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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Monday, November 10, 2003

Rangers' TDs in 2nd quarter down Eagles

By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer

The Greenwood Rangers' record and their defensive numbers may have slipped a little from 2002 to 2003, but their offense remains just as explosive as a year ago - something the Pecos Eagles found out in the second quarter of Friday night's regular season finale at Eagle Stadium.

Jimmy Brooks made two athletic touchdown plays on passes from Dawson Wilbur, while Wilbur also ran for a score and Jeremy Audas had the first of two touchdowns as part of a 219-yard rushing night, as the Rangers turned a 7-3 deficit after one period into a 30-7 halftime lead, on the way to a 37-7 victory.

"They beat us up inside. Everybody was pounding us in the trenches, and we couldn't tackle Audas and Wilbur" said Eagles' coach Patrick Willis, whose team allowed 445 yards offense in the game.

Pecos did take advantage of a fumbled punt for the second week in a row to score what turned out to be their only touchdown of the game. Jarrel Brooks fumbled it, after the Rangers had stopped the Eagles following one first down and a 50-yard return of the opening kickoff by Oscar Parada. The ball was recovered by Joe Marruffo at the Rangers' 8-yard-line, but Parada was chased out of bounds by the Greenwood pass rush on the next play at the 18-yard-line.

Luis Ortega gained back a couple of yards on second down, and then on third down Parada pitched the ball to Bino Barreno, who came around the left side, then stopped and threw back to Parada, who got behind the Rangers' defense on the right side for his third touchdown catch of the season five minutes into the game

The lead did stand up for a while. The Eagles survived a 27-yard run by Audas on the next series, stopping Greenwood inside the 10 and forcing an Eric Skaggs 25-yard-field goal with 3:58 left in the period. Pecos then dodged another bullet, when Brooks picked off a pass by Parada and returned it to the Eagles 22-yard-line.

Audas picked up eight yards on three carries, but on the first play of the second quarter he fumbled a fourth down pitch for Wilbur, which gave the Eagles the ball back at their own 16. But after that, the Rangers cut down on their errors and scored 27 points in the final 9:20 of the second period.

Wilbur scrambled away from a potential sack and turned it into a 12-yard gain on the first play of the next series, then found Brooks on a 1st-and-15 pass, and he made a leaping plunge into the end zone, giving Greenwood the lead. Two plays after the kickoff, Parada fumbled a snap from center that James Bowen recovered at the Pecos 18, and two plays after that, Audas found the end zone for a 16-7 Greenwood lead.

The Rangers' next series went 74 yards on nine plays, highlighted by four straight first down runs, the first by Wilbur and the final three by Audas. Wilbur went in from a yard out with 2:05 left in the half, and Greenwood would then close out the period by intercepting new quarterback Saul Pina, and then scoring on a 58-yard touchdown pass to Brooks, who out jumped two defenders at the Pecos 35 and then races cross field, getting past two other Eagles into the end zone as the half expired.

"I blame myself for the touchdown just before the half. I should have had them in the prevent defense with six seconds left," Willis said.

Greenwood added only one more touchdown in the second half, a 48-yard run by Audas, after he fumbled away a chance to score on the Rangers' first possession of the second half. Rangers' coach Bob Purser cleared his bench after that, while Andrew Zachary stopped Pecos' lone scoring chance in the final two periods, intercepting a Pina pass at the Rangers' 17.

Ortega finished the game with 43 yards rushing on 13 carries, after gaining 71 yards in his varsity debut against Fort Stockton a week earlier. In just over five quarters of play the freshman ran for 114 yards, which left him just 23 yards from being the Eagles' second leading rusher of the season behind Rashad Terry. Pecos only gained 625 yards rushing in 10 games this season, which Willis said was the main reason for the team's six game losing streak to close out the year.

"It all boils down to the running game. We never could establish a running game, which boils down to we got whipped up front," he said. "That boils down to we've got to get faster or bigger next year. We have to pass the ball in our offense and it only works if you can run the ball or if you've got great receivers, and we didn't."

Willis said he would work on those problems during the off-season period, which he said would be a tough one. "They're going to take it seriously," he said. "We will be better than 3-7 next year. I'll guarantee that."

