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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Indians benefit from Eagles' problems
Coaches often say you play the way you practice. That may not always be true, but if you hardly practice at all as a team, odds are your not going to set the world on fire come game time.
Pecos Eagle football coaches going back over 15 years have had to deal with the problem of players not showing up for workouts during the week. Patrick Willis was the latest coach to try and deal with the problem this past week.
Willis, who said seven players were absent at least once from workouts in the days prior to Friday night's game against the Seminole Indians, sat down several of those players for over a half of the Eagles' District 3-3A home opener. Whether or not it would have made a difference is open to question, but the Indians, who had scored 33 points in their first six games of the season, left the field at halftime with a 41-6 lead over Pecos.
Things were better in the second half, though the Eagles still managed to give the Indians a touchdown off a turnover, one of four Seminole converted into touchdowns in the game. But Booker Fobbs ran for 211 yards and a touchdown in the final two periods, and Saul Pina would score in the fourth quarter after throwing to Chad Evans for a first half touchdown in what turned out to by a 48-18 loss to Seminole.
"That's what makes me mad. We'll come out and fight like that when it doesn't matter," said a dejected Willis following the EaglesÌ sixth loss in seven games. "I'm proud of the kids for coming out and playing in the second half the way they did, because I felt as low as I ever have at halftime."
Willis said on Thursday he planned to discipline the players who had skipped out on workouts, and he said the Indians noticed their absence during the game.
Their coach said "I respect your integrity. I could see you obviously had some problems," Willis said of his post-game meeting with Seminole coach Chris Burtch, while Pecos High School assistant principal Jim Workman - who played on a 2-7-1 Eagle team in 1987 that had many of the same problems - told him "You did the right thing," in keeping the players who missed workouts on the sideline.
Seminole came into the game not having scored more than nine points in any game this season. They beat their previous season-high scoring total less than four minutes into the game after a 70-yard touchdown run by Jeremy Hill and a 22-yard pass interception return of a Miguel Estrada pass by Phillip Suarez. They beat their season total with 1:20 to go in the first half, when Hill went through the right side of the Eagles' line 21 yards for a score, and they left at halftime with a 35-point lead when Pina was hit and fumbled, with lineman Vanentine Moriel picking it up and running 12 yards for the Indians sixth touchdown of the game.
The Indians' other two scores of the half came on a 19-yard run by Hill that capped an 80-yard scoring drive late in the first quarter, and a six-yard pass from quarterback Ross Whitfield to running back Drew Phillps in the second period, after Trey Curiel recovered a muffed punt by Pina at the Eagles' 13-yard-line.
Seminole's only score of the second half would also come off a recovery of a muffed punt, this one by Estrada, who ended up leaving the game with an injury on the same play. That came late in the third period and Phillips would score from a yard out in the opening minute of the final quarter.
Pecos had scored on the opening play from scrimmage in the third period, on a 74-yard run by Fobbs, who had gained just 15 yards on three carries in the opening two periods. The Eagles would then force a punt and Fobbs would gain 17 more yards on his next carry, but the Eagles were forced to punt thanks to a motion call on a 4th-and-inches play at midfield.
Jonathan Carrasco then recovered a fumble by Hill at the Seminole 24 yard line, but the Indians' defense was able to hold Fobbs to one yard on three carries, and pressure Pina into a hurried pass beyond the line of scrimmage on fourth down, giving the ball back to Seminole.
After the Indians' last score, Tito Gonzales returned the kickoff t near midfield, and Fobbs would run for 52 yards on four carries, before Pina scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak. The Eagles had a chance to get one more touchdown before the end of the game, but on a 1st-and-10 from the 12 Fobbs was stripped of the ball after a nine-yard run for the EaglesÌ fifth turnover of the night, matching their per-game average for the season.
Fobbs' 226 yard night was the third 200-yard rushing game of the season for Pecos running backs. I told the coaches "LetÌs go back to the basics, and tried to be positive coaches for the kids as best as we can", Willis said of the halftime change. "The kids fought back, but you can't spot people 41 points and win."
Luis Ortega has the other two 200-plus rushing games for Pecos, but has missed the past two games due to ineligibility. Willis hopes the sophomore will be back this Friday, when the Eagles take on Midland Greenwood, which lost on Friday night to Fort Stockton 28-15 to fall to 1-1 in district play. Fort Stockton leads the district with a 2-0 mark, while Monahans and Lamesa are both 1-1 after the Loboes defeated the Tornadoes by a 48-17 score in Friday's other District 3-3A match-up.
Seminole 21 20 0 7 Ò 48
Pecos 0 6 6 6 Ò 18
First Quarter
Sem. Ò Hill 70 run (kick failed), 0:55
Sem. Ò P. Suarez 22 interception return (Hill run), 2:12
Sem. Ò Hill 19 run (Whitfield kick), 11:32.
