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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Eagles post sweep in Anthony, face Devils, Coyotes
The Pecos Eagles will have their only opportunity of the season to play back-to-back matches at home this week, as they take on the Presidio Blue Devils in non-district play on Tuesday night, and host the Tornillo Coyotes in their third District 4-3A match of the season on Saturday.
The Eagles went on the road on Saturday to Anthony, and improved their district record to 2-0 with a 25-13, 25-18, 25-8 win over the Wildcats, after going to Presidio a week ago and beating the Blue Devils, 25-5, 25-9, 25-13. The wins, along with a victory in Presidio over Fort Davis, improved Pecos’ season record to 15-11.
Tuesday’s match will be only the second one at home for the Eagles’ varsity this season. Play will start with the freshman game at 4:30 p.m., while Pecos’ junior varsity team will have a split schedule, with one team staying in Pecos while a second travels to Dell City to take on the Cougars, in a 5 p.m. start.
“Anthony has struggled over the last few years,” Eagles’ coach Ruth McWilliams said. “They are just now getting back on track and with a new coach and new system, so they have us a lot of points early in all three game. Athough their play became more consistant as the match progressed I believe we had too much offense for them to handle right now.”
She said the easy wins allowed subs Brittany Quintana, Talia Castillo, Destiny Simmons and Kendra Villanueva to get more playing time, as McWilliams was able to rest her starters.
Pecos is tied for first in district play with Fabens, 25-20, 25-15, 25-18 winners at home over Fort Stockton on Saturday, while The Prowlers are now tied for third with Clint, which bounced back from their district opening loss to the Eagles with a 25-20, 14-25, 25-11, 25-12 win over Tornillo on Saturday.
Pecos also won Saturday’s junior varsity and freshman matches over Anthony. The JV defeated the Wildcats by 25-18, 25-12 scores, while the ninth graders also won in two games, 25-16, 25-20.
Pecos’ split squads split Thursday games
Heavy rains took out all but one of the four junior high road games for the Crockett Middle School football teams on Thursday, while Pecos’ freshmen and junior varsity teams were able to get in their games amid the showers at Eagle Stadium, against the Denver City Mustangs and Kermit Yellowjackets.
Pecos split their games against Denver City, with the Mustangs downing the Eagles’ freshman purple team by a 28-12 score before being shut out by Pecos’ JV, 30-0. The ninth grade gold team then defeated Kermit by a 33-6 final score.
At the junior high level, the only team that managed to play was the eighth grade gold team, which lost in Marfa to the Shorthorns by a 32-18 final score. The seventh grade gold team managed to get in about one quarter of their game in Wink before thunderstorms forced cancellation of that game, while the Crockett purple teams never even started their games in Denver City before heavy rains and bad road conditions scrubbed those contests.
The JV improved to 3-0 with their win, as Ramiro Pinales scored three touchdowns for Pecos, on runs of three, four and 12 yards in each of the first three quarters. He also had a two-point conversion run after his second score, while Nathan Hernandez had the Eagles’ other touchdown, on a five-yard run in the second period. Quarterback Domenic Bejarano passed to Arthur Navarette for two points following that score, and Bejarano had a two-point conversion run following Pinales’ final TD.
In the freshman purple team’s loss to Denver City, the Eagles scored first on a three-yard Rudy D’Anda run, but the Mustangs then scored the next two touchdowns and took a 14-6 lead. Pecos answered with a 63-yard run by Omar Levario, before the Mustangs added their third score just before halftime, and a final TD in the closing minutes of the game.
The game was the first split squad contest of the season for the ninth graders. The gold team improved to 2-1 with their second win in two weeks over Kermit. Israel Espudo had a touchdown run of 36 yards and Ben Dominguez scored on a five-yarder in the first half, while A.J. Rodriguez had an extra point kick and Chase Price a two-point run for a 15-0 halftime lead.
Kermit would score early in the third period to cut the lead to nine, but Espudo took a lateral from Eddie Pando on the ensuing kick and went 75-yard for a touchdown to make it 22-0. Jared Rodriguez then scored on a 43-yard run later in the period and Price closed out the scoring with a four-yard TD run in the final period.
The eighth grade gold team got three touchdowns from Devante Jenkins in Marfa, but saw the Shorthorns pull away in the second and third quarters to get the victory in their first game of the 2008 season.
The purple and gold junior high teams will all be at home this coming Thursday against Monahans, while the freshman and JV teams will travel to Monahans to take on the Loboes.
Due to the realigning of the Crockett football field, all games will be at Eagle Stadium, with the seventh and eighth grade gold games starting at 4 and 5 p.m., followed by the purple team games at 6 and 7:30 p.m. The freshmen and JV teams will play only one game each in Monahans, starting at 5 and 6:30 p.m.
Mustangs thump sloppy Eagles
One big play didn’t make up for a whole lot of little plays for the Pecos Eagles in Denver City on Friday night.
The Eagles executed an option pass off a fake reverse on the first play of the game, as Timo Reyes connected on an 86-year touchdown pass to Luis Morales 26 second into the Eagles’ game against the Mustangs. But Pecos would have a hard time executing many other players on the night, while Denver City had only one play longer than 20 yards for the entire game, but used a whole lot of little plays – and a lot of Eagle mistakes – to score six straight touchdowns on the way to a 42-9 homecoming victory.