Pecos ended at 3-7 and 0-4 in district, while Greenwood is 7-2 and 4-1, and will face Merkel in the area round of the Class 3A Division II playoffs on Friday night at Angelo State University in San Angelo.

Kermit earned the other playoff berth, routing Fort Stockton 43-22. They'll face Sweetwater at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa in the other Division II bi-district game. Monahans, which won the District 4-3A title, will play Snyder in the Division I playoffs for Class 3A, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at the Scharbauer Center in Midland.

Greenwood 3 27 7 0 - 37

Pecos 7 0 0 0 - 7

First Quarter

Pec. - Parada 16 pass from B. Barreno (A. Orosco kick), 5:02

Grn. - FG Skaggs 25, 8:02

Second Quarter

Grn. - Jm. Brooks 20 pass from Wilbur (Skaggs kick), 2:40.

Grn. - Audas 2 run (kick failed), 3:30.

Grn. - Wilbur 1 run (Skaggs kick), 9:55

Grn. - Jm. Brooks 58 pass from Wilbur (Skaggs kick), 12:00

Third Quarter

Grn. - Audas 48 run (Skaggs kick), 8:20.

Grn Pec

First Downs 18 8

Rushes-Yds. 46-345 25-53

Passing Yds. 100 100

Passes 4-7-0 7-22-3

Punts-Avg. 2-43 5-33.2

Fumbles-Lost 4-2 1-1

Penalties-Yds. 10-55 6-54

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Greenwood, Audas 22-219, Wilbur 5-50, Higgins 5-35, Ja. Brooks 4-28, Valencia 5-8, Bernal 1-3, Etheridge 1-3 Gann 1-3, Pheiffer 1-2, Zachary 1-(-2). Pecos, Ortega 13-41, Pina 6-13, Terry 1-0, Parada 5-(-3).

PASSING - Greenwood, Wilbur 4-7-0-100. Pecos, Pina 6-16-2-85, B. Barreno 1-1-0-16, Parada 0-5-1-0.

RECEIVING - Greenwood, Jm. Brooks 2-78, Zachary 2-20. Pecos, Muela 3-51, Parada 2-28, Vela 1-14, Parent 1-7.

MISSED FIELD GOALS - None.

Indians hold off Bears in second half

By BRENDEN BRIGGS
Staff Writer

The Balmorhea Bears faced the Fort Davis Indians for their final game of the 2003 six-man football season. Though their playoff hopes were a distant memory, the Bears put on a strong showing against the district-champion Indians before falling by a 48-38 final score.

The Indians began the first quarter with two quick touchdowns and good point-after attempts, but the Bears quickly answered back with two touchdowns of their own, cutting the lead to 14-12. The Bears would have trouble with the extra points all night making only one of their six attempts at the uprights.

With little time remaining in the first period, the Bears' Brandon Mendoza's skillful tackling combined with an interception by Keith Baeza, gave Balmorhea the ball back on their own 30-yard line.

The Bears attacked with strong running and halfback passes to march the ball down the field in seven plays for the score, within the first three minutes of the second quarter. Once again the extra point went wide, but the score put Balmorhea in the lead, 18-14.

On the following kickoff, Robbie Mendoza would stop the Indians' hopes for a long return with a perfect open field tackle at the Fort Davis 21-yard line.

The Indians, however, answered back in four plays. Long runs by Cody Stewart and Trini Granado of the Fort Davis backfield would return the Indians to the lead with 6:01 left in the second quarter. The point after was good and the Indians pulled ahead 22-18.

Fort Davis kicked off the ball deep into the Balmorhea end zone, and the Bears took over on their own 20-yard line. Two hand-offs to Levon Barragon and two to Brandon Mendoza would bring the Bears to first and goal with the ball on the nine-yard line and 3:30 left in the half. The Bears punched the ball in for the score on an inside hand-off to the lumbering 225 pound fullback, Alexis Lozano.

