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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Monday, September 22, 20032
Eagles outlast Blue Devils in final match
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
An eighth straight trip to the playoffs isn't going to come easy for
the Pecos Eagles volleyball team, as Saturday's final pre-district
match against District 4-3A rival Presidio showed.
The Eagles, who were minus senior hitter Leslie Rodriguez for the
match, went nearly 21/2 hours with the Blue Devils on Saturday in the
increasingly warm old Pecos High School gym, before pulling out a
22-25, 25-14, 24-26, 25-22, 15-13 win over Presidio, who'll host Pecos
this coming Saturday in the Eagles district road opener.
"Or offense picked up some. We had a couple of good kills, but we're
just going to need to improve on our relays," said Eagles' coach Becky
Granado. "If we can be consistent in our passing, we'll be O.K."
Outside of the second game, when Pecos scored the final eight points
to break open a 17-14 contest, neither team had more than a six point
lead in any of the other four games. In the opening match, Presidio
took the lead at the outset and held off a series of comeback attempts
by the Eagles, who lost on a mental mistake, letting a free ball drop
just in front of the net after cutting a 24-20 lead to 24-22.
In the second game, it was errors by the Blue Devils at the end of
the game that allowed Pecos to pull away for the win. Presidio held a
10-7 lead at one point before the Eagles went on their first
eight-point run, which included a couple of kills by Bre'Ann Windham
and an ace serve by Vanessa Garcia.
In Game 3, Garcia had an ace and Danielle Garcia had three kills
late, as Pecos turned a 22-19 deficit into a 24-23 lead. But the Eagles
couldn't get game point, as Presidio's Lina Coffman spiked a shot off
Garcia to tie the game, and Pecos lost on a bad relay Garcia couldn't
get to an a spike into the net by Windham.
Presidio fought back from a 13-7 deficit in Game 4 to tie the game
at 17-all, before the Eagles went ahead for good on a spike by Windham
off Yasmin Herrera. The Eagles would finally end up winning the match
on a spike by Stephanie Herrera.
The largest lead for either team in the deciding game was two
points. Pecos took a 3-1 lead off a couple of kills by Herrera, while a
series of errors by the Eagles later would give the Blue Devils a 9-7
advantage. Pecos would eventually tie the score on a block of a Coffman
tip attempt by Brittany Rodriguez, and went ahead off a bad pass be
Presidio's Cynthia Tellez.
But the lead would chance hands two more times after that, with the
Blue Devils going up by a 13-12 score on a hit by Amy Velasquez before
a hit by Garcia on a broken play found an opening to tie the score.
Garcia followed with a spike off Herrera to put the Eagles on top,
14-13, and Pecos then won the game and match when Herrera's kill
attempt went out of bounds.
Aside from her hitting, Granado said, "Danielle did a good job
setting today," as Garcia handled the job at times in place of
sophomore Jessica Flores and freshman Cassandra Terrazas. "I guess with
a little more experience, she was a little more poised than my two
underclassmen."
She also said Rodriguez' absence to attend a funeral also caused
problems for Pecos. "I changed up the whole lineup from what we were
working on. Leslie came in last night and told me she wasn't going to
able to be here, so I moved the girls into different positions, and I
have to give them credit for knowing who there opposites were."
The victory puts Pecos at 8-13 on the season going into their
District 4-3A opener, at home Tuesday against the Kermit Yellowjackets.
Pecos will then go to Presidio on Saturday. The Eagles had been
scheduled to host Kermit as well as Presidio on Saturday, but that
match was cancelled, and the remaining one was moved to the old PHS gym
to allow Pecos' junior high tournament to be held in the new gym.
Pecos' seventh grade purple and gold teams won their two matches,
but didn't face each other in the finals, coach Linsey Hathorn said.
The purple team defeated Midland Trinity and Van Horn in their matches,
and the gold team beat Midland Christian and Presidio. Pecos' seventh
grade white team also played in the tournament, but lost their two
matches, to Van Horn and Midland Trinity.
Pecos' three eighth grade teams all lost their first round matches,
though the purple team did come back from their loss to Midland Trinity
to beat the Eagles' gold team and Fort Stockton to earn consolation.
