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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Monday, September 15, 2003
Eagles use Tors' mistakes to score 19-12 win
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
If the Pecos Eagles could manage only one touchdown and 110 yards playing
at home against the Alpine Bucks, what would they do playing on the road
if they gained even less yardage against the Lamesa Golden Tornadoes?
Win, of course. But it's not the type of victory coach Patrick Willis
wants to try and repeat again this season.
The Eagles offense managed only 95 total yards Friday night in Lamesa.
But unlike the previous week's 13-8 loss to Alpine, they took advantage
of all of their chances inside the 20-yard-line, while also capitalizing
on a Tornado fumble, two short punts and two key penalties to score a 19-12
win.
"We executed a little better, but I'm still disappointed in our offensive
performance," Willis said. "I'm happy to get the win, but we've got to get
better before district starts."
The Eagles won by holding their third straight opponent under 175 yards
total offense, and causing four Lamesa turnovers - though two of those
were given right back, and one led to a 37-yard Amos Martinez field goal
that ended the first half and gave the Tors 10-7 lead.
Against Alpine, the Eagles were held to minus-13 yards rushing, while
on Friday night, Pecos ended up minus-3 on the ground in the first half
and plus-1 yard on 21 carries for the game. But in the first and fourth
quarters, the Eagles were able to get their passing game going and were
able to open just enough holes near the goal line to get running backs Booker
Fobbs and Rashad Terry into the end zone.
Fobbs' score came on a 4th-and-1 play in the first quarter, as he was
able to go through the left side of the line standing into the end zone.
The touchdown was set up by a 20-yard pass from quarterback Saul Pina to
Gabirel Gonzales that gave Pecos a first down on Lamesa's 8-yard-line, and
that came after the Eagles' defense stopped the Tors' opening drive, and
Alfred Morales could get off only an 8-yard punt, which gave Pecos the ball
at Lamesa's 33.
The defense held Lamesa again on their next series, and the Eagles took
over at midfield. But this time they went nowhere and on fourth down, the
snap to punter Eddie Vela went over his head, and his desperation pass to
Simon Castillo was incomplete just before the end of the quarter.
That changed the momentum of the game and for the next two periods, the
ball was mostly in Pecos' end of the field, though Lamesa's only touchdown
of the night came after they took over on their own 41-yard-line.
The Tors ran a reverse to receiver Chris Sambrano, who got around the
right side of Pecos' line and then broke three tackles downfield while cutting
back into the end zone. Martinez' extra point tied the score at 7-all.
The Eagles got one first down on the next series, thanks to the first
of the Tors' three personal foul calls in the game. But an illegal block
by Pecos moments later negated a first down pass from Pina to Jaime Muela
and Lamesa took over at midfield. Two plays later, Morales hooked up with
Bryan Brown on a 33-yard pass to the Pecos 17 with 2:01 left in the half.
The final two minutes then turned into a series of mistakes on both sides.
Morales and Joseph Hill misconnected on a handoff on a 3rd-and-9 play, with
Chad Evans recovering for Pecos at their own 19. But two plays later, Phillip
Reyna stepped in front of a Pina pass for John Parent and returned it 21
yards for a score, only to see an illegal block at the 10-yard-line wipe
that out. Martinez ended up having to try a 37-yard field goal, which turned
into a 42 yarder due to a false start, and back into a 37-yarder after the
Eagles ran into Morales on his 42 yard attempt, which fell short. He capitalized
on the second chance, giving Lamesa their first lead.
Things got worse for Pecos as the third period began, when Fobbs fumbled
on the first play after the kickoff and John Wells recovered at the Pecos
26. But a holding call helped the Eagles' defense push Lamesa back to the
40 and force a punt. But then it was Pecos' turn to get hit with a holding
call, which pushed back inside their own 5, eventually forcing a punt that
gave Lamesa the ball at the Eagles' 37.
Three runs by Hill would move the ball down to the 23, but a motion penalty
on the Tors followed. Morales was then stopped for a two yard loss on a
quarterback option run by Vela and he was sacked by Victor Reyes and Eric
Fuentez on third and fourth down, the second sack giving Pecos the ball
back at their own 40.
They then gave it up at their own 33, after Pina was sacked by J.J. Koehler
for an 11-yard loss on a 3rd-and-8 play. The Tors took over at their own
33 and would pick up a first down as the fourth quarter began, but on the
next play Morales fumbled the snap, which Joe Marruffo recovered for Pecos
at the 44.