Balmorhea missed the point after, and after a short kick and an even shorter return the Indians took over on their own 33-yard line. Two short running plays to the outside later, Granado took the ball 25 yards for the score just one minute and fifteen seconds after Balmorhea's go-ahead score. The Bear defense would come through on the point after attempt, blocking the kick keeping the Indian lead to four points as the end of the first half approached. Fort Davis kicked off and the Bears returned the ball to their own 37-yard line for the last Balmorhea possession of the half.

The Bears ran four plays, but could not accumulate the necessary yardage and the Indians took over on downs at their own 30-yard line. The Indians felt the close of the half approaching and resorted to a series of Hail-Marys to try and get the ball into the end zone before the buzzer, but the Balmorhea secondary had other thoughts and broke up two and stopped the rest to enter the locker room trailing 28-24.

Fort Davis received the kick off to begin the third quarter, and posted a strong return, giving the Indians good field position at midfield. The Indians started conservatively, with short gaining inside hand offs to the inside. This would prove detrimental to the drive, as Fort Davis would miss two passes to make the conversion and give up possession on the Balmorhea 15-yard line.

Balmorhea would end up falling victim to the same situation, as the Indian defense held each of the successive Bear running plays to three yards or less and the Indians regained possession on the Balmorhea 30 one minute after they gave it up.

Fort Davis succeeded on this attempt with strong running to the outside, and a final end around sweep to lock in the touchdown. The Indians put the ball through the uprights to pull ahead by 12 points in the middle of the third quarter.

On the following kickoff Mendoza ran the ball hard from the goal line to reach the 26-yard line and keep the Bears out of the deepest parts of their own territory. The Bears posted two good runs, followed by a incomplete pass. However, Balmorhea took a hint from their last possession, and punted to the Indians to stick them back on their own 25.

The Indians would run twice to the strong side, but be held to little gains by the Bear defense. On the third play the Indians fumbled and Mendoza recovered to give Balmorhea possession on the Fort Davis 30-yard line with three minutes to go in the quarter.

The Bears fumbled a hand off on the second play of the drive, that was recovered by Robert Vasquez the center. And then repeated the error and mistimed the following hand off. This time Vasquez was ready and recovered the ball and took it into the end zone to close the Indian lead to six points.

It didn't take the Indians long to answer back. Four plays later the Fort Davis penetrated the end zone with a pitch to the ever-present Granado. The Indians would miss the point after and once again the Bears trailed by 12 at the end of the third.

The Bears received the kickoff and got into trouble with a failed pitch attempt that would land them with third down and 25 yards to go. They went with the pitch again and this time the Indians read the play and intercepted the ball at the Balmorhea 30 yard-line, this combined with a late hit would give Fort Davis excellent field position.

The Indians covered the 20 yards to the goal in four plays and extended their lead to 18 on hand off to Stewart. Following a missed point after, the Indians kicked off deep into Balmorhea territory, and with the ball rolling into an out of the end zone, the Bears took over at their own 20.

Balmorhea had trouble getting much going and after a short series of running plays, returned possession to the Indians on their own 29 yard line with 5:52 left in the game.

The Indians handed off to Stewart, who cut the distance to the goal in half, with the ball on the 13 and first and goal.

Balmorhea showed renewed enthusiasm, and stopped the Indian drive short with strong efforts by Urban Baeza and Mendoza in their coverage of the Indian receivers.

The Bears took over on their own 7 yard line and through a series of strong running plays, specifically a long -gaining sweep to Mendoza with a linebacker leveling block by Baeza that got the Bears out of their own territory.

The Bears continued down the field with one minute to go in the game and still trailing by 18. The score was finally punched in by a clock-work pass from Baeza to Mendoza, and in a surprise move Balmorhea made the point after to cut the Indian lead to 10.

The drive had however cut the time on the clock to 14 seconds, and the Bears still needed two touchdowns to win. Balmorhea onsides the kickoff and recovered the ball at the Fort Davis 35 yard line. The effort would fall just short as the clock would run down on the three Bear attempts at the goal fell incomplete.

The Bears finish the season at 6-4. Next season they will be losing Urban Baeza, Keith Baeza, Stoney Iniguez, Kevin Machuca and Robbie Mendoza, but the Bears will retain much of the talent that has helped them play as well as they did this year.



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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

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