irvin pleaded no contest to a felony cocaine possession
charge. He was sentenced to four years' deferred adjudication, fined
$10,000 and ordered to perform 800 hours of community service.

The NFL suspended him for the season's first five games for the drug
violation.

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State and Regional Sports Pages--San Angelo Standard-Times

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