|
Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Monday, August 21, 2000
Cavemen rock Eagles in scrimmage
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Aug. 21, 2000 -- Two weeks of work before the start of the 2000 football
season is pretty much what the Pecos Eagles need after their scrimmage
against the Carlsbad Cavemen, because Saturday morning's 120 plays on offense
and defense showed there are a lot of things the Eagles need to improve
on.
Carlsbad outscored Pecos 6-1, getting half their
touchdowns during the controlled scrimmage portion of play and outscoring
the Eagles 3-1 during the 12-minute timed segment that wrapped things up
at Eagle Stadium.
"We've got a lot of things to do," said head coach Gary Grubbs.
"They got the better of us and we know it."
Carlsbad ended up out-gaining Pecos overall 504 yards to 199
and picked up 25 first downs to just eight for the Eagles, though it was
the Pecos' problems on defense Grubbs focused on after the game.
"It was our total defense. We didn't play very good
technique," he said. "We've got a long way
to improve there, but we will get better."
Compared to the Cavemen, who open their season this Friday
against Alamogordo, the Eagles just weren't very aggressive during
the scrimmage, and were pushed around by Carlsbad's front line.
The secondary also blew several coverages down the middle,
leading to a pair of touchdown passes by Caveman quarterback Pete
Subia, who had the bulk of Carlsbad's 185 yards passing on the day.
On the ground, Carlsbad averaged 7½ yard per carry,
with only two negative yard plays all day, both during the second series.
In contrast, three of Pecos' first four rushing plays went for
negative yards, and the line had trouble blocking out the Cavemen
defenders on the option.
"A lot of that is that in practice we don't get to see things move
as fast as we did out here," said Grubbs, who rotated his three
quarterbacks throughout the game.
The bright spot for Pecos probably was the passing game.
After going 0-for-4 on the first seasons, quarterbacks Richard Rodriguez,
Alex Garcia and Peter Juarez hit nine of their final 15 passes for 158 yards,
71 of that on a Rodriguez-to-Jason Gonzales bomb that got Pecos
it's lone touchdown. Rodriguez was able to scramble away from the
Cavemen defense while rolling to his right, and found Gonzales behind the
Carlsbad secondary for the score.
Aside from Gonzales, Eagle quarterbacks hooked up a couple
of times with Alvaro Navarette for short gains, while tight end Pifi
Montoya had the nicest-looking gain of the day a 23-yard hot pass in the slot
during the second series.
On the ground, the Eagles managed just one run of more
than 10 yards, a 15-yarder by Jason Carrillo off the sweep to close out the
first series. The next longest gain on the ground for the Eagles was
a quarterback scramble by Juarez during the second series.
"We ran the option offense a little better towards the end and
started doing some good things, but we were a little nicked up in there,"
said Grubbs, who was without starting linemen Chris Deishler and
Micah Huffman going into play and saw several other players wind up on
the sidelines.
On the junior varsity level Saturday, the Eagles played three
20-play scrimmages against Carlsbad's JV and the Loving and Jal,
N.M. varsity squads.
The scrimmages were held between the 40-yard-line and the
goal line at both ends of the field, which did deprive Pecos of one
defensive touchdown against Loving, while the Falcons scored twice against
the Eagles. Jal's varsity then defeated Pecos by a 3-1 score, while
the Eagles' JV closed things out with a 2-0 win over Carlsbad.
Barney Rodriguez had a four-yard touchdown run against
Jal, while quarterback Freddy Torres ran 12 yards for one score and then
hit Israel Varela for a 25-yard touchdown pass later in the series.
The Eagles' JV and freshmen teams open their seasons on
Aug. 31 against Kermit, the night before the Eagles begin play at Walton
Field against the Yellowjackets, whom the Eagle coaches scouted in
a scrimmage at Sonora Saturday night.
Eagles `ruled out’ of Sandhills finals
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Aug 21, 2000 -- The double-elimination format of the Monahans Sandhills
Volleyball Tournament certainly got the Pecos Eagles more games than they
had faced before – so many, in fact, the state’s high school rulebook made
them stop.
The Sandhills Tournament switched from a pool round format to double-elimination
this season. But the bracket as drawn up turned out to have one minor flaw,
and that was if a team lost their opening round match and then came through
the loser’s bracket all the way to the finals, they would surpass the four
matches allowed per day under University Interscholastic League rules.
That’s what happened to the Eagles, who lost their first match of the tournament
in three games to Andrews Friday morning, then beat Clint and Monahans in
three games Friday afternoon, and followed that up with a two-game win over
Van Horn and three game victories over Big Spring and Lubbock Trinity Christian
on Saturday.
That should have put them back up against Andrews in the finals, but the
Eagles would be in violation of University Interscholastic League rules
if they won the rematch against the Mustangs and then played a deciding
game for the tournament title.
“I felt bad for the girls. They played well and really wanted it,” said coach
Veronica Valenzuela, who was subbing for head coach Becky Granado again
over the weekend, though she did call Granado when the controversy arose
before the title match.
“If we had played Van Horn on Friday it would have been all right, but the
way it ended up wasn’t fair to us,” Granado said. “She (Monahans coach Patty
Hall) told them they could either play one game for the championship or
two games if that’s what Andrews wanted, and of course they did.
“I didn’t see and point in playing it because even if we won (the first match)
we would still come in second. I know coach (Penny) Bane thought it wasn’t
fair to do it the other way, but I just told them we wouldn’t play and she
understood,” said Granado, who missed the first week of the season while
her father was in an Odessa hospital
The Eagles’ 6-1 weekend had its up and down moments. In their loss to Andrews,
Pecos won the first game, 15-12, and held a 14-8 lead in the second game
only to see the Mustangs come back for an 18-16 victory. Andrews then won
the third game, 15-9, and the Eagles appeared to show the after-effects
of that in their next match against Clint.