The gold team lost to Van Horn in their opener and the eighth grade
black team lost to Midland Christian and Fort Stockton. Midland Trinity
defeated Presidio to take the eighth grade title.
Eagles' fourth quarter air attack stuns Cubs
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
Three quarters into Friday night's football game against the
Brownfield Cubs, the Pecos Eagles were down by 13 points and looked
dead. Three minutes later, after getting their first touchdown of the
night, the Eagles still looked dead when the Cubs returned a blocked
extra point kick for two points, leaving Pecos still in need of two
more scores to win.
But for the second week in a row, the Eagles took advantage of two
costly mistakes by their opponent in the final period - this time a
fumble and a mishandled punt snap - and quarterback Saul Pina ripped
the Brownfield defense for 147 yards passing in the final 12 minutes of
play to lead the Eagles to a 19-17 road victory over the Cubs.
"Saul played like a true quarterback and started making some good
decisions in the second half," said Eagles' coach Patrick Willis. "He
started reading off their safety and making some great keys."
"They were working on John (Parent) and Oscar (Parada) and started
moving their defensive backs over and we started working on the other
side," Willis said.
Pina, who had just one completion for six yards in the first three
periods, hit Gilbert Gonzales with a 30-yard pass completion on the
Eagles' first touchdown drive. He then connected with Gonzales for a 37
yard score one play after Eric Fuentez recovered an Andrew Cruz fumble.
Pina would then find Jaime Muela for a 16-yard completion two plays
after Ryan Tells dropped the snap from center on a punt, with Victor
Reyes sacking him at the Brownfield 31. Three plays after that, Rashad
Terry went over the left side of the Eagle line from four yards out,
giving Pecos a 19-15 lead.
The Eagles started the quarter on their own 20-yard-line and down
13-0 when they went 80 yards on seven plays, all of it through the air.
The drive included passes of 7- and 12-yards to Parent, the 30-yarder
to Gonzales, and began and ended with completions to Parada. The last
was a 15-yard TD strike that cut the lead to 13-6, but for the second
week in a row the Eagles botched the conversion attempt and turned it
into two points for their opponent.
This time, Brownfield's Coby Jenkins blocked Alex Orosco's extra
point try, picked up the ball and ran 85 yards for the score. That put
Brownfield up by nine and meant the Eagles would have to score twice in
order to win, something that didn't seem likely to do after Cruz gained
15 yards and a first down on a 3rd-and-15 draw play with 6:30
remaining. But Cruz fumbled the ball on the next play, and Pina's TD
strike down the middle to Gonzales completely changed the momentum of
the game.
The Cubs had gotten their first score on another draw play, when on
3rd-and-11 Cruz took the delayed handoff from quarterback Andrew Sides
and went 51 yards up the middle to the end zone with 4:35 left in the
opening period. The two plays got Brownfield out of third down holes,
but the biggest third down escape came in the second period, when on a
3rd-and-29 from their own 20 the Cubs ran an end-around option play to
Tyree Wilkes, who then passed downfield to wide receiver Trent Sellers.
The deception really didn't fool the Eagles, but Parent mistimed his
jump and Sellers caught the ball for a 52-yard gain.
"He didn't think that guy was that fast and played inside too much,"
Willis said. Sellers would catch another pass for 14 yards on 3rd-and-6
before the Eagles stopped the Cubs inside their own 5 and forced
Brownfield to settle for a 22-yard Noe Saenz field goal and a 10-0
lead.
Other than the three big gains on third down, the Eagles' defense
played well for the fourth week in a row, and kept the game close until
the offense got untracked. Meanwhile, Pecos' running game, dormant the
previous two weeks, had some success running the ball outside on
Friday, but the passing game did little in the first three periods.
Pina completed just one pass, to Parada, while getting two others
intercepted. The first, a forced pass on the sideline, was picked off
by Rudy Alvarado and set up Cruz' touchdown run. The second, a sideline
pass to Terry was grabbed by Tells, who had a clear path to the end
zone, but fell down. In between, Sellers picked off a deep pass meant
for Terry from Jose Reyes, who split time at quarterback with Pina
during the first three periods.