Second Quarter
Sem. Ò Phillips 6 pass from Whitfield (Whitfield kick), 4:09.
Pec. Ò Evans 7 pass from Pina (kick failed), 7:30.
Sem. Ò Hill 21 run (Whitfield kick), 10:40
Sem. Ò Moriel 12 fumble return (kick failed), 11:19.
Third Quarter
Pec. Ò Fobbs 74 run (run failed), 0:21.
Fourth Quarter
Sem. Ò Phillips 1 run (Whitfield kick), 0:58.
Pec. Ò Pina 1 run (run failed), 3:28.
Sem Pec
First Downs 13 14
Rushes-Yds. 39-230 33-264
Passing Yds. 70 53
Passes 5-9-0 8-14-1
Punts-Avg. 4-36.5 3-35
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 4-4
Penalties-Yds. 6-55 8-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING Ò Seminole, Hill 25-184, Phillips 6-27, Rodriguez 3-15, Curiel 3-12, Whitfield 2-(-8). Pecos, Fobbs 18-226, Pina 9-16, Terry 1-14, Vela 2-6, Urias 3-2.
PASSING Ò Seminole, Whitfield 5-9-0-70. Pecos, Pina 6-10-0-39, Vela 1-1-0-10, Estrada 1-3-1-4.
RECEIVING Ò Seminole, Hill 1-21, S. Suarez 1-20, Rodriguez 1-17, .Howard 1-11, Phillips 1-6. Pecos, Pina 2-14, Castillo 2-1, Licon 1-23, Terry 1-9, Evans 1-7, Estrada 1-(-1).
MISSED FIELD GOALS Ò None.
Swimmers score dual meet win
The Pecos Eagle girls swimming team got a tougher test overall, and Pecos' boys got a tougher test at the start of the meet this past Thursday in Monahans, in the first of their two dual meets this season against the Loboes.
Pecos' girls, who had scored easy wins in a pair of dual meets over Fort Stockton, scored 89 points on Thursday to 72 for Monahans. Pecos' boys, meanwhile, bounced back from losing the opening race to the Loboes and took nine of the final 10 events to win overall by an 84-75 point score.
"It was a pretty good meet for us," said Eagles' coach Terri Morse. "Monahans has some good swimmers. Their boys are a lot improved over the last couple of years. There were a lot of close raced, which meant good races, and we kind of fell short on the medley relay, so we'll have to go back to the drawing board there."
The Eagles" team of junior Matt Elliott, sophomores Kyle Winkles and Matt Oglesby and freshman Matthew Florez were edged out by half a second by Monahans in that race, while the Loboes' Brandon Nicholas picked up their other first place effort, in the 50-yard freestyle, edging Elliott by .11 second.
Elliott would come back in the next race, the 100-yard butterfly, to win first with a 58.35 time, while Winkles, Oglesby and junior Alonzo Garcia would each win two firsts in the meet.
PecosÌ girls won 10 of their 11 races against Monahans, with the closest wins coming by two seconds in the 400 yard freestyle relay and by three seconds in the 200 free relay.
"The girls team did well. Monahans has a very young girls team and the experience showed," Morse said. "I felt some of our younger swimmers improved last night (Thursday). We're still not in shape as far as our athletic ability. We need to improve in that and we need to get healthy, because some of our kids have been sick and were missing practice."
Teddie Salcido, Lindsey Shaw, Susan Moore and Amie Reynolds won the 200 medley relay with a time of 2:10.40, while Reynolds, Shaw, Moore and Amanda Contreras took the 200 freestyle relay in 1:58.89. In the 400 free relay, it was Salcido, Contreras, Cynthia Marmalejo and Ashley Mendoza winning, with a 4:40.65 time.
In the individual events, Salcido took the 200 yard freestyle in 2:19.28, with Marmalejo placing third; Shaw won the 200 medley in 2:33.18 with Mendoza placing third; Moore took the 50 free in 26.99, with Contreras placing third, and they finished in the same spots in the following race, the 100-yard butterfly, with Moore winning with a 1:12.97 time. Reynolds took the 100-yard freestyle in 1:04.29; Salcido was first in the 500 free in 6:09.49, with Mendoza placing second; Shaw won the 100 yard breaststroke in 1:19.18, with Reynolds .6 seconds behind in second place, and in the only event the Eagles didnÌt win, Marmalejo placed third in the 100-yard backstroke.
On the boys' side, Elliott, Garcia, Oglesby and Dustin Windham won the 200 freestyle relay with a 1:45.67 time, and Garcia, Windham, Florez and Winkles took the 400 free relay with a 3:53.84 time. In the other individual events, Garcia won the 200 free in 2:09.91, with Florez placing third; Oglesby took the 200 medley in 2:14.79; Luke Serrano was fifth in the 50 free; Winkles won the 100 free with a 52.71 time while Windham placed second; Garcia won the 500 free in 6:03.70 wit Florez placing third; Winkles took the 100 yard backstroke in 58.30, and Oglesby won the 100 yard breaststroke in 1:12.61, with Serrano placing fifth.
