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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
Sub-varsities split games with Denver City
The Pecos Eagles freshman football team won their 2005 season opener on Thursday, defeating the Denver City Mustangs by a 20-14 score, while Pecos’ junior varsity football squad saw their record fall to 0-2 with their second straight one-touchdown loss.
The ninth graders used three third period touchdowns to offset scores by Denver City in the first and fourth quarters on their game at Eagle Stadium, while the JV lost by a 6-0 score on a third quarter TD by the Mustangs.
Phillip Williams returned the second half kickoff 100 yards for Pecos to tie the game, and Hector Ramirez scored on a 1-yard run following a 30-yard interception return by Phillip Ontiveros to put Pecos ahead. Timo Reyes had the final score for the freshman, on a 27-yard pass from Jeremy Martinez, and added extra point kicks after the final two scores. Denver City scored on a 62-yard quarterback run in the opening period, and a 13-yard TD pass in the final quarter.
The JV, which lost their season opener, 14-7, had a couple of missed scoring chances in the first half, before seeing Denver City take the second half kickoff and drive down the field for the only score of the night, on a 6-yard TD run.
Both Pecos teams will be home again this coming Thursday, against Kermit. It will also be the opening day for the junior high football teams, who will travel to Kermit for their first games of 2005.
Swim team numbers up, experience down
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The situation will be almost the exact opposite for Pecos Eagles swim coach Terri Morse in 2005 from what she dealt with for the Eagles a year ago.
From having a young boys team and a veteran girls team a year ago, Pecos will now have a veteran boys squad and a very young girls team, when the Eagles open their 2005-06 season a month from now at the Lubbock Relays. But one difference will be in numbers - where the boys were both young and shorthanded a year ago, Morse said the girls won’t be short of swimmers on either side this time around.
“The numbers are way up from last year. We have 15 boys and 10 or 11 girls. We have lots of new faces,” Morse said prior to an intrasquad meet on Thursday at the Pecos High School pool. “We’ve got nine freshmen and two sophomores who are new.”
Morse said she regained one swimmer who had moved out of town before becoming a freshman, but did lose another sophomore, Dustin Windham, who placed seventh at state in the 1-meter diving competition a year ago.
That was the best finish for Pecos at state last year. The Eagles won the District 3-4A boys title despite their shortage of swimmers, then shared the Region I-4A title with Monahans, while the girls won their district title then placed second to El Paso Chapin at regionals.
The boys still return senior Matt Elliott and juniors Kyle Winkles and Matt Oglesby, who all qualified for state a year ago. “The boys should be OK, because a lot of really good boys on the other teams graduated,” said Morse, who sees Fort Stockton as the Eagles’ main district competitor,.
“Fort Stockton probably has the strongest relays coming back as far as the boys swimmers. They have all four boys coming back, so they should be pretty strong, but I think we’re a little stronger, and depth-wise, we’ve got a couple of freshman coming up who can help us.”
On the girls’ side, Pecos graduated all of their top swimmers with the exception of senior Lindsey Shaw, who also was a state qualifier for the Eagles last season.
“With the girls, I’m pretty sure Monahans will be a pretty decent team. They’ve had some good young swimmers and they should be coming along. Andrews has a couple of good girls coming up from the junior high, and Wylie always has a lot of young girls on their team.”
Pecos will face Monahans twice in dual meets, at home on Oct. 13 and again in Monahans on Nov. 3. Their first official meet this season is on Oct. 22 in Big Spring, which will host the District 3-4A meet this year, on Jan. 27-28. Pecos’ home meet will be on Nov. 12, while their other pre-district meets before the holidays are at Abilene Wylie, Monahans and Seminole.
Trips to Fort Stockton and Lubbock will follow the weekends after New Year’s Day, with regionals set for Feb. 9-11 in Lubbock and the state meet on Feb. 24-25 at the University of Texas in Austin.
Eagles flagged down, run past by Mustangs
Fumbles and penalties were among the Pecos’ Eagles’ main problems during their 1-9 season in 2004. Even in their only win, over the Denver City Mustangs, they still had to survive a seven-fumble night to get the victory.
This past Friday in Denver City, Pecos cut the fumble total down to zero after losing the ball five times in their season opener against Midland Christian. But it was the penalties that along with Mustangs’ quarterback Rashaad Williams, ended up doing in the Eagles this time as the Mustangs used two fourth quarter touchdowns to defeat Pecos by a 21-7 score.
“We still need to learn how to secure a lead, and we’ve got to get mentally tougher in battle,” said Eagles’ coach Patrick Willis, whose team allowed 200 fewer yards than in their 55-7 opening loss to Midland Christian, but still had trouble stopping the run in key situations.
“He got away from us at the end,” Willis said of Williams, who ended up with 143 yards on 13 carries, his last a 46-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. The senior also passed for 61 yards, including a 15-yard score early in the period that put Denver City ahead to stay.
Meanwhile, the Eagles set themselves back several times due to penalties. They were penalized 11 times for 80 yards, while getting two other offsetting penalties and three more 10-yard flags that were declined by Denver City coach Terry Summers. All that helped either stop Pecos drives or put the Eagles in bad field position to start their drives throughout the game.
Pecos started only two drives outside its own 25 yard line and just one outside their own 40, following Miguel Estrada’s interception of a Williams pass in the third period. That also turned out to be their only touchdown drive of the night, scoring on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Vela. Julio Orosco added the extra point to tie the score at 7-7 with 1:38 left in the period.