“I told them we took a long step back. We had dropped pass after dropped pass, penalty after penalty,” said Eagles’ coach Chris Henson, as his team, which threw for over 200 yards a week ago, could manage only 13 yards passing the rest of the night following their opening score.
Morales, who had a 75-yard touchdown catch from Paul Zubeldia in the Eagles’ loss the previous week to Kermit, had to wait for Reyes’ pass but was still far enough behind the defense to race the final 60 yards for the score. But offensively the rest of the night belonged to Denver City sophomore Alberto Alarcon, who followed up his two-touchdown performance in Pecos last year by running for two touchdowns, catching two other TD passes from Colt McDowell and then throwing for the Mustangs’ final TD in relief of McDowell at quarterback in the final period.
“Our defense just sat back on its heels all night and let them come to us. They were gaining 8-9 yards a play,” Henson said.
Alarcon and McDowell hooked up for a 14-yard gain on Denver City’s first play following Morales’ score, and the Mustangs would go 75 yards in 14 plays to tie the game. Zach Roman would have an 11-yard run and then catch a 10-yard pass from McDowell, while Alarcon would score his first TD on a 4th-and-goal run from the five-yard-line.
An offsides call against Pecos on 2nd-and-goal from the 11 would help Denver City get their score, and the Eagles would then put themselves in a hole by muffing the ensuing kickoff, and then getting whistled for a holding call before Zubeldia was sacked near the goal line by Mike Sherman and Quade Adams.
Denver City then survived a muffed punt by Buddy Trinidad and set up at the Pecos 41, and needed just seven plays to take the lead for good. This time, an offsides call on a 4th-and-2 negated a stop of McDowell for a two yard loss and gave Denver City another first down, and three plays later McDowell found Alarcon on a fade pattern in the far left corner of the end zone.
Pecos would get a couple of first downs on their next series, on runs by Arturo Munoz and Zubeldia, but were forced to punt as the second quarter began. This time, the Eagles were able to stop the Mustangs on downs, but Reyes’ 21-yard return to the 46 was negated by an illegal block, and the Eagles ended up starting from their own 18. This time, Zubeldia would be sacked for a five-yard loss, while also suffering an ankle injury that would later force him to leave the game, and when Pecos was forced to punt from their own 17 a wide snap got past Junior Carrasco, forcing the punter to fall on the ball in the end zone for a safety.
Pecos’ defense would hold again after the free kick, but they would also get flagged for another illegal block on a Reyes punt return, and had to start their next drive at the nine. The did manage one first down on a Zubeldia pass to Jeremy Martinez, but the Eagles’ quarterback would be sacked by Adams again, and this time, after a punt just past midfield, the Mustangs would drive 55 yards for their third score of the night, just before halftime.
McDowell would scramble out of trouble to find Alarcon for a 16-yard gain on a 3rd-and-10, and would later find Brandon McLaurin for 10 yards after a shovel pass to Ramon netted 14 yards. McDowell would then score from a yard out with 56 seconds left in the half and Juan Ortega’s extra point made it a 21-6 game.
Denver City would start the second half with a 67-yard drive that ended with Alarcon’s third TD of the night, on the same pass play that he and McDowell hooked up on in the opening quarter. Ramon would have 12- and 14-yard runs in the series, and McDowell would scramble 12 yards for another first down for the Mustangs.
Meanwhile, the Eagles’ offense would see Munoz leap over one defender for a 15-yard gain and a first down on their first offensive series, and then wipe it out by getting a personal foul call after hitting a Denver City defender following the play. That set Pecos back to their own 10, and two plays later Zubeldia was picked off by Trinidad at the 25-yard-line.
Alarcon was sent in by coach Terry Summers to quarterback the Mustangs on this drive, and while he misfired on his first pass, would have runs of nine, four and nine yards, the last up the middle for his fourth TD on the night.
Alarcon would hit two passes on Denver City’s final scoring drive, going across the middle to Adams for 10 yards on a 4th-and-2 from the 34, and then dumping a pass off to Nik Gudel, who turned it into the Mustangs’ biggest gain of the night, a 24-yard touchdown with 8:40 to play that made it 42-6.
Morales would set up Pecos’ other scoring drive, returning the ensuing kickoff 45 yards to the Denver City 45, which was followed by a personal foul for a late hit by Trinidad. Carrasco, who replaced Zubeldia at quarterback, would run for 15 yards on a 4th-and-3, half of that coming after he was able to pick up his own fumble, but after a motion call set the Eagles back they were forced to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Morales, his first of the season, with 4:04 to play.
The loss dropped Pecos to 0-3 on the season going into their toughest stretch of the year. They’ll take on Monahans at home this coming Friday, then go to Snyder on Sept. 26 for their final pre-district game before opening District 4-3A play two weeks later against defending district champ Fort Stockton.
“I guess we’re just going to have to go back to basics, but we’re going to have to do it quickly with Monahans and Snyder on the road, and then an open week before we can face Fort Stockton,” Henson said, while adding, “I don’t know if we can simplify it any more. The kids are just going to have to get out there and play.”
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 432-445-5475, FAX 432-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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