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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Friday, September 30, 2005
Former Eagle, college squad make stopover
Former Pecos Eagle football player Tony Trujillo got a chance to stop off in his home town a couple of weeks ago while on the way to a road game for Western New Mexico University.
Trujillo, who is in his third season as an offensive lineman for WNMU, and his teammates stopped off to have lunch at the Old Mill Barbeque on South Eddy Street, while on a 700-plus mile bus trip to Stephenville, to face Tarleton State University.
He said he was asked by WNMU coaches if he knew about a place to eat in Pecos, which is about halfway between Stephenville and Silver City, N.M., where the school is located. “I called my parents and said we’d probably come by to eat,” he added.
Trujillo was a three-year starter for the Eagles and earned all region honors in Class 4A his junior year, before a leg injury shortened his senior season in 2002. He said for this season, he’s a backup lineman for the WNMU squad.
“Last year I started five games, but this year with the returners it’s a little different. But you never know,” he said.
WNMU dropped its game with Tarleton, 45-21, and as of now has a 2-3 season record. Trujillo said the game in Stephenville was the closest the Mustangs to be to playing in the Pecos area this season.
Freshman boosts Eagles in win over Wildcats
With their veteran hitters struggling to get their spikes in play Tuesday afternoon, the Pecos Eagles got a boost from one of their newest players, in their match against the Lovington Wildcats.
Freshman Jasmine Rayos came up with a number of key hits in the third and fourth games against Lovington on Tuesday to help Pecos hold of a couple of comeback attempts and allow the Eagles to come away with a 25-18, 12-25, 25-19, 25-23 victory in their final pre-district home volleyball match.
The Eagles play their final road match before the start of District 3-3A play on Saturday in Lovington against the Wildcats. Play is scheduled to start with the junior varsity match at 2 p.m. CDT, followed by the varsity contest.
Rayos’ points came on a day where the Eagles couldn’t rely on their leading hitter, Brittany Rodriguez. “She was having muscle spasms in her back,” said Eagles’ coach Debbie Garcia. “We were trying to keep it warmed and massaged during the game.”
Garcia said she switched the rotation because of that, moving Rodriguez into the serving position instead of to the lead hitter’s spot. “She did a really, really good job in the first game, but then she started cramping up,” Garcia said.
Along with Rodriguez’s problem, Garcia said Pecos had problems getting their spike attempts set up. “Our setters are still a little off. We’re calling on thing, and they’re setting someplace else and throwing off our hitters,” she said.
While the Eagles had their problems getting shots down, the Wildcats also struggled at times to set up shots. Pecos went out to a 5-0 lead, mostly on unforced errors, then held off one comeback attempt by Lovington that cut the lead too 8-6. Rodriguez had a kill to start an 8-1 run for the Eagles, and later had an ace serve during the streak, while she would later add a block of Amber Black just before Pecos closed out the game.
The Eagles won on a bad serve by Jayce Home, but in the second game, the Wildcats came up with several aces, including two off balls that brushed the net and fell in, while Pecos was slow to react to free balls and couldn’t get their shots down. Lovington turned a 6-4 lead into a 19-7 advantage, and the teams traded points the rest of the way.
Pecos took the lead for good in the third game at 7-6 on a spike by Bianca Baeza, but would never have more than a five point lead until the end, when Jenna Donzaleski end the game by hitting the ball into the net. Pecos biggest lead before that was at 15-10 on a spike by Rodriguez, but the Wildcats would get to within 18-17 before the Eagles got kills by Amber Pando and Rayos, then another kill by Rayos when Lovington closed to within 21-19.
The Eagles went up 3-0 at the outset of Game 4 and again would lead by as many as five points, at 11-6 on a kill by Rayos. But a couple of hits and an ace by Donzaleski combined with some unforced errors by Pecos allowed the Wildcats to tie the score at 17-all. Rayos was then able to tip a shot past Lovington’s blockers to put Pecos back in front, and later added another tip over the front line and a hit, while Baeza scored on a spike to give the Eagles a 32-19 lead.
Once again, Lovington came back, eventually tying the game at 23-all on three Pecos errors and a block of Rodriguez by Donzaleski. But after the next serve, the Wildcats’ Alina Perideyko hit the ball into the net to give Pecos a 24-23 lead, and the Eagles then won the match on a spike over the sideline by Donzaleski.
“Jasmine had an excellent game today, and I thought Tiffany Taragno had a good game on the back line, and so did Jenny Palomino,” Garcia said. “Our passing was better today. Our hitting wasn’t what I would have liked, but we did a better job passing the ball.”
The win improved Pecos’ record to 11-15, while Lovington fell to 2-11 going into Saturday’s rematch on the Wildcats’ home court. Pecos then opens District 3-3A play next Tuesday with a trip to Fort Stockton to take on the Prowlers.
The Eagles’ JV and freshmen teams did not play this past Tuesday against Lovington, and only the JV will play along with the varsity on Saturday. All three teams will play next Tuesday when Pecos opens 3-3A play in Fort Stockton.
Girls to start off hoop season with long road trip
The Pecos Eagle girls basketball team will have a 2005-06 schedule that looks pretty much like the 2004-05 schedule, but as of now with a gap during the holiday season.
The Eagles will flip the home sites for all but one of their regular games, change locations for one of their tournaments in early December while taking a two week break over Christmas instead of going to a third tournament during a break in District 3-3A play.
Coach Lisa Lowery’s team will make their longest trip of the year to open the season, going to Eldorado on Nov. 8 to take on that group of Eagles, who came to Pecos for last year’s season opener. Following that, the Eagles will open the home portion of their scheduled on Nov. 11, with a game against the Alpine Bucks, the first of 10 home games for Pecos during the 2004-05 season.
The tournament changes have the Eagles going to the Coahoma Tournament instead of to the Lamesa Tournament the opening weekend of December, while Lowery said plans to go to the Fort Stockton Tournament instead of to Reagan County over the Christmas break fell through when Fort Stockton canceled that tournament.
The other tournament Pecos will go to is the Stanton Tournament, which the Eagles have participated in for the past several years. That tournament is Dec. 8-10, the same weekend Pecos’ junior varsity team will go to their only tournament of the season, at Grandfalls.
District play then opens on Dec. 13 with a home game against Fort Stockton, followed by their first 3-3A road game on Dec. 16, at Monahans. The Eagles’ remaining 10 district games will be part of doubleheaders with Pecos’ boys, who open their 3-3A schedule on Dec. 19, when both teams are at home against Presidio.
After the holiday break, play resumes for Pecos’ girls at Greenwood on Jan. 6, and they close their season with a home game against defending district champ Seminole on Feb. 7.
Pecos will be trying to improve on their record from a year ago, when they went 3-9 in district play and 4-22 on the season, finishing tied for fifth with Fort Stockton in the 3-3A standings.
Boys’ coach Art Wellborn said he was still looking to fill out his schedule, including finding a replacement for the holiday tournament in Fort Stockton. Regular season play for the Eagle boys will begin in mid-November, and wind up with a game at Monahans on Feb. 14.
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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