Denver City, meanwhile, began only two of its nine possession inside its own 35-yard line, one coming on the final series of the fourth quarter. The Mustangs’ initial scoring drive in the second period began on their own 36 yard line, while their go-ahead drive immediately after Pecos’ TD started on the 38, and that was pushed back thanks to a 15-yard clipping call, after Jeremy Flores returned the ball on the “starburst” play to the Pecos 40-yard line.
The Eagles had a chance to stop that drive, after an initial first down pass from Williams to Bobby Hunt, when Hunt fumbled on the next play. But he was able to recover, and Williams then went 10-yards up the middle on a keeper for a first down, and as the fourth quarter opened, gained 14 yards on a naked bootleg down the left side. Another six-yard run followed before he hooked up with Eduardo Moreno on a 15-yard touchdown pass to give the Mustangs the lead.
Vela, who played on the first quarter of the game against Midland Christian after suffering a mild concussion while at linebacker, spent Friday night at quarterback and was kept busy running the ball. The senior had 28 carries for 150 yards in the game, with most of the yardage coming in the first and third quarters.
“They lined up in the front Midland Christian gave us,” Willis said. “We knew it was coming and gave them some problems and made them get out of it.”
Vela gained 10 yards on the first three carries of the night, then broke free for a 28-yard gain one play after Denver City turned down a holding call against Pecos. But the Mustangs would accept another 10-yard penalty a few plays later, and Vela was sacked on the next play before Pecos lost the ball on downs.
Denver City then drove the ball inside the 25-yard line on their first offensive series, but was stopped at the 21-yard line when Bryant McLaurin was stacked up on a 4th-and-2 play. Pecos would stop Denver City’s second series as well, but on the third series Williams began finding openings up the middle and over the right side of the line. Back-to-back runs of 12- and 15-yards would eventually set up Flores’ 2-yard touchdown run midway through the second period.
Denver City would drive deep into Pecos territory once more before halftime, but the drive ended when Williams tried to extend the ball towards the first down line and had it knocked away, with Estrada recovering for the Eagles at the 15-yard-line.
With Vela going all the way on offense, Estrada got to spend most of the night playing defense instead of doing double-duty at quarterback. But he was used at wide receiver as well, catching a 5-yard pass from Vela on the Eagles’ touchdown drive. That series was almost stopped by another holding call, but Pecos got a break when Chris Rodriguez was flagged for hurdling the pile on a 1st-and-20 play, giving the Eagles an automatic first down.
Vela would pick up 13 yards on two straight keepers, and Luis Ortega then went six yards down to the Denver City 1. Vela scored on the next play.
Ortega, who gained over 200 yards last year against Denver City and over 100 yards in the season opener against Midland Christian, was limited to just 39 yards on 13 carries this time.
“They took him out of the game,” said Willis, who added he was reluctant to go to the air that much with Vela, following last week’s concussion.
“I’m still a little gun-shy because of all the turnovers last year,” he said.
After Denver City’s go-ahead score, the Eagles immediately put themselves in a hole on the opening kickoff with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. They overcame that thanks to a 13-yard run by Vela, but then were immediately hit with an illegal procedure call and couldn’t overcome that. Flores’ return to the Pecos 33 was offset by an illegal blocking penalty, but two plays later Williams broke a tackle behind the line, then shook off three other tacklers and raced 46 yards to the end zone for the clinching touchdown.
Denver City improved their season record to 2-0, after their 56-7 opening win over Lamesa, while the Eagles fell to 0-2 going into this Friday’s game at Kermit. The Yellowjackets, under former Pecos coach Gary Grubbs, also are 0-2 after they lost at Brownfield by a 20-19 score. Among Pecos’ other District 3-3A rivals, Fort Stockton got their first win, 28-26 over El Paso Burges; Seminole fell to 0-2 with a 34-6 loss at Canyon, Greenwood lost their season opener, 35-14 to Abilene Wylie, and Lubbock Cooper downed Lamesa by a 44-14 score.
at Denver City
Pecos 0 0 7 0 -- 7
Denver City 0 7 0 14 -- 21
Second Quarter
DC - Flores 2 run (Ortega kick), 5:51
Third Quarter
Pec. - Vela 1 run (Orosco kick), 10:22.
Fourth Quarter
DC - Moreno 15 pass from Williams (Ortega kick), 0:53.
Pec. - Williams 46 run (Ortega kick), 5:14.
Pec DC
First Downs 12 15
Rushing-Yds. 42-189 36-216
Passing Yds 46 61
Passes 6-13-0 7-12-1
Punts-Avg. 5-35 2-30.5
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 4-1
Penalties-Yds. 10-80 8-60
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING - Pecos, Vela 28-150, Ortega 13-39, D. Myles 1-0. Denver City, Williams 13-143, Hunt 6-23, Flores 8-14, Rodriguez 4-11, Summers 1-12, McLaurin 2-10, Poe 1-2
PASSING - Pecos, Vela 6-13-0-46. Denver City, Williams 7-12-1-61.
RECEIVING - Pecos, Dunlop 2-33, D. Myles 2-2, Estrada 1-5, Tercero 1-4. Denver City, Hunt 3-20, Poe 2-17, Moreno 1-15, McLaurin 1-9.
MISSED FIELD GOALS - None.
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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