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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Friday, September 26, 2003
Eagles, Cranes split sub-varsity grid games
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The Pecos Eagles won the games at the lower levels and the Crane Golden
Cranes won the games at the higher levels Thursday, as the teams split
their six sub-varsity games on Thursday in Pecos and Crane.
Playing in Pecos, the Eagles' seventh graders swept their purple and
gold games with Crane, winning by 22-0 and 16-8 scores, while the
eighth grade gold team won 24-0, and the purple team lost 42-0 to the
Cranes. Over in Crane, Pecos' freshmen dropped their game to Crane,
33-6, and the junior varsity team was beaten by a 26-6 final score.
Coach Junior Williams said the JV game was close until the closing
minutes. "It was 13-6 with five minutes to go in the game," he said. A
fumble by the Eagles on the 15 yard line stopped a Pecos drive and the
Cranes scored twice in the final minutes.
"We played real well overall. I was proud of the kids, they got
after it," Williams said.
Pecos' only score came on a fumble return for a touchdown by Ricky
Dickerson. The loss left the JV with a 2-3 record.
The JV also lost one player, Justin Hantz, with a broken wrist,
while the ninth graders lost Aaron Navarrete to the same injury in
their loss. Luis Ortega scored on a 64-yard run for Pecos' only
touchdown, as the ninth graders fell to 1-1-1 on the season.
"We were disappointed as the kids were really disappointed in
themselves," said coach Jerry Parent. "We were lacking in intensity."
In the eighth grade games, the gold team got three scores from
running back Martin Muniz, one in the first half and two in the final
periods, and Manuel Muniz scored the two-point conversions, as the
Eagles improved to 2-1 on the season. The purple team fell to 1-2 with
their loss, as Crane went out to a 35-0 halftime lead, which included a
punt return and interception for scores.
The seventh grade purple went up 16-0 at halftime. Hector Ramirez
caught an 80-yard touchdown pass from running back Jeremy Martinez for
one score, quarterback Linvel Mosby ran for the other first half score,
and Martin Jasso had the lone touchdown in the second half for the
seventh graders, who improved to 3-0 on the season.
The gold team rallied from an early 8-0 deficit to go 2-1 on the
season. Gabe Bailey scored from 13 yards out just before halftime and
then ran 70 yards for the winning TD in the second half. Joseph Terrell
had both conversion runs for the gold team.
Tonight at 7:30 p.m., the Eagles' varsity hosts Crane in a 7:30 p.m.
start. Both teams come in off low-scoring road wins, Crane by a 14-7
margin at Seminole and Pecos by a 19-17 score in Brownfield last week.
Crane beat Brownfield 13-12 two weeks ago.
Tonight's game marks the halfway point of the season for Pecos,
which still has one more pre-district game, at Lubbock High next week,
before hosting Kermit on Oct. 10 in their District 4-3A opener.
Three of the Eagles' other 4-3A rivals have games tonight, while
Monahans is idle. Greenwood goes to Andrews, Fort Stockton hosts Snyder
and Kermit plays at Denver City.
Greenwood (4-0) at Andrews (4-0): Like Pecos and Crane, both the
Rangers and Mustangs have earned wins over the same team in the past
two weeks, in this case Sweetwater. And both teams scored about the
same number of points - 36 for Greenwood and 38 for Andrews. The
difference right now appears to be in the defense - Andrews remains
among the area leaders in defensive stats, and surrendered just two
touchdowns last week to Sweetwater after wins over District 3-5A teams
Odessa High and Midland High. The Rangers as of now are allowing about
100 yards more a game than they did a year ago, when they beat Andrews,
26-23, and went onto the Class 3A state finals. Greenwood is allowing
125 more yards per game than Andrews and surrendered 200 more yards to
Sweetwater two weeks ago.
However, the Rangers have found ways to win, going to the air the
past two weeks, when their running game was limited by Sweetwater and
Snyder. But Andrews' quarterback Matt Gardner has been throwing the
ball even better than Greenwood's Dawson Wilbur this season, and the
Rangers' defense will be under pressure to come up with their best
effort so far in the 2003 season in order to extend their regular
season victory streak to 15 games.
Snyder (0-3) at Fort Stockton (2-2): The Tigers out-gained Greenwood
at home a week ago in their 22-18 loss, but were unable to hold three
different leads and lost due to problems with their kicking game.
Armando Martinez passed for 105 yards and ran for another 70 in the
losing effort.
Fort Stockton's second loss of the season, last week at San Angelo
Lake View, was similar to their first, as the Panthers were close to
the Chiefs at half time, but fell apart in the third period, allowing
three scores. Like Snyder's Martinez, Wayne Jefferson at quarterback
remains the key to the Panthers offense, and leads his team in both
rushing and passing this year.
Kermit (2-2) at Denver City (3-0): After impressive wins over
Brownfield and Seminole, the Yellowjackets' ran into problems against
Reagan County last Friday, falling 37-35 in triple overtime. The Owls
rallied from a 15-6 deficit to tie the game in the third period, then
won it by making a two-point conversion in the third OT period and then
stopping Kermit's two-point try.
In regulation play, Kermit's defense has only allowed 36 points in
four games, but the Jackets have not been opportunistic, having yet to
recover a fumble this season. Denver City recovered three a week ago in
upsetting Portales, the No. 2 ranked Class 3A team in New Mexico. The
Mustangs rolled up over 400 yards in offense in the process, as
quarterback Sam Griffin threw for 237 yards and two scores.
Pecos seeking second Saturday win over Presidio
The Pecos Eagles will be hoping home court provides no advantage to
the Presidio Blue Devils on Saturday, or at least that the return of
one of their hitters offsets whatever advantage the Blue Devils get
from playing at home, when the Eagles travel to Presidio on Saturday
for a 6 p.m. match.
Pecos is 1-0 in District 4-3A play and 9-13 on the season after
their 25-22, 25-20, 25-17 win at home over Kermit on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Presidio dropped their district opener on Tuesday at Fort
Stockton by 25-18, 25-9, 23-25, 25-16 scores. But last Saturday in
Pecos, the Blue Devils won the first and third games over the Eagles
before Pecos rallied for a 22-25, 25-14, 24-26, 25-22, 15-13 victory.
Despite the narrow win, Eagles' coach Becky Granado said she was
happy overall with the play of her team, which was without senior
hitter Leslie Rodriguez, forcing changes to Pecos' lineup.
"If we just play the way we have the last two games and keep our
composure, we should be ready for Presidio," Granado said.
Kermit had problems handling Rodriguez' hitting on the back
rotation, after the Eagles overcame early problems dealing with
Yellowjackets' 2hitter Amber Broadway. Last week against Presidio,
hitters Lina Coffman and Yasmin Herrera caused the most problems for
Pecos' blockers.
Saturday's game originally was scheduled for a mid-afternoon start,
but was moved back to 6 p.m., Granado said, in order to get better
officials. The Eagles' other district games on Saturdays also have been
moved to 6 p.m., while the freshman will play at 4 p.m. and the junior
varsity at 5 p.m.
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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Copyright 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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