"We had planned on it. Jose throws a better deep ball than Saul, so
we put him in there," Willis said. "Sometimes it's good for a
quarterback to go to the sidelines for a while and see what's happened,
but Jose got banged up in the second half, so we kept Saul in there and
he caught fire."
Reyes' interception came on Pecos' first play after Brownfield's
touchdown, and the Cubs then moved from midfield down to the Eagles'
10-yard-line on a pass from Sides to Sellers and a couple of first down
runs by Cruz, who finished with 134 yards rushing on the night. But one
play after a 13-yard gain Cruz was hit and fumbled, with Joe Marruffo
recovering at the 9-yard-line to end the scoring threat.
In the third period, the defense would stop Brownfield after Telles'
interception, and did so again after another third period turnover,
after Jenkins had recovered a Booker Fobbs fumble at the Pecos 35. In
between, the Cubs had forced Pecos into a short punt, and after taking
over at their own 36 drove the ball inside the 10, where the drive
stalled and Saenz came on to kick a 25-yard field goal with 4:05 left
in the third period.
Terry's go-ahead score came with 2:12 left in the game, and after he
failed to score on a two-point try, the Eagles still had to stop the
Cubs twice before earning the victory. Brownfield started near midfield
after a return of a short kick by Jenkins, but with only one time out
remaining. Sides' first two passes to Sellers were incomplete and his
deep pass to Wilkes on third down was intercepted by Parada, who had
picked off another Sides pass on Brownfield's opening drive of the
night.
Pecos took over wit 1:57 to play and ran the ball three times to
Terry, gaining only three yards before Brownfield called their final
time out with 22.7 second to play. On fourth down, rather than risking
a punt block, Willis had Eddie Vela run back to, and then out of the
end zone for a safety with 15.9 seconds left.
The Eagles then had to free kick from their own 20, which Cruz
returned 17 yards, to the Pecos 43 with 9.8 seconds to play. Brownfield
tried to set Saenz up for one last field goal attempt, but Sides'
sideline pass to Sellers at the 28-yard-line was high and the Cubs then
tried the Wilkes option pass one more time. However, on this one,
Parent got behind Sellers and picked the ball off at the 10 as time
expired.
After scoring 19 points on just 95 yards offense in beating Lamesa
a week earlier on two fourth quarter scores, the Eagles gained 224
yards on Friday. Out of that, 58 yards came on the ground, but that
included Vela's 23-yard loss while running out of the end zone on the
safety. Terry finished with 63 yards on 18 carries, for his best
rushing effort of the season.
"There were a few plays right in there where we blocked well, but
there are still some where the blocking is not quite getting there,"
Willis said. "But we are getting positive yards out of our rushing."
The win allowed Pecos to surpass their victory total for all of last
year's 2-8 season, while the Cubs fell to 0-4 on the season. One of
those losses was by a 13-12 score at Crane, the No. 7-ranked team in
Class 2A and the team the Eagles host this Friday. The Cranes stayed
unbeaten this past Friday with a 14-7 win at Seminole.
Among the Eagles' District 4-3A rivals, Monahans evened their record
at 2-2 with a 14-7 win over Lubbock Cooper, Kermit and Fort Stockton
fell to 2-2, as the Yellowjackets lost in triple overtime to Reagan
County, 37-35, and the Panthers were beaten at San Angelo Lake View,
30-7, while No. 3-ranked Greenwood came away from Snyder with a 22-18
win over the Tigers and went to 4-0 on the season.
At Brownfield
Pecos 0 0 0 19 - 19
Brownfield 7 3 3 4 - 17
First Quarter
Bwn. - Cruz 51 run (Saenz kick), 7:25.
Second Quarter
Bwn. - FG Saenz 22, 9:40.
Third Quarter
Bwn. - FG Saenz 25, 7:55.
Fourth Quarter
Pec. - Parada 15 pass from Pina (Bwn. - Jenkins blocked kick
return), 3:01.