In Lamesa territory for the first time in the second half, the Eagles
picked up their first first down of the half moments later on a roughing
the passer call, after a Pina completion to Parent. Pina then hit Muela
for nine yards, picked up another first down on a quarterback sneak to the
12-yard-line. Two plays later, he dumped the ball off to Oscar Parada,,
who ran nine yards to the Lamesa 3.
Facing a 3rd-and-1, the Eagles gave the ball to Terry who went right
and then cut back to the middle and into the end zone to put Pecos up by
three. But that lasted only a few moments, as Pecos tried a trick play on
the extra point kick, only to have Sambrano pick off a pitch from Parent,
who was holding the ball, and race 89 yards the other way for two points,
cutting the lead to 13-12 with 9:44 to play.
"We just didn't block out. He (Parent) was supposed to flip it to our
guy coming around and we didn't get him (Sambrano) blocked," Willis said.
"It was a stupid call on my behalf."
Lamesa would get the ball back, but set themselves back again with a
penalty on their next series, and after Fobbs sacked new quarterback Brown
for a 5-yard loss, Morales got off another short punt, this one to the Tors'
29-yard-line.
Three plays later, on 3rd-and-5, Koehler got the last of Lamesa's personal
foul penalties, grabbing Pina by the facemask and spinning him down to negate
an 8-yard sack and give Pecos a first down at the 13. On the next play,
Pina found Parada loose on the left side and he snared the ball in the end
zone for a 19-12 lead with 5:01 remaining.
The Eagles' try for two came up short, leaving the Tors within a single
score, and Lamesa got close to midfield before last two of their 12 penalties
set them back to the 33 with 1:41 to play. Pecos then appeared to clinch
the game when Adam Ybarra intercepted a pass for Sambrano at the Lamesa
46 and returned it inside the 20, but Sambrano came back and stole the ball
from Ybarra and went back the other way before being stopped at his own
21.
Given one last chance with 1:21 to play, Morales completed his second
pass of the game and second to Brown. But on this one he was tackled by
Muela for a two-yard loss and his next pass, to Sambrano became his second
interception of the night, as Parent picked it off at midfield and returned
it to the 23, where the Eagles ran out the clock.
After giving up 412 yards rushing and 417 overall to Lamesa a year ago,
including 143 yards to Hill, the Eagles held Lamesa to just 120 yards rushing
and 151 overall yards this time, while winning in Lamesa for the first time
since 1994. The victory also allowed Pecos to equal its victory total for
all of 2003, when they went 2-8, with one of those wins coming by forfeit
over Presidio.
"Our kids played well on defense. They (Lamesa) didn't get many yards
themselves," said Willis, though he was still concerned about the Eagles'
inability to open holes for Fobbs and Terry.
"All that speed and we don't have a chance to break something," he said.
"I'll have to look at the films, but every time it breaks down it might
not be all the kids. It may just be one kid missing an assignment and stepping
the wrong way. But we're not playing with much discipline on offense; that's
what I told them at the half."
The 2-1 Eagles will try to surpass 2002's total this Friday, when they
travel to Brownfield to face the Cubs. Brownfield is 0-3, but gave Pecos
something to think about, when they came close to upsetting the Class 2A
state-ranked Crane Golden Cranes on the road this past Friday, before losing,
13-12.
Every District 4-3A team won their games on Friday, all but one, like
Pecos, playing on the road. Monahans got their first victory of 2003, rallying
at Alpine to win, 29-21; Greenwood scored late at Sweetwater to win, 36-29,
in a battle of state-ranked teams; Fort Stockton defeated Ozona, 22-14,
and Kermit blanked a Seminole team at home 24-9 that had scored 41 points
on Monahans a week earlier.
At Lamesa
Pecos 7 0 0 12 - 19
Lamesa 0 10 0 2 - 12
First Quarter
Pec. - Fobbs1 run (A. Orosco kick), 8:15.
Second Quarter
Lam. - Sambrano 59 run (Martinez kick), 4:35.
Lam. - FG Sabrano 37, 12:00
Fourth Quarter
Pec. - Terry 3 run (Lam. - Sambrano fumble return), 2:16.
Pec. - Parada 13 pass from Pina (pass failed), 6:59.
