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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Thursday, October 3, 2002
Pecos, Lubbock both in search of second wins
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
Coming into a game against a Class 5A opponent while trying to snap
a three game losing streak, the Pecos Eagles could have used a calm
week with few distractions.
Instead, the Eagles have had injuries, grades and off-campus problems
to worry about, going into their final pre-district game, Friday night against
the Lubbock High Westerners.
The Eagles and Westerners meet for the first time since the 1995 season
at Eagle Stadium, with both teams trying to go into their district openers
with a win after starting the season with 1-3 records.
Pecos comes in off a 38-7 loss a week ago to undefeated Crane, a game
which the Eagles led after one quarter, 7-0, but saw the Golden Cranes put
up 24 points in the second period. Pecos was held to 195 yards on offense,
75 of that on their first period touchdown drive.
Pecos' offensive woes started just after running back Matthew Levario
suffered a deep thigh bruise, which limited his effectiveness. Coach Fred
Carter said Wednesday he wasn't sure if Levario _ who also started a linebacker
last week _ would be able to go against the Westerners. "I don't know. Right
now it's a day-to-day thing," Carter said.
Meanwhile Carter said the Eagles would lose three players to ineligibility
for at least the next three weeks, including punter and starting receiver
Abel Lopez.
"We're looking at a couple of guys before we decide who's going to do
the punting," said Carter, while adding, "On the other side, we've gained
Roy Juarez who's a good utility back. We can use him in a number of positions.
The other problem _ this past weekend's citations of Pecos High School
students over a party in which alcohol was involved _ remains up in the air.
"We'll just have to wait and see what happens with that. We don't know what
they're going to do right now," Carter said.
Despite all those distractions, the Eagles' coach said his players' attitudes
"have been pretty good," going into Friday's game with Lubbock High, which
escaped with a 7-6 victory over Pecos the last time the two teams met.
Joe Laudermilk was the coach in that game, when the Westerners stopped
a late two-point conversion try by the Eagles to win a game that featured
18 fumbles on a nearly flooded Lowery Field surface. Laudermilk remains the
coach of the Westerners, who are still hoping to improve on last season's
4-6 record.
Last Thursday, Lubbock High lost 14-0 and 28-13 leads and lost to Levelland,
29-28 on a last-second, 39-yard field goal. The Westerners turned the ball
over once on a kickoff, lost an onside kick and missed their own 26-yard
field goal in the final period to help Levelland rally.
"We're working with a lot of new players, and that's part of our problem,"
said Laudermilk. "We have that problem early in the year most of the time,
getting to the kids what they're supposed to do."
Despite their 1-3 mark, the Westerners have outscored their opponents
this season, thanks to their 41-6 win over Amarillo Caprock on Sept. 13.
They were shut out in their opener by Canyon Randall, 18-0, and were beaten
by Canyon High two weeks ago, 21-13.
Against Levelland, Michael Moody had a 10-yard touchdown run and another
40-yard run to set up a score, while quarterback Chandler Barnard had a touchdown
pass to tight end Matt Boal.
Carter said Moody, "is a good athlete. They have a number of good athletes,"
and run their offense out of a number of different sets. But as far as where
they run, the Eagles' coach added, "Basically they do the same thing out
of all of them. Whichever side he's on they're going to run to the right
or the left."
"Their line has got some good size. They've got a number of big kids,"
he added. Aside from Moody, running backs Fabian Sepeda and Tony Rioz are
the other backs running behind that line for Lubbock High.
Laudermilk said Barnard is in his second year as the Westerners' starter.
"He's doing pretty good. He hasn't thrown the ball too bad, but he's had
problems somewhat getting out and finding his second receiver," he said.
Defensively, Levelland has had similar problems in stopping the run as
the Eagles have had. Levelland's Christian Coronado ran the ball 37 times
last week for 171 yards and three touchdowns, while Pecos allowed Crane's
Devon Zimmerman to run for 169 yards last week, 128 of that in the second
half.
"Levelland pretty much ran, ran, ran on them, and they threw a little
as well," said Carter, while the Eagle defense also was hurt in the first
half of their loss last week by Crane's passing game.
Friday's game is the midpoint of the season for the Eagles, who'll have
only four games in District 4-3A play this season, beginning next week, when
they travel to Kermit.
Eagles' JV, Jr. high gridders facing Panther squads
The Pecos Eagles' sub varsity teams went to Lamesa three Thursdays ago
when the varsity hosted Lamesa the following night. Two weeks ago, they went
to Brownfield when the varsity hosted the Cubs the following night.
But with the Eagles hosting Lubbock High tomorrow, Pecos' junior varsity
and freshman teams are not planning any 210-mile trip tonight. In fact, the
freshmen Eagles won't even be playing at all this evening.
The junior varsity will be at home tonight, for a 6 p.m. game against
Fort Stockton, while the junior high Eagles will be in Fort Stockton this
afternoon, for seventh and eighth grade games against the Panthers at 4 and
5:30 p.m.
The JV lost their first game of the season last week, as Crane rallied
from a 22-6 deficit to defeat Pecos, 30-22. Aurelio Lopez, Rashad Terry and
Tito Gonzalez had the touchdowns for the Eagles, who are 3-1 on the season.
The eighth grade purple team will seek their first win in four tries,
after losing in Crane last week by a 14-12 final score. Luis Ortega and Isaiah
Rayos had Pecos' touchdowns last week.
The seventh grade purple team is 1-1-1 on the season after losing at Crane,
20-12, while the seventh grade gold team is 3-0-1 after their 18-0 win over
Crane. Juan Garza and Jeremy Dunlap had Pecos' purple team scores and Vincent
Palomino, Bryant Winfrey and Francisco Sanchez scored for the gold team.
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
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Copyright 2002 by Pecos Enterprise
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