Pec. - G. Gonzales 37 pass from Pina (A. Orosco kick), 5:43.
Pec. - Terry 3 run (run failed), 9:46.
Bwn. - Safety, Vela runs out of end zone, 11:44.
Pec Bwn
First Downs 13 9
Rushes-Yds. 29-58 38-151
Passing Yds. 166 82
Passes 12-20-31 3-16-3
Punts-Avg. 3-17.3 3-38.3
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 3-2
Penalties-Yds. 3-25 4-30
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING - Pecos, Terry 18-63, Fobbs 4-13, Parada 1-8, Pina 3-(-1),
J. Reyes 2-(-2), Vela 1-(-23). Brownfield, Cruz 26-134, Becker 6-20,
Sides 4-11, Flores 1-2, Tells 1-(-16).
PASSING - Pecos, Pina 10-16-2-153, J. Reyes 2-4-1-13. Brownfield,
Wilkes 1-2-1-52, Sides 2-14-2-30.
RECEIVING -Pecos, G. Gonzales 3-71, Parada 3-43, Parent 3-27, Terry
2-7, Muela 1-16. Brownfield, Sellers 3-82.
MISSED FIELD GOALS - None.
Bears trap Sands in homecoming game, 49-0
By BRENDEN BRIGGS
Staff Writer
The Balmorhea Bears celebrated homecoming Friday night with a 49-0
victory over the visiting Sands Mustangs.
A strong defensive showing coupled with the Bears' opportunistic
offense put Balmorhea ahead early, and kept them there throughout the
game against last year's state semifinalist.
By the middle of the second quarter the Bears were leading by a
score of 28-0, with a strong running game doing the majority of the
work.
Sands got close to getting on the scoreboard a couple of times, but
were either stopped by the Bear defense or were called back on
ill-timed penalties. In particular, the Mustangs' Brandon Woods caught
a short pass late in the second period and ran it in for a touchdown,
only to see his play called back on a holding call; Sands would try
again, but it would prove to be too little, as the halftime buzzer
would end their scoring hopes.
After the homecoming queen was announced and the teams returned to
the field, the Mustangs received the kick and launched a drive towards
the goal line, but were stopped by the determined Bear defense 14 yards
short of a touch down.
Taking possession deep inside their own territory, Balmorhea
proceeded to drive down the field with a succession of long running
plays, before finally scoring on a run by freshman Brandon Mendoza.
This score would end up all but killing the Mustangs' hopes for a
comeback as the post score celebration instigated a pushing match
between the Bears' Alexis Lozano and Woods, who up until this point had
been Sands' leading rusher and receiver. The altercation led to both
players being ejected from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Down 36-0 midway through the quarter, Sands tried again to get on
the scoreboard. Taking possession on their own 20-yard line, Sands
tried a series of running plays to no avail. Their attempted drive was
stopped short when on third down Balmorhea's Robbie Mendoza, broke
through the line and sacked the QB for a loss.
On the subsequent punt, the Bears picked the ball up off of the
ground and returned it 15 yards to midfield. Balmorhea then converted
one fourth down play to get within striking distance of the goal line,
and this time it would turn out to be Ismael Rodriguez who would run
the ball in for the touch down to extend Balmorhea's lead to 43-0 with
2:18 left in the third period.
Taking over at their own 20 following a kickoff into the end zone,
Sands was able to hold the ball only for a few moments. On the first
play of the drive, the Bears would disrupt the Mustangs' handoff in the
backfield, causing a fumble that would be recovered by Mendoza. Four
plays later, he would end the game on the 45-point rule, by running in
the winning touchdown.
The victory was the first in three tries for the Bears over the
Mustangs, who lost to Sands during regular season play last year and in
the bi-district round of the playoffs two years ago. It also improved
Balmorhea's record to 3-1 going into their bye week this Friday.
The bye was originally supposed to be the Bears' District 6-A opener
against the Marathon Mustangs, but Marathon had to cancel their season
due to a shortage of players. Balmorhea will open district play on Oct.
3 at Grandfalls, while the Bears' six other district rivals will play
their 6-A six-man openers this Friday.
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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