Windham was the lone competitor in the 1-meter diving competition, and scored 137.50 points for his six attempts.
The swim team will have their second full invitational meet this season this coming Friday and Saturday in Big Spring. "I think right now we've seen everybody but Andrews. I don't know what Andrews has, but we should see them in Big Spring," Morse said. "We should also see (Abilene) Wyile as well, but if we donÌt weÌll see them all in the next two meets."
Jr. Highs down Midland Christian, JV falls
The Pecos Eagles' junior varsity team suffered through another rough night in Seminole on Thursday, while Pecos' junior high teams came away with home field wins earlier in the day against the Midland Christian Mustangs.
Seminole kept the shortanded JV team winless with a 42-0 victory over Pecos. Meanwhile, the Eagles' seventh and eighth grade purple teams scored one-touchdown wins over Midland Christian, the seventh graders by a 14-6 score and the eighth graders by an 6-0 margin.
Both Pecos and Midland Christian failed to score after getting the ball inside the 5-yard-line in the first half, and the game remained scoreless until late in the fourth quarter, when Jeremy Martinez got in the end zone on a 1-yard run, after getting down there two plays earlier and a 70-yard quarterback keeper around the left end.
The win lifted the eighth graders' season record to 4-1. Pecos' eighth grade gold team was idle because Midland Christian did not have enough players for two teams.
The seventh grade gold team had the week off for the same reason, though some members of the gold team in both grades did see action as part of the purple squad on Thursday.
In the game, the purple team upper their season record to 2-3 with their win. Both teams scored once in the first half, with the Eagles' touchdown coming off a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Jake Varela. Cesar LazcanoÌs two-point conversion run gave Pecos an 8-6 lead, and the Eagles added their other score in the third period, on a 6-yard touchdown run by Justin Ybarra.
The number count worked against the JV up in Seminole. The Eagles suited up just 16 players due to grades and saw Seminole score all of their points in the first two quarters. The loss dropped the JV to 0-7 on the season.
The Eagle teams will all be in action this Thursday against Greenwood. The JV will host the Rangers at 5 p.m., while the seventh and eighth grade purple teams will play at Greenwood, beginning at 5 and 7 p.m.
Bears rout Mustangs, prepare for Indians
The Balmorhea Bears football team got an easy win Friday night over the Marathon Mustangs, and may have gotten a little outside help in their efforts to return to the six man playoffs after a two-year absence.
The Bears scored 52 points in the opening period in a 58-0 win over Marathon, in a game ended at halftime under the 45-point rule. "All of my JV guys got to play in the second quarter. My varsity only played in the first quarter," said Bears' coach Adolfo Garcia, whose team was coming off their first loss of the season, by a 52-50 score at Dell City.
The Cougars took over sole possession of first place on Friday by winning at Sanderson, 52-29. Combined with GrandfallsÌ 45-0 win over Fort Davis, it put the Bears into a three-way tie for second with the Eagles, who theyÌll face to close out the season, and the Cowboys, who the defeated last month in their District 6-A six-man opener.
The teams are a game up on Fort Davis, last year's district champion and state runner-up, and the team the Bears play on the road this Friday at 7:30 p.m. Garcia said two of the Indians' players were absent from their loss to the Cowboys. "They were hurt, but theyÌll be playing against us, because they have their backs against the wall."
Garcia said a couple of his players also sat out FridayÌs game with the Mustangs, though it didn't affect the outcome. "My linebacker didn't play and my nose guard didnÌt play against Marathon. But theyÌll be there for Fort Davis," he said.
Balmorhea would score seven times in the first period, including three straight touchdowns on returns. They led 16-0 after just 2 1/2 minutes, on a four-yard run by Brandon Mendoza and a 60-yard scoring pass from Michael Dominguez to Ryan Woodruff. Robert Vasquez added the extra point kicks after both touchdowns.
The Bears then got 51- and 40-yard punt returns for touchdowns by Michael Rodriguez, and Woodruff followed with a 20-yard interception return for a touchdown. Michael Hernandez would score on a 55-yard run and Dominguez would pass 23 yards to Justin Machuca for the final touchdown of the opening period, after which Garcia sent his JV players into the game.
The only score of the second period was a 25-yard run by Russell Garlick.
The win improved the Bears' record to 3-1 in district and 6-1 on the season, while the Mustangs fell to 0-4 and 1-6, which included a loss by the varsity to the Bears' JV squad earlier in the year.
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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Copyright 2003-04 by Pecos Enterprise
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