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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Tuesday, September 19, 2000
Eagles shifting front line for Lions
PECOS, Sept. 19, 2000 -- Once the Clint Lions figured out how to handle
the Pecos Eagles' serves last year, the Eagles couldn't handle the Lions'
big hitters when District 2-4A play began.
This time around, Eagles' coach Becky Granado is making
some changes to counter Clint's front line, even if the Lions aren't faring
nearly as well in the 2000 season as they did in 1999.
The Eagles open district play tonight by hosting the
Lions, starting at about 7:15 p.m. at the Pecos High School gym. It's
the second meeting of the season for the teams, who faced each other
last month at the Monahans Sandhills Tournament, with Pecos coming
out on top by a 3-15, 15-1, 15-12 margin.
But the Eagles actually had an easier time in Monahans last
season against Clint, sweeping their non-district match thanks problems
the Lions had handling Pecos' serves. But when district play arrived
Clint was the one to sweep Pecos and take the 2-4A title. Led by senior
Polly Wagner, the Lions outgunned the Eagles on offense a year ago,
with four hitters between 5-8 and 6-feet tall.
Wagner, last year's Most Valuable Player in 2-4A, is gone, but Clint
has its other three main hitters, seniors Melissa Arnold and Michelle
Tullius and junior Collanne Bramblett back, so Granado said she plans to
adjust her lineup from last month's match-up in Monahans.
"I'm going to leave Michelle (Saenz) by herself on the last
three rotations, and see what she can do," Granado said. "She had
some beautiful blocks against Plains, either blocking it or slowing it down for
the defense to get the ball."
Granado said she would pair Philly Fobbs and D'Andra Ortega
on the front line, where the Lions figure to put Bramblett and Arnold to
begin the game. "I hope that will give us a bigger wall to work against
them," she said.
Pecos split their matches on Saturday against Plains and
Denver City, which put them at 18-6 going into tonight's district opener.
Clint, meanwhile, has struggled this season compared to their 9-3 mark in
pre-district a year ago. The Lions split a pair of matches against
private schools last week and are 8-9 on the season, with Bramblett getting 18
kills in a three-game loss to El Paso Jesus Chapel.
The Eagles will also play freshman and junior varsity matches
against Clint tonight before the varsity game, starting at 4:30 and 5:45 p.m.
Cowboys halt struggles, ambush Redskins
By DAVID GINSBURG
AP Sports Writer
LANDOVER, Md, Sept. 20, 2000. — Even after a $100 million makeover, the
Washington Redskins once again looked ugly against the Dallas Cowboys.
Randall Cunningham threw two touchdown passes and Emmitt
Smith ran for 83 yards and a score as the previously winless Cowboys beat
the haughty Redskins 27-21 Monday night, their sixth straight victory
over their arch rivals.
Redskins owner Daniel Snyder spent $100 million during
the offseason in an effort to reach the Super Bowl, signing players such
as former Cowboys star Deion Sanders and defensive tackle Bruce Smith.
At this point, however, the Redskins (1-2) can't even beat
a Dallas team that is clearly in a rebuilding mode under new
coach Dave Campo. The Cowboys, in danger of falling to 0-3 for the
first time since 1989, instead recorded another satisfying win against
their NFC East adversaries.
"To beat them, it feels even sweeter," said Dallas safety
Izell Reese, who had a crucial fourth-quarter interception. "They spent
all that money with the focus of beating the Cowboys. So we come into
their own backyard and whipped them on Monday night. It doesn't get
much better than that."
The Redskins probably thought things couldn't get any worse
after their 15-10 loss in Detroit. But losing at home against Dallas is about
as bad as it gets, especially because Washington entered the season
with such lofty expectations.
The Redskins had two turnovers and were penalized six times for
82 yards. A pass interference call against Darrell Green aided one
Dallas touchdown drive, and an unnecessary roughness call
against offensive tackle Andy Heck ruined a potential scoring drive early in
the fourth quarter.
"We made way too many mistakes," Redskins coach
Norv Turner said. "We had stupid penalties and errors. When you make
those kind of mistakes, you usually don't have a chance to win."
The Redskins closed to 24-21 with 5:34 left on a 7-yard touchdown
pass from Brad Johnson to Mike Sellers, and Washington quickly forced
a punt. But Reese picked off a Johnson overthrow and returned it 46 yards
to set up a field goal by Tim Seder with 1:46 remaining.
Forced to use a short passing game in part because of the
absence of injured wide receiver Michael Westbrook, Johnson couldn't
bring the Redskins back. He completed passes to nine different receivers,
but the longest was for 17 yards.
Dallas, on the other hand, got a 76-yard touchdown reception
from Chris Warren and a 44-yard catch from Raghib Ismail.
Cunningham completed only 10 passes, but his 185 passing yards was just 55 less
than Johnson had with 30 completions.
Afterward, Campo stepped in front of the cameras and microphones
and smiled broadly.
"That's one," he said, referring to his first win as an NFL coach.
"We needed a confidence-builder, and we got one. This gives us a chance
to move on and be a good football team."
Stephen Davis scored two touchdowns for the Redskins and
ran for 91 yards, but Campo was encouraged to see Dallas hold Washington to
just 107 yards on the ground. Two weeks earlier, Philadelphia's Duce Staley ran
for 201 yards in a 41-14 rout in Dallas.
"The key to the whole thing tonight was our rushing defense," Campo
said. "You stop the run, it gives you a
chance to do some things in the secondary."
Sanders, meanwhile, had very little impact on the game. He ran left
with the first Dallas punt of the night, then handed the ball to Champ Bailey,
who sprinted 54 yards to set up a Davis touchdown for a 7-0 lead.
But Cunningham hooked up with Warren for the equalizer and
Smith scored on fourth down from the 3 in the second quarter to put Dallas
up 14-7 at halftime.
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
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