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Archive 2001

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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Sports

Wednesday, November 14, 2001

Second place gets Eagles only one 2-4A team spot

By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The reward for finishing second in the District 2-4A standings this year didn't amount to much for the Pecos Eagles when selections for the All-District volleyball team were made by the district's six coaches Wednesday morning.

Pecos won a one-game playoff from Clint to take second behind El Paso Mountain View in the 2-4A standings, but while the 10-0 Lobos dominated the all-district selections as expected, the Eagles ended up with two fewer players on the first team squad than the third place Lions, and one less than the fourth place Fabens Wildcats and the sixth place San Elizario Eagles. They did manage to earn the same number of first team picks _ one _ as fifth place finisher Canutillo.

"I didn't think we were going to get anybody on," said Eagles' coach Becky Granado, after sophomore Stephanie Herrera was the lone first team selection for the Eagles. Three seniors, Jessica Rodriguez, Christina Arenivas and Victoria Gomez, were named to the second team, while sophomore Leslie Rodriguez and senior Rebecca Wein were honorable mention selections.

"It was discouraging," Granado said, after her team rebounded from a 4-15 start this season to win 10 of their last 14 matches and go 6-4 in district before beating Clint for second place. "I guess stats don't mean anything to them. I just felt we should have had more kids on the first team."

Herrera was third on the team in kills this season in district play, behind Wein and Arenivas, while Rodriguez had the bulk of the assists for Pecos this season (168) playing with a one-setter offense, and Gomez was first on the team in ace serves.

Mountain View put five of their six starters on the first team, led by senior Diana Cineceros, who was named Outstanding Setter for the second year in a row. Two other seniors on the first team were Martha Alvarez and Marlene Garcia, while a fifth senior, Diane Gonzalez, shared district Most Valuable Player honors with last year's winner, Clint's Collanne Bramblett, which was another choice Granado didn't agree with.

"Collanne's a much better player, but they said she (Gonzalez) should get it, because she played on the district champions," Granado said. "I told them that's not the way it worked last year, or Philly (Fobbs) would have gotten it," when Pecos beat out Clint for the 2-4A title.

Bramblett, who signed a letter of intent Wednesday to play volleyball next year at West Texas A&M University, was one of three Clint players named to the first team. Granado said freshman Laura Martinez beat out Herrera for Newcomer of the Year, while junior Gilda Victorino was the other first team pick.

Fabens two first team selections were both underclassmen, in junior Jessica Antunez, who was named Offensive Player of the Year, and sophomore Stacie Macias. San Elizario senior Reba Madrid, an all-district pick a year ago, was named Outstanding Defensive Player, while her teammate, junior hitter Ana Morales, also was named to the first team squad.

Canutillo senior Brenda Gonzales rounded out the first team picks.

Two other Fabens hitters, junior Lizzy Avita and senior Suzie Mendoza, joined the three Pecos players on the second team squad, while three other juniors, Canutillo's Esmeralda Barragan, Clint's Hillary James and San Eli's Valerie Barraza, rounded out the second team selections.

Pecos fell in the bi-district round of the Class 4A playoffs to El Paso High, while Clint was ousted from the bi-district round of the playoffs by El Paso Riverside, and Mountain View, which drew a first round playoff bye, lost to Dumas in the area round of the Class 4A playoffs.
 

Bears starting over in playoffs against Mustangs

By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The Balmorhea Bears found of last year that regular season results don't count for much once post-season play begins.

Friday night in Kermit, they'll try to apply that lesson when they take on the Sands Mustangs in the bi-district round of the six-man football playoffs, beginning at 7:30 p.m. The winner will face either New Home or Westbrook in the area round of the playoffs Thanksgiving weekend.

The Bears and Mustangs, both 7-3, meet for the second time this season, after facing each other on Oct. 5 in Balmorhea. In that game, Balmorhea raced out to a 38-6 lead in the third period, then watched a Sands comeback attempt fall short, as the Bears came away with a 46-33 victory in the final pre-district game for both squads.

Sands won five straight games after that to capture the District 7-A title, while Balmorhea lost out on the District 8-A title a week ago in the closing minutes of their game at Sanderson, as the Eagles rallied for a 36-29 victory.

Last season, Sanderson also won the final regular-season game from Balmorhea to claim the district title, sending the Bears into an opening round playoff game against Grandfalls. Balmorhea had snapped a four-year losing streak to the Cowboys earlier in the season, but Grandfalls ended up winning the bi-district match-up to end the Bears' 2000 season.

Sands will be trying to do the same thing on Friday, and Bears' coach Ennis Erickson said despite the earlier win Balmorhea won't be overly-confident going into Friday's contest.

"We're going to have some confidence that we can do it, but we talked about it and they realize they have to start over from the beginning in the playoffs," he said.

Erickson said the Bears were "a little upset" at losing the district title at the end of last Friday's game, "But they realize they're still in the playoffs and can windup being OK."

Sands scored first in the teams' Oct. 5 game, on a pass from Jeremy Renteria to Dusty Floyd, but then went more to the running game over the next two periods, while the Bears were the team going to the pass, after suffering several injuries at running back the previous week against Trent. Jerry Mendoza had three touchdown passes, and Balmorhea took advantage of a series of Sands fumbles while stopping the Mustangs on downs twice, in racing out to a 32-point lead.

Erickson said "I pretty much expect them to do defensively and offensively what they did in the past," though he added, "They may throw the ball a little more."

Nate Looney did run for 109 yards, mostly in the second half, and caught a 31-yard touchdown pass in the third period for the Mustangs, while Renteria was 11-for-15 in passing for 134 yards. Mendoza finished up with 150 yards passing for the Bears, hitting 14-of-20 attempts, and Isaiah Rodriguez ran for 106 yards and a touchdown, while also catching a 12-yard pass from Mendoza.

Passing, and turnovers, could be affected by the weather on Friday. Rain is supposed to stay in the area through the next two days, though Erickson said he didn't think it would give either team an advantage.



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Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
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Copyright 2001 by Pecos Enterprise