After taking a 3-0 lead in the opening game, Pecos allowed their district
rivals to roll off 15 straight points to earn the victory. But then the
Eagles came back and routed the Lions, 15-1, and then rallied from a 7-2
hole to win the deciding match, 15-12.
After that, Pecos then did to Monahans what Andrews had done to them a few
hours earlier. The Eagles lost the opening game 15-10 and trailed in Game
2, 14-7, only to rally for a 16-14 victory. They then followed that up with
another 16-14 win over the Loboes, in which they had to come back from an
11-5 deficit.
Pecos’ only two game match of the tournament was Saturday morning, when they
defeated Van Horn, 15-8, 15-6. Then, it was back to three game matches for
the Eagles, who beat Big Spring, 15-7, 9-15, 15-9 and then took Trinity
Christian, 9-15, 15-9, 15-11.
The three-game matches made one concession to time, in that the deciding
games were played under `speed-up rules’ in which all side-outs, including
serves into the net or over the back line, counted as points for the other
team. That benefited the better-serving team overall, which helped the Eagles
a little bit in their win over Clint and a lot in their victory against
Monahans.
On Saturday, Valenzuela said, “We pretty much did it on our own (in the third
game). They had a few mistakes, but we played a lot smarter against Big
Spring and Lubbock Trinity.
“When Philly (Fobbs) was hitting, they started sitting back and waiting on
her and she started dinking it on them,” Valenzuela said. “Both she and
D’Andra (Ortega) did well blocking-wise, and our defense finally started
moving, which was our main problem. The girls started looking at the hitters
better and reacting.”
“I don’t know why, we get things going for a while and then it stops,” said
Valenzuela who took her team into the locker room between games after both
their opening loss to Clint and their second game loss to Big Spring.
“After the second game I took them into the dressing room to talk to them
and they played well after that. They passed, set and the hitters found
the hole,” said Valenzuela. She added that Dee Dee Molinar was named Outstanding
Setter for the tournament, Becky Gonzales was named Outstanding Defensive
Player and Fobbs won the Outstanding Hitter award.
While the varsity went undefeated in an unusual manner on Saturday, the Eagles’
junior varsity and freshman teams also won all their games Saturday, though
in different brackets of their tournaments after pool play in Monahans.
The JV ended up in the consolation bracket after pool play Friday, and beat
Kermit for the consolation title, while the freshmen did get to face Andrews
in the championship game of their division, and defeated the Mustangs to
claim the title.
The Eagles will take their 8-1 season record back on the road Tuesday, for
a pair of matches in Midland against the Snyder Tigers and Lee Rebels. Pecos’
home opener will be on Friday, in pool round play at the Cantaloupe Classic
Tournament.
May makes Woods work for PGA title
By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky., Aug. 21, 2000 — The only question left for Tiger Woods in major championships may be how he wins them. If they're anything like the PGA Championship, golf is in for a treat.
Blowout wins in the U.S. Open and British Open gave way Sunday to
a thrilling duel down the stretch before Woods edged Bob May by a
stroke in a three-hole playoff to win his third straight major title.
It was the fifth major overall for Woods, but this show may have
been his finest.
"It was one memorable battle," Woods said. "Birdie-for-birdie,
shot-for-shot, we were going right at each other."
Woods barely had a chance to hold the Wanamaker trophy
aloft, though, and he was already being asked the question that may
haunt his career.
What's next?
Four majors in a year, of course — something no one has ever done.
Or a second green jacket at Augusta that would give Woods four in a row
— and an argument that four straight qualifies as a Grand Slam no
matter whether they are all in the same year.
"I'd like to think it does," Woods said. "But that's not up to me to say."
At the age of 24, Woods cemented his spot in golf lore even further
by matching May birdie for birdie down the stretch before going three
extra holes to claim his fifth major championship.
Unlike his romps at Pebble Beach and St. Andrews, this one was
never decided until Woods came out of a greenside bunker for par on the
final playoff hole to beat May by a shot.
"I think it's got to go down as one of the best duels in the game, in
major championships," Woods said.
The huge throngs cheering wildly would find it hard to argue. And
so would May, whose back-nine 31 gave him his third straight 66 but left him
in only a tie after the regulation 72 holes with a PGA-record 18-under 270.
"I think if you shoot three 66s in a major you should win," he said.
"But you are playing against the best player in the world, and he proved
that is not good enough."
Woods used only 15 putts over his last 12 holes — and both he and
May made stirring birdie putts on the final hole of regulation — to finish his
own personal Grand Slam of scoring records in major championships.
He lost the lead early in the round and didn't regain it until the
first overtime hole, when a 25-footer for birdie sent him prancing and
pointing at the hole in glee.
If it weren't for a 15-footer he made for par on the 15th hole of
regulation, though, May might be holding the Wanamaker Cup instead.
After Woods made the par putt, May missed his 4-footer for birdie and what
could have been a three-shot lead with three to go was only one.
"Ball game is on now," caddie Steve Williams told Woods as
they walked off the green.
Indeed it was. Two holes later, Woods would hit a sand wedge to
4 feet and make the birdie putt to tie.
It merely set the stage for the drama on 18, when both players hit the
par-5 with their second shots but both faced long efforts over tall ridges
to get close to the hole.
May, who got his tour card only last fall and had only one
European Tour win to his credit, hit his first to the back fringe 18 feet away.
Woods then got his to 6 feet.
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 2000 by Pecos Enterprise
|