Pec Lam
First Downs 7 6
Rushes-Yds. 21-1 40-120
Passing Yds. 94 31
Passes 11-19-1 2-7-2
Punts-Avg. 4-29.3 4-20.3
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-2
Penalties-Yds 6-45 12-110
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING - Pecos, Terry 10-18, Fobbs 5-3, Pina 17-(-20). Lamesa, Sambrano
2-62, Hill 13-61, Martinez 1-8, Morales 14-0, Guerra 1-(-3), Brown 9-(-8).
PASSING -Pecos, Pina 11-18-1-94, Vela 0-1-0-0. Lamesa, Morales 2-7-2-31
RECEIVING -Pecos, Parada 4-29, Muela 3-27, Parent 3-18, G. Gonzales 1-20.
Lamesa, Brown 2-31.
MISSED FIELD GOALS - None.
Chargers jolted by Bears in second quarter
By SMOKEY BRIGGS
Staff Writer
After an evenly matched first quarter that ended with the Balmorhea Bears
tied 6-6 with the El Paso Jesus Chapel Chargers on Friday night in Balmorhea,
the Bears found the answers to the Charger defense in the second quarter,
scoring a series of touchdowns that nearly ended the game at the half under
the 45-point rule.
The Bears would end the game in the third period under the 45-point rule,
winning at home by a 54-6 final score to improve their record to 2-1 on
the season.
Early into the second quarter the Bears defense began to shut down the
Charger offense, after a goal line stand by Jesus Chapel stopped the Bears
on the two-yard line. he Charger offense picked up a big gain to get away
from their own goal line, and went up the middle again for six yards. But
on the next play the Bear defense came up with a sack and the jammed the
Charger back for no yardage on third down.
The Chargers tried a fake punt that led to an incomplete pass and the
Bears took over on downs from the El Paso 36-yard line.
Brandon Mendoza took the handoff up the middle on what looked like a
counter and went all the way to the end zone, putting Balmorhea ahead to
stay.
After the kickoff the Bears stopped the Chargers in three plays and returned
the punt to the Bear 27-yard line.
Three plays later the Bears were doing the punting, but immediately got
the ball back when junior Barry Bordayo came downfield on punt coverage
for the Bears and leveled the Charger back just as he touched the ball.
Balmorhea recovered on the 17-yard, but missed this chance to score when
they lost the ball on the next play due to their own fumble.
But one play after that they had the ball back, when the Chargers fumbled
after completing a pass to midfield.
Facing third down and three yards to go the Bears ran off right tackle
and won the footrace to the goal line. This time the points-after kick was
good and Bears led 20-6.
The Bear defense continued to hold the Chargers to three plays and a
punt and on the next Balmorhea possession it took the offense three plays
to put the ball in the end zone.
Robbie Mendoza took the first handoff for 15 yards, dragging three Charger
defenders the last five for the first down.
The next play Urban Baeza found 20 yards on the left side and another
first down at the Charger 2-yard line.
Mendoza finished the drive on the next play.
The rest of the second quarter saw the Bears move the ball at will against
the Chargers with the defense refusing to allow a first down.
When the whistle blew the score was 42-6.
The Chargers kicked off to the Bears to start the second half and on
second down Urban Baeza found a seam on the left sideline and ran 60 yards
for a touchdown for a 48-6 lead.
The Chargers managed one first down on their next possession before failing
to convert on a 4th-and-15 play from their own 35-yard line, which handed
the ball over on downs to Balmorhea.
Four plays later the Bear offense found the end zone for the final score
of the night making it 54-6 and ending the game on the 45-point rule.
Balmorhea is home again this coming Friday to face the Sands Mustangs
in their 2003 homecoming game. Sands was beaten this past Friday under the
45-point rule by Dell City, 54-8, but has won its last two meetings with
the Bears.
Sanderson is 3-0 and Dell City, which defeated Jesus Chapel the week
before they faced Balmorhea, also is unbeaten after a 54-13 win over Animas,
N.M. Among the other District 6-A six-man football teams, Grandfalls got
its first win, shutting out Loop, 54-0, while Fort Davis and Buena Vista
suffered their first losses of the season, with Buena Vista losing 52-6
to Klondike while Fort Davis was beaten by former six-man state champ Whitharral
on Saturday in Grady, 56-34.
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 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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